Here’s Why You Need A Travel Bucket List

What’s on your bucket list of places you want to visit? As a child, I remember Paris being one of the countries if not the only country I desperately wanted to visit. As a matter of fact, there was a particular movie, “Ratatouille” that influenced my decision.

This animated movie was about how a particular rat wanted to be a renowned French chef. How iconic!  I think at a point in our lives, we all wished we were living in Paris or wanted to go to Paris. As I grew up, the dream of going to Paris was short-lived as I realized that Paris wasn’t the only country there is. I’m sure the same goes for all of us. 

A bucket list is a compilation of everything you wanna do, so you can guess what a travel bucket list means. It’s a list of places you would love to travel to and all the things you want to do while you’re there. Our choices depend on a lot of determining factors. What I am saying in general is, it could just be a feature that attracted you to a particular place. For example, if you are a lover of culture and tradition, then that would definitely influence your decision. If you are a Foodie as well, that would also influence your bucket list. I for one, because of the food, would love to go to Italy.

Anyways, this blog post isn’t a serious one. It just shows how much we’ve evolved from the usual and how we’ve come to see the world for how big and non-limiting it is. Before I left Nigeria, Dubai was definitely on my travel bucket list. One of the things that drew my attention to Dubai was that Dubai is so beautiful.

Why Should You Have A Travel Bucket List?  

You might be wondering, “why do I need a bucket list?” one thing you should know is that when you write down goals and make bucket lists, it’s a way of setting your intentions and making them known (to yourself first and then maybe to others). We can’t achieve what we can’t imagine. Writing them down is the first step to making them a reality and the amazing thing is Science has actually proven that we get more happiness out of planning our trips than actually experiencing it (please, don’t quote me on that, lol)  so we still get some sort of satisfaction if we don’t eventually go on one. If you don’t have a bucket list, here are reasons why you should make one

• It makes you happy

I don’t know about you but writing down places I want to visit excites me. Even if at that point, my account balance says otherwise, the thought of those amazing places I have written down gives me the chills. Let’s be real here, sometimes, our pocket says otherwise but writing those places down, looking at them every day and saying to yourself “I can’t wait to go the Maldives” might just be all the motivation you need to work harder and make the wish come true. 

• It helps you list your destination

Having a travel bucket list helps you to keep in mind, those places you want to visit without forgetting any. See it as some sort of record. It can also be updated and ticked off. Places you’ve visited will be ticked off your list and new places you want to visit will be updated on your list. 

How To Make A Travel Bucket List

If you’re unsure how to create your travel bucket list or what to do, here’s some help:

• Get a journal or a notepad

We need something to write in, don’t we? This is the first step to making a travel bucket list. In my opinion, it should be anything random. I feel really inspired when I write in something cute, like a journal rather than writing in some random piece of paper. So buy something that makes you want to write consistently and let’s bring those ideas of yours to life. You can check on Amazon.

• Make a list of places you’ve already been to

This step can be challenging because there are so many wonderful places yet to be explored, so making a list of those places you’ve visited helps you to narrow your list down. It separates places you’ve been from those you’re yet to go. This is even advantageous as it could help you decide your area of interest maybe adventure travel or historical travel.

(For the purpose of this write-up, Adventure travel is travel for fun; historical travel is travel to monumental places)

• Write down destinations that come to your mind

Yes. Just keep on writing. Whatever you can think of, just write it. That place your uncle told you about? Write it!

• Research on destinations

While some of us totally know where we want to visit, some of us also might need to research. But we need to be careful while doing this as this can cause “wanderlust”. This is when our mind wanders too far and then we want to go to every single place we see just because we’ve read about it.

To help your research, you can ask yourself questions such as “Where have I always wanted to go?” “Where would I go if money wasn’t an option?” “When I grow old and die, where would I regret not going?”. Answers to these questions would narrow your research down.

• Prioritize your list and set a deadline if need be

Circle the places you want to visit first and work on them. There are some activities that are suited for when you are younger. You don’t want to be skydiving when you’re 80 years old! So if you want to skydive, write it out and set a deadline.

People travel for different reasons. Some people travel to relax while another set of people travel majorly for the experience that comes with travelling. Whatever the case may be for you, challenge yourself today and start exploring.

Xoxo,

Mimie Jay.