Bucket list trends
Travel, volunteering, or andrenaline adventures, everyone’s wish list is different but driven by what we love and what we dream of doing.
In the 2007 movie The Bucket List, Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman dash about the world with a wish list of things they want to do before they “kick the bucket”.
They skydive, fly over the North Pole, visit India’s Taj Mahal, the base of Mt Everest, the Egyptian pyramids, go on an African safari, dine at a Michelin-star restaurant, drive a Shelby Mustang, and ride motorbikes on the Great Wall of China.
Bucket list became a catchphrase for exotic and daring things people wanted to do in their lifetime . . . adventures, exotic adventures, something to make a memory of.
Some people still use bucket list. It’s a term you can throw about when you’re young and healthy and mortality seems a long way off. Others prefer to use “aspirations”, “purpose”, “fulfilment” and “authentic self”. That throws the concept wide open, not just expensive, one-off experiences but fulfilling yourself, whether that be through taking a great leap of faith with bungy jumping or starting a training programme for a 5km run with the goal of a half marathon — we can never underestimate our health. Or, like in the movie, people attempt to mend bridges with the people they love.
And, just like in the movie, most people’s priorities and their most precious memories are good times, laughter and experiences shared with family and friends.
So just what are the things people are yearning to do: the popular, the novel.
Travel
Plus asked Kiwi life coach Catherine Coluccio to survey her Rocking Midlife Facebook group about what aspirations they have on their wish lists. Here is a handful of answers.
“Travel, of course, features large. DC for the Cherry Blossom Festive, Ireland, Scotland in the springtime.”
“Montana, and stay on a dude ranch.”
“Go on a cruise.”
“Take all my grandchildren to Disney World.” “Croatia, too.” And, just once, some said they’d like to make those trips in business class.
House of Travel commercial director Brent Thomas says many of his firm’s customers do have bucket lists they want to tick off.
“Destinations which are really taking off include Hawaii and Bali,” he says.
Japan “is on many travellers and sports fans wish lists
. . . with the 2019 Rugby World Cup and 2020 Olympic Games being held here.”
He says people heading to Europe are venturing outside the central locations and wanting to immerse themselves in the local culture. “A villa stay in the South of France, sailing through the Mediterranean, walking the Camino or taking a
cooking class in Italy. Portugal and Croatia are up-and-coming destinations.”
And cruising is no longer limited to ocean cruising, as customers branch out into river cruising through Europe and expedition cruising to Antarctica or the Galapagos Islands, he says.
Sarah and Denis La Touche of foodiesinfrance.com have been running walking, food and wine tours to France, Northern Spain and Liguria since 2012.
“I think people’s bucket lists are super-varied,” says Sarah.
“It’s all about what you love, more importantly, what you dream of doing and hopefully at some stage can actually manage to do. Living the dream, I think, is the current catchphrase. “I’m not sure that everyone is interested in the great walks of the world, but I do know that people really enjoy discovering cultures via the landscape, the food and wine. They love to combine eating well with walking and having a great time.”
For some people, travel is an opportunity to have some experiences as they help others.
This is where organisations such as Volunteer Service Abroad (VSA) come in. Heather Ware enjoys travel but also wanted to go somewhere where she felt she could contribute to the local community and perhaps make a difference. She thought that travelling as a volunteer wouldn’t be easy, matching her skill set of capital planning and marketing, but that very opportunity presented itself with a three-month stay working on the setup of a South Pacific World War II museum in Vanuatu from October to December last year.
“Life is short, and you have to make the most of everything,”’ she says, explaining she chose VSA because she wanted to live in an overseas place “rather than just travelling there and being an observer”.
Her wish list is for travel with her husband. “We are interested in going to countries off the beaten track — Russia, Mongolia and South America.”
Experiences
As well as seeing life from a different part of the world, adrenaline-inducing experiences are still high on people’s wish lists.
Again, Catherine Coluccio’s Facebook group offers a list of experiences dear to their hearts. “Learn to scuba dive.”
“Half marathon and quarter Ironman this year!”
“Seeing bands in concert.” “Riding a mechanical bull (done).” “Done the jumping out plane thing and that’s worth every moment, and achieved a few set exercise goals. As I’ve past 50, I realise that health is the most important thing in life and opportunities to do wonderful things are a bonus.”
Or the selfless wish of one group member who said, “I’d love to surprise someone with a new car. I think that would be amazing to surprise and make someone so happy.”
If the discretionary finances don’t stretch to shouting someone a new car, they could enjoy a ride in a Shelby GT500KR, Ferrari 458 Speciale, or a 1982 DeLorean DMC-12 Time Machine from Hero Car Hire in Auckland or a Harley-Davidson from the likes of Bularangi Motorbikes.
New Zealanders are fortunate they can have many adventures without having to leave these shores.
You don’t have to drive far to find a beautiful spot with a bungy jump. Or to experience the adrenaline rush of jumping out of a plane, flying by helicopter over amazing scenery and being dropped off for some heli-skiing or heli-fishing.
Auckland’s Sky Tower and SkyJump/SkyWalk also feature on people’s aspirations lists.
The majority of these requests are from charities like Make A Wish or Starship for very ill or terminal patients to visit the Sky Tower or do a SkyWalk or SkyJump. “They’re things that they’ve always wanted to do, or that they’d really love to do,” says Rebecca Foote, senior communications adviser at Skycity.”
The National Aquarium of New Zealand in Napier is the only place in the country where you can swim freely with sharks (in a wetsuit not a cage). And yes, it’s on people’s bucket lists.
The aquarium’s visitor experiences marketing adviser, Felicity Kibble, says, “Not long ago we had a woman in her 70s get in touch with us and organise a swim as it was on her bucket list. She was amazing and said it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
“We also have cruise ship visitors specifically book this encounter when they’re in port as it’s on their bucket list and they can’t do this anywhere else in New Zealand.
“You eyeball sharks, stingrays and skates, and get up close with local fish like kahawai and snapper from nearby Hawke’s Bay. It really does get your blood pumping and send your adrenaline levels through the roof!”
Wouldn’t that have made a great scene with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman?