Over the last few weeks I’ve been cracking on with planning my next RTW trip. I’ve also spent some serious time having a gander through other travel bloggers sites for inspiration on where to go and what to do.
What I’ve suddenly noticed is that I’m missing one key thing in my planning – I haven’t written my ultimate travel dreams down. I haven’t created the bucket list.
My Travel Bucket List
So here it is – my own personal bucket list, some of which I’ve done (including some links to posts about them), some of which I havent’t – but all of which have driven my travels…
1. Skydive – DONE; At Mission Beach in Australia,(I’ve also now skydived in Queenstown, New Zealand and Byron Bay, Australia too!)
2. Learn to SCUBA – DONE; On the Great Barrier Reef, Cairns
3. Live in a campervan – DONE; Both hired on the West Coast of Oz and in my own on the East Coast
4. Photograph Teauphoo in Tahiti
5. Teach surfing as a job – DONE; landed my dream job surf coaching in Ecuador
6. Full moon party on Koh Phanghan – DONE; Twice now actually and Haad Rin was epic both times!
7. Elephant trekking I’ve now taken this off my list as I’m not sure I agree with it anymore, I did however get up close with these amazing creature at the Wildlife Alliance in Cambodia!
8. Glacier Hiking in NZ – DONE; I heli hiked on Franz Josef Glacier
9. Hot Air balloon ride at sunset – DONE; In Sri Lanka (although this was sunrise!)
10. Hike the Inca trail – DONE; I hiked it with G Adventures in April 2012
11. Surf in Australia – DONE; All over, but mainly in the warm water of Byron Bay
12. Mile high club
13. Snorkel with a whale shark – DONE; Although it was SCUBA diving instead on Koh Tao, and i did it AGAIN when I snorkelled with whale sharks in the Philippines!
14. Cage diving with sharks – DONE; I did it in Cape Town, South Africa
15. Surf/swim with dolphins – DONE; Surfed with them heaps in Byron and swam with them in Kaikoura, New Zealand
16. Drive Route 66
17. Drink mint tea in Morocco – DONE; numerous times in Tamraght – love the stuff!
18. Relax in a hammock with a coconut cup – DONE; the joys of Montanita in Ecuador
19. Visit Hawaii
20. Watch the Haka – DONE; saw it at the Skyline Gondola in Queenstown
21. Feed a Kangaroo – DONE; in Perth, Australia (and a wild one at that!)
22. Have Xmas on the beach – DONE; at the infamous Bondi Beach
23. Spend New Year in Sydney watching the fireworks – DONE; an awesome day and night out!
24. Surf in every major ocean – I’m getting there, 5 out of 7!
25. Campervan west coast of Europe from Devon to Morocco
26. Explore Indo – DONE; I’ve spent a lot of time in Indonesia over the last few years!
27. Island hop in Fiji – DONE; I was stoked to hit up Fiji finally…it’s beautiful!
28. Couch surf at the houses of my travel buddies
29. Experience and earthquake – DONE; I experience a 5.7 in Taiwan!
30. Do a full RTW trip
31. Immigrate somewhere warm! – DONE; I’m now out in Australia on a 457 sponsorship!
32. Visit at least 2 of the 7 wonders of the world
33. Gamble in Vegas
34. Do something incredibly spontaneous and that I’ll probably regret! – DONE; My RTW2012 trip was an incredibly spontaneous change of travel plans, but I don’t regret it at all…yet!
35. Travel with my 2 best mates Kyle and Jimmy
36. Go tubing in Laos – DONE; Tubing is an epic way to get drunk!
37. Get a tailored suit in Thailand – DONE; Although I got my suit tailored in Vietnam!
38. Drink tequila in Mexico
39. Gather enough passport stamps to warrant a new one – DONE; I finally ticked this off in 2016 after just a few years on my new passport!
40. Do a border run – DONE; I did one in Thailand over to Cambodia and nearly got scammed! I’ve done heaps since too!
41. Have an epic holiday that doesn’t involve surfing! DONE; My trip to Thailand in late 2011 was amazing and no surfing in sight!
