Summary of My ’26 Before 26′ Birthday Goals Around the World
THIS HAS BEEN, without a doubt, the best year of my life. Before leaving on our trip around the world I made a list of goals (as I do each year) of 26 things I wanted to do before my 26th birthday on July 12th. Here are some photographs highlighting my favorite things I experienced and accomplished from my birthday goal list.
![](https://deliberatewanderer.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/hammocks-1024x681.jpg)
I slept in a hammock in the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil
![I wrote and submitted to 10 different publications and contests.](https://deliberatewanderer.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/IMG_4028-e1436988580695-1024x1024.jpg)
I wrote and submitted to 10 different publications and contests (this was the journal from Florence I filled from the Camino de Santiago).
![I'm lucky to have so many great friends and family. I had a goal to stay connected with them on the trip and feel I did the best I could given distance. I also made a lot of new great friends.](https://deliberatewanderer.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Wedding-Rachel-Austin-74-1024x683.jpg)
I’m lucky to have so many great friends and family. I had a goal to stay connected with them on the trip and feel I did the best I could given distance. I also made a lot of new great friends.
![I successfully found fish I didn't hate in the Amazon.](https://deliberatewanderer.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/pirranhacooked-1024x716.jpg)
I successfully found fish I didn’t hate in the Amazon.
![I completed my marriage around the world research project.](https://deliberatewanderer.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/IMG_3187-1024x819.jpg)
I completed the field part of my marriage around the world research project.
![We made it to Machu Picchu!](https://deliberatewanderer.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/DSC_9616-1024x681.jpg)
We made it to Machu Picchu!
Of course, we experienced so much more not pictured than I ever could have predicted when I drafted these goals a year ago. Here’s to a new year and my ’27 Before 27′ birthday goals!