Start Building a Bucket List For 2015. Consider these!

It is never to late to build your personal bucket list – creating a list of must do activities and experiences. Our motto as it relates to travel is, “do it while you can”, and now is the perfect time to start planning some trips and experiences for 2015. One company, Contiki Tours offers a number of worldwide based activities and experiences for those in the 18-35 range. Here are a few suggestions to get you started.

Climb a Mountain – choose a mountain that matches your level of ability. It may very well be simply a trek rather than roping up with an ice ax and crampons. Or take a class before attempting a more challenging mountain.

Exotic ideas include Africa’s highest mountain, Mt. Kilimanjaro. At over 19,000 feet it is truly the roof of Africa – many companies offer treks to the summit. This climb will test your endurance and ability to hike in high altitudes. If Africa is too far, consider Peru – a fairly inexpensive destination that boasts plenty of hiking and climbing opportunities especially in the Cordillera Blanca, a series of awe inspiring jagged snow and glacier covered peaks located about nine hours by bus north of Lima.

Try something new while on the road. Get out of your comfort zone and actively seek new experiences. This could be as simple as a trying a new type of food in Asia. The world is rich in diversity of cuisine and each country typically has some sort of unique dish. Or it could be something as relaxing as visiting a unique bath or spa.

Japan has the Onsen, Morocco and Turkey have the Hammam, there is the Finnish Sauna, the Russian Banyas – the list goes on. Or make an effort to meet other travelers. Some of the richest experiences involve time spent with other travelers – sharing stories and and experiences when traveling with those that you have recently met on the road.

Visit a country off the beaten path – one country that quickly comes to mind is Kyrgyzstan. Boasting impressive peaks, outdoor trekking, home-stay in Yurts and a diversity of cuisine (including fermented horse milk – yes this is an acquired taste!) – this is one of the ‘stans that has been quicker than the rest of the countries in the region to embrace tourism. With a fairly recent policy that makes it easy to enter the country for most citizens (no visa policy), a more developed tourism infrastructure for adventure travelers (than nearby countries) and prices that will please even the most hard core of budget travelers – the country is poised to become a prime tourist destination for adventurous travelers in Central Asia.

Visit one of the planet’s most impressive waterfalls. There are two waterfalls on the planet that will leave you standing in awe when you are in front of them due to their power, sheer volume of water being displaced and general size. Iguazu Falls which borders Brazil and Argentina requires two full days to view and experience the magnitude of these falls. You need at least one day in each country as there are plenty of viewpoints and hiking alongside the falls. Victoria Falls is also another two-country falls – bordering both Zimbabwe and Zambia. If you are here when the water is lower, you can even go into Devil’s Pool – a natural pool of water that sits right at the edge of where the water plummets over the side.

Experience the midnight sun. Several ideal places for this are in the Scandinavian countries of Sweden, Norway and Finland. For a period of weeks in June and July the sun sets extremely late and at times there is a twilight that prevails during the short few hours when the sun may just drop below the horizon. For those that don’t live in these latitudes it can certainly feel strange walking around cities such as Helsinki and Oslo at midnight and it is still somewhat light in the sky – but there aren’t that many people around! Another location worth visiting is Fairbanks, Alaska. They even host a midnight sun baseball game on the summer equinox. In addition, the Arctic Circle is less than a day’s drive away via the infamous Dalton Highway – and during part of summer the sun does not set within its boundaries.

These are just a few suggestions for a proposed bucket list based on some of our travels the past few years. What are some of your items for this list? Post them below.

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