Why You Should Have A Travel Bucket List

In a recent survey, TravelOnline found that 44% of Australian travellers do not have a bucket list and experience negative symptoms from not travelling enough. In contrast, 56% of travellers do have a bucket list and of these respondents, 35% of them state it constantly motivates them to travel and see more of the world.

Unlike the movies, a bucket list shouldn't be something to create just before you errr… kick the bucket, but instead a useful tool to help accomplish things you never thought possible. A travel bucket list can motivate you, encourage you to make the most of every moment, push you out of your comfort zone and allow you to make memories that will last a lifetime. Here are 5 reasons why you should have a travel bucket list.

What do you really want?

Whether it's to climb Mt Kilimanjaro, swim with sharks in Tahiti or see the Northern Lights, a travel bucket list is a great way to uncover your goals and decide what's important to you. Many people go their entire lives following society's conventional expectations of going to university, getting a job, marriage, buying a home and having children — all without giving it a second thought because its "what we are supposed to do". While there's nothing necessarily wrong with that, a bucket list can force you to challenge these norms and decide what you really want out of life. Writing down your goals and making them known will not only improve your focus and give you something to look forward to but also invoke a sense of motivation to accomplish your dreams.

Step out of your comfort zone

Embarking on unique experiences and exploring different cultures forces us to step outside our comfort zone and sometimes face our fears head on. Whether that's sky diving in Dubai or eating street food in Bali, our bucket list items can challenge us in ways we never thought possible. Enabling us to let go and embrace new situations, a bucket list is a great way to broaden our horizons.

Make memories

Whether you want to take a road trip with the family or embark on a huge solo adventure across the world, a travel bucket list will inadvertently create memories that will last a lifetime. Every travel experience, good or bad, will help you learn and grow as a person. Maybe you forgot to set an alarm and missed your flight home from Fiji or danced so hard at a full-moon party that you twisted your ankle. Whatever the situation, these slight inconveniences can often turn into hilarious stories to tell your friends and family when you return home. Also, looking back on the places you have travelled is far more memorable and exciting than that Netflix movie you watched a few months ago…

Feel accomplished

The feeling of completing a big project at work, or getting the kids to bed on time is pretty great, but can you imagine the satisfaction of seeing Machu Picchu after 3 days of trekking through the jungle? Accomplishment fills us with a sense of pride and fulfillment that is the key to happiness and a bucket list can help us reach this. Further, the unrivalled feeling of ticking an item off your bucket list, however big or small it may be, will make the rest of your goals seem far more attainable.