Adventurous Kate contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I will earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks!
“Oh, I’m putting that on my bucket list!” I hear this all the time — from readers, from family members, from other travel bloggers. Each time, I’m thrilled to hear that someone has been inspired enough to dream of traveling there someday.
But at the same time, I’m a bit apprehensive. Why? Because I know that to many people, a bucket list might as well be a Pinterest board — a collection of pretty things that you say you want to do but don’t intend on ever making happen.
My problem?
If your deadline is death — you’re not making it a priority.
I’ve written about prioritizing travel before — how the reason that most people don’t travel as much as they’d like is because they don’t prioritize it. They dream about travel — but they spend money on nights out with friends, or having an apartment in the best part of town, or going to dozens of pricey concerts a year.
Again — I don’t expect anyone to travel as much as I do, nor do I think that most people should. If you’re happy with your current life, please continue what you’re doing!
But I do believe that if you want to travel and aren’t prioritizing it, you need to make it a priority.
I do know people who actively work on their bucket lists — my aunt and uncle are a great example, checking off their goal of camping in 48 states and adding new adventures all the time. Still, most of the people I know who not only make a bucket list but actively chip away at it are either travel bloggers (and we really don’t represent the general population!) or people who have retired.
Why not now?
It’s not just that you could die young, although that’s a very realistic possibility. You could be hit by a debilitating disease, or have a severely disabled child or spouse. This could happen to any of us at anytime. All we can do is grit our teeth, hope for the best, and live in a sense of denial.
The point? Make your travel dreams come true while you can.
The Travel Priorities Challenge
Readers, I’d like you to join me in a challenge. Make a list of around 5-10 of your travel priorities. Make these items you’ve always dreamed of — diving the Great Barrier Reef, hiking to Machu Picchu, riding in a gondola in Venice, or going on an epic bike trip down the west coast (as two of my friends, Matt and Ryan, are doing now!).
The challenge is to find items that genuinely appeal to you and your personal brand of wanderlust. Don’t put “See the Pyramids” or “Explore the Galapagos Islands” on your list because you think you should include them — only add them if you really, really want to experience them.
Two years from now, I want you to have achieved one of the items on that list. It may seem daunting, but two years is a long time. Enough time to save quite a bit of money, plan for the time off from work, and go.
So I’m going to create a Travel Priorities List, and instead of filling it with everything under the sun, I’m going to prioritize the things that mean the most to me.
- Walk the Camino de Santiago in Spain. I’ve wanted to walk this nearly 800-kilometer journey across northern Spain for years and years, and I was thinking about doing it this September (until September booked up with not one but two travel blogger conferences). My friends who have done the Camino tell me that it changes your life.
- Research my family’s roots and visit one of their hometowns in Europe. I have a few different options, but I’d most like to go to the village in eastern Sicily from where my mother’s grandfather immigrated.
- Experience the beauty of New Zealand. Beautiful places inspire me, and from what I’ve heard about New Zealand, nowhere else in the world comes close. I dream of the opportunity to photograph these islands.
- Successfully drive a motorbike or scooter through an extremely challenging city. So far, that seems to be in either Saigon or Hanoi, Vietnam, but I’ll gladly add Rome, Naples, or any city in southern Italy!
- Travel solo through Myanmar. I hear that Myanmar (Burma) today is the way the rest of Southeast Asia was 20 years ago — and I’d relish the challenge of diving headfirst into a country where you can’t rely on ATMs, internet, or even electricity.
- Cruise through the Arctic. Antarctica may get all the wistful attention, and I do want to go there, but I’ve got my eyes set on the Arctic — polar bears, icebergs, and the absolute remoteness of places like Svalbard and Greenland.
- Go somewhere that makes people scream, “Are you crazy?!” and show them what a nice place it is. Some people thought Jordan was crazy. Hell, some people thought Cambodia was crazy. But I think people would freak out considerably more if I went to Iran, a country about which I’ve heard absolutely wonderful things.
