Building A Travel Bucket List That Sparks Real Adventures

What if your bucket list wasn’t a scoreboard, but a compass? We open up a fresh way to dream about travel, write it down, and use it to choose trips that match your season of life, your budget, and your energy. From childhood longings to once-a-year natural spectacles, we share a simple framework to capture ideas and then act on them with purpose.

We start with the sparks that never left: the book that made you crave a safari, the classroom poster that planted cherry blossoms in your mind, the family story that points toward a village you’ve never seen. From there, we dig into heritage travel and how to turn fuzzy records into meaningful routes. You’ll hear practical examples like Japan’s spring blooms, Amsterdam’s tulips, Mexico’s monarch migration, and balloon-filled skies in New Mexico or Turkey—plus how to decide which version fits your time and comfort level.

We balance glossy inspiration with grounded insight. Media, movies, and Instagram can widen your world, but nothing beats a friend’s glowing review of an overlooked city. Learn how to keep your list evolving, weigh deals and timing without chasing trends, and pick destinations based on what you need right now: rest, joy, challenge, or connection. Most of all, we push back on checkbox travel. Plan with intention, be present on the ground, and reflect when you return so your next choice is even wiser.

Ready to turn dreaming into doing without losing the magic? Follow the show, share this with a friend who needs a nudge, and leave a quick review telling us the one place calling your name.

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https://thetravelcoachnetwork.mykajabi.com/travel-coach-virtual-summit-2025

Chapters

• 0:00 Dreaming As A Travel Mindset
• 1:04 Why Write A Bucket List
• 3:12 Childhood Dreams As Starting Points
• 5:17 Ancestry Trips And Roots
• 7:03 Events And Natural Wonders
• 9:20 Inspiration From Media And Friends
• 11:02 Review And Evolve Your List
• 12:12 Using The List Without Being Ruled
• 14:24 Budget, Timing, And Meaning
• 16:20 Avoiding Checkbox Travel
• 17:29 Note: Final CTA For Travel Summit
• 18:10 Keep Dreaming And Practical Next Steps

