Watching the film The Bucket List with Jack Nicolson and Morgan Freeman inspired me to compile our bucket list. I laughed and shed a tear watching their madcap exploits to do those things they had always wanted to, before time ran out. I don't want that to be me, I thought, and our bucket list was born. We managed to do some of the things on the list, but work just slows you down, so we were able to pick the pace up when I retired. We experienced the romance & splendour of Venice, then the beauty and tranquility of the Maldives. We hit those first in case they are right about global warming and both disappear under water. Then we tried Asia and in Thailand we rode and bathed with Elephants, immersed ourselves in its history (like the death railway over the river Kwai). In Malaysia we went up the world's largest twin towers (Petronas Towers), met orang-utans, Pygmy elephants and visited a headhunting tribe (thankfully they've stopped that now). We tried cruising and expecting it wasn't for us, found that not only did we enjoy it but all the other passengers weren't over 90!
Of course its not really about the travel, its about the experiences and you don't have to go far to experience some world breaking things. So whilst the cruise gave us the opportunity to experience the engineering magnificence of the Panama Canal, one of the other modern wonders of the world is close to hand. The Channel Tunnel is the longest undersea tunnel in the world. Then there's the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, an exhilarating stream in the sky and a world heritage site. As well as a breathtaking piece of engineering, its no mean feat to just walk across it if you're uncomfortable with heights. We've even tried sky diving, well we chickened out on that one and did it in an indoor wind tunnel. Its also about meeting people, from the enormously friendly people of Malaysia who wave and smile as you pass by, to people we still keep in touch with who we met on cruises, to the Silver Travel Advisor Community. I've enjoyed becoming a part of this helpful pleasant community, gaining advice, ideas and some new friends, but also being able to share our experiences on the site and the forum to help or even inspire others.
The strange thing about our bucket list is that it's getting longer. As fast as we knock things off, we learn more and add twice as many on.
Here are some of the big items to do:
- Canada, including the awesome beauty of the rockies
- Cruising both the Norwegian fjords and Alaska
- The Galapagos Islands
- South America and Africa (haven't even scratched the surface there)
If you haven't started your list, do it now. You don't have to go far to see some magnificent things, we have the best history in the world right here in the UK. I'm so glad I started ours but I know we'll never get to the end of it. We'll enjoy trying though!
