Travel Bucket Lists; A List of travel things to do before you die! How Many Have You Done?

What’s on your travel bucket lists? If you don’t have one yet, then I hope my bucket list can help inspire you to create one. Life is short, so let’s make sure we live it. All of it. If we don’t aspire to anything then we won’t achieve anything.

Personally, for me, growing up on welfare, single-mum raising me, in a small town in Ireland the world seemed like such a big place. With far-flung destinations that I could only dream about visiting. Rich people went to those places. Wealthy people climbed mountains or went on expeditions. Every country in the world? No chance. How would you even go about starting?!

But then I changed my thought process, I changed my expectations. If I want to live the biggest life imaginable, then I’d have to go out and get it. So I wrote down my goals. I made a plan and a deadline. And I went after them. I failed, and continue to fail, a lot! But I did manage to visit every country in the world, amongst a few other things, so check out my travel bucket lists and other bucket lists below and I hope it helps you guys get out here too.

I’ve broken my bucket list down into 5 bucket list sub-sections:

1. Travel bucket list: 30 Countries, Regions and Cities to visit
2. Experiences; 100 things to do before I die
3. 20 Life bucket list stuff
4. 20 Fitness bucket list stuff
5. 20 Business and money bucket list stuff

My travel bucket lists – feel free to copy!

“A dream without a plan is just a dream”

Ok, so let’s talk about specifics. Don’t simply write down “I want to travel” and consider it a bucket list item. You need to spend a while and think about what you want to experience in our wonderful world. And if you’re struggling to think, feel free to borrow some of my ideas, goals, dreams, and travel bucket lists.

As I do the things I dream of I score them out as a reminder that we can all do what we dream of, it just takes a little bit of a push and a step back from the security and normality of our current lives. Life is supposed to be an adventure and one that we can all take part in, now all we have to do is enroll…

The 1 Bucket List Item I’m Focused On!

I’ve broken down my bucket list into different sections below. But before I start, I want to take ownership of my ONE BIG current life goal. So here it is:

• Be the first person in history to visit every country, north pole, south pole and climb the 7 summits.

EDIT 2024: I DID THIS!!!!

Travel Bucket Lists; Countries, Regions & Cities

When I first started my new life, I had a few bucket list countries, regions, and cities that I wanted to visit. I still have a few stops to go! If I’ve been, I write a quick intro about my experience below.

