Bucket List

I can’t promise this travel bucket list will not change but this is the list of the places I hope to have seen (and a couple of events) at some point in this so called life.  They are in no particular order (I am not THAT organized) and they are split into those I have checked off, those I partially have checked off, and those pending.

CHECKED OFF

1. Stepping on the murder ground of Tiannamen Square (2002)
2. Visiting the tomb of the last Russian imperial family (2011)
3. Seeing the Grand Canyon (1994)
4. Seeing the Smoky Mountains (2009)
5. Hiking in the Rocky Mountains (1989, 1990)
6. Walking among the giant redwoods in California (2008)
7. Partying in New Orleans during Mardi Gras (can’t remember!)
8. Seeing royal Granada, Spain (1992)
9. Visiting the Mezquita de Córdoba in Spain (1992)
10. Getting to the tip of the continental US in Key West (1978)
11. Visiting Sevilla’s cathedral and La Giralda (1992)
12. Enjoying a world expo (1992)
13. Eating Cuban food in the heart of Miami (many times and not enough times!)
14. Exploring the capital of the U.S.:  Washington DC (1983, 2011, 2012)
15. Riding up the St. Louis Arch (1989)
16. Seeing Rio from the Corcovado, Brazil (1997)
17. Riding a feluca down the Nile, Egypt (1998)
18. Walking on the Great Wall of China (2002)
19. Admiring the Parthenon (2011)
20. Stepping into the Roman Colosseum (2003)
21. Walking into the basilica in El Valle de los Caidos, Spain (1993)
22. Remembering in the shores of Normandy (1999)
23. Admiring Mt. St. Michel, France (1999)
24. Experiencing Amsterdam – the PG-13 version! (1999)
25. Walking up the Eiffel Tower (1999)
26. Sipping wine at Paris cafés (many times!)
27. Seeing Sydney harbour and the Opera (2009)
28. Enjoying a massage in Hong Kong (2002)
29. Watching a ship cross the Panama Canal (a few times)
30. Sipping a gin & tonic by Lake Victoria (2007)
31. Going to Zanzibar (2007)
32. Skiing in the Andes (2010)
33. Admiring colonial and colossal Lima (2008)
34. Walking around Old San Juan (many times)
35. Going up the Empire State Building (1992)
36. Honoring victims of the Nazis at a concentration camp (2009)
37. Sampling wine country in California (2000, 2008)
38. Sampling wine country in Mendoza (2010)
39. Sampling wine country in South Africa (2008)
40. Exploring and enjoying wine and food in Tuscany (2003, 2006)
41. Seeing Florence (2003)
42. Gambling in the casino in Monaco (1997, 1998)
43. Sitting at the beach in the Cote d’Azur (1997, 1998)
44. Driving around Switzerland (1999)
45. Driving around the Austrian Alps (1994)
46. One third of the great falls:  Niagara Falls (1994)
47. Eating a great meal and gelato in Eternal Rome (a few times!)
48. Seeing the World Trade Center in NYC (1985)
49. Living in unique Paris (1999)
50. Walking around historical London (1993)
51. Exploring the Atacama desert (2010)
52. Drinking a glass of wine at night in front of St. Mark’s cathedral in Venice and riding a gondola
53. Visiting Scandinavia:  Finland, Sweden and Norway
54. Walking around imperial Vienna (1994, 2006)
55. Seeing Salzburg (1994)
56. Seeing where Pope John Paul II was born and historic Krakow (2009)
57. Eating steak and fries paired by a glass of wine in Buenos Aires (1991, 2010)
58. Touching the Great Pyramids (1998)
59. Riding a camel in Egypt (1998)
60. Seeing King Tut’s tomb’s riches (1998)
61. Drinking beers in Heidelberg (1999)
62. Seeing the Treasury in Petra (1998, 2013)
63. Visiting the Hagia Sophia and the mosques of Istanbul (1998)
64. Getting to Alaska (2002)
65. Sipping tea at the grand bazaar in Cairo (1998, 2008)
66. Seeing St. Catherine’s monastery and the burning bush in the Sinai (1998)
67. Stepping on Gibraltar (1992)
68. Watching the botafumeiro at Santiago de Compostela’s medieval cathedral (1993)
69. Hearing Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome (2003)
70. Seeing the Scavi under St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome (2003, 2006)
71. Visiting the chateaux in the Loire Valley (2005)
72. Seeing the wine making areas of Bordeaux (a few times!)
73. Doing language immersion somewhere in Europe (2005)
74. Admiring La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona (1992)
75. Seeing the 12 Apostles by helicopter in Australia (2009)
76. Getting to Tasmania (2009)
77. Gawking in awe at Machu Picchu (2008)
78. Exploring New Zealand (2009)
79. Going to Patagonia (2010)
80. Visiting El Escorial in Spain (1993)
81. Visiting Versailles in France (1999)
82. Visiting the Hermitage/Winter Palace in St. Petersburg (2011)
83. Spectating at a Summer Olympics (1992, 1996) and marching in the Opening Ceremonies of one with a delegation (1996)
84. Walking the streets of San Francisco (1997)
85. Walking around colonial Philadelphia and Boston (a few times)
86. Seeing colonial Williamsburg and Jamestown, VA (2003)
87. Going to a World Series game (1993)
88. Driving to the Cape of Good Hope and going up Table Mountain in SA (2008)
89. Cruising off the coast of Alaska (2002)
90. Stepping into the Serengeti – and not getting mauled (2007)
91. Driving the Amalfi Coast (2012)
92. Seeing history around Mt Vesuvius & Pompeii (2012)
93. Trying not to rush through the Sistine Chapel (2012)
94. Skiing Vail (2012)
95. Trekking around Romania’s Transylvanian hills & countryside (2012)
96. Visiting the White House (NOT living there) (2012)
97. Floating in the Dead Sea (2013)
98. Driving around Iceland (2014)
99. Walking part of the Camino in NW Spain (2014)
100. Going up to Nepal (2015)
101. One night in Bangkok (2016; OK, I over-achieved and did TWO)
102. Seeing Angkor Wat (2016)
103. Skiing in the Alps (2017)
104. Checking off tiny Andorra (2017), San Marino (2006) &  Liechtenstein (2017)
105. Enjoying the cuisine at San Sebastian in Spain (2017)
106. Getting to know the Basque country, including the village of Andraca (2017)
107. Being a pilgrim at Lourdes, France (2017)
108. Seeing the DMZ between the Koreas (from a distance, I suppose!) (2018)
109. Seeing Prague (2019)
110. Stepping into the Cologne Cathedral (2019)
111. Seeing imperial Aachen, Germany (2019)
112. Enjoying the Christmas markets of Germany (2019)
113. Checking out charming Colmar, France (2019)
114. Sampling wine country in Oregon (2020)
115. Experiencing the Holy Land (2023)

