“A bucket list is an invitation to dream bigger.”- Anette White
Where did the year go, right? What did we do with our time? This is when we start taking stock of the year and everything we wanted to achieve in 2022.
As the year winds down, preparing for an epic 2023 becomes the focus. Listing what you want to achieve and where you want to go in life (and leisure) is a great way to stay focused on the goals you’re still working on. Didn’t tick everything off your bucket list this year? No worries! Don’t even have a bucket list yet? Not a problem! We’ve got some ideas on how to plan that bucket list event, holiday, or activity you have been itching to tick off. Think of it as the match that ignites your planning toward keeping your life goals lit!
Life doesn’t always go as planned, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t plan. Staying flexible when you plan is the key to ticking off items on your list. It’s a very personal process that involves your wants and desires. One of the things we always find on a bucket list is the places we want to visit both in South Africa and beyond our borders. Listing them helps you start a schedule for when those epic experiences will best suit your time and budget.
While international travel is definitely on the cards, you can warm up your bucket list by listing local places you’ve always wanted to visit and the thrilling activities you’ve always wanted to experience. For many of us, there are things others do all the time that we haven’t quite got the opportunity to do – like diving, horse riding, or even go-karting! This is not about being ashamed that you’ve never been on a bike or jet ski, it’s about turning the bucket list on its head and making your own rules for the “firsts” you want to experience.
What is a Bucket list?
A bucket list is a number of experiences or achievements that a person hopes to have or accomplish during their lifetime.
It’s an itemized list of goals someone wants to achieve before they (to put it mildly) “kick the bucket”. Often, a bucket list includes big accomplishments, travel, and fun things we’d like to experience in our lives. First up… brainstorm your bucket list. It’s all about you and what you want to do. Ask yourself… what do you want to experience? Where do you want to travel to? What do you want to see and do when you get there?
What kind of things can go on a bucket list?
Think epic once-in-a-lifetime experiences! South Africa is known for its amazing landscapes and top tourist-attraction-type adventures. So, it’s all here for the picking! You can start your bucket list right here where you are. Always wanted to swim with sharks? You can book in at Bantry Bay in Cape Town with a full view of the ocean in anticipation of your upcoming dive with the sharks. From the resort, you have access to Cape Town and all its bucket-listing opportunities like visiting the soul-stirring Robben Island, climbing/hiking up Table Mountain, or even paragliding!
Here are a few examples of wants some people put on their bucket list:
- A desire to travel (road trip with the besties or a flight to an exotic location).
- A longing to do a daring activity (animal encounters, shark-cage diving, feeding crocodiles, etc.).
- A wish to accomplish a personal goal (travelling alone or white water rafting in the wilderness).
- A yearning to achieve specific life milestones (“by 40, I want to climb 3 mountains or cycle from Cape Town to Knysna”).
- A craving to spend even more quality time with friends and family (a week away in the mountains or by the beach with your parents and children – making epic family memories where everyone’s included).
How you decide what’s on your bucket list is entirely up to you and your craving! What have you always wanted to do? What have you always wanted to see? Where have you always wanted to visit?
If you’ve always wanted to “live as one” with the wildlife in South Africa, see the Big Five up close and personal, and even experience close contact with the animals that could eat you – Mabalingwe Nature Reserve is all about getting back to nature on a spectacular 9,500-hectare wild South African landscape. There are tons of things so many of us haven’t done, yet! If you’ve never ridden a horse before and that’s on your bucket list? Enjoy a horse ride in the Bushveld solo or with family to encourage you to keep living your dreams. We all want different things – that’s what makes us especially unique, and the same goes for your bucket list items. Your bucket list is totally unique to you… so comparing your list with family is only allowed because it can give you great ideas to add to your own list.
How to make a bucket list
It’s in the simplicity of your bucket list that you can get that legendary feeling of success and accomplishment. Legends make bucket lists! So, get started on creating your legendary tale – something people will talk about for decades to come! “…Remember when… (insert your name) went swimming with the sharks and survived??!!!” #Legendary
If you’re still struggling with what to put on your list, here are a few things to consider…
- Start with the easy stuff and think about the things you wanted to do when you were a kid.
- What predictable stuff do you feel you want to do? Bungee jump? Skydive?
- What about adding some weird stuff? Eating snails, frog legs, or Mopani worms?
The key to making a short and simple bucket list is thinking about the overall experience you want! Decide what’s super important to you and move that to the top of your list! Prioritizing helps prevent making a list you never get down to doing. If you’re stuck for ideas about what goes onto your list (and in what order), ask your friends for their suggestions – they, after all, are the people who know you best! You can even rope one or two in to join you, provided that trip, activity, or adventure is on their bucket list too.
What about a girls‘ trip or a boys’ weekend away? You can do one or two things on your bucket list with friends nearby for support and encouragement. Perna Perna Umdloti on the KZN North Coast is right on the ocean with options for your water sport bucket list. From surfing on the unpredictable seas, microlight flights over Umdloti and the nearby cane fields to even piloting a jet ski on the untamed ocean. Things we have never done before are actually there to relish – it’s taking the moment to be proud of what you are trying to do for the first time EVER – and accomplishing it is a bucket list boss move! #BossMove
Holiday Bucket list
Ultimately, your bucket list is your own personal grand “To-Do” List. You’re in charge and in control! When it comes to your Holiday or Travel Bucket List, South Africa has it all: beach, bush, Berg and EVERYTHING in between from river adventures, wetlands and lakes to caves, mountain tops and more! Adding an experience to your bucket list is even easier when you’re on an adventure holiday.
Beach Bucket list?
When you make your next bucket-list-holiday HQ the Breakers resort, next to the Umhlanga Lagoon Nature Reserve – you’ll have tons of bucket list options like scuba diving, helicopter and aeroplane flights, or even a Mindgame Escape room adventure.
Bush Bucket list?
BushTime at Mabula, in the foothills of the Waterberg Mountains – you can stay in the Mabula Private Game reserve and get up close and personal with nature. Tick that night safari off your local bucket list, or even go on a Lake Kyle Safari where there are free-roaming lions!
Berg bucket list?
Book into the Drakensberg Sun and tick more mountain adventures off your list, like the Drakensberg Canopy Tour where you experience ziplines over the most amazing views with the sounds of a flowing river below. What about Abseiling? Close encounter with reptiles and falcons? Or a helicopter ride over the majestic hills?
You got this!
Making a bucket list is really about just shaking things up. It’s about creating experiences that you will be talking about to friends and family, and thinking back on with a smile – while appreciating the courage and dedication it took to just Tick.It.Off! #LifeGoals
Whatever experiences are on your bucket list, YOU are the guide. You are in control of what you do, when you do it, and what you get out of the experience. It’s what makes a bucket list such an electrifying and powerful act for personal growth and those kick-butt memories.
So, are you ready to start that bucket list?
“Stop dreaming about your bucket list and start living it.” Annette White
Flexi Club 