1. Visit China
   • China was one of the first countries I ever visited, I took a cargo boat for a week up the Mekong River to get there. Wild times.
2. Vist India
   • You haven’t traveled until you’ve had the culture shock of India deep in your bones! I’ve been back 5 times, and it never fails to impress me.
3. Visit Brazil
   • I’m a huge football fan, so to watch the World Cup here was a dream come true for me.
4. Visit Russia
   • I guess growing up, Russia was always in the news. And St Basil’s Cathedral was always so beautiful. I arrived in Moscow on the Trans Siberian, hungover from all the vodka!
5. Visit Australia
   • Half of Ireland ends up in Australia! I was no different. I got a working holiday visa and worked in Sydney for a year.
6. Visit Tanzania
   • Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar, Ngorongoro Crater, the Wildebeest Migration in the Serengetti. Tanzania is pretty special. I climbed Kili on my first visit, but I’ve been back 5 times since.
7. Visit Iceland
   • I hit up Iceland way back in 2013 when it was kind of quiet. But the secret is out now! My highlight? Snorkeling between the tectonic plates, and ice caving in Iceland.
8. Visit New York
   • I spent each summer at university woring on American Summer camps, we always ended up partying in New York City after our work was finished. Good times.
9. Visit Greenland
   • One of the most recent visits on my travel bucket lists. Greenland always screamed to me on a map, this huge landmass, finally I visited last year. Beautiful.
10. Visit Paris
    • The Eiffel tower, the Louvre. I went as a youngster with my girlfriend from University. The place is filthy and overpriced eeek!
11. Visit Rome
    • The opposite of Paris, Rome lived up to all my expectations. AMAZING!
12. Visit Marakesh
    • Marakesh is like the Arabic world you imagine as you grow up! I took my mum there, touristic but lovely.
13. Visit Tokyo
    • Like visiting the future! I love Tokyo, and it inspired me and my mum for our $20k charity fundraiser in 2019.
14. Visit Shanghai
    • One year I was rejected for my Tibet permit, so I ended up traveling all around China on about $20 a day. Great times. Shanghai was top of my life, but once I arrived, I realised it’s more of a city to live in than visit as a tourist. Cool skyline though.
15. Visit Socotra, Yemen
    • Not much to say except Socotra is the most beautfiul island on our planet. Amazing. I’m going back in March/April, come join me! I once spent 4 days on a cement ship to smuggle my way there.
16. Visit the Sahara Desert
    • Just like you dreamed. Beauiful. I love it. Endless dunes, nomadic tribes, and warm hospitality. Especially if you visit from Algeria, Mauritania or Libya, rather than the tourist hotspots of Egypt or Morocco.
17. Visit the Galapagos Islands
    • When I visited Galapagos, from Ecuador, it had always been a big bucket list item. And it is cool, but bloody hell it’s expensive!
18. Visit Alaska – I HAVEN’T BEEN YET! Going in May next year to climb Mount Denali. EDIT 2024 -DONE!
19. Visit the Arctic
    • I celebrated visiting my 197th and FINAL country in the world in the Norwegian arctic. I also once visited Sanata in the Finnish Arctic too.
20. Visit Antarctica
    • The 7th continent I visited. It doesn’t come cheap, but penguins, icebergs and Orcas make it worth while.
21. Visit the North Pole
    • I ran the North Pole Marathon. Finished 8th. Got stuck there when the runway broke in too.
22. Visit the South Pole – I HAVEN’T BEEN YET. It’s a little outside my affordability at the moment. Working on it. EDIT 2024 -DONE!
23. Visit Tibet
    • It’s magical. I found it tricky to get permits, but once I finally sorted it, Lhasa was spectacular.
24. Visit Bali
    • I live in Thailand now, Bali is just a short flight, so I’ve been back and forth a lot. It’s cliche, but it’s beautiful. I’d happily have a holiday home there.
25. Visit Patagonia
    • Argentinian mounain galore. Glaciers, fresh weather and more penguins. It’s a great spot.
26. Visit the Himalayas
    • On my first visit to Nepal, I did the Everest Base Camp Trek. Ideal way to spend 2 weeks.
27. Visit ALL 7 CONTINENTS
    • Half way into my journey to every country, I ticked off my 7th continent in Antarctica!
28. Visit 50 countries
    • I celebrated my 50th country in North Korea
29. Visit 100 countries
    • I celebrated my 100th country in the Maldives.
30. Visit EVERY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD
    • In 2017, I finished my 11 year journey to all 197 countries in the world in Norway.

MY TRAVEL BUCKET LIST TALLY: 28/30

Travel Bucket Lists; Experiences

100 Things to do before you die.

I love this list! I’ve managed a few, but if I HAVEN’T done it yet – I’ve made it bold. Anything else you guys can think of to add?

