What's on your "Bucket List"?

[paintballworker]

Two things are on my list.


BREAK MACH ONE IN A CF-105.......again
Visit Antarctica and see a solar or lunar eclipse.

[EricKei]

Germany (including brushing up on my rusty German)

Japan (including brushing up on my rusty Japanese)

Run my own (non-megacorporate) business and employ as many CS'ers as I can

Pay off my school debts (the only ones I have left, but they were always the overwhelming majority)

Ireland & Scotland

[ArcticChicken]

Well, the Moscow to Vladivostok is on my bucket list, I suppose we could start in London and do the cheaper 4 people to a sleeping cabin, as long as nobody minds if I take a bottom bunk

I certainly don't! Besides, it'll be a lot more fun with friends along. I don't suppose you know anyone who speaks Russian? Rumor has it that at the right time of year, you can get a pass on the Russian railroads that lets you get on and off as much as you like for two weeks, and that's the one I want to do, unless that time of year is the absolute dead of winter. I like the snow, but I don't like it THAT much.

[Seraph]

end in Istanbul.

I have the feeling it's going to be Constantinople again...

[wolfie]

Two things are on my list.


BREAK MACH ONE IN A CF-105.......again

I think there's a typo in the aircraft designation - could you give the manufacturer and name of the aircraft in question? The CF-105 (Avro Arrow) was scrapped back in '57, but there are a few possibilities (don't know if any are still flying) based on the assumption of a typo. Both the F-105 (Republic Thunderchief) and CF-104 (also F-104) Lockheed Starfighter had 2-seater versions, and were capable of "busting the mach".

[Tama]

Go to Japan and (if it suits me) move there.

Learn every language I possibly can.

[SongsOfDragons]

Visit Antarctica and see a solar or lunar eclipse.

It may not be Antarctica, but it's similar: on March 20 2015 there will be a once-in-an-epoch total solar eclipse, the only landmass totality is visible from will be the Svalbard Archipelago. It's epoch rare because it's also visible from axis north and will happen on the day the sun rises again after the long polar winter.

There you go, that's mine: see this sucker by somehow getting to Svalbard. I've put my name on the mailing list on the tiny official site bus so far no word on costs.

[paintballworker]

It was supposed to be F-105 *hangs head in shame....and hands over his airplane nerd card*

[NorthernZel]

At the moment I'd be glad if I just had the money to travel somewhere

But seriously, I'm hoping that I'll be able to save up enough money to visit my extended family in Italy next year (stepdad + son and daughter from another relationship).

Otherwise, I'd like to visit the US sometimes, perhaps also New Zealand.

[wolfie]

It was supposed to be F-105 *hangs head in shame....and hands over his airplane nerd card*

Considering the Arrow was one of 2 (that I know of) where CF-xxx was not the same as F-xxx (other was CF-100 Avro Canuck/F-100 North American Super Sabre), I'm not surprised that you'd automatically (I believe you're in Canada) stick on the "C" prefix.

Bit of trivia: the Iroquois engine wasn't ready for the first Arrow test flights (engine was test-flown under the wing of a B-47), so the Mk. 1 Arrows (Iroquois was to be used on the Mk. 2, which were to be the production model) were test-flown with (pairs of) the same engine used in the F-105 Thunderchief. Project was cancelled before the first test flight of the Mk. 2.

The chief test pilot for the Arrow program died a couple years ago.

Hope you can find someone with a flyable 2-seat Thud (IIRC, most of the single-seaters were converted so they could be used in Wild Weasel missions) who's willing to carry civilian passengers. You mentioned "again" - when did you go up in one the first time?

[paintballworker]

Yes.....i tend to automatically add a C to most aircraft(ive written XCB-70).

I'm not supposed to talk about the details, but a family member who married into the family, was a pilot in an AFR unit. I had my pilots license at the time, but DEAR SWEET FLYING SPAGHETTI MONSTER!!! I wanna go again.

"I feel the need..
The need for speed!"

[Jester]

[*]visit the Grand Canyon

Hike the grand canyon.

If either of you (or anyone else here) actually ends up doing this, get in touch with me first, as I'll have some good tips for the Canyon for you, being an Arizonan.


As for my bucket list, I've already done a lot on it, such as:
--jump out of an airplane
--bungee jump
--do magic tricks for celebrities
--go to a nude beach
--perform at the Magic Castle
--go to a Raiders game in Oakland, AND be in the Black Hole
--travel the U.S.
--hike the Grand Canyon
--visit the Redwood Forest
--run for public office
--win a chili cookoff (2 so far)
--meet my favorite band, Heart

But I still have quite a few things on my list. In no particular order...

