The end of Bucket Lists, 100 best things to do, places to eat, etc etc etc

[x3 skier]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/its-time-to-kick-the-bucket-list-1532098448?emailToken=1cded1791be59cd1e4324352172c3d6baqCQzlR+kTHe73UkIy6J9pvAPO0xxubcde7g3qWAQg09UCvjZDtim3LQDGoPr0zKdLI00fiiymMZydpIXNtUdw==&reflink=article_imessage_share

A truely curmudgeonly view. Said it much better than I ever could.

Cheers

 

[DaveNV]

Maybe I was absent the day they explained that a bucket list was something you were supposed to do, as a way of achieving the ultimate experience, and that it was a one-time experience. To my way of thinking, a bucket list, (specifically MY bucket list), is nothing more than a list of things I'd like to do at some point. Maybe more than once. It's made up of a variety of things I've wanted to see and do, some for a very long time. Someday I would like to see and do them (possibly again), if the opportunity presents itself. All of it is interesting (to me), and none of it is mandatory, (to anyone.)

The problem with a bucket list, in the way it's described in the article above, is that once you've done those things, and your list is empty, your only remaining option is to die. Sorry, I'm not up for that. I have too much living left to do, and I doubt I'll have enough years left do everything I'd like to do. I keep adding stuff. My bucket list is open-ended, and never ending.

Dave

 

[VacationForever]

I have never understood why anyone wants to build a bucket list. We don't have one and won't have one. We decide what to do each day, and if something catches our fancy like a cruise or land tour somewhere for a reasonable price, we book it. Life is much happier without having to worry about a bucket list. What if you have completed every item on the bucket list - does it mean that it is time to die!?

 

[Laurie]

What if you have completed every item on the bucket list - does it mean that it is time to die!?

No, but it might mean getting rid of your timeshares.

 

[baf99]

I think a bucket list is useful for people who have to prioritize their free time and finances. If a person can only afford time off or money for one vacation per year having a list of top interests might make sense. Later in life, the time limitation is more one of “I only have so many healthy years left”. I guess I can understand the desire to have a list so that one doesn’t spend one of their precious vacation slots on a whim rather than going to a “bucket list” spot.

I’m not sure about the statement in the article that you can be too young to start putting things on a bucket list. I was 10 when I first said “I have to see that place some day”. OK, the term bucket list didn’t exist, but hearing about something that so sparks your interest that you just know that you have to see it isn’t just the province of people who have lived a lot of years. In my case, the place was Crater Lake. The idea of a deep blue, pristine lake in the top of a volcano just seemed completely amazing to me. So, despite the fact that I had an irrational fear of volcanoes (I grew up in Ohio, so it was definitely irrational and by 10 I knew it) I decided I would get to Crater Lake. It took me 40 years but it was just as amazing as I expected at 10.

I don’t have a formal bucket list but I may make one. If I happen to get to the end of it I guess I will just figure that the list was too short to begin with. There will always be more places to add if necessary.

 

[b2bailey]

I find that most often I use the term like this:
"Not on my Bucket list."

After someone goes on in great detail about something they want to do.

 

[DaveNV]

For me, thinking of places I'd really like to go someday is more of a goal, and not a true bucket list. The list keeps changing. So maybe that's why mine is such a variable list.

Most things were about places to visit, and there were things on it that were generalized: "Go to the Smithsonian in Washington, DC" - who knew there were so many buildings? (Been there several times, and still haven't seen them all.) Some things were very specific - "Go to the Winchester House in San Jose, CA." (Been there several times now, and I'd go again, if I was in San Jose. The place is amazing, if you can look beyond the enforced commercialization of the place.) I first learned of the Winchester House on reruns of "You Asked For It" on TV in the early 1960's. It took me thirty years, but I first toured the place in 1981. Still find it amazing.

Bucket lists aren't all created equal. What's the most unusual thing on yours?

Dave

 

[x3 skier]

The only thing I really want to do is fly the airplane I’m building. If I don’t for whatever reason, I’ve flown many others so it’s not really a absolute.

Cheers

 

[WinniWoman]

For me, thinking of places I'd really like to go someday is more of a goal, and not a true bucket list. The list keeps changing. So maybe that's why mine is such a variable list.

Most things were about places to visit, and there were things on it that were generalized: "Go to the Smithsonian in Washington, DC" - who knew there were so many buildings? (Been there several times, and still haven't seen them all.) Some things were very specific - "Go to the Winchester House in San Jose, CA." (Been there several times now, and I'd go again, if I was in San Jose. The place is amazing, if you can look beyond the enforced commercialization of the place.) I first learned of the Winchester House on reruns of "You Asked For It" on TV in the early 1960's. It took me thirty years, but I first toured the place in 1981. Still find it amazing.

Bucket lists aren't all created equal. What's the most unusual thing on yours?

Dave

I, too, look at bucket lists differently. Like goals- some I might not ever achieve. I don't want one more thing to be pressured about. I am hard on myself as it is and I don't want to compete with myself or others. LOL!(I guess that is why I was never into sports)

I wasn't always like this. I did have a major goal of seeing Alaska, which I did for my 40th birthday. An expensive trip that I saved and saved for.