42. Travel alone, with mates and with the girl – DONE; All on my Oz trip!
43. See somewhere on an organised group trip – DONE; My Sri Lanka Trip was epic!
44. Visit Noosa – DONE – even got to shoot the Noosa Longboard Pro
45. Own a VW T4 and convert it
46. Visit the floating markets in Vietnam – DONE!
47. Eat some really crazy traditional cuisine – DONE; I’ve eaten some really odd things lately, although this is definitely and ongoing challenge!
48. Surf some remote spots on a surf charter boat – DONE; I was lucky enough to jump on a Bali surf charter in Indo
49. Make enough money from blogging to fund my travels – DONE; I’m stoked to have been living off my blog for the last few years, amongst some other projects too!
50. Get a picture of me being barrelled
51. White water raft the Grand Canyon
52. Party at the Rio Carnival
53. Chill with some penguins in Antarctica
54. Visit the gorgeous beaches of Phi Phi Island – DONE; And I have the pictures to prove it!
55. Learn to ski or snowboard
56. Go on Safari in Africa – DONE; exploring Kruger National Park was incredible!
57. Soak up the scenery of Halong Bay in Vietnam – DONE; Although it actually wasn’t as good as I was expecting!
58. Get a bamboo tattoo in Thailand – DONE; Got a Sak Yant Tattoo in Phi Phi
59. Complete everything on my bucket list – Surely this is the ultimate bucket list item?!
60) Sail in the Galapagos Islands – DONE, and here are some of my top shots!
61) Ski in the Alps – I’ve snowboarded now, skiing is in the pipeline!
62) Gorge on Swiss chocolate – DONE, uggggh I felt sick!
63) Find an island paradise – DONE, Koh Rong in Cambodia was AMAZING!
64) Book a spontaneous trip – DONE, I randomly decided to head to Switzerland!
65) Travel properly with my brother – DONE; We spent a few months in Asia and then also travelled Australia and New Zealand together too!
66) Surf in Raglan, New Zealand – DONE; And I totally fell in love with Raglan
67) Inspire one of my buddies to book a RTW trip – nearly done, she’s planning it now!
68) Travel only on hand luggage for half a year
69) Get in a travel blog press trip – DONE; I’ve done a couple now and they’re heaps of fun!
70) Island hop in Fiji – DONE; I had a great time drinking kava and swinging in hammock!
71) Surf in Vietnam
72) Learn a new language – nearly done – I failed at Spanish but I’m now trying German!
73) Become a dive master (despite bailing out this year I still want to complete it!)
74) Go paragliding – DONE; Ticked it off paragliding whilst in Interlaken, Switzerland
75) Make a mini surf movie – DONE; check out my Byron Bay surf edit here!
76) Take a trip in a helicopter – DONE; I kind of cheated and tied it in with my glacier hike!
77) Force myself to bungee jump (despite being terrified of heights!) – DONE; The crew at AJ Hackett in Cairns got me drunk and made me do it!haha!
78) Experience a hop on, hop off bus – DONE; I bounced around New Zealand with Kiwi Experience
79) Dive the Liberty Wreck in Bali – DONE; it was totally worth it!
80) Road trip the Cali coast
81) Learn to snowboard properly – I did some lessons in Switzerland, but I still have a way to go!
82) Camp in the outback
83) Visit Bocaray Beach, Philipines (I’ve been inspired by Breakaway Backpacker and Never Ending Footsteps and their amazing pictures!)
84) Sell all my stuff and go completely nomadic!
85) Do 12 countries in 12 months
86) White water raft the Grand Canyon
87) Explore Hawaii
88) Visit the Pyramids in Egypt
89) Eat steak and drink wine in Argentina
90) Chill out in Costa Rica
91) Eat a Queenstown Fergburger – DONE; It was freaking epic!
92) Gorilla trekking
93) Get that postcard perfect shot of Whitehaven Beach, Australia – arrrggghhhh 2 attempts have resulted in cloudy days!
94) Go for a Dubai desert Safari
95) Learn to free dive – DONE; I learnt to freedive on Koh Tao and then did my Level 2 on Gili T
96) Head to New Zealand for a working holiday visa
97) Visit Iceland – DONE; Iceland is a beautiful place to explore!
98) Sunrise over Angkor Wat Temples – DONE; It was one of my highlights in Cambodia
99) Chill with the Dragons in Komodo National Park – DONE; my trip there was beyond incredible!
