Drive a sports car on the Autobahn (Germany).

The autobahns are a series of highways in Germany. They're pretty standard as far as highways go: long, flat, tolls, go fast! The difference is that there's no real speed limit in certain sections, and no limits on overtaking. You can read about them here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_autobahns. Interestingly, the rate of fatalities per vehicle on the autobahns is actually less than HALF of the equivalent rate in the United States. I guess we suck at driving. Time to put that to the test!

A flight to Munich for next week costs about a grand: http://www.kayak.com/#/flights/RNO-MUC/2012-05-01/2012-05-08. Okay, no sweat.

What about driving a car in Europe? Do I need to get a driver's license, or is my U.S. license good? I need to get an International Driver's Permit. They're available at AAA and cost $25.00, they last 6 months. Works for me! http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/can-one-drive-in-europe-with-us-license.cfm.

The sports car rental is apparently pretty easy to come by as well! This website has a long list of luxury cars for rent: http://www.drivetravel.com/statesupplier.aspx?pagename=elite_luxury_car_hire_germany_&supplier_id=75&country_id=83. I personally would choose the bright red 700-horsepower Lamborghini Aventador: http://www.aventador.com/. Its 6.5L V12 goes from 0 to 60 in 2.9 seconds, and can achieve a maximum speed of 217 miles per hour.  It costs 3800 Euros per day, which is $4985.98 at a SPOT exchange rate of 1.3121 Dollars per Euro.

Total Costs:

• Flight to Munich - $1015
• International Driver's Permit - $25
• Rental of Lamborghini Aventador - $4585.98
• Total - $5625.98

Yeah, this one's going to have to wait 'til I'm older and established enough to blow ~5500 in a weekend. 

Drive a sports car on the Autobahn!

Cost: $5625.98

Time: 1 week

Feasibility: 10 out of 10

Buy a round for an entire bar in Ireland.

This one is fun. I've never been to Ireland, but I grew up near Boston and have met my fair share of Irish people. Things I share with Irish people:

• A love of beer
• An affinity for castles
• The ability to dance

Good enough for me! According to Kayak.com, it would cost about $850 to fly from Reno to Dublin two weeks from today. http://www.kayak.com/#/flights/RNO-DUB/2012-05-01/2012-05-08. That's not bad!

Let's assume our Irish pub has 30 patrons, and a pint of Guinness costs approximately 5 Euros. At a current exchange rate of 1.3116 Dollars to Euros, each pint costs $6.558.

Total Costs:

• Round-trip flight to Dublin - $850
• Miscellaneous transportation to pub - $50
• Beers for patrons of pub - 30 x 6.558 = $196.74 
• Total: $1100

It seems easy, honestly. I could get up and do this next week!

Buy a round for an entire bar in Ireland!
Cost: $1100
Time: 1 week
Feasibility: 10 out of 10

BASE Jumping.

BASE Jumping is like sky diving, but instead of having the luxury of jumping out of an airplane at 30,000 feet and having several minutes of free fall, you have as low as a few hundred feet, and only a second or two to pull your chute. You jump off a cliff or building, and you can easily fall into stuff or fuck up your chute. Here's a video of Sketchy Andy doing a backflip off a cliff while BASE jumping, messing it up, running into a wall, and nearly busting his ass on the landing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZqFsG-vkAc#t=03m59s

Needless to say, the margin of error is miniscule. That's basically all I know about BASE Jumping. So let's talk specifics. How is my usually-gravity-averse ass going to wake up one day and jump off a cliff? Outside Magazine has a write-up about learning to BASE jump: http://www.outsideonline.com/adventure-travel/adventure-adviser/Where-can-I-learn-to-BASE-jump-nrg.html. According to them, there's a place in West Virginia that will teach you for $400. Not bad, except one of the requirements is that you have completed 100 standard airplane-style skydives first. All the other places in the Outside Magazine article require that you already be a skydiver.

So how do I become a sky diver? According to the US Parachute Association, you need to take safety courses, and do at least 25 solo jumps, before you can take the test for your "A License". http://www.uspa.org/BecomeaSkydiver/KeepSkydiving/tabid/350/Default.aspx
The first jump needs to be tandem, and it costs about 200 bucks. There's a place in my city (a sketchy one, I've heard) that lets you jump for 100 bucks. From start to finish it will take at least a month. Next, I estimate the cost (not including travel to WV for the training course, let's just assume there's one nearby).

Total Costs:

• First tandem dive - $200
• Solo dives - $100 x 25 = $2500
• BASE Jumping course - $400
• Total = $3100

Not bad, I guess! As a poor, busy college student, the price is prohibitive. This item on the bucket list is going to have to wait until I'm making good money, and can devote every weekend for 6 months to learning to skydive. Definitely feasible, though!

BASE Jumping!

Cost: At least $3100

Time: At least 6 months

Feasibility: 6 out of 10

The Complete Bucket List Project

I thought of this project in the shower one morning. I had a couple of ideas, and later that night I talked about it with my friends. Soon, we had a 200-point list of awesome, exciting stuff to do! Extraordinary stuff, that would either give us a great story to tell, or outright kill us. Fun!

My friends and I come from an extreme sports background, so you will find a lot of the stuff on the list is X-TREME!!! That's a good thing. You've gotta push yourself out of your comfort zone, right? The list contains travel, adventure, sex, sports, mischief, culture, and danger. In this blog, I will describe each of our bucket list plans in detail, including costs, locations, logistics, and rate the plans in terms of feasibility.

GO HARD!