Random Rants – I hate Bucket lists!
I did a random rant before about how this is my journey and I will go wherever I want. You sometimes feel the need to get things off your chest, and so here’s my second random rant on here. One thing that drives me mad and annoys me is seeing fellow travellers write things like “get this on your bucket list” or “it’s not on my bucket list”. Who ever invented this fucking term “bucket list”? I hate the term and I hate bucket lists, whatever they may be. The good news is there are plenty of buckets but there are no bucket lists!
Drinking buckets of booze in “THE BUCKET BAR” in Vang Vieng, Laos
Buckets: What are they?
The only bucket I ever owned was as a child when I went to the beaches in Northern Ireland in the summer to make sandcastles. They were proper buckets. I once made a bucket list as a 6 year old, it was:
– one green bucket (circular)
– one yellow bucket (shaped like a castle)
– one spade
That’s my bucket list.
Sandcastle buckets are the only real bucket lists I ever made
Decent buckets:
1. Buckets for making sandcastles with (see picture above)
2. Buckets for drinking out of (like when you go tubing in Vang Vieng)
3. Charles Bucket from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
So like it or buck it, I hate bucket lists and I don’t have one. However here is a list of twenty things I’ve done on my travels which I was kind of ticking off, and a list of twenty more still to come:
Twenty Things I’ve Done on My Travels Unrelated to Buckets:
1. Stepped on mainland Antarctica
3. Hiked to Machu Picchu in Peru
4. Crossed the Equator on foot in Ecuador
Studying Spanish in Montevideo, Uruguay
6. Worked on the world’s first broccoli harvester in Tasmania
7. Taught English in Hong Kong
8. Got paid to travel on ferries between England and France
9. Stayed with a local family in Soweto, South Africa
10. Visited the world’s highest city – Potosi, Bolivia
11. Stood in North Korea at Panmunjom
12. Got soaked on both sides of the Iguazu Falls (Argentina and Brazil)
13. Worked as a Public Relations Assistant for Apple in London
14. Been filmed for a BBC documentary white water rafting in Slovenia
Partying and white water rafting in Slovenia back in 2008 with BBC Northern Ireland – great travel times!
15. Went inside Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum in Hanoi, Vietnam
16. Stood on Salt Plains in Bolivia
17. Visited the world’s largest Buddha Temple in Indonesia
18. Been to the top of what was then the world’s highest building at Taipei 101
19. Rode on an elephant in Sri Lanka
20. Stared at the world from the top of the Empire State Building, New York
Checking out the view from the top of the Empire State Building in New York, USA.
Twenty Things I Really Want to do on my Travels in the future:
1. See a polar bear in the Arctic Circle
2. Ride the Transiberian Railway
3. Attend a World Cup Finals match
4. Go sightseeing in North Korea
5. Visit Everest Base Camp
6. Sail down the River Nile
7. See a Cheetah Live in the flesh
8. Hike to the peak of Mount Kilimanjiro
9. Backpack through Israel, Jordan, Armenia and Azerbaijan
10. Visit over 100 countries
11. Write a proper travel book on my adventures
12. Swim with dolphins
13. Get married on a beach and in a church
14. Go to the top of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
15. Attend a wedding in the Middle East
16. Gain a Masters Degree
17. Work in Africa
18. Spend a night in the Sahara Desert
19. Get a free trip somewhere paid for by a tour company
20. Make Don’t Stop Living the best one man, seven continent travel website there is 😉
So that’s my random rant about bucket lists. They just annoy me. Next time I hear someone say “get this on your bucket list”, I may just produce a bucket of cold water to pour on their head. There are no buckets, there are no bucket lists, though the oceans are wide and the mountains are high, it’s a small world after all. Let’s explore it in our own sweet way.
Don’t Stop Living – a lifestyle of travel (without a bucket, or a bucket list)
You must be feeling better – excellent!
“So like it or buck it,” I’ve written that down, great statement.
“Twenty Things I’ve Done on My Travels Unrelated to Buckets” – this made me laugh, out loud and yeah, I choked on my coffee too. No worries, I regained composure. I love lists that help me remember things, like getting coffee later today when I get around to grocery shopping but I feel a little itchy around “bucket” lists – too much of a commitment. Sure, there are a ton of places I want to experience but I’d rather go with an ebb and flow. 🙂
Thanks for the comment Maria. There is without doubt a hint of tongue in cheek in this post. I make lists all the time, especially to do lists. I’m the same type of hypocrite as everyone else. What I hate is just the way people say “get this on your bucket list” or “what’s on your bucket list?” or “is visiting Paris on your bucket list?” – in essence it’s just the word bucket that annoys me, and possibly the pretentiousness that a person with a “bucket list” might be superior to a person with only a bucket, and separately a list. It’s a rant. It’s an opinion. It doesn’t mean I don’t like people that actively put their lists into “virtual buckets”! Each to their own and safe travels. Jonny
What a pitty you haven’t been swimming with dolphins yet! It’s awesome! Visit Mauritius,my second home, and we do it together 😉
http://ants-in-our-pants.com/dolphin-watch-swimming-mauritius/
Barbara from Ants in our pants Travelblog recently posted…Playmobil Funpark near Nuremberg – a must do playground if you’re around
Hi Barbara – one of my best mates lives in Mauritius so it’s on the list don’t worry. Big world to see out there! Safe travels. Jonny