Oktoberfest in Germany. Not just a few days, but the entire festival. May actually come to pass in '14 or '15.

Visit Ireland, including visiting many pubs and the Guinness brewery. This could be very dangerous, as many of my friends are firmly convinced that if I ever do this, I'll come back with a bride. (My history and obsession with Irish women is well-documented.)

Jump out of an airplane solo. The two tandem jumps were great, but I yearn for that ultimate leap of faith....

Return to the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. My visit to the Johnson Space Center reignited my passion for this kind of thing. The last time I was at Kennedy was in the summer of '77, as a child, and was blown away by everything, especially the prototype of the space shuttle they had.

Visit Dallas, specifically Dealey Plaza and the Book Depository. I've read a lot about the Kennedy assassination, and I just have a need to see these places for myself.

Visit the homelands of my ancestors: Romania, Poland, Austria, and Belarus. Including the former concentration camps where distant cousins of mine were killed. (My ancestors came to the U.S. in the 1880's, but I know from family tree research that relatives and descendants of theirs that stayed in Europe were slaughtered by the Nazis.

Visit Australia. Seems like a fascinating place.

Visit the Playboy Mansion. I mean, come on....it's MADE for me!

Make a soup that doesn't suck. This seems to have been one of my two Achilles heels as a cook.

Make mashed potatoes that don't suck. This is my other one.

Do a brewery tour. (Shockingly, I've never done one.)

Do a rum distillery tour. (Believe it or not, to date I have only ever done one distillery tour, and that was Jack Daniels.)

Find out whatever happened to my ex-fiancée. This is probably the one on this list best left alone.

Get a ride in a helicopter. Preferably one of the chase choppers during the powerboat races down here every November. What a rush that would be!

Try Samuel Adams Utopias beer. Being that it's extremely rare and about $120 or so a bottle, not very likely.

Eat sushi in Japan.

Eat pasta in Italy. And drink their great wine while there.

Eat paella in Spain. And drink their great wine while there.

Run with the bulls in Spain. And drink their great wine while there.

Attend the Tour de France.

Meet Tatiana Maslany, Karen Gillan, and/or Stephanie Izard, all for completely different reasons.

Visit rum-producing countries other than the U.S. and sample their rums there, such as Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Anguilla, Curaçao, Brazil, Cuba, Guyana, Barbados, Bermuda, Peru, Venezuelan, Colombia, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic, to name a few.

[AccountingDrone]

I certainly don't! Besides, it'll be a lot more fun with friends along. I don't suppose you know anyone who speaks Russian? Rumor has it that at the right time of year, you can get a pass on the Russian railroads that lets you get on and off as much as you like for two weeks, and that's the one I want to do, unless that time of year is the absolute dead of winter. I like the snow, but I don't like it THAT much.

You might want to email the person at the link for the Russian train trip, when I was reading info it turns out that only certain types of tourism is government subsidized and the other forms are expensive, and secondly apparently to get a travel visa for Russia you actually have to be invited to visit [which the group that handles their visas manages to do somehow.]

Yes.....i tend to automatically add a C to most aircraft(ive written XCB-70).

I'm not supposed to talk about the details, but a family member who married into the family, was a pilot in an AFR unit. I had my pilots license at the time, but DEAR SWEET FLYING SPAGHETTI MONSTER!!! I wanna go again.

"I feel the need..
The need for speed!"

You want adrenaline loaded fun, hitch a ride in a CH53G and go 'contouring'
<my buddy Chris is flying the rear helicopter>

[Pixilated]

*snip*

Learn every language I possibly can.

Damn, another one I forgot ...

At the moment I'd be glad if I just had the money to travel somewhere

*snip*

I hear ya. Someday ... !

Considering the Arrow was one of 2 (that I know of) where CF-xxx was not the same as F-xxx (other was CF-100 Avro Canuck/F-100 North American Super Sabre), I'm not surprised that you'd automatically (I believe you're in Canada) stick on the "C" prefix.

*snip*

Don't mention the Avro Arrow in front of my uncle ... he worked on it, and of course lost his job, along with everybody else who'd worked on it, when the project was cancelled, for which he has never forgiven John Diefenbaker.

[paintballworker]

I think 90% of Canadian aviation enthusiasts have never forgiven Diefenbaker, the rest have forgotten his name.