1. Visit all the 7 (new) wonders of the world:
   • Machu Pichu in Peru
   • Colosseum in Rome
   • Great Wall of China
   • Christ the Redeemer in Rio, Brazil
   • Chichen Itza, Mexico
   • Taj Mahal, India
   • Petra in Jordan
   • The Pyramids of Giza, Egypt (it’s not a world wonder, but it makes the cut!)
2. Travel ‘Around the world in 80 days’ with no flights – NOT YET!
3. Live in another country
4. Live in another culture/country on another continent
5. Learn another language
6. Ride in a Helicopter (ideally over the Grand Canyon)
   • I did it in New Zealand, but not yet over the Grand Canyon unfortunately.
7. Travel Solo for a month or more
8. Get a tattoo in a foreign country
9. Oktoberfest in Germany
10. Carnival in Rio De Janiero – NOT YET!
11. La Tomatina in Spain
12. Bungee Jump
13. Sky Dive
14. Take the Trans Siberian train across Russia
15. Watch the World Cup Final in person
    • I was lucky to get tickets to the World Cup Final in both South Africa and Brazil
16. Watch River Plate vrs Boca Juniors – NOT YET!
17. Watch the Olympics in person
    • Watched Usain Bolt break the World Record in Beijing, wow!
18. Stay in a water bungalow in the Maldives and Bora Bora
19. Fly first class
    • The A380 Emirates First Class was insane.
20. Overland from Cape Town to Cairo
21. Go on safari in the Serengeti or Maasai Mara
22. Climb Kilimanjaro
23. Ride a hot air balloon (ideally in Cappadocia, Turkey)
24. Bungee jump at Victoria Falls, Zambia/Zimbabwe
25. Trek to Angel Falls, the highest waterfall in the world ( in Venezuela)
    • Difficult country, and it took me 3 days to reach Angel Falls. Puddle hopper into the Amazon, canoe down a river, hike, sleep in hammocks en route. WILD.
26. Go wine tasing in Mendoza, Argentina
27. Hold a panda in China
28. See gorillas in the wild
29. Stay in an ice hotel in Scandanavia
30. Experience 24 hours of sunlight in the arctic
    • My north pole marathon started a 2am, in complete sunlight, weird experience!
31. Go to the top of the highest building in the world (in Dubai, UAE)
32. Visit the Dead Sea, the lowest place on earth
33. Reach the summit of Everest, the highest place on earth – NOT YET, MY DREAM! I have plans to climb Mount Everest in 2023 – join me if you want 🙂EDIT 2024 -DONE!
34. Go to the hottest place on earth (Danakil Depression, Ethiopia)
35. Go to the coldest place on earth (Omyakon, Russia) – NOT YET, I’LL ORGANISE A ONESTEP4WARD TRIP HERE SOON THOUGH!
36. See the Statue of Liberty in New York
    • After summer camp in USA each summer
37. Drink a Singapore Sling in the long bar in Singapore
38. See the snow monkeys in Japan
39. Drink Tequila in Tequila, Mexico – NOT YET!
40. See the Northern Lights (anywhere, but especially in Iceland or Norway)
    • Both in Iceland and Norway!
41. See a live volcano and real lava
42. Take a picture ‘holding up’ the Leaning Tower of Pisa
43. Ride in a gondola in Venice, Italy
    • Did it solo, most overpriced nonsense ever
44. Visit the Amazon Rainforest
    • Took my mum with me in Ecuador, tarantulas in the sleep quarters, eeek.
45. Climb the Eiffel Tower, Paris
46. Reach Easter Islands/Rapa Nui in Chile
47. See the Sistine Chapel, the Vatican City
48. Ride in a Dhow on the Nile River
49. Scuba at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia
50. Roadtrip around New Zealand in campervan
51. Hike to the Tiger’s Nest Temple in Bhutan
52. Visit Timbukto, Mali – NOT YET!
53. See the Komodo Dragons in Indonesia
    • Such an amazing destination, highly recommended
54. Camp by the Gates of Hell, Turkmenistan
55. See an opera in Sydney Opera House
    • Lived in Sydney for a year, went to see Opera. Fell asleep.
56. Watch a show in London’s West End
57. Cage dive with Great White Sharks
58. Smoke weed in Amsterdam
59. Gamble in Las Vegas
60. Drink Guinness in the Storehouse Dublin
61. Visit a tribe in Papua New Guinea
62. Take pics in the salt flats in Bolivia
63. Ride the deathroad in Bolivia
64. Visit Jerusalem
65. See orangutans in the wild in Borneo
66. Sunset in Oia, Santorini
67. Sunrise at Angkor Wat, Cambodia
68. Iguazu Falls from both Brazil and Argentina Side
69. Visit the Amalfi Coast, Italy – NOT YET, HOPEFULLY NEXT YEAR ON HONEYMOON
70. Watch a game at the Maracana Stadium, Brazil
    • Managed to watch the World Cup Final here!
71. Party in Medellin, Colombia-style
72. Go on a cruise in the Mediterranean or Caribbean – NOT YET!
73. Drink Champagne in Champagne, France – NOT YET. EDIT 2024 -NOW DONE!
74. ‘Run‘ the ‘Marathon Du Medoc’ aka the wine-marathon – NOT YET! EDIT 2024 -NOW DONE!
75. Roadtrip through the Scottish Highlands – NOT YET!
76. Experience Holi Fesival in India – NOT YET!
77. Sit on Pulpit rock in Norway – NOT YET!
78. Wing-walk with my mum – NOT YET!
79. Cross the Khyber Pass from Pakistan into China – NOT YET!
80. Celebrate New Year’s Eve at Time Square, New York City – NOT YET!
81. Go on a ‘Theme Park Holiday’ in Orlando, Florida – NOT YET!
82. Visit Chernobyl
83. (Bring my (future) kids to) see Santa in Lapland
84. Ride a classic car in Havana, Cuba
85. See a polar bear in the wild
86. Take a ride on a cargo ship
    • Once from Oman to Yemen, and once from Thailand to China. Both took more than 4 days!
87. Cross the equator on land
88. Visit all the disputed ‘countries’ (South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Western Sahara, Somaliland, Norther Iraq, Nagorno-Karabakh, Kosovo, Vatican City and Palestine)
89. Check out St Basil’s Cathedral and The Kremlin in Russia
90. See Hong Kong’s skyline by night
91. Climb Mont Blanc in France
92. See lemurs in Madagascar (and the Avenue of Baobabs)
93. Ride the iron ore train of Mauritania
94. See Transylvania in Romania
95. Sleep in a nomadic ger in Mongolia
96. Visit Mada’in Saleh in Saudi Arabia – NOT YET!
97. City break in Prague, Czech Republic
98. See the big island in Hawaii – NOT YET!
99. Road trip around Sicily, Italy – NOT YET! EDIT 2024 -NOW DONE!
100. Visit Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany – NOT YET!

