My Bucket List

An interesting perspective on bucket lists is that if you don’t write ideas down, they never get accomplished. As people grow older, they tend to find that their lives have been wrapped up in a family, work, and obligations. Is it really a life worth living if you don’t know how to live it? So right here, and right now get out a piece of paper and pen or smartphone, tablet, etc., and start your bucket list today.

I have heard a bit of controversy about whether or not a bucket list is something that travelers should make. Many don’t like it because it implies ticking things off just for the sake of a tick. Others because the term implies death (“to kick the bucket”). Still, others argue that it is not appropriate to associate it with death and should be more like a Dream List or a  Wish List of Things to do.

I was wondering where the term Bucket List originated? Surely the term did not come from the Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman film from 2007? This film is a story of two older gentlemen- Carter Chambers and Edward Cole who live in the same hospital room for terminal lung cancer. Carter is a blue-collar mechanic who is actually quite knowledgeable. Edward is a healthcare billionaire who is lonely. In the beginning, Edward was very reluctant to live in the same room with Carter. But they became friends during treatment. By accident, Edward found Carter’s bucket list, or “things to do before he kicked the bucket”. He encouraged Carter to realize his dreams by financing the trip for both of them.

With a bit of Google search, I found out that the context in which we use bucket list in 2015 was first mentioned in 2004, in a book: Unfair & Unbalanced: The Lunatic Magniloquence of Henry E. Panky, by Patrick M. Carlisle. It includes these sentences:

“Who doesn’t want to go gently into that black, black night? He wants to cut loose, dance on the razor’s edge, pry the lid off his bucket list!”

Which is exactly what I want to do!  So without further adieu, I present: My Bucket List

