What's on your bucket list? The trips and treats we want to tick off the most
Bliss. New Year. New You. The resolutions have gone out the window – isn’t that the point of resolutions? – and it’s a long time until the sun is going to shine and the days will be warm. At such times, there’s only one game in town. It’s called bucket list.
Don’t we all yearn for a holiday at the start of the year? We’re stony broke, our credit cards are laughing at our attempts to squeeze blood from a stone and having stripped the house of festive decorations, our living conditions are cramped and unhappy.
The alternatives, however, are remarkable. Far beyond the garden gate, there’s a world of fun. Remarkable scenes, incredible wildlife, stunning views and more await, if only we can get it together to save instead of spend. Rather than our annual weekend in Clacton, we could be dining in Cairo, instead of a long weekend hiking in Grampian, we could be taking a helicopter ride through the Grand Canyon.
And so rather than being enveloped by the gloom that is January, it’s time to get a pencil and paper – smart pen and funky screens are just as good – to write an individual bucket list. And we’re not talking about meeting your favourite footballer, doing a duet with Robbie Williams or appearing on the X Factor – does that still exist? – and getting Simon to press his golden buzzer. We’re talking about heading off into the great wide world and experiencing all it has to offer.
If you need inspiration, thinking about Australia’s Great Barrier Reef – actually, you really ought to. The rate at which the planet is warming means a trip there sooner rather than later is the only sensible thing. The largest living organism in the world – yes, even larger than your own stomach after all that Christmas and New Year partying – can be explored in a multitude of ways. Go diving and snorkelling, take a boat trip or a cruise, sign up for a submarine excursion or keep your feet dry and visit by helicopter or seaplane.
Australia isn’t the only desirable location in the world – particularly not if you’re an England cricket fan and had hoped we might win the Ashes. The Grand Canyon is one of the seven wonders of the natural world and welcomes millions of visitors each year. Just as well it’s 277 miles long, so people can enjoy their own small slice without being overwhelmed by visitors. It’s six million years old and a helicopter tour that flies low into the mile-deep chasm, landing for a picnic lunch, is the only way to fly.
There are elephant safaris in Thailand’s Khao Sok National Park, cruises along New Zealand’s fjords, a Rocky Mountaineer train ride through Canada – one of the best railway journeys in the world – and spectacular sunrises over Angkor Wat, in Cambodia. Or how about a safari to spot the Big Five in South Africa’s Kruger National Park, a cruise of emerald green waters in Vietnam’s Ha Long Bay, the ultimate romantic moment that is a visit to the Taj Mahal, in India, and lest we forget the chance to set sail on a cruise around the Galapagos Islands.
The world is your oyster – or, at the very least, your fish cake – and with 344 days to go until Christmas, it’s the best way to cheer yourself up.
Andy Richardson: My pledge to visit the seventh of Earth's continents
A day trip to France was as much overseas excitement as I could muster by the time I’d started work. A trip memorable for watching a man urinate in public against a wall – who knew they did that, in Brittany – introduced me to the great wide world.
There was more: a really rough sleep on the floor of a coach – I’ve no idea why I didn’t sleep on the seat – and successfully persuading a girl three years my senior to be my girlfriend were other highlights. I was hooked.
Since then, there’s been visits to 50-odd countries on Planet Earth. It’s small beer compared to the exploits of a friend, whose managed to make his way around more than 100. There’s been one passport that became so full I had to put off any more holidays until I got a new one. I’ve visited a war zone, an island where the wildlife was so tame that baby seals flipped and flopped at my feet, while I’m happy to confirm that a number of the seven wonders of the world are indeed wonderful. We’ve ticket off six of the seven continents – don’t worry, Antarctica I’m coming to get you.
So what is it about bucket list destinations? What is it that makes us get a visa for Laos and take the slow bus to Vientiane?
I guess it’s the lure of adventure. It’s the chance to step outside our normal world and experience something new.
The American writer, John Steinbeck, said no two journeys were alike. He also said we didn’t take a trip, a trip took us: “A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. ... And all plans, safeguards, policies and coercion are fruitless. We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.”
And Steinbeck was right. The joy of great travel is that we become someone else and as we do we see the world for the first time. There are views across incredible ravines in South East Asia, the majesty of Death Valley and all its primordial stillness, great waves on oceans surrounding New Zealand and stunning architecture across Europe and the Middle East.
I’ve ticked off a number of bucket list trips, from the Grand Canyon to riding an elephant in Thailand, from cruising New Zealand’s fjords to seeing the Big Five on a safari, from watching the majestic wildlife in the Galapagos Islands – who knew penguins could swim so fast? – to walking the Great Wall of China, driving the Pacific Coast Highway and cruising the waters of the Mekong.
All were spectacular, though it was the way in which they opened my eyes to a new world of possibilities that stood out, rather than the drama and beauty of a particular landscape.
There are plenty of places I’d like to return to – and, slowly, I am. From the vastness of Iceland to the splendour of Canada’s West Coast, from the magic of Melbourne to the scintillating views of San Francisco. One bucket list trip remains and that’s to Antarctica. I’d been planning that at the tail end of 2019, looking forward to a trip via South America before Covid-19 so rudely intervened.
I’d intended to cruise to the icy continent by crossing The Drake Passage, a fairly notorious stretch of water.