MY EXPERIENCES TRAVEL BUCKET LIST TALLY: 78/100

Life Bucket Lists

Life isn’t only about travel. Far from it. There is something much deeper to be found through the love you give and receive from close friends and family. I was selfish on my goal to visit every country, and I appreciate the people in my life much, much more now having gone through much of that experience solo.

1. Get married
   • Legally I’ve done this! But the ceremonial part of cancelled due to COVID!
2. Have kids – NOT YET!
3. Build my dream home, with gym, movie theatre, mancave, office, pool and with a space for my mum too
   • Currenly building my dream home in Thailand
4. Have a holiday home by the beach – NOT YET!
5. Publish a book – NOT YET!
6. Donate $1,000,000USD – NOT YET! (currently on $250k/$1m)
7. Build a school
8. Take my mum to 50+ countries
   • She’s currently on 60+!
9. Take my Mrs to 100+ countries – NOT YET! (She’s currenly on 45 or so)
10. Send my kids to private school
11. Learn to ski
12. Get my motorbile license – NOT YET! EDIT 2024 -NOW DONE!
13. Learn to box – NOT YET!
14. Get my personal training qualifications – NOT YET!
15. Be on Joe Rogan’s Podcast – NOT YET!
16. Speak infront of a large crowd
17. Attend a movie premier – NOT YET!
18. Travel the world for at least a summer in campercan with my wife and kids – NOT YET!
19. Be patient – NOT YET!
20. Feel like I’ve maximised my potential, and be proud of the life I’ve built for myself – NOT YET!

LIFE BUCKET LIST TALLY: 7/20

Fitness Bucket Lists

As I’ve got older, I realised that truly health is wealth. I’ve always loved sport, but I also have to admit (regardless of how difficult) my propensity for bad decisions around alcohol.

I do a lot of fitness stuff nowadays, and there’s nothing like setting a big goal with a big physical challenge, and then going out, suffering for it, and achieving it. So let’s keep it going.

