Photo by Stephanie Berghauser

Recently I’ve read a couple of bucket lists by some women I know and it got me thinking. I’ve got a lot of life goals, and it would be good to put them on paper. Most of them revolve around travel. Either places I want to go or things I would love to do as I explore the world.

I think it’s ironic that your list gets bigger as you get older. My friends simply had to do a 40 by 40. I had to come up with 50.  I’ve got 5+ years to get this list accomplished.

There are plenty more that didn’t make the list but are on the someday list.

As you get older you realize that time is precious. You realize that you better hurry up and get started or you won’t make it through the list.

I’m ready to go. Who’s going to join me?

50 Things To Do by Age 50:

Updated 6/20/2019. I think it’s time to redo this list. 

1. Ride in a gondola in Venice. (DONE!  Italy 6/2019)
2. Take a cooking class in Italy.
3. Touch the Eiffel Tower.
4. See an elephant in Africa.
5. Take a helicopter tour.
6. Go someplace only accessible by a tiny airplane.
7. Fly on a seaplane.
8. Take a train through Big Sky country (Pacific Northwest).
9. Drink a beer in an Irish pub (in Ireland!)
10. Take a romantic trip back to the hot spring resort in Costa Rica.
11. Take a moonlight boat ride.
12. Explore an island by golf cart (DONE!  San Pedro, Belize 11/2011)
13. Drive through New England (DONE!  New England Road Trip 10/2012)
14. Hike the Grand Canyon.
15. Visit Yellowstone National Park.
16. Go sailing on a real sailboat (DONE!  Maine Road Trip, 8/2018)
17. Sleep on a boat that isn’t a cruise ship.
18. Ride a hot air balloon, and don’t chicken out at the last minute.
19. Meet some locals in Greece.
20. Rent a scooter and go exploring.
21. Develop an income stream that lets me work from anywhere.
22. Walk through the small town in Poland where my grandmother was born.
23. Ride a camel.
24. Blog all of my past trips with pictures and stay current with future trips.
25. Listen to reggae in Jamaica. (DONE! Jamaica 11/2016)
26. Attend a Hawaiian luau.
27. Take another family vacation with my mom, siblings, nieces and nephews (DONE!  Fort Lauderdale, FL 4/2012)
28. Take weekend trips to all of the major cities within a 6 hour drive of St. Louis (So far Memphis, Chicago, Kansas City, Springfield IL and Indianapolis!).
29. Rent a house on a beach with friends.
30. Stay in a B&B in a small town and go antiquing (DONE!  Fulton, MO 1/2012)
31. Explore Europe by train.
32. Spend one night in a train sleeper car. (DONE!  Canadian Train trip 10/2017)
33. Identify 3 places I would like to live as an expat.
34. Spend 6 months living someplace outside of the U.S.
35. Take another vacation with my friend Cathy (DONE!  New England Road Trip 10/2012)
36. Take another vacation with my friend Pamela (DONE! Destin, FL Trip 7/2013)
37. See every state in the US.
38. Spend a day volunteering in a foreign country.
39. Make a micofinance loan and visit the place the money helped.
40. Make a new friend on a trip and connect via social media. (DONE!  Aruba 6/2017)
41. Spend a romantic weekend in an isolated cabin in the woods.
42. Return to Vancouver and get a chance to really explore. (DONE!  Canadian Train trip 10/2017)
43. Buy a replacement for the cracked mug I bought in Thornbury, England (DONE!  Spring 2012)
44. Take a trip with my dog Milo. (DONE!  Las Vegas Road Trip 5/2014)
45. Have a home base in St. Louis that I can lock up & go (DONE!)
46. Take at least one big and one small trip each year (Done…2012, one down for 2013!)
47. Attend a work conference and extend it into a vacation.
48. Take a trip all by myself.
49. Meet the man who will share in my travel journey, adding his own destinations to the list.
50. Get married in an island resort surrounded by close family and friends.

I know I won’t accomplish all of these goals, certainly not in the next 5 years. Some maybe never.

But I’m looking forward to the journey.

If you put together a bucket list of your own, leave a link in the comments. I’d love to see what you plan to do.