Do I have plans to visit any of these places? Nope, not unless you think Iceland is crazy. But I love this list. Because it’s pared down to the things that mean the most to me, it looks a lot more achievable.
That’s exactly what I want for you — to turn your travel dreams into achievable goals.
You can do this. I know you can.
I’ve never been a big fan of bucket lists. Most of my places are in my head but I don’t write them down. A while back, I did a bucket list and had a different perspective on them. I wrote “How my bucket list can change your life.” The idea is that bucket lists are unique to each person and are very personal. However, they can still inspire.
I really liked the idea of researching one’s family roots. I know my grandfather’s relatives emigrated to the USA just before the Iron Curtain fell. However, I have not been inclined to research them. I might change my mind now.
You never know what you might find!
Kate, I walked the Camino de Santiago in 2010…it was life changing. So much so, I went back in October 2011 to serve as a hospitalera (I volunteered for two weeks running a pilgrim albergue) and am planning to walk from Porto to Santiago de Compostela in October 2012. If there is anything I can do to help with your preparations, please feel free to contact me! I am a Camino addict.
Thank you so much! That’s really nice of you. I’ll let you know for sure!
I don’t understand all the hate against travel bucket lists. In fact, I have travel Bucket List Wednesdays on my log where readers (and I) share all places we want to visit. TO me, it is more like “how many of these I can do ASAP” than waiting until I’m close to death. I guess it is all about perception and POV.
But the simple term “travel bucket list” is NOT BAD. The REAL issue is people who simply keep waiting until a death scare to do what they want.
And so, “travel bucket list” to me is “things I must do ASAP — and hopefully, I get to cross off as many items as I can before I die”
Kate. . .I couldn’t agree more! Actually, all of you have added great input too. The 13 year old’s bucket list really made me think. . .and laugh at my personal version! I own a Women’s Surf and Yoga Retreat in Costa Rica, which has been going strong for 10 years now. We can be found at: http://www.PuraVidaAdventures.com We have hosted several thousand guests by now and we receive the most amazing women each year. Really, I am so excited when each new group of women comes, because I know they are going to be amazing, interesting, go-getters from all walks of life that share a common goal: Adventure. Some of them even come and say they are checking off something on their bucket list. Whether it is to get to Costa Rica, to travel alone, to learn to surf, or some other personal journey. I guess I wanted to share a unique perspective on this topic and shine a bit of hope out there that we’re doing it and to second the thought that it doesn’t need to be a “bucket list,” it should be a short term goal. I don’t think that the women visiting this sight need much prompting, but just in case: Write down your goals for the remainder of 2012 and make a short list for 2013 too. Then put planning aspects into your personal planner and then follow up. Of course talking about it with your girlfriends is also good. Pura Vida!
Tierza, I once did a yoga and surfing retreat with all women myself — with Nourish Retreats in Sayulita, Mexico. Fantastic experience, and some very interesting ladies in the group as well. 🙂 Great tips!
Great attitude Kate! I cringe when I hear the term “bucket list.” We hit 50 and are finally doing the RTW we should have done years ago. Forget writing a list, just go out and do it!
Cheers,
Michael Milne
Changes In Longitude
Let’s rename the bucket list the Life List!
The bucket list is a list for people who are focusing on the end. Most of us have no idea when that will come, so why not just do our best to live each day to the fullest? Plan those trips now and go asap. Make it a priority. Feel the fear and do it anyway. I live in Costa Rica for about half the year and live a blessed life, but there are still trips I want to take. It’s easy to get absorbed by work and other commitments. This topic has really been a great wake up call for me. Thanks Kate.
-Tierza
Pura Vida Adventures
http://www.PuraVidaAdventures.com
Women’s Surf & Yoga Retreats
Costa Rica
You have a great point here in that a bucket list can delay things. However, I see it as a tool for gathering together your goals and allowing you to focus on how to achieve them. You may not be able to get things done immediately because of family or financial commitments and so at least by writing it down you can focus on how you will achieve it when you have the opportunity and how to create that opportunity.
