{SHANGHAI ~ June 28, 2020}
We are still in the Corona-Pandemic, but nevertheless, it’s time to make plans because there will be a day where I can pack my bags again and go travel the world.
I’m still locked in China. As a foreigner, visa become invalid once leaving China. As long as that’s the case, I’m not able to go anywhere. Besides – flights are ridiculously expensive!!
Enough time to further refine my bucket list and add more travel destinations to it.
My current bucket list is a long list, it has countries and places I’ve never been to. But it also has some places that I’ve traveled before and would love to visit again.
The world is huge! So how to start a bucket list…? What to consider and how to pick places…?
Here are a few thoughts how I started my bucket list and how it grew over time! Maybe it’s helpful 🙂
INSPIRATION
I get most of my inspirations thru Instagram. I follow lots of travel blogs and some specific #.
Of course, everything needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Life is beautiful on Instagram. Everyone looks amazing. The weather is always great. Places are empty, no tourists, no trash – everything is happy, happy sunshine! That’s the world of Instagram.
With that in mind, I use Instagram as a first inspiration before I do a proper research, look at other websites or non-travel-bloggers that post their reality photos without 10 filters.
TRAVEL CATEGORIES
I cluster my trips into a few categories:
RELAX ~ staying at one place; mainly beach holiday, can be a resort; Spa holiday
CITY TRIP ~ traveling to a specific city, staying there for a few days and exploring every corner of it
ADVENTURE ~ traveling thru a country; backpacking; exploring country and culture
Of course a trip can contain all of the above. For example traveling Thailand. Backpack adventure starting in the north – Chiang May or Pai – than going all the way south to Bangkok; staying there for a few days and exploring the hustling and bustling city to then relax on one of the islands and close off the trip!
THE TRANSPORTATION CATEGORIES
The next cluster is the transportation to the place or at the place.
I will leave by plan out of it.
TRAIN ~ getting there or traveling from place to place by train can be a great adventure. There is so much to see and the train ride can already be part of the journey.
CAR ~ it can be a road trip with the own car or with a rental car. Driving and exploring a country by care brings people, places and culture closer. And it can be an adventure.
BICYCLE ~ this is very recommended for city trips. It’s great to get around the city and exploring little side streets and corners that one would miss by taking the subway
BUS ~ this can be an adventure, depending on the country. Traveling by bus from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap [Cambodia] was a fun experience with karaoke and some stops at random places.
MOTORBIKE ~ for everyone who has a drivers license, a road trip by motorbike is amazing and the highest level of freedom for me!
CARAVAN ~ great way to explore a country without searching for accommodations
HOTEL | APARTMENT | CAMPING
I grew up with camping ground holidays and I loved it and still love it! I think my first real hotel holiday was when I was mid 30. I’m not counting business trips or little pensions with breakfast. I’m talking about “real hotel holiday” as per my own definition.
HOTEL ~ there is a wide range from luxury hotels, resorts, pensions to low budget places. Personally I like little boutique hotels. If travel time allows, there are often great promotions when traveling off-season. My favorite website to look for hotels is Agoda. They also have a great customer service!
APARTMENT ~ if the plan is to stay longer at one place, then apartments can be a great alternative to hotels. Especially with a group of people it can be great fun.
CAMPING GROUNDS ~ some countries have amazing camping grounds. The KOA camping grounds in the US are greatly equipped, clean and spacious. South Tyrol has some amazing camping grounds as well!
Personally I don’t have any experience with Air BnB.
CONTINENT | COUNTRY | CITY
I consider myself lucky as I have traveled quite some places in the world and meanwhile I add places randomly onto my bucket list. An idea comes up, I see something on Instagram or hear about a place from friends and next thing it’s on my list.
If someone needs structure, maybe the best approach is to start with selecting a continent, then pick the country and a city.
There are a lot of dimensions on how to start and define a bucket list. There are also more clusters that can be applied. Above is my personal view.
Happy traveling!
a*