100) Surf In The Mentawai Islands – DONE; it was seriously the best surf trip I’ve ever done in one of the most tropical places I’ve ever visited!
…as you can see I’ve still got alot to keep me busy! I’ll keep updating the list as I stumble upon some awesome things to do – and feel free to suggest things I may want to add!
As I do a lot of diving and surfing I’ve also put together some separate bucket lists to cover them too!
VIEW MY SURFING BUCKET LIST HERE
VIEW MY DIVING BUCKET LIST HERE
I also highly recommend making one yourself – nothings more motivating than to seeing everything you want to do on paper…expect maybe crossing them off!
excellent list! quite a lot of crossover with mine actually…wanna drive route 66 (altho sadly it doesnt really exist anymore)…and love the passport one too!
Great lists, I’ve done some of the things on your list and want to do many more. Tubing in Laos sounds like a great time, and I love your passport goal. I may have to borrow that idea ;)
I once took an organized tour with Contiki. It was one of the greatest trips of my life but it was definitely a whirlwind tour. I met some amazing folks out of my trip though and had some stellar experiences.
Great list! I have a bucket list on paper since years! I wanted to upload it since a long time but always forgot! Might do it soon! Found some nice things in your list which I might add to my list :)
Do it dude…share the challenge – I may want to steal some off you too!
I think I need to help you tick off a few on that list young Christopher! What do you say?!
I do believe this can be arranged young Daniel :)
Great list – and I’m very impressed with how much you’ve ticked off! I am very intrigued about what “being barrelled” is though! xxx
cheers Scarlett! Getting barrelled is a surfing term for riding inside the tube…when the wave completely falls over the rider!
This is such an epic list bud! giving me itchy feet just reading it! Did a bungee in Cairns while ago, sooo goood def be up for another!
that’s what I aim to do Loza! I’ve got bungee jumping on my list…but I’m terrified of heights!hahaha!
You’ve inspired me to write my own bucket list today, before I start my next trip. Done a few of yours, but I still have loads more to do!
One more I’ve added is get a travel related scar – it’s bound to happen to most people somewhere.
good skills! Anything you think I should add to mine!
Travel related scar hey…I’ve got a few of those!hahaha!
You should add Gorilla trekking, it’s one of the most amazing things i’ve done travelling so far.
oooo totally left that out – will add that in now :)
ok after looking your blog for a good hour at work you’ve basically sold me travelling none stop for the foreseeable future!
hahahaha well thats the plan Georgia!
Nice to know that u were inspired to visit Boracay by travel bloggers I read the most! I will wait for your posts about Boracay and the Philippines as a whole. :)
Carlo
Manila, the Philippines
no idea when I’ll end up there Carlo, but Lauren and Jaime have certainly inspired me!
your #29 is concerning. Take it from someone who has experienced the horrors of several very serious earthquakes, it is not a fun time.
But I love #64! I would love to just show up and the airport and pick one. Good luck with the list!
hey Laura – yeah don’t want a big one, but I think it would be something interesting to experience – there’s something very humbling about suddenly realising the true power of nature.
Still haven’t had the guts to do number 64 yet! one day!
Nice list, Chris!
Reading your list inspired me to write down my own! Actually, reading your blog in general inspired me to get started on my own blog!
I hope many adventures lay in store for you!
Hey Katie!
Stoked that you enjoyed the list and I inspired you to get started on your own one and a blog too! I’ll go check it out in a mo…!
Ahhh, sat back in my uni library after the most amazing summer working my way through a fair bit of your list! HOW GOOD IS FERGBURGER??!!!
Using your summer to maximum affect hey Dannielle?! Good times!
The Fergburger was pretty damn epic – which one did you go for?!
I am planning my first trip to Australia next year and came across this website. This is all so inspiring and has me wanting to do so much more than I already had planned! Many people tried to discourage my travels, but after reading all of your reviews, advice, etc.. I have no doubt that I am ready to start my adventure. So thank you.
Glad to hear it Katie! If it’s something you want to do then don’t let other people fear or views stand in your way! Tell them it’s just a prolonged holiday…it makes it easier for people to understand!haha!
