# The one thing I want to do before I die ...
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-thing-i-want-to-do-before-i-die/347621
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [March 9, 2006, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-thing-i-want-to-do-before-i-die/347621 "2006-03-09T00:29:53Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@bananablanca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bananablanca)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2006, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-thing-i-want-to-do-before-i-die/347621/1 "2006-03-09T00:29:53Z")
Well, yeah, we all probably have lots of things we feel we should do, but this thread’s about the ONE thing you really WANT to do before you die; that, on your deathbed, you might say “Gee, I sure wish I’d …”
Me? I want to see the Northern Lights. Lived 40 years at a latitude where we had a remote possiblility of seeing them, but I never did; now I live at an “unlikely to see” latitude. I’ve looked into taking a trip to someplace in Alaska, maybe stay a week near Fairbanks - :eek: - well, let’s just say it’s gonna take a while to save for such a trip. But at least it’s doable … someday …
So now your turn - what’s the one thing you want to do before you die?
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### Author:  [@Nancarrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nancarrow)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2006, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-thing-i-want-to-do-before-i-die/347621/2 "2006-03-09T00:35:54Z")
Spend a week in Antarctica.
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### Author:  [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2006, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-thing-i-want-to-do-before-i-die/347621/3 "2006-03-09T00:39:32Z")
See the world. Moreso in the tradtional sense of visiting other countries but seeing it from orbit or beyond would probably be my ultimate dream.
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### Author:  [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2006, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-thing-i-want-to-do-before-i-die/347621/4 "2006-03-09T00:43:50Z")
I’ll go with Austin Powers on this one in the scene where he met Fook-Mi and Fook-Yu. 😃
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### Author:  [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2006, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-thing-i-want-to-do-before-i-die/347621/5 "2006-03-09T00:45:47Z")
Go to Machu Pichu.
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### Author:  [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2006, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-thing-i-want-to-do-before-i-die/347621/6 "2006-03-09T00:48:58Z")
Paint a self-portrait.
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### Author:  [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2006, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-thing-i-want-to-do-before-i-die/347621/7 "2006-03-09T00:54:10Z")
I’m with **Aesiron**. Before I die, I want to see all those places I’ve read about and seen on tv and in movies. I want to go to historical places and imagine the thousands of years of history embedded those walls.
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### Author:  [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2006, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-thing-i-want-to-do-before-i-die/347621/8 "2006-03-09T01:28:37Z")
1. Celebrate my 150th birthday.
2. Write and publish a book.
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### Author:  [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2006, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-thing-i-want-to-do-before-i-die/347621/9 "2006-03-09T01:36:21Z")
> [@Winston Smith](#):
>
> Paint a self-portrait.
“Build a house.”
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### Author:  [@Mayo\_Speaks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mayo_Speaks)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2006, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-thing-i-want-to-do-before-i-die/347621/10 "2006-03-09T01:58:03Z")
Be in a rock band. One show, in front of 50 people, that would be enough.
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### Author:  [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2006, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-thing-i-want-to-do-before-i-die/347621/11 "2006-03-09T02:17:24Z")
> [@bananablanca](#):
>
> Me? I want to see the Northern Lights.
I thought that very thing on seeing your thread title. We saw them once here in Seattle in the late '70’s. They were mostly faint and only came in green but they were still mesmerizing to me. I’d love to go to Alaska and see them really put on a show! Wow!
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### Author:  [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2006, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-thing-i-want-to-do-before-i-die/347621/12 "2006-03-09T04:59:48Z")
I want to see England and Scotland and Wales, where my ancestors are from. I don’t have any living family over there, but I still want to go. I also want to go to Liverpool and do The Beatles tour and stand in front of the house where Paul McCartney grew up. I want to walk up Penny Lane to the roundabout. I want to go to London and have my picture taken walking across Abbey Road, but that’s not all. I want to see Stonehenge. I want to see non-touristy places too, and just experience the way it is there.
I just mentioned this to my wife, and she wants to do it, too. So we will, one of these days.
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### Author:  [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2006, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-thing-i-want-to-do-before-i-die/347621/13 "2006-03-09T08:21:17Z")
I want desparately to see the northern lights before I die. I spent 12 years in South Dakota and didn’t see them a single time.
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### Author:  [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2006, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-thing-i-want-to-do-before-i-die/347621/14 "2006-03-09T08:44:13Z")
Two chicks at once.
j/k been there done that…
Seriously though, I think space travel would rank up there.
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### Author:  [@SurrenderDorothy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SurrenderDorothy)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2006, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-thing-i-want-to-do-before-i-die/347621/15 "2006-03-09T09:15:02Z")
Be in a movie or a regular network television show. Even a reality show or a commercial. Not a televised mass or a PSA or any public access type thing- a REAL TV show.
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### Author:  [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2006, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-thing-i-want-to-do-before-i-die/347621/16 "2006-03-09T09:23:04Z")
I want to sit under a tree in a Bornean jungle and watch orang-utans playing in the branches above.
Is that much to ask of this life?
😛
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### Author:  [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2006, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-thing-i-want-to-do-before-i-die/347621/17 "2006-03-09T14:29:59Z")
Write a book. If I don’t find any publisher, I’ll publish it myself.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2006, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-thing-i-want-to-do-before-i-die/347621/18 "2006-03-09T14:38:30Z")
Find a way to live forever.
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### Author:  [@vertizontal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vertizontal)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2006, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-thing-i-want-to-do-before-i-die/347621/19 "2006-03-09T15:36:59Z")
be the host of **Saturday Night Live**
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### Author:  [@gooftroopag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gooftroopag)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2006, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-thing-i-want-to-do-before-i-die/347621/20 "2006-03-09T16:13:52Z")
I really want to have a family, BAD. Must-have-babies! That would probably be my biggest disappointment if I never had any.
Outside of that I’d really like to take part on an archeaological dig and travel.
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