Bucket Lists and Country Counting

When the movie "The Bucket List" came out in 2007, I'd never heard the term. I absolutely loved the movie, and the idea of a bucket list struck a chord with me, as it did with so many others.

I didn't spend a lot of thought in constructing my own bucket list, but I quickly discovered that it's all about travel for me. I certainly have goals -- "be more fit at 60 than I was at 50" or "start studying the piano again." And I achieved both of those, by the way. But I didn't aspire to do things like skydive or drive a race car or play a concert at Carnegie Hall. I aspired to see the world.

By the end of 2007 when the movie came out, I'd already traveled quite a bit. Starting in the late 90's, my job often took me around the world. And we did quite a bit of personal travel as well. I'd already seen many of the items that top most people's bucket lists: the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, Big Ben, the Coliseum, Sydney Opera House, and the Grand Canyon. My ultimate goal was "seeing the world," but how to translate that into a bucket list as we turned the calendar to 2008?

As much as I can remember, here's my list from 8 years ago:

• See all 50 states (I was only one short)
• Visit at least one new country every year
• Great Wall of China
• Taj Mahal
• Red Square
• Pyramids
• Machu Picchu
• Great Barrier Reef
• Panama Canal
• Stonehenge
• African safari
• Visit all 7 continents

So far, I'm doing pretty well checking items off my list.

• We've been to Hawaii (my 50th state) twice
• Since the beginning of 2008, I've been to 26 new countries
• Great Wall - 2009
• Red Square -- 2013
• Taj Mahal -- 2013
• Pyramids (and Petra) -- 2015
• Machu Picchu -- scheduled for later this year
• Stonehenge -- 2012
• African safari -- 2014
• Visit all 7 continents -- Antarctica in 2015 was our 7th

A plan to see the Great Barrier Reef last year got derailed by medical issues, so that is still on the list. And I still want to see the Panama Canal, but our forays into more exotic travel (aka developing world) have pushed the Canal further down on my list. That's an adventure we can easily accomplish when we're older and presumably a bit less fit.

Which brings me to country counting. I do have some iconic travel destinations on my list now (Panama Canal, Great Barrier Reef, Easter Island). But mostly, my list is "see the world." And one way to measure that is to count the countries that I have visited. Yes, it gives me bragging rights to say I've been to 58 countries so far. But more importantly, it's a personal indication for me that I'm reaching out and seeking new adventures.

We have a running of list of places we'd like to see and trips we'd like to take. All the travel catalogs we receive in the mail provide temptations and exciting new additions to our list.

But we also give in to serendipity. We've discovered that we enjoy traveling with friends (although we're perfectly happy going solo). So sometimes a destination pops to the top of our list because we mutually choose it with friends. Sometimes we explore a new area of a country we've already checked off. We certainly don't travel just for the sake of counting countries, but when the opportunity arises to visit a new place, why not?  

At the risk of tempting fate, our travel plans this year will take us to 4 new countries, one in Africa and three in South America, plus a repeat visit to our beloved Paris en route to Africa. Stay tuned.