The last time I sat down and actually wrote down my bucket list, it was 2017! Two years later and I have actually managed to tick off quite a few more of these items, and added even more things to the list, because of course I have!
So, here is an updated bucket list with the things I have done at the top in the order of which I did them, and all the things that I’m dying to do listed further below.
I am also going to make this a permanent page (right next to the ‘Where Next?’ page) so I will be sure to update it regularly and keep you all in the loop.
Ticked off the list!
Visit Robben Island
Dip my toes in the Bimmah Sinkhole
Look for Bilbo Baggins at Hobbiton
Hand (and mouth) feed a hyena in Harar
Marvel at the magic of Lalibela
See Mt. Fuji
Take a quokka selfie on Rottnest Island
Road trip around Tasmania
Still yet to do…
Swim with whale sharks in Djibouti
Swim with orcas in Norway
Go on a yoga retreat in Bali
Get off the beaten track in West Africa (especially Ghana, Sierra Leone and Cameroon)
Take a cooking course in Spain
Visit the Faroes in winter
Head north to Canada’s Inuit territories
Throw tomatoes at La Tomatina
Go on a multi day dog sledding adventure
Swim with sharks in Costa Rica
Do the worlds highest bungee jump
Swim in the ocean trenches of Samoa
Skydive over Dubai
See Komodo dragons (from a safe distance)
Watch the sunset over Uluru (Planned for 2022)
Get messy at Holi in India
Do an Antarctic polar plunge
See evolution in the Galapagos
Go on a multi day kayaking expedition in Greenland (Planned for 2023)
See a polar bear in Spitsbergen
Go heli-kayaking in Canada (Planned for 2023)
Go zorbing in New Zealand
Play a game of Quidditch in the UK
See Wicked on Broadway
Visit the tribes of Papua New Guinea
Stay at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore
Eat and drink my way through the Amalfi Coast
Be a contestant on The Amazing Race
Go diving at Raja Ampat (Planned for 2022)
Spend a full and consecutive 12 months in Greenland
Do the Gibbon Experience in Laos (Planned for 2023)
Eat my way through Hong Kong
Trek through landlocked Mongolia
Complete the Arctic Circle trail
Backpack through Afghanistan
Catch buses around Pakistan
Hike to Tiger’s Nest monastery in Bhutan
Catch the train to Ella in Sri Lanka
Bungee jump out of a hot air balloon
Go crazy for everything Korean in Seoul
Travel on the Trans Siberian
Warm up at the Gateway to Hell in Turkmenistan
See the Red Square by sunrise in Moscow
Take a tour of communism personified in North Korea
See Lofoten under a thick blanket of snow
Spend a summer hiking around Norway
Sail, drink and eat my way around the Greek Islands
Drive the Gibb River Road
Hike Jatbula Trail
Visit the red centre of Australia (Planned for 2022)
See the staircase to the moon at Cable Beach (Planned for 2022)
Feel the rhythm in Cape Verde
Swim with basking sharks in Scotland
Explore the Amazon
Trek the W in Chile
Work with MSF
Backpack through Colombia
Spend a year travelling through Central America and learn Spanish
Visit Kruger National Park
Move (permanently) to Scotland
Go to Iceland Airwaves
Visit the Orkney and Shetland Isles
Contemplate life on Easter Island
Go full Man v Food in the USA
Combine travel and midwifery at The Farm in Tennessee
Do the whole Bolivian Salt Flats thang
Visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando
Go hiking through Utah
Travel back in time in Cuba
Drive from Edmonton to Calgary via the Icefields Parkway (Planned for 2023)
Explore the Yukon in winter (Planned for 2023)
Hike around the Pacific Northwest
Go to a Disneyworld (or land)
Learn a second language (I am currently learning Dutch)
Fly in a private jet (a gal can dream)
Camp on a glacier (Planned for 2023)
Go to a full moon party
Experience the midnight sun (Planned for 2023)
See a glacial moulin
Witness the red crab migration on Christmas Island
4wd through Kakadu National Park (Planned for 2022)
Visit South Georgia and the Falklands
Road trip from Margaret River to Broome
4wd through the highlands in central Iceland (Planned for 2023)
Ride the iron ore train across Mauritania (Planned for 2023)
Camp in Egypt’s white desert (Planned for 2023)
Snorkel in Lake Malawi
Go on a luxury safari in Zambia
Experience real life Star Wars in Tunisia (Planned for 2023)
Go back in time in Syria (Planned for 2022)
Dive the red sea (Planned for 2022)
Marvel at the architecture of Uzbekistan (Planned for 2022)
Experience the remote islands of Palau
Chase waterfalls in Costa Rica
Slow travel through France (Planned for 2023)
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Such a superb roundup 🙂 we love that you’ve visited Robben Island
and been to Namibia. Both have a place in our hearts. #proudlySA
Thank you! I love South Africa and Namibia so bloody much – they are some of my favourite places in the entire world!
You do know that Komodo Island is supposed to close to visitors Jan 2020? Seems there a couple of other islands where you can see the dragons, though. https://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-news/indonesia-closing-island-protecting-endangered-komodo-dragons
I did know! Luckily there are other spots other than that one famous island where you can see them. I have locked in a visit to Raja Ampat so I figure it’s an ideal time to explore more of Indonesia.
You swam between tectonic plates?!?! How does that work/happen?
In Iceland, there’s a spot called Silfra where the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates meet, and there is a 1-2 metre gap between them which is filled with glacial meltwater – it’s amazing!
This list is incredible. I love your ambition and desire to see and explore the world!
Aww thank you so much! It’s an ambition that I hope never fades 💜
Oh I love your list! I love how specific it is hehe. So many of them that I’d like to do as well! Saw post on Instagram about your birthday. Happy Birthday, Ellen! Having turned 26 few months ago myself, I feel kinda oldish too, hehe. You’re one my favorite travel bloggers for sure 🙂 Annnd I hope your fella does propose you this year or next so you can get married in the Highlands! (It’s so funny you write these things on here that he probably has no idea about haha) What a romantic spot to get hitched in <3 <3
Thanks Pooja and Happy Birthday to you too! Did you have a great 26th? Hahaha you are right, he only reads a post once in a blue moon so he’d have absolutely no idea hahaha
Great list. I adored Australia’s Red Centre and Rottnest Island. Hope you get to do them soon. A few things on your list I’d like to do myself. My own list also grows the more I explore.
I hope so too! I know the feeling, every time I ‘tick something off’ I feel like I add 2-3 more things!
Always great to see your posts and get more inspiration for my own bucket list. Glad to see I’m not the only one with South Georgia on the list. I would definitely recommend you tick off Rapa Nui (Easter Island) – it is one special place. Hope your wedding wish comes true (I’m a Scottish resident so a little biased!).
Great lists! I’m 10 and 10. I’ve checked 10 off your ‘done list’ and 10 off your ‘to do list’. 🙂
Awesome! Which ones?!
Ellen, this is amazing. You have done some incredibly amazing experiences already. Wished I had done even a tiny portion when I was 20. I have backpacked and rock climbed in the Canyonlands in Utah way back in 1984 before this area was well known. It was so spectacular. You will really love it! 🙂