Every travel story starts with a dream.
It might be from an Insta reel.
It might have started with an annoying pop-up ad that captured your attention after you couldn’t find the x button quickly enough. Or even drunk Uncle Phillip sharing stories of his backpacker days around Europe.
But, what gets your travel adventure started is rarely what you will remember most.
Bucket Lists Are Just the Beginning
We are all influenced by something, somehow.
But we are all different. You might like vineyards and wineries. Uncle Phillip loves breweries. No matter what you are into and influenced by, it all gets us dreaming.
As you lie daydreaming in your bed on your phone scrolling for supposed ‘travel hacks’ and ‘hidden gems’ you ask yourself questions:
– ‘What will it be like?’
– ‘How much do the beers cost?’
– ‘What are the tour reviews?’
– ‘Are the locals good-looking?’
I’ve asked all those at some point (just trying to cover all demographics here, people – calm the farm).
You start doing what all travellers do before any grand adventure. You build the bucket list. The ‘must-do’s so to speak. I call BS on any traveller who doesn’t start a trip with some sort of list.
Yes, even you nomadic ‘I’ll just go with the flow, man’ types and you ‘I’m travelling to find myself’ types.
‘Bucket lists are the WHY of travel.’
Let me explain.
Bucket lists are usually defined as places to see. Or things to do. Such as:
– Going to Times Square in New York
– Visiting the Pyramids in Egypt
– Trying out a cooking class in Thailand
But your bucket list is more than that – and it might not cost a cent.
It might be as simple as:
– Getting lost wandering a new town or city
– Sitting in a city square ordering off a menu you don’t understand
– Practicing a new language with a local
No matter what is on your bucket list, you and I all start from the same spot.
It is only when the adventure begins you realise the very things that inspired you to start will rarely be the things you remember most.
'I Thought It Would Be Different'
Here’s the universal thing about travel – and no one talks about it.
No travel experience you have or place you will visit will be exactly as you imagined. Nope, not a single one. It might be the environment, the people – even how you feel that day that influence this.
In our world of how we like things to pan out exactly as they are planned, travel is the kick up the butt to remind you that you don’t have it all on your terms all the time.
It proves to you that the lens you view the world through, whether it be from travel stories, social media or wherever is purely an opinion, or worse manufactured stuff like you see on on social media.
It’s not to say that the experience will be significantly different from what you expect, just different. And that’s ok.
What you do remember about doing these things on your bucket list are the peripheral things.
When I was in Germany, I went for the history. For the castles, the old towns and cities. That was on my bucket list. What I didn’t expect was to fall in love with the food more. The people and how much fun it would be to drive 200km’s per hour on a highway.
Suck up your ego and enjoy the experiences for what they are. (and for f*cks sake don’t join the ‘this is my review’ crowd on social media – your opinion doesn’t really count).
Your Bucket List Becomes a Pain in the A*s
We all know that traveller.
The one who has their itinerary so meticulously planned down to the hour to ensure they get EVERYTHING on their list ticked off.
Now I’m all for a busy itinerary. Despite what the slow travellers say. If I’m going to travel to the other side of the world for three weeks, I’m gonna see as much as I can.
But there is a danger of going too far. Of turning your lifelong travel dream into such a slog that you need another holiday to rest when you come home.
The secret is to make your travel bucket list a realistic one. Sometimes it requires some harsh truths on what you are capable of doing. It will help make your trip more enjoyable, give you more down time and reduce the risk of disappointment.
I’ve been there and done it.
I spent the first three weeks of a three-month Europe trip going so fast that it hardly felt like I had visited at all. Sorry Bruges, Brussels and Munich. Next time. It was only when I started planning activities for half the day (or less) I got to enjoy the whole experience more. Find a balance.
Travel is exhausting at the best of times. Trying to tick off an impossible bucket list will just p*ss you off (and everyone else around you).
Even if you manage to achieve an impossibly long bucket list, I can guarantee your experience will probably not be anywhere as enjoyable as it could have been.
Sure, you might have the selfie or the fridge magnet, but waiting in a crowd of people for an hour to see the Mona Lisa for a few brief seconds might not be the memory you want.
Your dream list is important. It’s why you should do it. Just don’t let it define the success of your trip.
Is Your Bucket List Your Own Anyway?
You live in an era where you can book a six-week holiday on the toilet.
Flights, activities, reviews, social media – anything can be done from pretty much anywhere. But too much information isn’t always a good thing.
The bright, shiny object is real as you browse through curated Insta reels and filtered photos. I’ve fallen for it. And been met with high levels of disappointment.
The inspiration to build many bucket lists comes from social media and the wider internet in general. Sure, we all have interests, but they only form a part of the puzzle.
And there lies the danger. It’s easy to build bucket lists based on other’s experiences (and dare I say it – online content).
As much as the desert ride on a camel in Dubai looks like fun, is it really you? Is the beautiful beach resort you see on an Insta reel you as well, or are you more of a city person. No answer is right or wrong, just make it about YOU.
The more content we see and share online generates clicks and dopamine hits. It’s why it is made. It’s why you need to become selfish with your travel bucket list and make it authentically yours.
Your bucket list doesn’t need to be shared. Your bucket list is about you, your personality and your experience.
Travel is a selfish sport. Play by those rules and your travel experiences will reflect that.
You do you.
What You Miss Out On
Sticking to your bucket list is playing it safe – and that’s fine.
But it doesn’t always happen that way.
The one thing that travel will do to you time and time again is stick up a middle finger at you, give you a wink and go ‘Ha, what ya gonna do now?’. Planes get cancelled, weather postpones events, and accommodation bookings fall over. You name it.
Don’t think it won’t happen to you. Of course, chances are your trip will be fine. Nothing too crazy will happen. But something will test your best laid plans. at some point.
And your bucket list adventures? They might get affected too.
It is during these times that I have discovered the beauty of surprise. Those moments and experiences that come around through unplanned events.
A few years ago, I was meant to stay in Basel, Switzerland for a few days. I had a few things planned out to see as well. But the accommodation was cancelled last minute. I couldn’t afford anywhere else to stay in that expensive city, so I got the old Google Maps out and found a small town called Eguisheim in the Alsace region in France about an hour away.
I stayed a week. I fell in love with the area. I still talk about it to this day. But it wasn’t planned. I had never even heard of it.
What travel adventures are you missing out on because your bucket list or itinerary says you don’t have time? The answer is in the planning.
Always, always leave room for the unplanned adventures. The free time to explore. It’s unlikely I would have ever visited that region of France, but for a little bit of fate.
That’s where the real magic of travel lies.
So I Shouldn't Have a Bucket List?
Without a bucket list of things you want to do, travel would be dull af.
You need one for the motivation. You need one to experience that feeling of counting down the days until your trip. YOUR BUCKET LIST IS ESSENTIAL.
But like anything in life, it will change. And more often than not, it will change by things you can’t control.
Travel freely and widely and have those experiences you desire. Just don’t take your eyes off the small things around you. Take the time to enjoy the small things. The good coffee, the strange people and the odd sounds.
Trust me, I remember wayyy more of what was going on around the Eiffel Tower than the monument itself.
Apply this mindset and your travels will be more richer than you can imagine.