That’s true, Rachel. Bucket lists are great if you’re actively working on making them happen in any way that you can, even if you know you can’t travel at the moment.
Hi, I walked 723 km’s of the Camino de Santiago from Pamplona to Santiago a few months ago (spring 2012), and it was an incredible experience! I’m excited it’s on your Life List (I’m not a fan of the term bucket list)!
I had never been to Europe, I don’t speak Spanish, never back-packed before (I haven’t even really camped before), and other than an all-inclusive in Mexico, hadn’t been oustide of Canada and the US.
The things I learned about myself, the people I met – you’re right, it changes your life for the better. In the big scheme of things, it hasn’t been all that long since getting back to Canada, and I’m still learning from the experience. And it opened up my mind to other adventures and challenging things that are on my own LIfe List.
Some of those newly added travel plans include climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, going to Greenland to see the northern lights, Manchu Picchu, Do the Everest Base Camp trek, to name a few.
Good luck and have fun in your travels!
The one about successfully driving a scooter through an extremely challenging city is high on my list too. I’m such a rule-abider though and none of the travel insurance policies I’ve used have covered it without a motorbike license. I might have to get a motorbike license!
I couldn’t agree more! My bucket list is exactly what you described and cross off and leave the items on it which I have already accomplished, which reminds me of the awesome things I have already done, not just those I hope to do. I just used my bucket list to help me with my New Years resolutions list too, to help me take steps towards the larger bucket list.
Very interesting concept! I recently updated my bucket list. It does seem to take some of the joy out of the experiences, if you’re just focusing on checking each item off.
Hi Kate,
I love this post and it reminded me of something one of my favorite guys, Steve Chandler, wrote about the difference between a dream and a project. I sent him the URL for this blog and I thought I’d send you his info as well. http://www.stevechandler.com. Can’t recommend his stuff highly enough!
Take care!
-J
This is a great article Kate, and I do think some people create a bucket list more as a wish list. But I am going to respectfully disagree with you that bucket lists are a waste of time because they are not a priority. Mine is a huge priority and I try to check at least three things off a year. Not everyone is able to live a nomadic lifestyle, and other priorities have fit in the balance. My job, volunteering, my husband, and my family all mean a lot to me too. Sometimes I have to give up a trip I’ve been dreaming of to spend a week away with my niece and nephew so I can be a part of their lives and watch them grow up. That doesn’t mean my bucket list is nothing but a pile of dreams: it just means I create balance in my life. So don’t be too quick to under-estimate the power of listing your goals and hopes – sometimes a bucket list helps to remind people that their dreams are within grasp outside of their busy lives…
This post is so true. I have heard people use the term “bucket list” so often and have yet to leave their home town. I personally have the dream of visiting every continent (as defined by North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and Antarctica). If all goes right, will be hitting Asia this year and maybe Europe next year.
I’ve always wanted to go on the Camino de Santiago! I like how you recommend putting it as a priority instead of doing something before you’re dead. Thank you for the idea!
my biggest travel goals are getting to San Sosti in Italy where my father was born.
Then it’s exploring Plitsvice Lakes National Park in Croatia.
And they will happen this year if i have to eat rice and bread til i’m there:)
Scotland. After I learn to gallop properly, so that I can take an equestrian vacation there.
There are loads of travel items on many bucket lists and while I agree totally with the post on the benefits of travel I can’t help thinking that seeing all of these wonderful places boils down to having enough time and money to buy a ticket and go there. Although that isn’t a bad thing I just feel that it kind of lacks the sense of personnel achievement that is missing from many people’s bucket lists; the sort of feeling that learning to play an instrument or running a marathon would bring, rather than just being cash and time rich and able to get on a plane.
I completely agree! That is why I like the 101 things in 1,001 days list so much – it actual gives you a deadline and forces you to make specific, attainable goals!