Why You Need A Travel Bucket List


“I got to fulfill one of my biggest bucket list trips when I volunteered at the Elephant Nature Park last month.” Photo courtesy of Lois Alter Mark

My friend Lois Alter Mark wrote an article for Forbes about travel bucket lists and quoted me about the importance of writing down your goals and how creating a bucket list can actually make you accomplish them. Here’s what she has to say on the topic – (To view the online version, click here.)FORBES – published Jan 7, 2019, 12:50pm

It’s not surprising that 80% of New Year’s resolutions fail by February. I mean, who really wants to give up sweets and wake up with aches and pains from the gym in order to get in shape or spend hours making harrowing decisions about which precious memories to throw out in order to get organized?

Instead, consider creating a travel bucket list which will constantly inspire you and which will actually be fun during the process of working toward your goals.

After seeing how putting my dream trips out into the Universe made many of them come to life in 2018, that’s what I decided to do officially this year, and it’s made me so excited about the year to come.

“Writing down goals and making bucket lists are ways of setting our intentions,” says life coach Bonnie Olson. “There is nothing more fulfilling than going into our hearts, discovering what our true self desires and then taking it into reality- with the first step being to write it down. We can’t achieve what we can’t imagine.”

According to Olson, travel is the perfect subject for a bucket list. “Surprisingly, science suggests that we get more delight out of dreaming up and planning our adventures than actually experiencing them,” she says. “So, even if you never make it to some of the destinations on your list, you’re still getting something satisfying out of it.”

Last year, I was able to check off these items on my list:

. Seeing the Northern Lights

. Volunteering at the Elephant Nature Park in Thailand

. Cruising through Norway into the Midnight Sun

. Touring the Ben & Jerry’s factory in Vermont

. Taking a transatlantic cruise on the iconic Queen Mary 2

I’ve now started a travel bucket list that will be a living document I’ll add to – and hopefully subtract from – throughout the year. I started with 50 items but can easily see this growing to twice that size.

I certainly don’t expect to knock through the whole list any time soon but, like Olson says, just thinking about these experiences has already made me happy.

Here’s my list-in-progress. What’s on yours?

  1. Hang out with the Newfoundlands at the Fogo Island Inn in Newfoundland
  2. Sleep in Cinderella’s castle in Disneyland
  3. Do a Beatles tour and take an Abbey Road photo
  4. Watch the ducks parade at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis
  5. Visit The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
  6. See the polar bears in Churchill
  7. Tour the world’s best libraries
  8. Take a luxury train ride outside of North America
  9. Attend a tennis match at Wimbledon
  10. Cruise the Amazon
  11. Galapagos
  12. Attend the Hay-on-Wye book festival
  13. Stay at Giraffe Manor
  14. See the mountain gorillas in Uganda
  15. Take a river cruise to the Christmas markets in Vienna
  16. Experience the Great Migration in Africa
  17. Visit Unclaimed Baggage in Alabama
  18. Stay in an over water bungalow
  19. Play with a panda in China
  20. Take a Vietnam/Cambodia cruise
  21. Visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
  22. Do the Donut Trail in Ohio
  23. Swim with manatees
  24. See the cherry blossoms in Japan
  25. Spend a week at Miraval
  26. Cruise the Nile
  27. Sleep in an ice hotel
  28. Swim in the Dead Sea
  29. Stay at all of the 5 star hotels in New York City
  30. Spend a month in a Paris apartment
  31. Attend the Sundance Film Festival
  32. Antarctica
  33. Spend a week in a cottage in the Cotswolds
  34. Visit Mount Rushmore
  35. Take my husband to St. Andrews and the Ryder Cup
  36. Sleep in a treehouse hotel
  37. Cuba
  38. Indulge in everything chocolate at Hershey
  39. Spend a week at Golden Door
  40. Glamping in Africa again
  41. Visit Lions, Tigers & Bears
  42. Stay in 21c Museum Hotels
  43. Asheville
  44. See a sea turtle hatching
  45. Watch my son take batting practice at Yankee Stadium
  46. Experience the tasting menu at Eleven Madison Park
  47. Sleep with a dog in my room at Best Friends Sanctuary
  48. Cruise the Panama Canal
  49. Spend a weekend at PAWS Wildlife Sanctuaries
  50. Do a Viking World Cruise

I believe the world would be a better place if we all traveled more, and I write about everything from luxury spas, cruises and hotels to quirky museums and street food in order to encourage people to get out and explore. When I’m not traveling around the globe—and even when…

MORE

Follow my journeys on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, check out my 10Best lists and join me on Midlife at the Oasis, where living an amazing life never gets old.