MY Travel Bucket List

On December 2009, I sat down and started to write my travel bucket list. 2009 was the travel-awakening-year for me.

I listed down the few places I’ve been to – para lang may check agad yung list! This is the June 17, 2010 version of the list.

#1 to 37 only.

I should’ve taken more pics of the list in between 2010 and 2012. I wrote down the rest of the list and crossed-out a lot of destinations during that time. Can’t find any photo in my archives. Here’s the  September 10, 2012 version.

 

Now there's a quote in the list.

 During the start of this year:

New Year 2014 status check

 And today:

 

Almost five years after I wrote down these places, I was able to visit almost everything in the list, except for three (3) destinations.

A. I wasn't able to visit Malapascua during my first visit to Cebu. I had plane ticket for Cebu last August 2013 but I wasn't able to use this because of 1) bad weather in the region and 2) There was a Wushu event where the Philippines is the hosting country.

B. Egypt. Safety reasons. I plan my trips as far as 9 months in advance. Egypt is/was a part of my 2014 project timeline but the unrest in the news since 2011 made me scared to pursue this country. Besides, I want to get a travel package going there and the prices are expensive if I am a solo traveler.

C. Viaje del Sol. I have better driving skills now. I know I can do this but I am not in a hurry.

 

How I Accomplished MY Travel Bucket List

I never thought of writing HOW I did my list. During a couch conversation with my best friends, Sarah asked how I was able to do my travel bucket list. She wrote about our conversation here.

 

Protect the integrity of your bucket list. I’ll expound my answer here.

Before going any further, here’s one of my vital blog posts about travelling: How to Fund Your Wanderlust. There are two crucial things you need: MONEY and TIME. I wrote this with conviction and I believe this still holds today.

 

Still true.

My main thoughts:

1. List the places YOU want. There will be these books and articles listing down the 100 places you have to visit before you die. But that is THEIR list, THEIR opinion. Ten (10) destinations that you really want is better than 100 destinations that you are writing down just for the heck of it.

1a. Figure out what you want to do. Are you a nature lover who loves to camp in the mountains? Do you like the ocean? Why? Are you a beachbummer? Surfer? Diver?

1b. Link your travel destination to another hobby. Do you want to go to Korea to chance upon your fave Korean stars? Do you want to watch tennis? Sample authentic Japanese food? Practice your French?

It is your bucket list. Protect the integrity of your bucket list.

Or it would just be a list of things that you'd like to happen to you. You are making a list of what you want to DO. Not a list of what you want to HAPPEN to you. See the difference?

David of Raptitude suggests this litmus test:  would you still do it if you weren’t allowed to tell anyone?

What if you cannot tweet, post in FB or Instagram about it? Will you still make time and effort?

Live posting in FB? There are spots on earth without internet connection

2. Write down the destinations one at a time. You don't need to fill-up the entire page. It doesn't have to be 100 destinations. Notice that I stopped writing the list at #37 and I did not fill-up the page with destinations just so.

3. Say "No" to trips not in your destination. You have a list. Prioritize that. Approach this the same way that you approach your work to-do list (if you don’t do that at work, go read articles how this technique makes you productive). Each destination requires TIME and MONEY. If you give your time and money to a non-essential/not wanted destination, you are depleting your resources for something not important to you.

A whim trip with friends is an easy "Yes", especially if you are not the planner, and you just have to hand your money over to the coordinator. I'll admit, five places in the list were listed AFTER I visited that place. Why not join? YOLO and FOMO! It would be sad to not see your face in the group photo once uploaded in Facebook. Do you have to join every surfing trip? Do you like surfing? Do you want to learn how to surf? Do you have to join every climb? Do you like climbing? Do you like camping. There are things that you have to try out, but you don't have to try out everything all at once.

4. Say "No" to seat sales just because there’s a sale. Do you want to spend your money and time in this province/country just because you scored a Piso fare? Is your travel bucket list dictated by seat sales? If I stayed with going to where the budget airline goes, I would've never gotten to Europe. Hihintayin mo pa ba na lumpad ang Cebpac dun? Isn't it more concrete to just save for the trip? Check the fares of the airlines that will take you to your destination; not the ones just shared in FB for FYI.

5. Visa is not an excuse. Fifty years from now, some countries will still require Filipinos to get visas (it will be a dream come true if I will be wrong here). Are you going to shun away from a country just because they require a visa? You will still want to go there, they will still require it, so just prepare for it. Pwede kang mainis dahil kelangan ng visa, pero wag ka naman aatras.

A list on a nice piece of paper is not enough. Plan. 

Planning is half of the adventure. 

 

Here's really good reading literature on creating your own travel bucket list. This is one of the blogs that I regularly read. How to Make a BucketList You’ll Actually Do: A Comprehensive Guide

Good luck. Enjoy! :)

 

One of my favorite travel quotes that I got from Pinterest