My Bucket List
The following is my bucket list. It’s a list of things to see, to do, and to be before I die. I’ve gone back and forth on whether or not to make this list public. I consider this list very personal and for a few years it has set in a dirty, wrinkled notebook that I’ve occasionally added to. Pages are beginning to fall out of the notebook, so instead of converting to a private digital copy, I’ve decided to put this list on my site to share with the world. I believe it’s important to put things out there – both to inspire and also to be held accountable.
Be prepared – this list is long. Some of it might be considered unrealistic. Some things I’m more passionate about than others, and some things may be easily achievable. My greatest fear is leaving this world having not really experienced it. Having a list that I can turn to for inspiration keeps me driven. This list will continue to evolve – both checking off and adding to.
Because this is just a giant list of text, I would love to hear tips on a better way to organize this. Contact me if you have any recommendations. If you have a bucket list I would encourage you to put it online. Share it with the world. Put a link in the comments below so that we can take inspiration from each other.
Travel
Fly first class- Hike the Overland Track, Tasmania, Australia
- Attend a Kentucky Derby
- Motorcycle from Goa to Kathmandu
- Explore the Temples of Angkor
Live at least 3 months in San Francisco, CA- Live at least 3 months in New York City
- Live at least 3 months in Vancouver, BC
- Live at least 3 months in Anchorage, AK
- Live abroad for a period of time
- Have a straight razor shave from an alley barber in New Delhi
- Drink tea with a lama
- Take the next flight out
- Obtain dual citizenship
- Spend a night in Everest Base Camp
Drive the PCHDrive Highway 1Drive Highway 1 in a convertible- Get a second passport
- Volunteer for a month at an Italian winery
- Take a gondola through the Venice canals
- Ride camelback across the Sahara
- Ride an elephant through any jungle
- See the view from the top of the Eiffel Tower
- See the view from the top of One World Trade Center
- See the view from the top of the Sears (Willis) Tower
- See the view from the top of Corcovado Mountain in Rio de Janeiro
- Ibiza, Spain for New Years Eve
- See Niagara Falls lit up at night
- See Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet
- See Jerusalem’s Old City
- See The Hagia Sofia mosque in Istanbul, Turkey
- See The abbey of Mont-St-Michel in France
Tour the MOMA in New York City- See the ancient city of Petra, Jordan
- Rent a Tuscany villa for the weekend
- See the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza near Cancun
- Drive through The Dark Hedges, Antrim, Ireland
- Attend Holi Festival of Colors in New Delhi
- Explore the ice caves on the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia
- Walk the circumference of Uluru
- Stand on top of Victoria Falls
- Stay in the Burj Al Arab Hotel, Dubai
- Explore Benagil Cave in Algarve, Portugal
- Swim in the Maldives
- Camp among the Italian Dolomites
- Attend the floating lantern festival of Loy Kratong in Chiang Mai, Thailand
- Stand in the Solvay Hut on the side of the Matterhorn
- Stand in the valley below the Eiger
- Work on an archeological site
- Walk the Great Wall of China
- Hot air balloon over Bagan, Burma
- Explore rice fields in the Vietnam Red River Delta
- Visit Japan during the cherry blossom festival
See the aurora borealis over Crater Lake- Bathe in the Ganges River as the sun rises
- See the 7 Wonders of the Modern World
Drink wine in Paso RoblesDrink wine in Napa Valley- Follow the Buddhist pilgrimage from birth, enlightenment, to death
- Boat from Laos to Vietnam on the Mekong
- Convince my parents to take an International trip
Attend a live sporting event for the 5 major professional sports- Ride across Mongolia on horseback
- Set foot on every continent
- Prepare a meal for a family in another country
Eat real Kobe beef at Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant, in Los Angeles- Ride the London Eye
- Ride the Santa Monica Ferris Wheel
Have a glass of champagne at an Aspen ski lodgeSee the Cardiff Kook- Play guitar for one hour on a street in another country
- Participate in the Brazilian Carnival Festival
- Stay in an over-the-water bungalow in Bora Bora
- Have a beer at Oktoberfest in Germany
- Golf at Pebble Beach
Wake up to fog and snow on Jenny Lake, WY- Drive the Amalfi coast near Sorrento, Italy
Have an hour long conversation with a local in a foreign country- See the Acropolis and Parthenon in Athens, Greece
- See the Sistine Chapel and Vatican City in Rome, Italy
- See the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy
- See the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- See the Banaue Rice Terraces in the Philippines
- See the Borobudur stuppa in Java, Indonesia
- See every US National Park
- Attend Sundance Film Festival
- Watch a traditional Muy Thai fight in Thailand
Attend Telluride Mountainfilm- Attend Cannes Film Festival
- Attend Burning Man