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Do you remember being in high school and just dreaming of the day you could be an adult or dreaming of that dream college that you wanted to get into? Or dreaming of finally graduating from that college and getting a real job, getting that quote unquote dream job, or even for us women out there finding that dream man, right? Well, today I'm going to talk about how important it is to allow ourselves to dream when it comes to travel. Welcome to Solo Travel Adventures. I'm Cheryl Esch. Well, I believe that it's important for us to dream about places that we would love to visit. And we often put a name on that and we call it a bucket list. And I believe we should have one, but not necessarily let our lives be dictated by it. Hear me out. So it's important to dream about these places, to have that excitement and even to write it down. We may think of things in our head, but if we don't actually write them down, as as you know, when you set goals in your life, it's important to write it out. So then similarly with travel and going into those dream destinations of yours, it is important to make a list, a bucket list, as we like to call it. Things you have a strong desire to do or to go need to go on that list. I think from a mental standpoint, it's important just to dream. I think when we get to our age here, 50 and up, we often forget how to dream. And all the examples I gave in the introduction were, you know, when we were younger, we had all those dreams. And even as a little kid, you probably had even more dreams about doing certain things. Maybe as a kid, you know, I hear of young kids when during my era dreaming of going to the moon, right? Or it just lots of dreams like that. And we get older and we get stuck and we have these responsibilities and we don't think we even deserve to dream. And so I'm here to encourage you to get out a pen and paper today because we are going to dream up a bucket list for you of travel places, things that you have such a longing to do that maybe they've even been there since your childhood. So, did you get that pen and paper? So you often ask, how do you even decide what to put on your bucket list? Well, I'm going to give you a couple ideas where to start. I have a bucket list, I do admit that, and we'll talk a little bit more as to what I actually do with that bucket list a little later, but I want you to get pen to paper and decide what should be put on your bucket list. First, I want you to go back to your childhood and think about maybe a place or an activity that you wanted to do as a child and that you didn't get to do. I'll give you an example. My son, who's now 26, and I also bring up this episode because I just had both my adult sons for dinner tonight, and we got to talking about a lot of these uh sort of bucket list places that we want to go, and even like, could we do some of these together? But a childhood dream of my sons and mine as well, I believe, because I just when he said it, it just sparked this remembrance in me because we both love animals. Is when he was like four, maybe, he wrote down in this little dream jar that we had that he wanted to go to see an African safari. He wanted to travel to Africa and see all those wonderful uh African animals. And so I joined him in that dream. And so that is actually still on our bucket list together. So maybe you have a childhood dream of something you wanted to do or a place you wanted to go. Maybe there was a book you read as a kid that just got you longing for something about maybe where the setting of that story was set. Go back and think. And we all have them. We all do. Um, so if something comes to mind, put it down. If not, give yourself some more opportunity. Maybe uh go back and look at some. If you have some old pictures, sometimes old pictures might remind us of certain things. So that would be one way to start to build your bucket list of places to travel. Uh, next, you might have some sort of deep connection to your ancestry. I know a lot of us are doing these uh ancestry.com or 23andme, and we're discovering, you know, where we have come from, where our heritage comes from. And so maybe you have a longing to go to one of those countries uh where you know you have part of your ancestry is from. Maybe it was a great grandparent that came from this country. And so maybe that place is actually on your list. And I do have that on my list. However, I'm in the research mode to find out exactly because back in that time in Europe, in Eastern block of Europe, um, the the countries were not as split up as they are now. And so I'm still trying to determine exactly, you know, where my uh great-grandparents uh that are quote unquote Slovakian uh truly came from. So we're still uh trying to pinpoint what countries. So, yes, I have a desire to maybe go back and um you know sort of find that region and explore that region that my ancestry is from. So maybe that also calls you uh to a region that you want to visit. Um, thirdly, maybe there is a specific activity or event that you have a desire to see. And this could be maybe it could be a music event, it could be um maybe it's the uh blooming of in April of the blossoms in Japan, right? Maybe that's something you've always wanted to see, or the tulips in in Amsterdam in April. For me, I have one, and it is actually to go to Mexico, somewhere outside of Mexico City, to see the migration of the the butterflies, um, the monarch butterflies. And so I have that on my list, you know. So it could be something like that, some sort of uh natural phenomenon or some event, it could be a huge music event. Uh maybe you want to go to Burning Man, right? So there's lots of different events that could take you to travels uh local and far. So maybe that's and if you think of something, then put it down. Have you always wanted to go to maybe the hot air balloon festival, you know, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, or uh, you know, so things like that. Or maybe you'd rather go do the hot air balloon ride thing in Turkey, right? So those kind of things might take you or have you dream about going to certain places. And then there is, of course, um Instagram or magazines, or maybe a movie or a show has inspired you to go to a place. And there's plenty of shows and movies that might be set in certain countries that you're like, wow, I want to go see that country. Put that on your list, and then finally, uh, another way that I have put things on my bucket list was through word of mouth. So maybe someone has been there and they just talk a lot about it. Um so Japan actually is one of those places that you know, I just hear so many people talk about how they have positive experiences there. And so that is on my bucket list, and even spoke to my two adult sons tonight that maybe the three of us could go because my