Posted on Wednesday, 31 October 2018

Travel bucket lists are increasingly common, but do they help us keep track of our ambitions, or do they fill us with ‘FOMO' and encourage us to spend time doing things we don't actually enjoy?

According to Wikipedia, a bucket list is - “a list of activities someone wants to do before he or she dies…”.

Ten thousand years ago, most people's bucket lists looked a bit like this: Locate a good source of wild berries; Find a spacious cave; Don't get eaten by wolves.

Today, people's bucket lists are also a bit 'samey' but tend to be longer and look like something this: Hunt for truffles in Provence; Find a spacious semi-detached house; Swim with dolphins; Bathe an elephant; Go zorbing.

Yes, things are lot better these days, with supermarkets, housing estates and the complete decimation of the wolf population.

The travel bucket list

Yet today's bucket lists are longer and more demanding than ever - particularly in relation to travel.

So, are travel bucket lists a great way to avoid missing out on amazing destinations? Or a way to stress ourselves out with FOMO (fear of missing out) - and potentially waste our valuable time?

Doing what actually interests you

As a recent article by Business Insider's Harrison Jacobs suggested, bucket lists may well put pressure on us to see as many things as possible - things that have been recommended to us by friends, co-workers, and Instagram travel accounts. Once in a tourist hotspot, 'fear of missing out' might reach fever pitch, prompting us to spend hours at ancient temples and vast museums - even if deep down we'd rather chill out by a pavement café, or playing Clash of Clans in our air-conditioned hotel room.

Following the crowd

And as James Lane of Medium pointed out, the fact that many people have similar bucket lists can mean humongous queues at top-rated attractions. Is the Louvre art gallery really that much fun if you have to queue up for three hours to see it? For Lane, who once drew up a bucket list with 882 items, the process eventually felt "fake and lacking substance", particularly after he had to start Googling new ideas for his list. This meant he was electively doing things other people thought he should do (unless of course they themselves copied their bucket list ideas from others!).

Instagram pressures

And of course, bucket lists are tied to our social media activities, prompting us to spend ages posing for photos outside ancient monuments - monuments that, deep down, might not interest us, but could help us break our Instagram Like record!

Want to ditch the travel bucket list?

So, what if your travel bucket list is starting to feel like a chain around your neck?

As Jacobs suggested in his article, if you're not interested in visiting a particular attraction or site, "don't be afraid to skip it." Of course, this might be easier said than done if you're travelling as a group or a family - but it's important to remember YOLO (you only live once) - deciding to ‘sit this one out' is always an option.

Too many attractions

And apart from anything else, shunning your travel bucket list might be a practical thing to do. After all, some destinations have so many attractions that being discerning can really pay off.

Only choose things you really want to do - and leave plenty of time for Clash of Clans in your hotel room.

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