1. Go on a tour with Abercrombie & Kent
2. Go on an African Safari
3. Dive Galapagos (Dive Wolf and Darwin, in the Galapagos Islands)
4. Visit Easter Island, Chile (got closer)
5. Visit San Miguel de Allende AGAIN, but stay for a month or a week!
6. Go to Antarctica
7. Visit Iceland
8. Explore Wyoming! (scheduled May 2020 canceled due to COVID-19)
9. Go to Alaska (scheduled June 2020 canceled due to COVID-19)
10. Ride a luxury train across India!
11. Cuba! I still have NOT been
12. Visit a castle in Scotland
13. Go Back to the Greek Islands!
14. Go to Guadalajara, Mexico
15. Polynesian Crossing Cruise
16. Go on a Crystal Cruises and do a 16-day trip on the Rhine, Main, and Daube Rivers!
17. Visit Isla Holbox, Mexico
18. Visit the Amazon: Went to Guyana!
19. Visit Ukraine
20. Go Back to the Maldives!
21. Go Back to Bali, Indonesia! 
22. Go Back to Croatia! This time: Dubrovnik, Split, Hvar, Vis, Brac, and the Blue Cave
23. Go Back to Nizuc in Cancun!
24. Go Back to India
25. See a tiger in the wilds of India
26. Visit St. Lucia in the Caribbean
27. Finally visit Sayulita, Mexico: San Pancho was better!
28. Visit the British Virgin Islands
29. Visit Turks and Caicos
30. Tahiti
31. Go to Porto, Portugal
32. Snorkel with jellyfish in Jellyfish Lake, Palau
33. Photograph the Wave and Antelope Canyon, Arizona
34. Dive Bonaire
35. Seek out a luxury wellness spa for a week of relaxing and stillness
36. Attend a cultural event in Spain – TARRAGONA – IBIZA
37. Float in the Dead Sea, Jordan
38. Go to Savannah and Charleston
39. Visit the Great Wall of China
40. Cuernavaca, Mexico
41. Puebla, Mexico (so close)
42. Oaxaca, Mexico
43. Eat local food in the oldest city in the Americas – Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
44. Dive in Wakatobi, Indonesia (close enough: Raja Ampat?)
45. Listen to Blues in New Orleans, USA
46. Go to San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
47. Live in Santiago, Chile
48. Visit Provence, France (coming up Sept 2015!)
49. Go to the Maldives (dive, swim, relax) and stay in an over the water bungalow
50. Find the hidden Tiki Bar in New Orleans, LA (I found it! Nov 2015)
51. Take a ride on the London Underground
52. Go to St. Mark’s Square in Venice, Italy
53. Go skiing or dog sledding in Montana
54. Go to Israel, and walk the streets of Jerusalem 
55. Visit the island of Sicily, Italy
56. Snorkel with Beluga Whales in Manitoba, Canada
57. Do a night dive in Kona, HI with the giant manta rays
58. Swim with whale sharks in Mexico (attempt #1:  failed, bad weather)
59. Go to Castaway Island, Fiji
60. Go to the Viking Ship Museum, Oslo
61. Take a train ride across Canada. (YAY Rocky Mountaineer!)
62. Go to the Stats Opera in Vienna
63. Visit the jewelry making town of Chordeleg, Ecuador
64. See Mont Blanc
65. Attend a European soccer game
66. See a Musical in New York, London, Paris, and Vienna
67. Visit Yellowstone National Park (Scheduled Feb 2017)
68. Visit Japan
69. Go on a luxury ocean cruise in the Caribbean 
70. Go on a Crystal Cruise River Cruise in Europe
71. Dive the Blue Hole in the Red Sea -Dahab, Egypt
72. Go see Moulin Rouge in Paris
73. See Positano, Italy
74. Go to Monaco
75. Chasing the Northern Lights in either Iceland or Norway or Canada
76. Visit Santa Fe, New Mexico again! (Dec 2016!)
77. Visit the Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico
78. Walk the Las Vegas Strip, Nevada
79. Take a river cruise down the Rhine River for the Christmas Markets (Yay, Viking River Cruise)
80. Visit Auschwitz, Poland
81. Visit Istanbul, Turkey
82. Visit Santorini and Mykonos islands in Greece
83. Visit the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Israel
84. Photograph and experience Dia Day Los Muertos (Coming October 2015!)
85. Visit the Colonia towns of Quito, Cuenca, Antigua
86. Galapagos, need I say more?
87. Go sea kayaking in Western Finland
88. Go see Petra, Jordan (Did this twice!)
89. Buy a Burberry trench coat at the Burberry flagship store in London.
90. Visit the Hermitage museum in St, Petersburg, Russia
91. Visit Red Square in Moscow, Russia
92. Visit the Forbidden City in Beijing, China
93. Roadtrip across the USA  (Montanan is planned for May 2020 – Cancelled COVID 19)
94. Ride in a rickshaw in China
95. Go to Krakow, Poland and visit Auschwitz
96. Go to Sri Lanka
97. Ride on the Rocky Mountaineer
98. Go to Angkor Wat, Cambodia
99. Go to Octoberfest in Munich (went to Munich, but not in October!)
100. Go to Carnival in Germany
101. See Kaleo perform in concert
102. See Foreigner Live in Austria
103. See a concert by Marc Anthony in Spain or any Latin American Country
104. Do the same with Enrique Iglesias
105. Take a road trip around Ireland.
106. Go to St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin, Ireland or just Dublin anytime
107. Go to Carnival in Rio, Brazil
108. Visit the fjords in Norway
109. Visit the Atacaman Desert in Chile
110. Visit Merida and Oaxaca,  Mexico
111. Go to Madagascar (brother-in-law born there), the Seychelles, Zanzibar, and Mauritius
112. Swim in the blue grotto in Capri, Italy
113. Dive in Turks & Caicos
114. Visit  Aqaba, Jordan and Dive the Red Sea 
115. Float in the Dead Sea
116. Visit San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
117. Go see the Taj Mahal in India
118. Go see the Pyramids in Egypt
119. Great Wall of China
120. Beijing
121. Hong Kong
122. Thailand beaches
123. Scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef
124. The Bay of Islands, New Zealand
125. New Zealand’s Milford Sound
126. Fiji Islands
127. Stay in an overwater bungalow in South Pacific
128. Machu Picchu, Peru
129. Float the Dead Sea
130. Jerusalem, Israel
131. Visit Montreal and Quebec City, Canada
132. Newfoundland, Canada
133. Mexico City, Mexico
134. Costa Rica
135. Visit the Panama Canal
136. Chile wine region
137. Machu Picchu, Peru
138. Visit Southeast Asia
139. Visit Thailand beaches and go to James Bond Island
140. Sleep in a castle
141. Attend a World Cup Soccer Match with my son Diego
142. Attend an Indian wedding in India
143. Get my Advanced Open Water Diving Certificate
144. Go on a Yoga Retreat in Bali or Costa Rica
145. Dive the Blue Hole in Belize (1^st attempt, bad weather, 2nd attempt: no go)
146. Take an around the world (RTW) trip
147. Fly on a private jet
148. Celebrate New Year’s Eve on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro
149. Have a photograph published in a travel magazine or Huff Po
150. Get paid for my photography
151. Dive the British Virgin Islands by private yacht
152. Go to Lake Como, Italy, and see George Clooney’s house
153. Stay in a Tuscan Villa in Siena – (YAY! Montestigliano!)
154. See Pink Floyd’s THE WALL concert
155. Watch a cricket game in India
156. Go to the jungles of Malaysia
157. Dive the Great Barrier Reef
158. Become a travel writer
159. Get hired as a travel photographer!
160. Go on a luxury cruise through Galapagos
161. Go to Machu Picchu, Peru
162. Take my Mom to Australia
163. Dive the Great Barrier Reef in Australia
164. Send my parents to Canada on a train trip for their 50^th Wedding Anniversary
165. Go on a writer’s retreat in Italy
166. Visit Barcelona and Costa Brava, Spain 
167. Go to see the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain (my kids did in 08/16)
168. Go to the Palio and explore the contrade system of Siena, Italy
169. Go to a bullfight in Spain, Mexico, and Portugal
170. Visit Iguazu Falls, Argentina
171. Visit Uruguay, taking the ferry across from Buenos Aires
172. Take a hike up to the Hollywood Sign, USA
173. Visit Palawan, Philippines
174. Dive in a cenote in Mexico
175. Dive the underwater museum in Cancun, Mexico
176. Go wreck diving (Cayman Islands, Aqaba Jordan)
177. Buy a piece of vintage Louis Vuitton luggage
178. Ski-in Portillo, Chile in our summer (their winter)
179. Ride a camel in the desert

