Life Adventures Bucket List

A village trail in Southeast Asia

Here is my current life adventure bucket list. I vow to accomplish each of these unless one of them actually manages to kills me. 🙂

For write-ups and stories both serious and not-so-serious, have a look at my backpacking travel adventures page.

  1. Run with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain (Done!)
  2. Dive in a shark cage
  3. Join the Seven Summits club
  4. Go to Easter Island
  5. Visit all 50 states
  6. Try hang gliding
  7. Try white water rafting in serious rapids
  8. Become proficiently bilingual in a foreign language
  9. Do a volunteer project
  10. Write a book
  11. Do an ice plunge outdoors
  12. Swim in Devil’s Pool at the top of Victoria Falls
  13. See African lions in the wild
  14. Learn to Latin dance (well)
  15. Spend a week in the wild alone
  16. Go trekking and diving in Papua, New Guinea
  17. Learn to ride a horse (well)
  18. Finish a five-day fast (One water fast attempt failed)
  19. Learn mountaineering
  20. Have a vision in a Native American sweat lodge
  21. Visit Tibet (not until China gives it up)
  22. Climb a mountain to 6,000 meters in Nepal (Done! 2016)
  23. Go to Everest Base Camp (Done! 2016)
  24. Visit Burma (Myanmar) (Done! 2015)
  25. Sail as part of a crew from point A to point B
  26. Live for a while on a deserted island
  27. Walk in an active lava field
  28. Drive a motorcycle larger than 300cc
  29. Sleep in the desert (Done! Rajasthan; 2012)
  30. Walk on all seven continents
  31. Try zero-budget travel
  32. Get a bamboo/traditional tattoo (Done! Koh Tao, Thailand; 2011)
  33. See a tarsier in real life (death by cuteness?)

Life Adventure Bucket List Items Completed So Far

  1. Try skydiving
  2. Try bungee jumping
  3. Learn to Scuba Dive
  4. Go inside a shipwreck
  5. Solo (without protection) rock climb a named peak
  6. Have a bear encounter in the wild
  7. Swim with sharks
  8. Visit Angkor Wat, Cambodia
  9. Study Shaolin Kung Fu in China
  10. Learn to drive a motorcycle
  11. Go hitchhiking
  12. Shoot a machine gun
  13. See Komodo dragons in the wild
  14. Try surfing
  15. Use a machete in the jungle
  16. Try cliff diving
  17. Live with locals in a country
  18. See a full moon party in Koh Phangan, Thailand
  19. Go to Oktoberfest in Germany
  20. Hike up Mount Rainier
  21. Walk on a nude beach (nude, of course)
  22. Land a pre-paid travel writing assignment
  23. See the Egyptian Pyramids and Valley of the Kings
  24. Stand on top of an active volcano
  25. Bribe a foreign official to get out of trouble
  26. Go fishing in Alaska
  27. Become self employed
  28. Go into an underwater cave
  29. Shoot something and eat it
  30. Pet a tiger
  31. Learn to spin a fire torch
  32. Ride an elephant (done before people knew it was a no-no)
  33. Visit Machu Picchu
  34. Meet my favorite travel writer (Rolf Potts)

This is a “living” life adventures bucket list. I’m sure that it will be growing as I meet new people and learn of new opportunities!

Above all, as Nik Halik advised me, my goal is to just wake up with a smile. This world is full of wonder and adventure waiting to be experienced.