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Friday Around

the Planet

September 23, 2022

My bucket list is filled with many destinations, each one attached to a little note that reminds me why it’s there (“Jeonju, the birthplace of bibimbap; Greenland, Northern Lights”). It’s long. It’s chaotic. It’s also, apparently, no longer a bucket list. “It’s just a random list of places you want to go to,” a friend pointed out. “That’s not the same thing.”

So because it’s September and I’m in planning mode, I’m making my list meaningful. But how do you decide what places make the cut when the world is so vast? A bucket list is defined as the experiences you want to achieve in a lifetime. The things you’d regret not doing at the end. If I died tomorrow I’d regret, well, nothing because I’d be dead, but, for the sake of refining this list, I’d want to spend more time with the people I love. So people, and how I experience the world with them, are central to my list.

With that in mind, Switzerland should have the top spot. It’s where my newborn nephew is, and I want to spend time with him while the world is so new to him. I need to return to Colombia but with friends this time, rather than a solo adventure. I need to take my mum to Rome. Whenever someone asks her about her bucket list, she talks about wanting to see the Colosseum. I need to visit Japan, a place my boyfriend and I have tried to visit for years without success. I need to… start a new list.

Sasha Brady | Digital Editor

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What to think about when planning bucket-list travel

If, like me, you’re using September to plan for travel in 2023 where you can tick another destination off your bucket list, but can’t decide where to start, figure out which elements are the most important and go from there. Is it budget? Weather? The range of experiences at hand? Do your travel companions have any preferences or restrictions?

Despite my earlier musings and regardless of what my friend said (she better be reading this), your travel bucket list can be anything you want it to be. It doesn’t need a theme. It doesn’t need urgency. The places on your list don’t have to be far afield. And your reasons for visiting them don’t have to be tied to some profound meaning. Nobody really needs to trek Machu Picchu or pull an all-nighter in Ibiza for their life to be complete, but those experiences can make it more enjoyable.

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