PARTIALLY CHECKED OFF

1. Seeing the ex-Baltic SSRs:  Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (2011)
2. Sunning in the Greek Isles (Hydra, Mykonos, Santorini, Rhodes) (2011)
3. Going around the former Yugoslavia: Belgrade, Sarajevo, Zagreb, Lubjlana & Julian Alps (hiking!), Split, Dubrovnik, Mostar, Kotor, Macedonia (2012; 2019)

PENDING

1. Skiing in the Canadian Rockies
2. Skiing in Iran
3. Visiting all the places in Cuba where family lived
4. Seeing Moscow’s St. Basil Cathedral and the Kremlin (NEVER MIND; DON’T WANT TO ANYMORE)
5. Going up the Statue of Liberty
6. Seeing an ex-SSR “Stan”
7. Checking out Greenland
8. Crossing Siberia by train
9. Enjoying the Ice Wine Festival in Niagara-by-the-Falls
10. Attending a Green Bay Packers’ game while it is snowing
11. Seeing Mongolia’s vastness
12. Seeing ancient ruins in Syria (well, if there are any left by the time I get to go…)
13. Seeing ancient ruins in Libya
14. Checking out one of the oddest countries during the Cold War:  Albania
15. Living the wildlife in Botswana’s Okavango delta
16. Seeing Namibia’s coastal deserts
17. Driving around Western Cape, SA
18. Being photographed at the Taj Mahal
19. Visiting Brugge, Belgium
20. One third of the great falls:  Victoria Falls
21. One third of the great falls:  Iguazu Falls (and using that as a way to check Paraguay off the list…)
22. Checking out the towns in northeast coastal Brazil
23. Entering the happy kingdom of Bhutan
24. Seeing the length of Vietnam
25. Seeing Mt. Athos, even if from afar
26. Visiting Lhasa, Tibet
27. Seeing Meteora, Greece
28. Exploring Mali
29. Exploring Ethiopia
30. Navigating the fjords of Norway and coastal towns; Kjerag, Norway
31. Northern forests in Sweden
32. Driving around Ireland
33. Driving or hiking around Portugal
34. Being a pilgrim to Fatima, Portugal
35. Visiting the Canary Islands
36. Living the life in the lake district in northern Italy
37. Checking out Quebec City
38. Relaxing in Hawaii
39. Touching Antarctica
40. Visiting my final unvisited US states (6 left!)

You more of a visual type?  Well here is my still-to-do bucket list in pictures!  http://pinterest.com/ilivetotravel/bucket-list/