New Years Resolutions / Bucket List for 2016

2015 has been a rollercoster of a year, it was amazing for us all in many ways, with lots of bumps along the way.  For me,  my blog has grown from strength to strength. Even though we are approaching year 2 of my blog, life being so hectic, this year was the first year  I really got to focus on my blog!  And after 1 full years effort, I am so pleased on how the blog has developed!  But I want 2016 to be even bigger, not just for the blog, for our travels, our family and our health!  So I decided to make New Years Resolutions / bucket list of things we want to do this year and see how we get along on the way.

Travel

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I cannot be a true traveller and not have travel as one of our main focuses for 2016.  Since the arrival of the little adventurers we usually have one big holiday abroad and several smaller holidays in the UK.  I have decided that this year we will be a little more organised with our travel plans and mix it up a little.

    • Make our travel more meaningful.  Anywhere we are going I want to get the children involved in the history, culture and learning about the place and whilst we are there to try to make it as meaningful and memorable as we can.
    • Visit 5 countries in the year, not set on which ones these are but think a combination of big holiday and small would allow this.
    • Visit 5 different cities in the UK which we haven’t visited before (well as a family of 5)
    • I want to go camping and get outdoors more with the little adventurers
  • Go on a weekend break with the extended family (at my mums there are more than 25 people!)
  • Catch a ferry and take a road trip
  • take the train as a family to somewhere, and have an adventure there
  • get out a map and get the children to close their eyes and choose somewhere on the map and actually go there for a mini break.
  • Disneyland Paris, the boy adventurers really want to go so we need to make it happen!
  • stay in a different accommodation that we haven’t stayed in yet.  We have a few to try from beach huts, to yurts, or a railway carriage!
  • We renewed our Merlin Passes and to use them
  • Attractions in the UK we want to see this year are:
  1. Stonehenge
  2. Natural History Museum (London)
  3. Natural History Museum (Oxford)
  4. Fruit picking in a field
  5. Weekend family festival
  6. Tower Bridge London
  7. Climb Pendle Hill
  8. Get to the top of one of the main mountains in the UK
  9. take the little adventurers to an outdoor attraction like Go Ape or
  10. take a safari (you can do these in the UK)
  11. Maya and her dad to have a zoo keeper day.
  12. west end show in London
  13. visit the Roald Dahl museum
  14. See the white cliffs of Dover
  15. visit 5 National Trust sites
  16. Take the little adventurers to the museums in North West, we have so many fantastic museums and I think they are often overlooked.

Health

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    • I want to lose 10 kgs this year and finally get to be a size that I want to be and actually keep the weight off
    • Complete at least 1 round of Couch to 5K, 2 would be the fantastic.
    • Learn to swim

Family

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  • Give my adventurers as many cuddles as possible and tell them a lot more regularly that I love them.
  • 15 minutes a day: 5 minutes when they wake up, 5 minutes when I pick them up from school and 5 minutes before they go to sleep.  To sit down and actually listen to them tell their stories and enjoy our little adventurers.  These are often the times that are most rushed so I want to get into the habit of doing this everyday, to sit back and reflect and actually be part of it.
  • Become less shouty parents.  I am not sure when we became like this, maybe its lack of time, always being tired but 2016 I want to turn this around and stop shouting so much.
  • Have more one on one parent time with the little adventurers.  Whether it is taking them out for the day, getting a bite to eat but just with one little adventurer so they have out full attention for that time.
  • say yes more often! I find myself saying no a lot of the time and want this to change.

Family time

  • Maya and Raihan to learn to ride a bike
  • Fly a kite
  • Friday evening to be family time, so big blankets, family films, popcorns and board games galore
  • Let the children choose one activity a month that they want to do and make it happen.
  • Learn about our local history in a hands on way.
  • Doc is a science geek and wants to get the children into science, so watch this space for our new science based adventures 🙂

Doc

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Doc works tirelessly for our family and spends his every waking moment making sure we are all smiling, so I want 2016 to be big focus on him and his well being.

