After 20 years of travel, you forget what it was like starting out.
It got me thinking of what I would put on that list if it was me starting all over again, yet knowing all I had done. I highly recommend these to be on travel bucket list.
1. Live and work in another country at least once, and for at least a year. And live in a house full of travelers.
2. Travel around Africa and travel independently. It’s rough travel but worth it.
3. Spend a year in Asia – it will chill you out and make you realize what is important in life.
4. Spend time in a war-torn country so you learn that war brings only death and destruction; there is never a good cause for it.
5. White water raft the Nile River. We share the story in this podcast on Uganda travel + silverback charges and crazy journeys.
6. Take a walking safari and get up close with African wildlife.
7. Hike up a mountain on at least each new continent.
8. Eat off the street carts or in the local restaurants.
9. Get around on local transport – some of your best stories will come from doing this.
10. Spend countless evenings swinging in a hammock, at sun down, with a beer, on the beaches of Thailand.
11. Get charged by a silverback in the Bwindi National Forest, Uganda.
12. Party till sunrise (multiple times) with all the cool people you’ll meet.
13. Spend a summer in Europe, attend all the mad festivals and party hard.
14. Island hop in the Greek Islands and get lost on Ios for at least a week.
15. See the sunset in Zanzibar, San Diego, Koh Lanta, Cape Town, Kruger National Park, and Portugal.
16. See the sunrise over Mt Bromo, Indonesia and the sand dunes of Soussesvlei Namibia.
17. Surf at Nias Island, Sumatra
18. Jungle trek to see orangutans at Bukit Lawang, Sumatra.
19. Horse ride through Bryce Canyon, Utah
20. Spend the night with traditional minority families. I recommend the Masai warriors in Kenya or Hill tribe people in Sapa Vietnam
21. Rock climb at Railey’s Bay, Krabi, Thailand
22. Spend time, lots of it, getting to know people from all walks of life. Learn how they live and what is important to them. Make friends inevery country you go. Visit as many as you can in their hometown.
23. Drink rice wine.
24. Sit and talk with a monk in Asia.
25. Learn to speak another language, and learn the basics of each new place you go: Hello. How are you? Thank you. How much is a beer?
26. River tube at Vang Vieng, Laos
27. Go on your own cultural mecca. What place in the world has deep significance for your country and culture? For us it was ANZAC Day in Gallipoli. This was the deepest home connection experience we could ever have to help us understand the roots of our nation’s identity.
28. Spend every day in total gratitude, awe and joy.
29. Sleep under the stars, and appreciate just how small you really are.
More inspiration
We recorded our story in podcast over 5 episodes. Each episode showcases how we made travel our lifestyle despite many challenges, and not matter what life stage we were in.
Episode 3 is where we dive into the dark times spoken about in this post. All episodes are filled with nuggets to help you see how anything is possible. Pull up a chair and your favorite drink and let us help you keep your dreams alive.
- Episode 1: Solo Travel and Working Abroad before we met
- Episode 2: Our 5 year honeymoon living and traveling the world
- Episode 3: The Dark times and Birth of the girls and travel blog
- Episode 4: Embracing Family Travel and our 18 month Australian road trip
- Episode 5: Getting a green card and traveling the US (our dream realized)
And more useful nuggets in I want to Know your Secret and You’ve got Time + the end of 22 years of nomadic travel and don’t put these 23 experiences on your bucket list!
Pin to share
What would be on your travel bucket list?
Hey, Thanks so much for the mention, or should I say description, it means a lot guys thanks so much.
As for the list, If I could complete half of that list I would be over the moon but seeing as you’ve gone to all this effort we’ll see if we can get them all done over the years!
Cheers!
.-= Poi´s last blog ..Could we do more? =-.
Thanks so much for the inspiration! Yes you can!
All excellent things and ones I should add on my personal bucket list. I plan on embarking on my world travels next spring. Glad to have found your site.
.-= Doug´s last blog ..Run, Pack and Laugh =-.
I look forward to hearing all about your adventures Doug! Thanks for finding our site!
Great list! This question really caught my attention: What place in the world has deep significance for your country and culture?
I had to think about this for a sec. But just recently, after making some new friends here in Taiwan, they told me they were native aboriginals, Amis, and took me to meet some of their family. I was fascinated by their culture as it felt like something deeply familiar and it was something I did not expect to come across in this part of the world thousands of miles away from my island home. And when they shared with me their language, I realized there were quite a few keywords that were cognates with Hawaiian. After I went home and did some research, I found that our cultures were linguistically related, which meant that at sometime, thousands of years into the past, our ancestors were the same. There were some fascinating theories about how this spread came about, but ultimately this helped me to see the connection that we all have, no matter what culture we come from.
Thanks for sharing this list!
.-= [email protected]´s last blog ..Trekking Through Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica =-.
That is a cool story. Isn’t it amazing how something so random turns out to be so significant for you? I think that is one of the greatest gifts of travel is that it opens your eyes up to how deeply we really all are connected. Joy!
Hey guys, thanks for the post! Just like Poi & Kirsty, I am a 1st time RTW traveler, still planning out my itinerary, getting excited & feeling all the anxieties associated with long-term solo travel. I appreciate any advice I can get from seasoned travel veterans like yourselves.
A lot of the things on your list sound like there’s any interesting story there. I look forward to following links.
I am also Australian, & look forward to an Anzac Day trek..
