The traveller:

Christie Peucker is a 30-year-old Australian with a penchant for random adventures and a willingness to hop on a plane at every opportunity.

She’s been married by Elvis in Vegas, accidentally argued with a member of the royal family, made it her life’s ambition to finish a Rubik’s Cube in under 10 seconds and is absolutely defiant she will never get wisdom teeth despite what her dentist (and x-rays) has to say.

She rates one of the best days of her life as eating gelato with random strangers in a park in Florence and believes she is most happy when travelling at 32,000 ft.

The dream:

I love a good list. Long or short, there is nothing more therapeutic than a sharp pencil grinding into a piece of paper as it crosses off one more completed task; that sound of lead scraping onto the page with authority as if chanting Veni, Vidi, Vici (I came, I saw, I conquered) Julius Caesar-style. It’s satisfaction, right there.

When I meet someone for the first time I immediately start making a list. It’s not a list noting the car they drive, or how big their house is, or how many friends they have on Facebook. I note down where they’ve been. What experiences they’ve had that I haven’t, but want to. Then I mentally slot the list away for another time. 30 Days for 30 Years is my list, a bucket list of sorts, formed over a couple of years reading, influences and curiosity.

Making it happen:

In late 2010, I was living in Melbourne. And I was miserable. Sure I had a great flat and a great bunch of friends but I also had a job that never gave any time to enjoy them. My life was consumed by work that gave me very little reward. Frankly, I was a little lost.

Then one day one of my best mates Adam was diagnosed with cancer. At the age of 30. Here was a guy I had travelled the world with, who had a crazy tumour in his stomach and who wasn’t sure if he would see his son’s first birthday. It puts life into rather harsh perspective.

So I made a choice. I got busy living. I quit my job on a whim and within two weeks I’d packed up all my possessions, chucked them into storage, and moved back to Adelaide with my parents. I got a new job, which I loved, and set about getting my life back to where I wanted it to be.

I saved every cent I could thanks to the generosity of my parents letting me live rent-free, and I sat in front of my trusted Mac for four months trying to plan this hair-brained adventure despite the allure of nights out, birthdays, weddings and interstate trips. Life is about sacrifices after all.