Approximately 30% of voyages experience rough weather, however it can also be surprisingly placid too, at which time it’s euphemistically called ‘The Drake Lake’. The reality for the majority is that it’s rarely as bad as it sounds and so I was all in, considering that a price well worth paying.
From there, it would have been onto an Antarctic base camp to snowshoe, mountaineer, camp and hike. And having swum with penguins off Ecuador, I was hoping to simply enjoy them waddling around.
The pandemic, of course, is gradually on the way out. And so with better days to come, maybe it’s time to start planning my next bucket list trip.
Dan Morris: Bears, The Big Easy, and a Great Wall picnic
There are, and have always been, so many things I want to do. And – as is the case with most of us – every time I tick something off, another harebrained yarn pops into my head to replace it.
Hijack a camel at the pyramids of Giza? Done! Now hows about a picnic on the Great Wall of China? Some people are just never satisfied...
Like a lot of people, most of my bucket list involves travel to far-flung and exotic destinations I haven’t yet got round to exploring.
I’ve been around a bit, having busked my way around the States as a younger chap and been lucky enough in the years since to visit the likes of Dubai and Vienna all in the noble pursuit of journalism. But, there’s plenty more fun out there to be had, and when this pandemic has finally bid us adieu, I fully intend to get stuck into as much of it as possible.
First on the list – New Orleans. A part of America I didn’t quite make it to, but love the sound of the tucker, love the tunes, and love the beads.
Next stop, Finland. To watch actual bears in the wild. From a safe distance mind you... I still get flashbacks from watching The Revenant.
After that, New Zealand. Missus loves it, I’ve never been – time to find out what all the fuss is about (and get my Hobbit on).
Then – but hopefully not finally – the picnic as mentioned above. Me and my old man have been promising to do this since I was 17, which incidentally was 17 years ago. As the last couple of years have taught everybody, life’s far too short to put it off any longer. I’ll bring the cheese and biccies Dad – if you could just sort the tickets that’d be grand!
Heather Large: Much to achieve before milestone birthday
This year I turn 40. Gulp. Thankfully, it’s not for another 11 months but it’s still going to happen whether I like it or not.
So, I decided to have a look online for some ‘things to do before you’re 40’ lists for inspiration of what people usually do before reaching this milestone.
I was pleasantly surprised that I could already cross a few things off. See the Northern Lights – yes, thanks to a school trip to Iceland while studying A-level geography. Walk across the majestic Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco – done twice – first in beautiful sunshine and a few years later in lashing rain.
Drive along the Great Ocean Road in southern Australia – I wasn’t in the driver’s seat but I still got to admire the amazing views.
Others such as visit the Taj Mahal at sunrise, embark on a cross country US road trip from Chicago to Los Angeles and go on a safari in Africa are definitely things I would like to do in the future.
I would also love to see polar bears in their natural habitat and, closer to home, visit Skomer Island to see the puffin colony.
Commonly found in these types of lists was travel in a hot air balloon. The jury is still out on this one. I think I would like the views, I don’t mind heights, but I’m not sure about standing in a wicker basket surrounded by just open air.
Other popular items, that I’m choosing to veto were skydiving, get a tattoo and run a marathon.
The first two have never appealed and I think I need to at least conquer a 5k before tackling the third.
I think I’m going struggle to do everything before I turn 40 in November but maybe I can achieve them between now and my next milestone birthday.
In the meantime I have plenty of adventures to look forward to this year including a weekend away in a vintage VW campervan and a road trip around Scotland taking in destinations such as Inverness and Cairngorms National Park.
Matt Panter: This sporting life
Don’t you just hate having to rely on others to give you a hand in completing your bucket list?
I’ll be honest, I’ve not really compiled a definitive list before.
But, if I did, football would be top of the wish-list. And that’s part of the problem.
I support West Bromwich Albion.
Now don’t get me wrong, I love the Baggies, just as my grandfather Edwin did, and dad Albert still does.
But are Valerien Ismael, or any manager that follows, ever likely allow me to follow them into European competition? Or help me fulfil my dream of seeing them win an FA Cup at Wembley?
Not even optimistic Matt thinks so. I’ll just leave that particular wish to include, say, lifting the Birmingham Senior Cup at Halesowen Town.
To be fair, I’ve been lucky enough to be there for the special moments when Albion won promotions and, as a child of the 80s, there was a time I didn’t see those happening in my lifetime as we languished in second tier and even slipped into the third briefly.
But, from a sports point of view, there are many things I have already completed on my bucket list, one I will fulfil this year and some I dream of crossing off the list one day.
I have been lucky enough to attend an Olympic Games and memories of London will remain with me, along with witnessing England success in the Ashes, England internationals at Wembley, Cheltenham racing and the World Athletics Championships.
And this year, I’ll scratch the Commonwealth Games off the list with trips to athletics and gymnastics – and what better place to do so than in Birmingham! It promises to be an incredible sporting spectacular and I’ve already stocked up on my Perry the mascot ‘merch’ ready for the occasion.
And, once that’s out the way, my sporting bucket list still includes a visit to Wimbledon – I’d love a Centre Court seat – as well as the darts at Ally Pally and the Grand National. If I get to Aintree, I can’t wait to have a flutter, which is more than I’ll be having on the Baggies to win something, anytime soon.