I belong to the VT 251 Club- a bucket list type club with a goal of seeing all 251 towns in the state. When I first joined I was mercenary when it came to squeezing in as many towns as we could driving up to our home resort, during the visit there, and then back home to NY. (my poor husband doing the driving).

I have a long ways to go with that club (have visited 157 towns so far) but now I have become more relaxed about it. In fact, last year we didn't go to any new towns at all and this year I only have a goal of 1 or maybe 2. If I never complete the list I don't care. It is the journey that counts, not the finish line.

So- I take my list lightly. I don't have it written down and I can change my mind whenever. I kind of look ahead each year to the next and think about what will be practical for that year. There are lots of things I would like to do and lots of places I would like to see but I doubt we ever will have enough time ,money or energy (as we age). Plus, some of them are a big hassle to get to- especially for me who hates flying, connecting flights, crowds, navigating too many logistics and so forth. My Discovery Channel book on Italy is right now collecting dust. Maybe we will get there; maybe we won't.

Two different type things I would like to do is to sleep in Rudyard Kipling's home in Dummerston VT-Naulakha- and to spend XMAS Eve and XMAS Day at the Mt Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods.

 

[DaveNV]

If I never complete the list I don't care. It is the journey that counts, not the finish line.

That's a great attitude. I'm pretty much the same. When I sit down and think about planning a trip somewhere, or if I get a reminder email or see something online that piques my interest again, I might check the current cost or itinerary to get to a place on my unwritten ideas list. And after the usual sticker shock, I say, "Well, okay, now what's the more practical trip to make?"

I have always wanted to visit Tahiti, and the islands in that part of the world, since first reading adventure books as a kid. (The ones I remember most were about whaling ships in the 1800s, for some reason. They don't write books like that anymore. ) Staying in an overwater bungalow in a place like Bora Bora really interests me. Oh, look: Good old Costco Travel offers travel packages with airfare, and can get me there! I checked yesterday, and with airfare for two from Los Angeles, it'd only be about $8000 for a week, plus tax. <cough cough> But as in everything I have ever done, a week is rarely enough. And what about all the other islands down that way? So I'd have to save up for this one. In the meantime, it'll stay on the list, and I'll travel to places a bit closer to home.

I still think I need to be twins - I'd send the other guy to work, and I'd go on vacation. Hmm. I'll have to work on that.

Dave

 

[rleigh]

Ugh I couldn't finish the article. I was too annoyed.

First off, the concept did not start with the movie, as the writer claims. He even said it "officially" started with the movie. The stupid name came from the movie but not the concept.

People have wanted to do stuff since the dawn of man. I bet somewhere there's a cave drawing that translates "1) Go see other side of mountain. 2) Meet new neighbors. Take berries. 3) Move to coastal region after winter thaw."

He says a "Bucket List" is personal and can be anything we want it to be. But before and after that statement, he tells us what it should and shouldn't be; what it is and what it isn't.

I'm grouchy, as the writer is, but what makes me grouchy are the many elite, arrogant journalists like him who make way too many assumptions about the way we are. And feels the need to tell us how crappy our lives are and how we're doing everything wrong.

I have a goals list. I like it. It's a list of stuff I wanna do. Why does everyone have to make a thing.

 

[VacationForever]

I have always wanted to visit Tahiti, and the islands in that part of the world, since first reading adventure books as a kid. (The ones I remember most were about whaling ships in the 1800s, for some reason. They don't write books like that anymore. ) Staying in an overwater bungalow in a place like Bora Bora really interests me. Oh, look: Good old Costco Travel offers travel packages with airfare, and can get me there! I checked yesterday, and with airfare for two from Los Angeles, it'd only be about $8000 for a week, plus tax. <cough cough> But as in everything I have ever done, a week is rarely enough. And what about all the other islands down that way? So I'd have to save up for this one. In the meantime, it'll stay on the list, and I'll travel to places a bit closer to home.

Have you thought of doing it first time on a cruise? That's what we will be doing - Tahiti, Moorea and Bora Bora, via a 17-night Transpacific cruise, from Sydney to Honolulu in 2020. We will be using airline miles to book business class seats to Sydney and do a few nights there before getting on the cruise ship. Then we will spend a few nights at Ko Olina before flying home.

Cruise fare for a balcony is around $6K for 2 but then you get fed etc etc. We normally book Celebrity but Royal Caribbean is cheaper on this and our friends are going on the Royal Caribbean one and we are joining them.

 

[DaveNV]

Have you thought of doing it first time on a cruise? That's what we will be doing - Tahiti, Moorea and Bora Bora, via a 17-night Transpacific cruise, from Sydney to Honolulu in 2020. We will be using airline miles to book business class seats to Sydney and do a few nights there before getting on the cruise ship. Then we will spend a few nights at Ko Olina before flying home.

Cruise fare for a balcony is around $6K for 2 but then you get fed etc etc. We normally book Celebrity but Royal Caribbean is cheaper on this and our friends are going on the Royal Caribbean one and we are joining them.

That sounds like a lot of fun! Have a great trip!

I haven't considered it, but I will now. Thanks!

Dave