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2021 New Year Resolutions, Goals & Travels Plans

After my 2020 recap  it’s time to look towards 2021 and what I want to achieve with my year. New Year Resolutions should be so much more than some novelty pledge to give up chocolate for a month or two. This is our life. A one-shot chance to chase our dreams. I don’t want to waste it, and neither should you. Sure 2020 was tough. But rather than feel sorry for ourselves, let’s use that energy and make 2021 something special. A watershed year where you crystallise what you want from life. And a year that you’re brave enough to own your dreams and desires. That means risking failure. Something I panic about daily. But the alternative is worse. So I urge you guys to write down your 2021 plans. And don’t start small. That some ‘woke’ millennial nonsense. Aim big and mean it. With that in mind, here is how I plan to attack 2021:

Goals for 2021

Row across the Atlantic

Probably my 2nd biggest adventure I will experience in 2021 (getting married being first!). I’ll row the Atlantic, starting in February, 100% unsupported. 4 guys, 2 hours rowing, 2 hours resting, 24 hours a day, for 7 weeks. In a tiny boat, with no support boat etc. We’re trying to raise $200k for men’s mental health (wearehumen.org) and Dean Farm Trust about making cruelty free choices. The boat is completely meat free, so let’s get this plant powered thing to Antigua BABY! More info here. And here. 

Start building my house in Chiang Mai

I bought the land in 2020. Now is time to start the build. It’s going to be my pride and joy. After 9 years of living in a small (but nice) condo in Bangkok, and all my money invested in stuff to keep me afloat if the blogging game ever dies, it’s time to build something I want. I’m in saving mode at the moment, and I’m still over $100,000USD short in paying for it. I have to find a way to figure it out. The goal is to start building at some point during 2021and have the money in place to see it through to completion. 

Get Married & Go On Honeymoon

I got engaged to Jaa in French Polynesia in 2019, and had planned to get married in Chiang Mai, Thailand in November 2020. That was postponed to February 2021 due to COVID, but then COVID didn’t disappear. SO we postponed again (thankfully, as I’ll be rowing somewhere across the Atlantic Ocean as it turns out!). Now, we don’t know when or where we’ll do it in 2021. We don’t know if people can come or not. But we’re going to do it regardless. Time to move on with life, and stop letting COVID leave us in limbo.

Increase my net worth by $100k

My yearly goal. I’m not so confident about this in 2021, to be honest. I’ll be stripping ALL my investments to pay for my house so I won’t make any more there. I’ll be on a rowing boat for 2 months so won’t make much money then! And travel isn’t ‘back’ properly yet, but I’ll try. The one thing I hope though is that the house I build should be worth more than I pay to build it, but that won’t be realised until it’s finished, and that won’t be until 2022.

Run a sub-40 min 10k or a sub 3.30 marathon

I failed in my 2020 goal to run a ‘proper’ marathon, instead choosing to do the Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai 200km ultramarathon. This year, if a lot of travel is still on hold, I’ll try to train for either a super fast 10k, or a sub 3 hour 30-minute marathon. The 10k time would probably take about 3 months training I think. The marathon, more like 4-6 months. Eeeek.

Travel Plans for 2021

Right then, let’s see. Last year I wrote my 2020 travel plans and I barely got to do a quarter of those! So I write my 2021 travel plans here HOPING that the vaccine works, there is no crazy COVID mutation, and the world goes back to normal throughout 2021. 

Lanzarote to Antigua

The row! I explained that above. I’ve never been to Lanzarote or any of the Canary islands. And with the delay of my Ocean Row, I’ll probably be in Lanzarote and other islands for up to 5 weeks. I should get a chance to explore, that’ll be a pleasant release after the stress of 2020.

Tanzania Marathon with my mum; Serengeti and Zanzibar!

Right, I haven’t officially launched this yet BUT let’s consider this a soft launch. I’m doing my next big adventure trip for people of all ages and abilities to Tanzania in November 2021. The whole info on the trip is here, but the schedule is basically a 5km, 10km, half-marathon or marathon (that’s up to you) for charity, followed by a 3 day safari in the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater, and then finally 3 days in Zanzibar to relax in paradise and celebrate! When in Arusha, Tanzania (where the whole adventure starts), we’ll visit out Mudita Adventures school that we’ve been helping build over the last 4 years and donate a lot of stuff that they need. It should be a beautiful trip and I’m hoping a lot of our last onestep4ward charity crew that we climbed Mount Fuji in Japan with will maybe come with us again!

Honeymoon to The Cook Islands (And Niue?)

FINALLY, get married. Probably in Thailand. And then the honeymoon. Perhaps in the Cook Islands. Or maybe Sicily, Italy. Let’s see what COVID allows.

Socotra Tour

My favourite place in the world! I had a trip planned for January 2021. But had to postpone. I’m hoping to get that back up and running at some point in 2021. April/May perhaps, but more realistically it’ll be towards the end of the year in November or December. Message me to join!

Final thoughts on my 2021 Resolutions

I’m writing this from Whitely Bay in the UK. Next week I’ll fly to Lanzarote and check out the Canary Islands for the first time. A couple of months on a row boat, then I will hopefully be in the Caribbean, in Antigua. From there, back to the UK to sort out paperwork (and probably quarantine) for my return to Thailand in April.

From then on, I would have loved to climb Mount Denali in Alaska, USA. But it’s just not fair on my partner when I only return in April, so I’ll have to wait for that until next year I guess. I’ll speed my time back in Thailand planning the Tanzania trip, my wedding and honeymoon and another tour to Socotra. And in the 2nd half of 2021, let’s hope we can travel freely, and then we can squeeze even more stuff in!