- Attend the Iditarod
- Attend Coachella
- Drive the Pan-American highway including the Darién Gap
- Attend a World Cup
- Take a food and wine tour throughout Italy
- Saint Patricks Day in Dublin
Adventure
- Climb an active volcano
Climb the tallest mountain in Colorado- Climb the tallest mountain in all 50 states
- Climb the 53 Colorado 14ers
- Climb the 91 US 14ers
- Climb Everest
- Climb the Grand Teton
- Climb the 7 Summits
- Climb at Railay Beach, Krabi
Create a campfire with no tool- Walk on flowing lava in Hawaii
Hike The Narrows in winter in Zion National Park- Hike the Subway in winter in Zion National Park
Camp with no tent under a clear night of starsCamp on a beach in Alaska- Hike the Stampede Trail to Magic Bus
Surf in Costa Rica- Follow any river from mouth to source
- See the aurora borealis from the summit of Denali
Become certified to scuba dive deeper than 30 meters- Swim with dolphins
Camp on the beachZipline through a jungle in another country- Raft a portion of the Amazon
SkydiveHike Angels Landing in Zion National Park- Take in the shoreline view of Teahupo’o while straddling a surfboard
- Hike Lago 69 in Peru
- Surf in solitude at the end of the world
- Cage dive with sharks in South Africa
- Search for Javanese Rhinos in Indonesia
- Learn to sail
- Catch a wave at Pipeline
- SUP Lake Tahoe
- Call a loved one from the Everest Summit
Cliff dive higher than 30 feet- Dive in Great Barrier Reef
- Run with the bulls in Pamplona
- Go zorbing in New Zealand
- Catch a wave off Kodiak Island, Alaska
Heli-ski- Make friends with a penguin in Antarctica
- Sleep on the side of El Cap
- Speedfly
Moments
- Watch sea turtles hatch and make their run to the ocean
- Save a life
- See the Papal Inauguration in the Vatican
- Witness the first show at a band’s reuniting tour
Experience a double rainbowWatch the sunrise from a peak above 14,000 feet- Witness the last show of a band’s farewell tour
- NYC for New Years Eve
- Catch a home run ball
See a concert in the rain at Red RocksSee a grizzly in the wildSee wild horses- See a grey wolf in the wild
- Witness a concert at Wembley
- Kiss under the Eiffel Tower
- See the Dali Lama speak
- Shake hands with a president
- Build a kid a treehouse
Witness a sunset that you won’t shut up about for years- Return to a place where initials were carved into a tree years earlier
Photography / Video
Publish a photo in Outside Magazine- Photograph the Milky Way over the Easter Island Moai
Go on a photo expedition with Chris Burkard- Capture a unique photo of the Taj Mahal
- Capture a unique photo at Machu Picchu in Peru
Capture a unique photograph at Horseshoe Bend, AZPhotograph a keeper black and white photo of El Capitan- Photograph Santorini, Greece at night
- Document something important
- Photograph from a boat at Pipe Masters
- Publish a photo in National Geographic
- Film and edit a short travel documentary
- Capture a unique photo of Moraine Lake
- Photograph the Milky Way over Stonehenge
- Fly an octocopter through Heaven’s Gate, China
Photograph The Racetrack in Death Valley at night- Serve as a photo guide in Antarctica
- Photograph Na Pali Coast, Kauai, Hawaii by airplane
- Photograph something that needs to be made aware to the public for the first time
- Present a short film on a humanitarian issue at a festival
Personal
- Help at least one person escape extreme poverty
Pay for the person behind in the drive through- Develop a family secret recipe
- Build a house/cabin with my own hands
- Donate more than $1,000 to an important cause
Attend a TED conferenceInspire someone- Take ballroom dancing lessons
Complete a Masters DegreeLearn to play guitar- Play a sport with a current professional athlete
Run a 5KRun a 10K- Run a marathon
Be a mentorWin more than $1K in Las Vegas- Tribute someone by releasing a paper lantern
- Front row seats for a game 7
- Be able to speak another language conversationally
Milk a cowPlant and eat from my own garden- Leave any wealth or assets I have when I go to people who really need them
Discover my passionDine with Shamu at SeaWorld- Have coffee with the CEO of a Fortune 500 company
- Sit in the co-pilot’s seat of an airborne 747
- Live for more than one month without Internet
Hit a walk-off homerun in beer league softballMeet all of my neighborsSell a house for profitAdopt an animalHave a picnic of champagne and lobster on a beach at sunset- Stand in a crowded place wearing a FREE HUGS t-shirt
- Read 10 books in 10 days
- Marry someone who wants to do half of this stuff together
Writing
Get a travel article published online- Write an eBook
- Take my blog to over 10,000 subscribers
- Write over 100 Haikus
- Get a travel article published in print
- Write (and play) a song for someone
- Write and publish a book Justin Vernon style
Business
Grow my passive income to greater than $2K a month after taxes- Grow my passive income to greater than $4K a month after taxes
- Live self-sufficiently on passive income
- Collect people
Sell a successful product onlineCreate a product that makes over $50K- Create something that makes over $100K