Planning a bucket list trip can be as fun as the trip itself. There is no right way to do it as everyone has their own way of planning a trip. Below is my approach and I hope you find something in here that you can add to your toolbox.
The Bucket list Item:
Defining the bucket list Item is easy and why you started looking at the trip in the first place. A bucket list item may be targeted, identifying a particular event. Such as going to Oktoberfest in Munich, attending the Scottish Tattoo in Edinburgh, or seeing the Eiffel Tower. The Bucket List item can also be very broad, such as: “Before I die, I want to go to Europe”.
Beyond the “Bucket list item”:
If you have a specific event in mind, then you must ask the question; “Is that it?”. If it’s as broad as “I want to go to Europe”, this discussion will help as well.
The real task in defining the destination includes asking yourself; “what else is there to do?”. If this truly is a once in a lifetime trip, why limit it? Take advantage of the opportunity to see/experience what you can in a destination that you may never get to again.
I close my posts with the phrase; “Travel Well. Pursue Adventures” to stimulate thought about travel. The reader will define for themselves what the phrase may mean. In my mind, to truly “travel well” goes beyond just flying business class and staying in swanky hotels. It involves pursuing new adventures in your travel opportunities. Research the destination to see what else there is to see and do beyond what is in the travel guides that sparks your interest.
For example: I’ve planned a bucket list trip for a buddy of mine. His bucket list event is to go to the Oktoberfest. This is a great starting point. But, what else? We have discussed the things that are of interest for him. In the end, we expanded the itinerary to visit 4 cities: Cologne, Berlin, Nuremburg and Munich, over 10 days. Now, if the only thing you want to do is go to Oktoberfest, that’s fine. That can be accommodated as an expensive long weekend and check the box. However, it would waste an opportunity to leverage an expensive international flight. Why waste an opportunity to experience what else the destination has to offer?
Do not over plan:
Prioritize your bucket list item and don’t consider all of your other plans to be set in stone. Discovery is part of traveling, you’ve gotta allow yourself some degrees of freedom. Things pop up that you want to take advantage of. You may just want to sit in a beer garden and chat. Play some cards. Or you may just want to sleep in. There are benefits in maintaining a rigid itinerary. However, it can also be a source of stress and frustration on a trip.
Realize that plans can go sideways. A venue you want to visit is closed. You missed a train, or there’s bad weather. It’s helpful to create a list of alternative activities to take advantage of in the situation where something falls through.
Beyond the POI’s
Everyone plans their vacation around key points of interest (POI’s) in a city or region. This might be the Oktoberfest, the Roman Coliseum, the Eiffel Tower, or the other historical sites. But, what else is there to do?
I recommend leveraging the internet to search the city pages for your destination. The city tourism sites will list seasonal activities that are going on in the community. Some examples include https://www.muenchen.de/int/en.html, if you are travelling to Munich for Oktoberfest. If you are traveling to Edinburgh, Scotland visit https://edinburgh.org/. The websites list the public calendar of events such as: cultural exhibitions, folk festivals, symphony in the park, theater presentations or rock concerts.
In filling out our itinerary, I searched the Berlin website https://www.berlin.de/en/. I found that the British ska band, Madness, was in concert at the same time we visited the city. And yes, we jumped on the tickets. I also fully acknowledge I am stuck in the 80’s and 90’s with a lot of my musical preferences. Similarly, in planning our Scotland trip this summer, I discovered that the Hollywood Vampires in Glasgow. Its a nice surprise for us and a unique opportunity to see the band as they are not touring in the US..
Leveraging these sites are not just a benefit for a self-planned tour but can also spice up a group tour. Pretty much all of the tour providers include windows of “on your own” time in their itineraries. These allow for individual discovery of a respective city.
Don’t get me wrong. I’ve had a lot of fun doing some aimless city-center spelunking to see what I can find. But, if you want to do more than just wander the town. Visit the city tourism site to see if there is an event not listed in your itinerary to attend while you are in town to fill out your experience.
Guided Tours:
Some folks look at the travel agencies that already have established itineraries that include the activity/destination you want.
I have friends that absolutely love the ease of leveraging a travel/tour agency, which is great. In my view, leveraging an established tour is an easy way to address your bucket list item. But is also a mixed bag.
The pros: You get to the key activity you wanted. All the logistics, hotels, and some meals are pre-arranged. The budget is pretty much set. There are some included excursions, and a guide who is familiar with the route to provide additional insight and color.
The cons: the full itinerary may not necessarily match what you want. It may include destinations you have no interest in. You lack the flexibility to fully own your time. For example; you may want to spend more time at the museum, but the tour group is leaving to go to see where some famous person ate a hoagie.
It’s your personal choice to leverage a guided tour or plan the full trip on your own. I like to plan and own my trip. I do think that the itineraries that these companies put together are great resources for building a self-driven trip.
Day Tours:
Many of the big cities in Europe have tour companies that offer day tours to local points of interest. These tours provide all the advantage of the multi-day tours and allow you to maintain the freedom for the remainder of your trip. The day tours provide the local guide, and transportation you would expect on a formal tour.
TIP: Make sure you check what is included in the tour fee. Day tours don’t always provide the admission tickets to the places of interest that they take you to.
Prioritizing:
As I mentioned above, I recommend prioritizing the things you want to do and see. Everyone has their way of working this, and without getting too nerdy, I like to leverage a decision analysis process like what I use in my real job. The goal here is to really make you think about what you want to do on the vacation and treat them like a requirement. There are the “must visit” locations. Everything else falls along a continuum of prioritization.
My approach groups my list of additional Points of Interest (POI’s) in planning a bucket list trip on how much I really want to go.
Identify the Must – This is the reason you are going. To miss this is really a major disappointment and you want to schedule everything else around this.
Want to see – These are the next tier of POI’s you schedule the trip around. You plan the logistics, tickets, reservations etc. If you don’t get there, you may be out some money, and it will be disappointing, but it’s not the failure of the trip.
Nice to see – This may be the largest grouping of POIs in your list. These are places you identify and might try to visit. Or these could be alternates of opportunity if one of your higher priority POI’s falls through. For example, there are many Museums in Munich that are nice to see, but if you can’t get to visit all three museums in the Pinakotek complex, it’s no big deal.
Meh – These are the ones you flag as “If it’s on the way, and I have the time”.
There are bloggers out there that put out lists of their “top 10 things to do in…”. Search via your favorite web search engine.
If you are traveling with others, involve them in the process of planning a bucket list trip. They may suggest some destinations or activities that you hadn’t considered, or help eliminate less favorable options. Not everyone gets jazzed about going to Branson to see the world’s largest ball of twine, or Chicago’s big shiny bean.
It’s a shame that so many things you want to do costs money. Review your budget to help weed things out, after you have defined your POI’s. Don’t go crazy and sacrifice the reason why you are going. Don’t sacrifice necessities, like eating food, because it may blow the budget.
I hope this has helped you think about planning a bucket list trip. Like most toolboxes, you can pick out those that are beneficial and disregard the left-handed monkey-wrench.
Until the next time:
Travel well. Pursue experiences.
O.M.I.A.H.