I rang in my 28th this year at a burlesque themed bar in Clapham Junction knocking back mojitos while serenaded by a Frank Sinatra impersonator doing his best rendition of New York, New York; and a faux Liza Minelli, who put on a show stopper as she performed iconic scenes from Cabaret.
The following day I thought to myself, 'good that's another bar ticked off the list'. As since venturing into the tail end of my twenties, I have started to panic. I have felt this great pressure of not letting life slip by; and to combat this I have to visit all the hippest bars, restaurants and clubs I've ever heard of before hitting that oblivion of turning 30.
While my rational self knows that of course I can still do all of these things after 30, right now that doesn't matter, as I have to make sure that I can say that I did it all and had the time of my life in my twenties.
Reaching this age has also thrown up a lot of other questions for myself, 'am I on the right career path?', 'should I start thinking about settling down?' and 'have I done enough travelling?'
These questions along with a few other factors - recently ending a long term relationship and being made redundant at work - has made me decide that this is the time to go off and experience more of the world. As I'm definitely not going to be settling down any time soon, I now have the time and money from my severance to go and do it, plus I have to make sure I can say I did it all in my twenties!
I have always had a bit of a regret of never doing the whole gap year thing earlier on in my life too. I spent most of my student life being so skint that I couldn't wait to start earning straight away, and didn't think about other possible avenues and opportunities awaiting abroad.
Now because I have already started to climb the career ladder, I have decided that I don't want to just back pack. I want to use this trip as a way to gain worthwhile, unique and CV enhancing experience.
STA Travel group managing director John Constable told the Student Times he thought this year many more people will opt to travel and gain skills and experience this way, as oppose to attending university due to rising tuition fees.
He said: "Young people have used travel to broaden their horizons for many years, however this avenue has become more formalised with many young people incorporating some sort of skill and CV-boosting activity while they're away."
Stuart McLachlan, from gap year travel specialist GapGuru, told Year Out Group that he also thought there will be a growth in gap years perceived as worthwhile and beneficial career-wise.
He said: "Things like teaching abroad, conservation projects and internships may become more popular, as they offer the potential for participants to build new skills and confidence and add unique experience to their CV."
Richard Carpenter, Managing Partner for digital communication agency MerchantCantos, who has incorporated a volunteering initiative alongside his employees' work routine, indicated that voluntary work is looked at favourably when hiring staff.
He said: "We like to hire people from a rounded background so a breadth of experience is always welcome. Seeing that people have worked or volunteered for charitable entities outside of their traditional work experience is a good sign. It's not crucial but it helps."
Combining voluntary work and the chance to gain practical skills during my travels is the route I plan to take to make the most of my time away. While researching options I have found that there are two possible routes to pursue.
The first is by using a volunteer organisation such as GVI, I to I and Volunteering Projects Abroad, who offer exciting and engaging placements involving conservation, teaching, community development and wildlife across Asia, Africa and South America. Though these come at costs that range from £1,000 to £5,000 and beyond, depending on where and how long you go for.
While these tailor made opportunities usually include food, accommodation, transfers, insurance and guides whilst you're there, it seems like a substantial amount of money to essentially volunteer my time on top of flights and spending money.
Peter Keel, a Recruitment Officer from West London, took part in a GVI teaching placement in India last year. He opted for this route as he wanted to do something worthwhile, and by using this organisation he could leave it up to them to arrange all the finer details.
He said: "I thought it was good. I was paying for someone to take care of the little things you don't know about when visiting a country for the first time, such as airport pickups, good accommodation and food. At the same time I got to do something worthwhile. It's convenient if you're worried about travelling overseas as you can pay for that expertise and have a friendly face there if you need it."
The second option is finding a charity that will take you on at no costs other than small administration fees. This way you would just need to worry about funding your flights, insurance and living expenses while you're out there. But you would have to look at finding your accommodation yourself.
There are a number of charities that offer this including children's charities Smile and Go in Calcutta and Children Walking Tall and Educators Trust India which are both based in Goa.
Robert Lyon, founder of Children Walking Tall and a volunteer for Educators Trust India, thinks that the organisations that charge volunteers are more of a profit-making business rather than a charity. He has been working in the volunteer sector for eight years and believes that people should be able to volunteer for free, and that he would not have started in the first place if he had had to pay.
He said: "Many organisations worry too much about money, many do not see the benefits associated with just doing what's right, rather than trying to get as much money as possible of people."
He encourages people to get involved with volunteering as he says it is a life-changing and valuable experience.
He commented: "We need good, caring and passionate volunteers and the more effort you put in, you get tenfold back from the joy you see on the children's faces. The children we help make you realise that you don't need mobile phones, PlayStations or anything to be happy, you just need to engage them."
But he urges people thinking about volunteering to do it for the right reasons, as oppose to escaping issues back home.
He added: "It's never good to volunteer if you are having problems at home. These problems don't vanish once you get to India and they often are then shared with work mates, staff and children. A positive volunteer with lots of energy is what's needed."
Emma Allen, an artist from South London, started her own charity the Sri Lanka Card Project, after volunteering in Sri Lanka in 2005 during the aftermath of the tsunami. She offered help to people living in the camps by running art workshops and activities for the children. She decided to do this as she couldn't afford the high fees of a charity organisation and felt that she could see where the money was going by doing it this way.
She said: "When I went to Sri Lanka originally I didn't feel comfortable and didn't have the money to pay very high fees for volunteering. I met volunteers on projects that didn't seem satisfied with their organisations and where their money and time was being used.
"I felt the best thing I could do was make my own project which used the skills I could offer and I could see how money was coming in and being spent."
Emma runs creative arts workshops in community centres and children's homes which teach the participants practical skills which they can use to sustain a living. The funds raised from her charity have gone on to provide beds, clothes, books, shoes, electricity and built a playground for these communities.
With so many amazing opportunities out there, and the uplifting stories of what people have achieved, I am definitely going to use this time to go and see the world, help people in need and maybe tick a few more things off my list of things to do before I'm 30.
I think I may just end my twenties with the time of my life after all.