How can you make your bucket list your reality?

In 2015, I fulfilled one of my ‘bucket list’ items.

I visited Petra in Jordan. It was truly spectacular, hauntingly unique.

I always remember the moment I felt goosebumps. Not at Petra itself, but when an elderly Israeli man I met on a trip to Austria earlier the same year described his first glimpse of the mesmerizing Treasury site, built into the rock face. He described how, as he walked along the narrow path through the canyon, he saw the primary site, the one Petra is renowned for and felt a tear slide down his face. He had seen nothing like it in his life. Three months later, I enjoyed cocktails in a bar built into the rock outside the Petra site. You could describe it as a cave bar.

The next day I walked the steps into the canyon to glimpse up and come face to face with the Treasury. I gasped. A gasp is always a clear sign I am standing in the shadows of a true bucket list item. Petra took my breath away.

Since then, I’ve ticked off many other ‘bucket list’ items. Hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in Peru, White Water rafting in Bali, exploring fjords in Norway, swimming in Mexican cenote, experiencing Tutankhamun’s cave in Egypt, hiking in the Himalayas, snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef. The list goes on. And on. And on.

My advice to you – don’t have a bucket list. Most people don’t experience what’s on it. It is a placeholder for a future them. A future that will only disappoint them, as life gets in the way and excuses become louder until the years drift by with no bucket list item ticked off. None.

The pandemic taught us what we expect our future to be is not certain, so seize the moment and year we are in!

What is the one country, city, trip or adventure you want to experience in your lifetime? Spoiler: it could be right under your nose, in your own country! We get so distracted day dreaming of that cruise, or hike on the other side of the world when there are bucket list wonders closer to home.

What is stopping you from experiencing it sooner? Last year I ticked off some in Scotland – The North Coast 500 – a stunning coastal route in the Scottish highlands, John O’Groats – the tip of Scotland and then Ben Nevis, the highest peak.

Today, tomorrow, this month say out loud what you want to experience once in this lifetime and make it happen! This could be your normal and every year you enjoy an ‘once in a lifetime’ experience.