oldest has been there twice and he wants to go back. And my younger one and myself have not been to Japan. And we talked about uh not in 2026. We both all of us have already some travel plans planned. So I don't know, we're aiming for maybe 2027. We'll see, but that would be a super fun trip. So, yes, word of mouth could be, and some of my best places that I have visited um have turned out to be surprisingly uh kind of the best places, and those places were typically word of mouth. Like someone told me about a certain city that maybe I didn't even consider, and when I did actually go, I was so happy I went, pleasantly surprised. So, did you create your bucket list? Maybe you already have one, and if you do, maybe you need to go back and revisit it. I do that quite often. I revisit my bucket list and maybe change things, take something off, put a new one on, you know. Um, it can be always evolving, especially as we as people evolve as well. And you know, now that you have this list, what are you gonna do with it? Well, I like to say it's it's a jumping off point for you to decide where your next travels will be. It doesn't have to dictate where you go, though. Meaning, yes, it's a lovely resource. It's this dream list potentially. Maybe some of the places you put on there are a bit of a stretch because maybe they're expensive, like my safari that I want to go on. Or maybe they're just so far away and you would need more time off than you maybe have. I I would say use the list just as a jumping off point, not to just go down the list and check things off, because then it's not as meaningful. And so what I mean by that is say you find yourself in a position uh to take a trip. You're ready to travel and you're trying to decide where to go. You look at your list, so maybe none of those are hitting home for you at the moment, and that's okay. Maybe you are feeling pulled to something else, a different environment, a different setting that maybe anything on your list may have to offer you. And that's okay. I think it's important for us to, you know, base our travels maybe on what you need, whether it's what you need physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally, uh, picking a place that is, you know, definitely the right time and the right place. But also maybe you base where you go on budget. So maybe as you look at your bucket list, maybe you see really good airfare for one of those places on your list. Ha! There you go. You can take advantage of that. Right. Or you have a friend maybe that is showing interest in one of those same places, then that might be a great opportunity to share the joy, share the dream with somebody. It could be many different reasons that you have either used your bucket list or not. So I don't want you to use it like it's set in stone or like it's the law, right? It is a jumping off point. It is something to reflect on, remember. I think it's more important to dream and to have those dreams put on your bucket list. Okay, well, what about you get to a point in your life, you're like, I haven't done anything on my bucket list. Well, yes, then you can maybe start going, okay, I need to, you know, maybe life has gotten in the way, right? And you haven't had time to do any travels. Then maybe you sit down and go, okay, I'm doing this trip, and just decide because you've put off maybe doing any kind of travels for a while. And yes, I always say we, you know, life is short, and it's important that we do things that uh sort of spark us, right? That that we're living, we're living in the moment, we're living life instead of just going through the mundane and the staticness of maybe your day-to-day. So travel can kind of spark that. Travel can mix that up. So maybe that's when using that bucket list could be helpful. You know, when you're not sure, maybe you're just drained mentally as well, that you can utilize the list as, you know, maybe they it can give you ideas, maybe not necessarily the ones on your list, but maybe it's oh, maybe it's some country near that. And you know, as you're doing some planning or looking, you go, oh wait, what about this place? So important. Important that we have this dream bucket list to reflect on, to uh dream and explore any possible future trips, but to only use it loosely, meaning that we're not, I don't like the idea of just checking things off, folks, because when we have that mentality of that's all we're doing, we're missing the beauty and the essence of the whole purpose of travel, the whole um the preparation, even, and then the actually being there and being in the moment instead of going, oh, I've checked this off, I'm I'm done, right? But enjoying it, getting the most out of it. And then even when you come back, there's should be some reflection time as well about that trip. And maybe that helps you also dream about future destinations and add them to your list. Well, sister travelers, I hope you develop your own dream bucket list and keep it tucked away. I keep mine tucked away actually in my daytimer, and I have some notes in my phone as well of some places that are. I have a top 10 list that I keep on my phone, and it does change a little bit here and there. And as I get to some places, some some have been on there for for years, and I haven't even gotten close to getting there. But for example, Australia, that's on there, and man, that's that's gonna require um a big trip for me, and you know, it just hasn't happened yet, but it's been on there for years, and I'm not not sweating it. I'm you know, it's still a dream destination, of course, for me. And if you don't have your list, as I said, get a pen and paper, write these down, and keep them somewhere where you can occasionally refer back to them, especially as you're thinking about doing a trip. Well, go ahead and dream. Get out there and dream. I love dreaming. I think it's important sometimes. We forget how to dream in our lives and we get so bogged down. So carve out some time. If you didn't actually do this during the podcast, maybe go back and listen and sit down with actual pen and paper, especially if you're driving, and give yourself some space, some margin to really reflect and you know, see what resonates with you, uh, with your soul here in places that you'd love to see. And if you want to know more about travel, I am going to be speaking at a virtual travel summit. I will put the link in the show notes. It is a free event, it's happening on November 15th. It does start at 11 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. Um, and it's free. And so there will be about 20 speakers during the event, all talking about travel. So if you're just wanting some more resources and some more inspiration on maybe places to go, even take a listen, go ahead and get signed up, and you'll see the link in the show notes. And get out there and have those dream adventures.