My life dreams

• Mountains Mont Blanc, 4,808 m First time in crampons on the Mer de Glace. Five days later, the summit at dawn. September 2015
• Water & sky Paragliding licence, then solo on my own glider A flight over Lake Annecy at golden hour is now a normal evening. Done
• Trades & skills Motorbike licence Passed in Japan. The Vietnam trip in 2013 was on a bike I had learned to ride three days before. Japan, 2023
• Mountains Kilimanjaro, 5,895 m Uhuru Peak at sunrise. First of the Seven Summits. January 2026

• Mountains The Seven Summits Kilimanjaro is in the bag. Aconcagua stopped me at 6,500 m in 2025 and is owed a second go. 1 of 7
• Mountains All 82 Alpine four-thousanders Mont Blanc, Breithorn, Weissmies and the Matterhorn so far. A lifetime project, and that is the point. 4 of 82

• Mountains Everest, 8,849 m The one everyone asks about. It comes after the 6,000s and 7,000s, not before.
• Mountains Annapurna, 8,091 m The first 8,000 m peak ever climbed, and still one of the hardest.
• Mountains Lenin Peak, 7,134 m The classic first 7,000er, on the Kyrgyz–Tajik border. Altitude with no technical excuse.
• Mountains Two months in Nepal, climbing 6,000 m peaks Not a trek. Island Peak, Lobuche, Mera, one after the other, with time to acclimatise properly.
• Mountains Cross the Pyrenees on the GR10 Atlantic to Mediterranean on foot. About 900 km and 50,000 m of climbing.
• Mountains A season working in a mountain refuge Carry, cook, wake the climbers at 3 am. See the mountain from the other side of the counter.
• Journeys Cross Mongolia on horseback I have been to Mongolia. Next time, the steppe the way the nomads cross it.
• Journeys The Pan-American Highway, end to end Alaska to Tierra del Fuego in a camper van. The Darién Gap is part of the problem to solve.
• Journeys Cycle from France to Japan Home to home, the long way. Both places I live, joined by one road.
• Journeys Cycle across France Corner to corner. A warm-up for the long one, and a way to see my own country slowly.
• Journeys Walk the Via Alpina Trieste to Monaco through eight countries. The whole Alpine arc under my feet.
• Journeys Walk the Pacific Crest Trail Mexico to Canada, 4,265 km. Five months of walking, which I know I can do.
• Journeys Every monastery in France, on foot The Camino in 2013 started this. A slower project, in pieces, over years.
• Journeys A season in Antarctica on a scientific mission Not a cruise. Join a research station for a season and live there.
• Water & sky Cross the Atlantic on a sailboat Crew on a transat. Three weeks of ocean and no land.
• Water & sky Sail around the world, starting in France The one that needs everything else first: the licence, the miles, the years.
• Water & sky Fly a paraglider from the summit of Mont Blanc Climb it again, this time with a wing in the pack. Land in Chamonix for lunch.
• Water & sky Private pilot licence, and keep flying Not just the licence. Fly often enough that it stays a skill and not a certificate.
• Water & sky Skydiving licence, then 50 jumps Paragliding taught me the air is a place. Now the fast version.
• Water & sky Motor boat licence Lake Annecy is right there. Also the first step towards the sailing.
• Water & sky Become a dive master, then a dive instructor From diver to the person others trust underwater.
• Water & sky Dive with sharks Thresher sharks at Malapascua were a start. Next, the big ones, without a cage.
• Trades & skills Learn plumbing Enough to fit a bathroom myself and never call anyone for a leak again.
• Trades & skills Learn the basics of electricity Wire a new home, safely, and understand what is behind the wall.
• Trades & skills Get first-aid certified Overdue for someone who spends this much time far from help.
• Trades & skills Study cooking for a year and pass the diploma A real kitchen, a real exam. The CAP, or the Japanese equivalent.
• Trades & skills Learn bread and croissants in a bakery Early mornings with a baker, then make them at home until they are right.
• Trades & skills Work in a flower shop Learn the craft from people who do it every day. Come out able to make a proper bouquet.
• Arts & culture Launch a podcast Long conversations with the people whose experience and intelligence I value most. With a running invitation list, and a curious mind.
• Arts & culture Write my family's story Interview everyone while they are here to be interviewed. Write it down before it is gone.
• Arts & culture Learn the guitar Well enough to play for people, not just for myself.
• Arts & culture Learn to sing properly Lessons, technique, the works. In tune and without apologising first.
• Arts & culture Act in a play again I did theatre once. Get back on a stage with a real company and a real audience.
• Arts & culture Become a better public speaker Lessons, and the discipline to cut the filler words for good.
• Arts & culture Learn the art of the Renaissance Enough to walk into the Uffizi and know what I am looking at, and why it mattered.
• Arts & culture A history degree at the Sorbonne The proper way, with the exams. Later in life, when there is time to read everything.
• Nature & mind Know the plants and trees around home Every tree and flower on the paths above Annecy, by name, in French and Latin.
• Nature & mind Learn to find mushrooms Which ones, where, and when. Come home from a walk with dinner.
• Nature & mind Get good at fly fishing Catch fish in the lakes and rivers of the Alps, on purpose rather than by luck.
• Nature & mind Know the night sky The constellations and the planets from any bivouac, without an app.
• Nature & mind A season in the alpages A summer with the sheep and the cows and the people who move them. The Alps at walking pace.
• Nature & mind A silent retreat in a French monastery A Catholic place full of beauty and calm. A week of not talking, and seeing what is left.
• Nature & mind A week without a phone, then a month Two stages. The week is the test; the month is the point.

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