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Here's a fun discussion for a random winter Tuesday: What's on your bucket list? A few years ago, we discussed bucket list hobbies, but let's expand that for today to bucket list items in general: dream travel destinations, personal achievements, events you want to attend, skills/languages you want to master, notable people you'd love to meet, and so on.
(Personally, I don't think all bucket list items need to be Very Big Things — just experiences that you really don't want to miss out on before you buy the proverbial farm.)
Here's a few Qs to discuss, too: As you've gotten older and/or your priorities have changed, what have you taken off your bucket list? Has the pandemic influenced your bucket list at all? And the best question: What is something that WAS on your bucket list that you've accomplished?
{related: what's your fantasy vacation in 2020?}
I'll share my own bucket list:
- Travel: Iceland (Northern Lights included!), Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Japan, British Columbia…
- Other destinations: Mirbeau Inn & Spa, Unclaimed Baggage, 127 Yard Sale
- Events: A concert at Red Rocks, Toronto International Film Festival, San Diego Comic Con
- Be in the audience of a TV show (SNL or The Graham Norton Show would be fun…)
- Skills: take voice lessons, learn cake decorating, learn to sew (I just got a free sewing machine!)
Kat shared a couple of newly added items from her bucket list: “I'd love to take a class on watercolor painting, and I'd love to take a screenwriting class eventually.” (Psst: Check out Kat's Hobby Thursday post on novel-writing tips and her post from 10 years (!) ago on improving your writing.}
Is learning a certain skill on your bucket list? Check out these past posts:
- Virtual Classes to Take with Friends & Family
- 5 Online Classes to Take For Fun During Quarantine
- 6 Awesome Online Classes for Working Women
Need any travel inspiration? Here are some great suggestions:
- “25 Dream Vacation Spots Worth Saving Up For” [Parade]
- “52 Dream Destinations: Food and Wine” [Sydney Morning Herald]
- “Dream holidays: Good Housekeeping's top ideas for a bucket list getaway” [Good Housekeeping]
Readers, do tell: What's on your bucket list? How has your bucket list changed over the years?
Stock photo via Stencil.
Anon
I don’t really have a list for anything except travel.
My top bucket list trips that I still haven’t done: Antarctica, safari in Africa, Maldives, Galapagos, hiking in Patagonia, Norwegian fjords cruise, Morocco, Turkey, polar bear safari in Manitoba, Greenland, yachting or small cruise on the coast of Croatia/Montenegro, Akumal Mexico, visiting Finnish or Swedish lapland, trekking to Mt. Everest base camp, climbing Kilimanjaro, yachting in the Caribbean (doing this one in a couple months!), visiting all 50 states (I’m at 45/50 currently).
Some popular bucket list destinations/experiences I’ve been to and loved, and would happily go back to: Australia and New Zealand, Bora Bora, Iceland, Japan, Thailand (especially Elephant Nature Park), Greece, Italy, Alaska (cruise + inland travel, which were both great), seeing orcas in the wild on a day trip from Vancouver, Hawaii (especially a nighttime manta ray snorkel on the Big Island), swimming with whale sharks in Mexico, seeing the Northern Lights (I saw them in Banff Natl Park in October).
Anonymous
+1 to all the travel.
CoastalSensation
Ahhh we could be twins! I need to take a page from your adventure travel bucket list “to do” section :) For mine I’ll add doing a local multi-day kayak tour in a Canadian national park, hiking in Patagonia, visiting Machu Piccu and hiking with alpacas/llamas/donkeys, hiking in the Alps with St. Bernards, and visiting a French spa to recharge.
For completed activities I’d do again in a heartbeat, I offer:
– watching the sun set in Oia, Santorini (among the world’s 10 best sunsets, supposedly) – just spectacular.
-swimming with manta rays on a small island chain in Fiji
-backpacking the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail on Vancouver Island
-climbing Mt Fuji, Japan
-snorkeling in Maui and Fiji
-visiting a giant spice farm in Belize
-skating on frozen lakes in the Canadian Rockies
Anon at 2:49
omg yes we’re travel twins! Kayaking in Canadian national parks, skating on a lake in the Canadian Rockies, Machu Picchu/llamas, climbing Mt. Fuji, hiking in the Alps and then going to the French spa all sound amazing to me. We stayed in Oia on our honeymoon and yes, the most spectacular sunsets ever! We’re hoping to go back to Santorini next year.
aNoN
To write a novel! Might try NaNoWriMo next time around…
Anon
I’m just here to provide encouragement that you absolutely can do this! I was in your spot a year and a half ago and typed “The End” on my novel first draft a few weeks ago. I started writing the novel in May 2021, so the first draft took me about 8-9 months.
NaNoWriMo is fun, but it causes a lot of people to burn out. I wrote in 20-30 minute chunks a lot of days (with a few days thrown in where I wrote for much longer if the mood struck). Even if you write 500 words per day, you can have a draft in less than a year!
Advice differs, but it did help me to write some short stories when I first started creative writing. That helped me understand story structure a bit and also gave me confidence that I could finish something, which was huge in the “messy middle” of the novel.
Now— my current manuscript isn’t going to be published. But now I have a huge achievement done and something to edit/ work with!
Good luck with this goal! Even if I never have anything published, it’s been such a fun experience.
aNoN
Thanks so much! And congrats!!
Anon
I’m doing it by year because that feels more achievable and helps me remember that living well starts in my own city. Also, finances, health, and kids’ needs change over time, so I don’t want to think life is not a success if I don’t do all the things on a bucket list I planned early on. My bucket list this year also includes the things that are easy to do but easy to forget to do. This year’s bucket list:
-See a concert at [world famous outdoor venue in my area]
-See a comedy show
-See a play
-Estate planning!
-Travel to a new city
-Take a class on something new
-Attend a gallery opening
-[Achieve area’s major hiking milestone]
-Kayak in 3 state parks
-Play trivia with spouse
-Day trips to 3 different cities in my state
-Read a high school classic that I missed (so many of those that somehow did not make their way into my curriculum)
-Virtually walk a famous path (using Conqueror app)
Next year’s will include some international travel, but this year I’m focusing on falling back in love with my city and state.
A
I’d love to write a novel but I lack the talent and imagination!
Travel (we’ve done tons in Asia and Europe so these are heavy on the other continents)
African safari
Antarctica
See the Northern Lights
Patagonia
Inca trail
Great Barrier Reef
Most importantly- bring our kids to places we saw as a couple (Egypt, Greece, Spain, etc)