180. My Bucket List Continued

181. Take my son Christian to Italy
182. Take my son Diego to Morocco (he went without me!)
183. Take my children (Diego and Christian) to Africa
184. Take my son Christian to Japan (He went on his own – June 2019!)
185. Hang out with Beluga whales in Vancouver, Canada
     
186. Hang out with stingrays at the Stingray sandbar and stingray city in the Cayman Islands
187. Stay at the Four Seasons in Sharm el-Sheikh and then go diving!
188. Go to Berlin (and see where the wall used to be and Checkpoint Charlie)
189. Walk among the giant Redwoods of California
190. Visiting the tip of the continent of the USA in Key West, FL
191. Visit Dry Tortuga on a day trip
192. Stay at the Four Seasons in my own hometown of Scottsdale, AZ
193. Stepping into the Rome Coliseum
194. Take my Dad to Hershey, PA for the car show
195. Walk down Royal Street in New Orleans, Louisiana
196. Seeing Sydney harbor and the opera house
197. Be on the “Amazing  Race” with my son Diego
198. See the Windmills in Holland
199. Visit the Frida Kahlo House in Mexico City, Mexico
200. Visit Hotel California in Baja, Mexico
201. Go to Myanmar (Burma)
202. Go to Zihuatenejo, Mexico
203. See Gaudi’s Familia Sagrada in Barcelona, Spain
204. Visit New Zealand
205. Go to New Orleans (Trip #3 coming up November 2015)
206. Standing in Tienanmen Square
207. Riding a longtail boat to James Bond Island, Thailand
208. Rappel down a 100-foot waterfall in Costa Rica (not)
209. Take in the city lights of Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong 
210. Scuba dive in the Great Barrier Reef
211. Go sail fishing in Guatemala 
212. Visit the markets of Chichicastenango, Guatemala
213. Drive Route 66
214. See the Kinderdijak Windmills in the Netherlands
215. Visit Four Corners 
216. Helicopter into the Grand Canyon
217. Walk the Hollywood Walk of Fame
218. Drive the Road to Hana, Hawaii
219. Climb the Big Buddha in Hong Kong
220. Visit all 7 continents:
     North America
     South America
     Africa
     Asia
     Australia
     Antarctica
221. Oceania
222. See a glacier
223. Stay at an Ice Hotel or go to an Ice Bar
224. Fly Premium First Class on Lufthansa, ThaiAirways, AirFrance, Emirates, Qatar, Noweigian
225. Bali, Indonesia
226. Experience the beauty of Santorini, Greece (again please!)
227. Ski in Portillo, Chile
228. Tango in Argentina
229. Spa in Monte Carlo, Monaco
230. Ride an airboat in the Everglades
231. To be continued…

For the ultimate in Bucket Lists, go on over to Bucket List Journey, where she has compiled over 1000 ideas for your Bucket List…

How many things on my bucket list are on yours?