1. Get a handle on my drinking
   • I finally cracked it! Using a token-system, I record all my alcohol consumption on a google doc with my friends. It’s been so, so helpful to have that accountabiliy. Messafe me if you want to join us.
2. Run a marathon
3. Run the Marathon Des Sables, or another ultra-marathon (200km ultra marathon from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai)
4. Run across a country
5. Cycle across a country
6. Do an ironman – NOT YET!
7. Row across an ocean unsupported
8. Climb Mount Everest – NOT YET! (but soon, in 2023, I hope) EDIT 2024 -NOW DONE!
9. And the climb all the seven summits – NOT YET! 4/7 done. 2 more already booked. EDIT 2024 -NOW DONE!
10. Just once, have under 10% body fat – NOT YET! Got close a while back
11. Run a sub 20-min 5k, sub 40-min 10k, sub 1.5 hour half-marathon and a sub-3 hour marathon. NOT YET! Sub-20k done, that’s all so far. EDIT 2024 -GOT THE SUB-40 10KM.
12. Run the UTMB – NOT YET!
13. Go vegetarian
14. Go vegan – NOT YET!
15. Cycle from San Francisco to New York – NOT YET!
16. Summit K2 – NOT YET!
17. Swim across the English Channel – NOT YET!
18. Climb the highest peak in every country in Europe in a summer – NOT YET!
19. Run the original ‘Marathon’ from Marathon to Athens in Greece. – NOT YET!
20. Reach the North Pole and South Pole – NOT YET! North Pole done, not south pole yet. EDIT 2024 -NOW DONE!

MY FITNESS BUCKET LIST TALLY: 9/20

Business and money Bucket Lists

These ones are tough. Tough to achieve, and in the modern world, tough to admit. In an era where people deny wanting to be financially free, I know that it’s fool-hardy to admit my financial goals, due to the risk of backlash.

But I have to be true to myself. And growing up poor has given me the motivation to never need worry about where my next meal is coming from. Or if I can afford to turn on the heating.

I have reevaluated this stuff a lot as I’ve got older. I used to dream of being really rich, now I realise that’s ridiculous, unnecessary and dare-I-say immoral. So $5m is my goal. From there on, I’ll donate almost everything. Equally, the Porsche and the Rolex are childhood reams. The kind of things that seemed so far away. So they have to stay there, as a tribute to where I came from. I could buy them now, but it would be irresponsible, so I wait. They’ll come eventually:

1. Find a way to make my money online so I can work from ANYWHERE!
   • Started by travel blog, and changed my life
2. Be my own boss
   • Digital nomadism is on the rise, and it’s the future!
3. Make my first million
4. Make $1k, $2k, $5k, $10k, $30k, $50k, $100k in one month NOT YET! Best ever month was $58k.
5. Hire 1, 2, 5, 10 people at any one time
6. Be mortgage free on at least 1 property in my twenties
7. Invest $100k
8. Invest $1m – NOT YET!
9. Have an investment-property portfolio worth $1m+
10. Have more than 3 separate incomes streams generating $100k per year
11. Be a millionaire (have a net worth of $1m+)
12. Have a net worth of $5m – NOT YET!
13. Fly in a privet jet – NOT YET!
14. Own a Rolex – NOT YET!
15. Own a Porsche – NOT YET!
16. Release and sell a course showing people how to do what I’ve done – NOT YET!
17. Start a boutique gym – NOT YET!
18. Help at least one other person make $1m+ online
    • I’m pretty sure 2 people have done this already!
19. Pay off my wife’s mortgage – NOT YET!
20. Build and sell a property – NOT YET!

FINANCIAL BUCKET LIST TALLY: 10/20

Final thoughts on my travel bucket lists

I found this more difficult to write than I imagined! Being open and honest first with myself, and then with you guys is difficult. It feels quite vulnerable. And to maintain the honesty throughout is harder still. It would be much easier for me to write a list of beautiful things that people want to hear, and I hope some of the things on here, do just that. But there are other things too that if I want to feel fulfilled I have to be honest and admit that they too are my goals.

So here they are, warts and all. Life is a wild ride, I plan to enjoy the journey, but I also plan on going out and getting each one of these bad boys on my bucket list. I hope it inspires you to do the same. Thanks for reading.

~ You may delay, but time will not ~ Benjamin Franklin