If you need any help planning let me know :)
Awesome list! Many in common with mine but it reminds me to put it down in order to continue dreaming and going forward.
indeed – I always have to double check what’s already on there now it’s expanding quickly!
nice list , I will steal some great idea from you !
Instead of a gorilla trekking , go to Indonesia , Sumatra , you can See orangutan in wild nature !
Or I could put both on the list….!
Fun list. I find it hard to have a set bucket list as some of the best travel experiences I have had just happen. But you gotta have dreams.
Saw your travel blogging tip on hostelbookers and visited your site for inspiration.
well to be honest some of the items only appeared once I actually did them! I use it as much as a list of ticking things of as recorded all the highlights of my adventures!
I hope you find the inspiration you need – let me know if I can be of any help!
Hi Chris, great bucket list! I also wrote a bucket list before leaving home. I’ve re-written it, added and removed items countless times. It’s a tricky thing to do, but it really says a lot about the kind of person you are.
I’ve just found your blog and absolutely love it! I’m currently travelling around New Zealand – my first travel adventure and my first time out of the UK! So far I’ve met the man of my dreams, learnt so much about this amazing country, myself and what I want for my future and I have a desire to travel more burning inside me like an Australian bush fire! Bring on the future.
Keep blogging, one day you will be able to tick off item #49
Hey Shellby – stoked to hear you’re enjoying the blog! Sounds like you’re having an amazing adventure yourself, good to know there’s another new person who’s been sucked into the backpacker bubble!hahaha!
I loved NZ – can’t wait to get back there again!
…and actually I need to cross 49 off the list now! :)
You should add volcano boarding. If you don’t know what that is, check it out!
That sounds pretty epic Daniel – will have to add that in there!
you need to update this list! didnt you already go to iceland?
hahaha yeah I need to do some housekeeping on it!
Perhaps you should visit Uyuni Lake in Bolivia as well or go and see Aurora Borealis
….not sure how they escaped the list Yamq – I’ll get them added in!
Amazing list. Got a very similar one! This page is awesome, can’t wait for my next big trip to South East Asia. Keep it up!! Leah xxx
Yeeewwww what’s that plan Leah?!
Great list and I’m inspired to fix my own! Good luck, maybe I’ll run into you somewhere along the way :)
Which items did you end up stealing?! I need to add a few more and update mine this week too, anything you’d recommend I whack on there?
You are near pushing me to leave work and release the adventurer side of me. So inspiring :)
hahahaha DO IT!
Great list…keep us updated on how its going!
for bunjee jump go to Last Resort, Nepal! Can’t wait for my backpacking trip to Asia in summer 2016! :)
If I head to Nepal anytime soon I’ll pencil that in – thanks for the recommendation Phoebe! Where are you heading in Asia?
I’m going to Nepal, Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia with two of my best friends from uni before we all go back to our different countries…. I read your blogs on Cambodia and it’s making me excited!! can’t wait! :D u enjoy life and keep up the awesome work!
Have an epic time Phoebe, let me know how it goes!
Awesome list Chris! A great inspiration for everyone! I’ve been traveling on and off for the last 10 years and I finally decided to list down all my adventures. Still a long way to go as I’ve been 10 years behind of blogging! Your site really gave me motivation to open up my own blog. If you have time check out my website. Keep up the good work and enjoy the Maldives! I had an awesome time there in 2011 during a surf camp!
Getting it all written down is a great way to start your trip and keep track of all the awesome stuff you’ve done Patrick – I need to update mine soon actually!
Which surf camp in the Maldives did you use?
I came into contact with a group of local surfers via ‘Heymaldives’. They prepared a 1 week surf camp itinerary for us, which was pretty wicked! If you’re interested I can PM you their details Chris.
Hey Patrick – that would be awesome! If you can mail it over to backpackerbanter[at]me[dot]com that would be epic!
This is an excellent bucket list, Chris!
Thanks Agness….have you written down yours too?
These are amazing, mate! My first bungee was with the Hackett Crew in Cairns as well. As for learning German – don’t give up. I’m learning as well (that’s what happens when you meet a German on the road!) and it’s been an awesome ride getting better and better. Happy Wandering!
wow, great listing. So much great places to visit. I live in Amsterdam near the nice tulip fields and flower park Keukenhof. Every Spring an amazing colored world. =)
The List i am saving for lifetime :)