Hi Ian, thanks for stopping by. I like your website, has a great energy to it. We would love to help out any way we can. We always get excited helping out new time travelers as we know just what a great time lies ahead of you. The Anzac Day trek was definitely a highlight of our travels so far and so emotional- good and bad! Can’t wait to hear more of your travels: I love your About me tagline: Am I really living? or just existing?
A really great list and is inspiring for me to start my own list.
.-= ayngelina´s last blog ..Reunited and it feels so good =-.
That’s great Ayngelina! Let me know what you are going to put on your list.
Inspiring list. It really makes me want to start a string of must-dos, sees, and feels on my own travels. Off to start that now…
So many places to go and so little time. Like your list!
Thanks for sharing your list. It made me sit-back and think of of my own ( we share many : Africa, staying w/travelers, war -torn countries, hiking, sunsets from some of my fav places… )
looking forward to adding you to my lost of fav travel blogs.
Thanks Tracy. I would like to hear some of your adventures. There is so much of this beautiful planet left to explore, I’m so grateful I’ve been able to do as much as I have.
Interesting list guys! I always enjoy reading what inspires others… I especially like ‘getting charged by a silverback’
Thanks Guys! (Can you say Canuckians?) Getting charged by a silverback was definitely an experience I will never forget!
Some great suggestions and a few to add to my list. A few more to consider:
1. Experience the white, the emptiness and incredible scale of Antarctica
2. Barter for something you value in a spirited marketplace
3. Donate anonymously for a favourite, worthy cause
4. Experience an Olympics
5. Enjoy the arid expanses of a night in the desert
6. See a pod of whales up close
7. Walk among the huge mountains of the Himalaya
8. Splurge once on a world class restaurant
and I am sure there are many more.
Oh.. I like all these ones. I’ve done a couple of these. Have you walked among the Himalayas? That would be incredible
As I’m in the process of thinking up a bucket-list for travel, this is amazing and helpful! I get so caught up in the speed of getting out there I forget what I want to gain. This reminds me to slow down and find something special in each place, whether or not it has to do with what is famous, popular or a ‘must-see/do’ in that place!
Starting my own bucket list now…
Walking safari in Africa ? Sound great idea.
You inspire me much! Thank you for sharing.
It is fabulous. A great way to see the Parks. I’m glad we could inspire you. Thank you
Walking safari in Africa? Sound pretty good idea. You inspire me! Thank you for sharing.
No worries! Do it. The perfect way to get your heart racing.
definitely done a lot of this one! Probably 80% of the time!
“Get around on local transport – some of your best stories will come from doing this.”
Have a beetroot burger at sunset on the shores of any Queensland surfing beach.
So funny, my husband and I just tubed in Vang Vieng Laos last week. We had read about how crazy it is and that it’s really fun. We had a beautiful time but it was totally deserted. There are only two bars that are allowed to be open now the entire river down. You can see the relics of where there used to be slides, zip lines and bars/restaurants which have all all been dismantled. After all the deaths in recent years I know these changes are understandable. When we were on the river we were the only two people that were even there. It was a ghost town. Our guesthouse said there used to be 30 rooms filled every night and now they are lucky to fill 3 or 4.
Beautiful list, and this one of my new favorite blogs!
It was nice and worth reading . I share with you with #24.
Caz – I juts discovered your website. Very nice with great information, and inspiration.
However, one of your comments in your bucket-list made me cringe: “Spend time in a war-torn country so you learn that war brings only death and destruction; there is never a good cause for it.”
Yet, in your article about Thailand you write: “Our natural state of being is freedom.”
So, regarding your comments about the futility of war — that is not always the case. Should the US Civil War not have been fought, and the slaves kept in servitude by the independent Confederacy? Should the Nazis have been allowed to deprive hundreds of millions of life and freedom? The same freedom you knowledge enable you to do what you do. Should the Chinese, the Koreans, and millions of Asians NOT have tried to repel the invading Japanese in the 1940s? They’ would have been enslaved and murdered .
War may be stupid. But, there are good and necessary wars.
Thanks. Love your blog.
I have traveled in only north america, mexico, canada, and united states.farthest south was Jamaica, farthest west was Hawaii.I want to go to Eurasia, my family is from Serbia, ukraine, .italy, and the united kingdom.I want to travel to those places and everywhere in between meeting local artisans and taking pictures of religiousrelics
? What would it all mean, idont know, but I just want to go.
It’s amazing how many of these I’ve ticked off already. You have great taste when it comes to travel. We did 7 weeks camping in Africa (including up close and personal with the silverbacks), Anzac Day at Gallipoli and 10 days Greek Island hoping in 2012, then 2 weeks in Thailand for our honeymoon last November. We are heading to Europe in September for 6 weeks. Can’t wait to tick a few more off our list. Can you tell me if the photo on this post was from Zanzibar?
Yes Mel, that sunset photo was taken from Stone Town in Zanzibar 🙂
Great list, guys! I definitely found a few more amazing travel experiences to add to my list. I love the idea about the Masai warriors in Kenya and Hill tribe people in Sapa. That sounds ridiculously interesting!
Hi there,
Thanks for the bucketlist. Great inspiration for our own travel bucketlist.
We live in Amsterdam near the tulip fields and flower park Keukenhof. Every Spring we have a wonderful colored landscape. Maybe you should place it on your bucketlist =)
Bye, Marco