Growing my bucket list

I live for travel. So does that mean right now I am not living? Not really. I usually have a trip coming up on my calendar and just love the excitement of planning to travel and then even packing. I have everything travel related packed in one handy place – all the “stuff” I need on my trip – special bag for my electronics, another little bag with travel umbrella, ipad case …all those sorts of things. Well the other day when I planned a little “escape” from the city for a night in Canmore I actually forgot what my carry on suitcase looked like! Can you believe that?

I went down to the basement to look for a bag and there it stood – my lovely, faithful wheelie bag just standing in the corner looking folorn. Oh what joy to discover him sitting there. It was like I had a new bag all over again. Zipped it open, checked in the pockets – so exciting.

So apart from playing with my suitcase what else is there for an travel addict to do? Well I could really work on that Bucket List. Update it, cross off the places I have been and see what is still left on it. So let’s have a look – in no particular order – of what is actually on this magical list.

The Amazon … I really like the look of this place and I would love to do it on one of the small river boats. If Brazil gets itself sorted out I could tack on a visit to Rio but the jungle would be the real attraction.

(Pause for thinking …. trying to be strict and not put my favourite places in that I would like to revisit like – Italy’s lake district, Ireland, WW1 and WW2 battlefields in Europe, Venice, Malta, Morocco, Uluru in Australia…. oh stop, there are just too many).

The Douro River … I have visited Oporto and loved it but a trip down the Douro River would be amazing. Definitely high up on the list there.

The Corinth Canal … I would love to sail through this canal – it’s only 25 metres wide and steeped in history. It would have to be on a small ship – there have been a couple of larger ships do the crossing but it has been a tight fit.

Israel …. whatever your belief or faith there is so much of our history tied up in Israel and while there I would add on Jordan to the visit.

And one thing that I would definitely like to include on my bucket list would be a cruise without any port stops! Does that sound weird? I know many people look at “sea days” as being boring but I love them. However there is a good reason for no port stops in this time of COVID – that is why some of the expedition cruises are putting out journeys, sometimes as long as 14 days, without a single port stop. Imagine that – but you are not stuck on the ship – every day you have the chance to go out on kayaks or zodiacs and explore. Now that sounds like the best of both worlds – no ports – just nature!

What’s your bucket list? I would love to be inspired.