  • Go out with his friends at least once a month (if not more often)
  • Give him time (and encouragement) to complete the courses that he has started.
  • Help him establish the few schemes that he has been planning for the last few years and be on hand to support him in the way he does for all of us.
  • Remind Doc how much we love him and how amazing he is.

Blog

  • To get better at blogging about things as we do them! My blog write up list is crazy and I need to do it much quicker.
  • I want to go back to why I started to blog.  We love to travel and we wanted somewhere where we can share our love of travel, our adventures and if by doing so we inspire others then it’s a job well done.
  • I want to get into improve my rank in a few of the charts that I enrol on. Yes, I start achieving good erections after about an hour and yes, I could repeat the experience a week or two later, and the side effects was more of a slight annoyance than bothering pain. I got blue tinted vision for about 2 hours. It was all dream-like 😀 Viagra http://hesca.net/viagra/ seems a fine choice for me, but I wouldn’t really know not trying other such drugs. Not because I am particularly concerned  about figures but to show that I can be up there with the other blogs, and doing well in these reflects in some ways on how well your blog does.
  • I want to increase the number of subscribers on my blog. I have never really focused on this and I really want to get my subscribers to a reasonable number.
  • I want to get better at taking good pictures, these are the
  • To really build my niche in own my area.  I want to both a family blogger but also a muslim travel blogger.

Wealth

  • I am the spendthrift of the family and want 2016 to be the year I cut back on the spending,.
  • To establish my own stream of income.  We have been a one income family since 2011 and things are always really tight so want to change this and be less dependent on Doc.
  • Start saving for our RTW trip.  We are hoping to travel RTW in 2018, so watch this space.

What are your resolutions for the year?  We’d love to hear them!

Nisbah

I am a traveller, mother and blogger. We love to go on adventures (big and small, near and far) and strive to show our children how amazing and beautiful the world is! I caught the travel bug many moons ago and despite having three little adventurers, I still suffer from "itchy" feet. We love the great outdoors and one another. Come and join the fun :)

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10 Responses

  1. This is a fantastic list – so many could be on mine too. It’s really inspiring to see them all written down too. Looking forward to seeing how you get on.

    • Nisbah says:

      Thanks Cathy, it felt very good to write them down. Last years list was very wishy washy so this year I thought I would set up more meaningful and direct resolutions. We have started well with watching Percy Jackson and reading Greek Myths in preparation for Athens:)

  2. Amera says:

    Found ur blogging site through a friend and ever since I’ve been hooked! We share so many similarities! Love ur list! Really looking forward to seeing how u get on and wht adventurers I will try as a result !

    • Nisbah says:

      Oh Amera, thanks for such a lovely comment 🙂 Glad you find the site useful, if you have any suggestions of posts you would like to read let me know 🙂 Hopefully we will get quite a few of these done this year 🙂

  3. Tahira says:

    A fantastic list. 2016 is the year I want to get back into travelling properly. Look forward to reading your blogs for inspiration! We want to start local so if you have any experiences and ideas for yorkshire please do share them xx

    • Nisbah says:

      Hi Tahira, thanks so much for reading, if you have any questions, just drop me a facebook message and I will help you plan your adventures as much as I can 🙂

  4. This is a really fantastic and varied list and love that you have included things for your husband too. I love the idea of visiting 5 different counties, and getting the kids more involved in choosing the activities. I always find that I am always the one choosing where to go on days out and holidays xx

    • Nisbah says:

      Oh Tracey, thanks so much for your lovely comment. I am quite disorganised and once things are written down it makes it a lot easier to focus and plan! I had to include the hubby, i think the last 7 years have been a little bit of a whirlwind and with him being the only income in the family for so long I think we have often overlooked him. 2016, will be the change!

  5. This is a fab list. I can’t wait to see what travels you get booked in, you are so adventurous in your choices. I really admire you all. #mondayescapes

    • Nisbah says:

      hahahah, you say adventurous my brothers say crazy! We are nothing if not a little off the beaten track. Maya has decided we need to visit Pakistan so watch this space….. I hadn’t planned on that trip for a few years but lets see what 2016 brings!

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