This post is all about creating a travel bucket list! If you have never created a travel bucket list for yourself, why not try it -it is a lot of fun!
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What is a travel bucket list?
A travel bucket list is a list of all the travel-related items you would like to do in your lifetime. This includes destinations to visit and specific activities you may want to do.
Let’s look at a few examples. I have always wanted to walk the Camino de Santiago. This hike starts in France at St. Jean Pied de Port and finishes at Santiago de Compostela in Spain. So, walking (and completing) the Camino is on my bucket list. Another item on my list is attending the annual carnival in Venice, Italy.
Creating a travel bucket list
Although these steps focus on creating a travel bucket list, you can follow the same steps to create a life list of general bucket list for non-travel experiences.
To create your travel bucket list, you need to follow these steps:
Start a list
Sit down and using pen and paper or an online tool or app, make a list of all the countries that you immediately think of and the experiences you would like to have in these countries. Store your list somewhere you can easily access it. If you use the apps and online tools listed below, you know your travel bucket list is always safe and accessible. Using a journal to record your ideas is a wonderful idea!
Broaden your travel bucket list using social media and other tools
Perhaps you have a few Pinterest boards with destinations that caught your eye while scrolling through your Pinterest feed or you have saved some articles to your Evernote notebooks for later reading. Go through these resources and add any destinations or experiences you have not yet listed.
Make a travel vision board
I am a great believer in using a vision board to help me stay motivated to achieve my goals. Having a travel vision board as your laptop wallpaper can remind you daily about the destinations you still want to visit. Not only is a travel vision board a nice tool, but it is also fun to make!
Consider your existing business and leisure travel plans
Whenever you plan a trip, review your list to see if you cannot visit any of your travel bucket list destinations or do any of the experiences on your list. If you have a work trip planned, why not see if you can add a day to check off a few of your list items? If your family is planning a trip somewhere, see if you can make a stop on the way there or back to help you do some of your bucket list items.
Tell your friends and family about your travel bucket list
Share your list with friends and family. You never know if someone may help you complete one of your items. Perhaps a friend or family member may have the same item on their travel bucket list and you can have fun doing it together!
Regularly review your travel bucket list
You should update your list often to ensure it remains updated with your achievements. Perhaps you have discovered something else you would like to do or another destination you would like to visit since you last looked at your list – make sure you add it! The last thing you want to happen is to miss out on a destination or experience because your list was outdated!
Travel bucket list ideas
Finding ideas for your list is easy. Here are some articles that could provide you with ideas or inspiration when you create your own list.
100 Travel bucket list ideas for 2020
This is a very comprehensive list of bucket list ideas. A bonus is that the article was recently published on 2 January 2020!
50 Ultimate Travel Bucket List Ideas …
This article provides some interesting ideas. Although it features some typical bucket list ideas such as Machu Picchu, it also featured some ideas I was not familiar with. These interesting ideas included the Finger Lakes in New York State in the United States and Lake Baikal in Siberia.
50 Best Travel Bucket List Destinations
This list contains some of my favourite list ideas, such as taking a cruise to Antarctica and taking the Rocky Mountaineer train in Canada.
Ultimate Travel Bucket List: 50 Best Experiences & Must See Destinations
Annette’s list includes new list ideas that sounds interesting and that I will need to research further to include on my bucket list. One of these is taking the Walk of Faith at Tianmen Mountain in China. Annette has also written a book on Bucket List Adventures which I completed in 2019. In this book, she discusses some of her list items and her experiences while doing them. So Inspirational!
Bucket List Travel: The Top 50 Places In The World
This list is based on the results of a survey that determined people’s most desired bucket list ideas. According to this article, most people find their travel bucket list destinations from Instagram and other social media channels.
Travel bucket list apps to try
There are several apps that you can use to help you create and keep track of your list items. Here are 5 apps to help you create a bucket list:
Travel Bucket
This app is available for both iOS and Android devices. It helps you track the countries you have visited and those still on your bucket list. It also connects with Facebook and you and your friends can compete on who is the most travelled!
Tripbucket mobile app
This app is also available for both iOS and Android devices. You can use this app to keep track of the items on your bucket list and to help you plan trips to tick items off. It goes even further and when you are at a bucket list destination; it helps you plan your itinerary with recommendations for places to eat and things to do. It also helps you share updates with friends and family.
iWish
This app is only available for iOS devices. It gives you ideas for travel, personal development, career and relationship goals. It helps you set priorities and provides reminders and inspirational quotes to motivate you.
Tripnary
Tripnary is only available for iOS devices. It gives you ideas and helps you plan your next trip by providing budget estimates for different destinations. It can also notify you when there is a price drop on flights to your desired travel bucket destination.
Other travel bucket list tools
If you don’t want to download an app for tracking your bucket list destinations and ideas, there are also online tools you can use. These tools do not focus on travel lists only, but also life lists or general bucket lists.
Bucketlist.net
You can create your bucket list using this tool. You can then share it with family and friends. You can use this tool to make requests to the community on this site to help you achieve your bucket list ideas by swapping favours.
Bucketlist.org
This site allows you to track your bucket list ideas and to get inspiration from fellow bucket listers.
Using these tips and tools, creating your travel vision board will be easy and fun to do!
Thanks for listing so many options for recording your bucket list. I am looking at the different apps now. Great way to start 2020!
I hope you find one that you like! Doing a bucket list is so much fun!
Love these ideas! I’m going to go download some of those apps and check them out now 🙂
I love having a running travel bucket list. I find inspiration all the time of things to add. I do often add more just when I cross something off. For example, I wanted to see the Northern Lights, which I did as a fall road trip through Iceland. When I was there I discovered Pinglivvir, where one can snorkel or SCUBA between continental plates, and now that is added to my list.
I hope you find one that you like!
The Northern Lights is on my bucket list too! I think having a list is so important – the world is full of wonderful places and it is so easy to lose track!
My next ‘bucket list’ destination is the Silk Road. The road over the centuries not only carried silk creating massive wealth, but brought a whole raft of ideas back to the west. Some of the basic mathematical concepts, for example, did not originate in the west, but came across the Silk Road.
My bucketlist has got out of hand, it keeps getting longer so you’re not helping, LOL! As I’m a fan of trekking, Camino de Santiago is already on the list. You mention lots of apps I have never heard of so they would be useful to get my list in some sort of order. Luckily, I work with an adventure travel company so I’m always going on new adventures that were not on my radar.
This is full of great ideas. Now if only there were a guaranteed way to win the lottery so I can finance my long list of travel dreams!
I know what you mean! Lots of ideas for travel, but not enough money!
You are so lucky! I would make full use of the benefits your job offers!
I am not familiar with the Silk Road, but it sounds like something I should be researching! Thanks for sharing!