One Bucket at a time..

Checking off Alice’s Bucket List is no easy task. It’s filled with generous portions of extreme adventures and it comes with a mission to check off at least one a year! To name a few I’ve been lucky enough to scratch off would include: √ trekking to Everest Base Camp through Tibet, √ swimming with Humpback Whales in Tonga, √ snorkeling with hundreds of Whale Sharks in Mexico, √ climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, √ my first liveaboard experience in the incredible Komodo Islands, √ mud wrestling in the Irvine Lake Mud Run, √ road tripping for 6200 miles on the back of a Harley from LA to Alaska, √ backpacking with my mom and sister through Thailand and Borneo, and the list goes on. Now, here I am,  ready to embark on yet another fun filled adventure of which I hope will include: riding through the Egyptian desert on a camel, running to the top of a Pyramid, diving the Red Sea with hundreds of hammerheads, having a romantic Mediterranean island love affair, rock climbing limestone cliffs in Kalymnos, devouring an incredible 5 course meal in Prague catching up with old friends and volunteering at the Mtdendere orphanage in Malawi. I leave for my trip on June 12th and won’t return for another 7 glorious weeks. But, wait, there’s more to this story…

Let’s go back a couple of months and visualize me sitting home alone. Bummed out. Lack of work, lack of love in my life, lack of air conditioning in my apartment. I’m a sweaty mess that can’t seem to make a move off the couch and I can’t help but start scrolling through my frequent flyer options. I’m on the hunt for incredible climbing meets outstanding diving. Kalymnos, Greece comes to mind with some diving in the Red Sea, not a bad combo I think. Flights are doable, economy savers abundant and being of Libra mind, which means making committed decisions is not exactly a strength, I chose to accomplish something for the day and figured this would be a good a time as any! Commitment made for a one way to Cairo!  For sure auditions and work would be pouring down on me in no time! Unfortunately, and to my surprise, that was not quite the case. Wavering on the return flight, I made a stop at my agent’s office at Sports and Lifestyles Unlimited. Karen Osborn proposed, once again, that I join her in Malawi on a volunteer mission at the Mtdendere Orphanage and help kids through sports. It’s been 5 years that she’s asked me to come along, and it’s never really felt like the right time. I left her office promising I’d check into flights, but felt the odds were near impossible.  No way would I find a one way for 40,000 or less from Africa! Funny enough it turns out that the saver flights from Europe just vanished! Gone! Poof! Two days ago there were tons of options from Athens and Istanbul and Prague and now nothing! How is that possible? Malawi shows up with ONE 40,000 mile option on the day everyone is leaving, August 7th. I sat there staring at it for a good two hours and then had no other choice but to commit! It was meant to be? No? Did phone calls and bookings happen soon after like they usually do? Nope. Nada. Nothing. I”m actually meant to go on this trip? wow.  Then….

I meet this very handsome and rugged, Australian, named Simon Potter at the Taurus Stunt Awards. We hit it off and think hanging out some time would be a great idea. We waste no time – our first date was 2 days later: Paddle boarding in Malibu with a bright and early start (love working out early in the morning – he got bonus points for that btw),  late breakfast on the beach, followed by 2 hours of hardcore boxing at 818 Boxing Gym, and then a fabulous dinner with mutual friends. Not a bad first date huh? Two days later we hang out again, and again it’s fantastic. Why am I meeting him now that I”m going away for 7 weeks? At this point my trip is 3 weeks away. After going into detail about my trip, he says he’s always wanted to hit up Europe and I said, “The you should join me!” Ha! Little did I know – he’s not of Libra mind.  3 days later I get a text saying: “Jet ski sold. check. subletter found. check. Let’s do this! Can we sit down to buy my ticket tomorrow? ” I couldn’t believe it! How fun! But there’s more! When we were looking at tickets, flying to Cairo from LAX was quite a bit cheaper than flying into Europe. But I had myself booked on a livaboard on the Red Sea the day I landed. He took one glimpse at the website and without a doubt wanted in on that too.  I sent the Blue Voyager an email asking if there were any rooms left since I was sharing a cabin with another female. The reply was that there was one cabin left but it was on hold till that night at midnight. If they didn’t book it, it would be ours. We woke up at 6am to a wonderful email saying it’s ours! So it looks like we will be starting our journey with a 5 hour bus ride from Cairo to Hurghada, with I”m sure some crazy taxi rides in between, and hopefully checking off diving with hundreds of hammerheads in our first few days on board! Here’s the link to the “boat”- haha – JT would kill me!  www.blueotwo.com – The Blue Voyager and the link to Simon Potter’s blog: http://newcastle76.tumblr.com Wish us luck and stay tuned!…