Many people write or at least think about their bucket list, things to do and experience during life. Probably many have also travel-related things on their list. The goal can for example be visiting a certain country or city, or maybe doing something special while there. Some people like to collect countries or cities and having goals like “30 before 30” or “100 before 50”, meaning visiting 30 countries before turning 30 years etc.
Most of the ideas hopefully come from your own desires, but media and social media are also full of ”These places you have to see before dying” -type of articles and lists.
Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.
I haven’t written down a bucket list, or even a list of countries or cities that I want to visit, mainly because I don’t want to feel that I have to travel just to cross things out of a list. Of course I have things in mind that I want to do, but I tend to choose the next destination by the gut feeling. There is also a difference between actual bucket list things and things I just would like to do.
Out of places, New York, Paris, Tokyo and Niagara Falls have been crossed from my bucket list and all other place I have visited have been great too. A safari in Africa is maybe the biggest thing left at the moment, but I have an idea when it could be the right time for that. As an ice hockey fan, seeing NHL games in North America and visiting the Hockey Hall of Fame were bucket list items, now experienced.
As mentioned, there can be things that are not necessarily big enough that they belong to the bucket list, but still something worth waiting for and remembering afterwards. Also you might want to experience certain things just because they are classics. I have had a Guinness in Dublin, schnitzel in Vienna, sushi in Japan, been sitting on a café patio in Paris etc. For some reason these seem to relate to eating… As I like to draw, sitting on Seine bank in Paris drawing was a thing I wanted to do just because of the feeling. The sketch of Notre-Dame did not turn out great, but that was not the point.
Summary
It is a good thing to think ahead, plan and dream, otherwise you suddenly realise that life has passed. But be sure that you do things that you want, don’t chase someone else’s dreams. If you don’t want to go to Paris, you don’t have to.
