‘Bucket List‘ –>’Destination DO List‘
Hi there & welcome to our little corner of the internet! I want to talk about how we changed from Bucket List to Destination DO list & why.
As mentioned on our Plan your Next Adventure page, my attention was drawn to the term ‘bucket list’ & the building of one. Mostly, the symbolic use of it being, what someone wanted to accomplish before ‘kicking the bucket’. Now we aren’t planning on doing that anytime soon & thought to change the ‘bucket list’ name. Quite a few names were thrown about & it was narrowed down to two. Now if I am completely honest, we were split between ‘Memory Builder list’ & ‘Destination Do list’. However, we wholeheartedly believe whilst the destination is only part of a journey to build memories, its an important part.
The end result was changing from Bucket List to Destination DO List, which in my opinion is a great move.
Changing from Bucket List to Destination DO list also inserted a positive action to our travel dreaming & planning. In my opinion this makes for a more meaningful bucket list or for us now, a Destination ‘DO’ list. We now have discussions of what destinations we are going to ‘DO’ when planning our travels.
We hope our Destination DO decider will help you create a base for your travels. Building your journey’s & memories around any destination. SO, we kicked our bucket over & moved from bucket list to Destination DO List.
Our mission: ‘To Encourage and Excite as many people as we can to discover the world & build awesome memories’.
Our first overseas trip was slightly chaotic, all go go go & little planning, with maybe three or four things on our list. Once there we discovered, there was so much to see, the decisions to make & missed opportunities were abundant. There was also a little matter of traversing the streets of Amsterdam at night in the freezing rain. A story for another time.
The next trip, I swore would be less on the ground go go go, a little more planning & a lot more relaxing & doing. This inspired me to create a fun way to decide, enter the ‘Destination DO’ decider. Our 6 steps to creating the perfect itinerary will help you to plan & design your ideal independent trip.
Switch from bucket list to Destination DO list
With our mission in mind. We want to help you switch from bucket list to Destination DO list. Helping you build your own, personal ‘DO’ List. The sheets & instructions created are in our free travel planner, which will help you do just that.
Whether it’s a local long weekend staycation, a trip to another state, or a longer vacation overseas. You can use the ‘Destination DO list’ when planning for next weekend, month, year or even the next 5 years. Because let’s face it ‘we only get one life to live’ so let’s live it to our fullest.
The word ‘Destination’, strictly speaking is a noun described in the dictionary as:
I want to just interject & expand on this meaning, to us ‘Destination’ is not necessarily a place. As a food scientist & an electrical engineer, food & power exhibits or demonstrations draw us.
These are our ‘Destinations’.
We can always easily be convinced to make a visit based on a great Restaurant or Whisky (Whiskey) distillery or two also!
In fact our visit to London was based on me wanting to experience ‘Dinner’ or ‘The Fat Duck’ restaurants.
Furthermore, our last trip to Europe was based around the ‘Christmas Markets’ & a ‘High Voltage demonstration’ at Deutsches Museum – Munich. Future travel plans will include exploring Tasmania & a walk along the Great Ocean Road track to name two! What happens once we get there, well that’s a mystery, it will probably involve food & possibly a little whisky & wine!
I would love to keep you posted.
So you can easily switch from bucket list to destination DO list. YOUR destination can be a chosen for an area, activity, exhibit, festival or any place you wish to explore. This is now a big part of our current & future travel planning (travel dreaming).
If there’s a specific exhibition, a concert, cooking classes, food tour or even a market or fair don’t be shy with your travel goals. We will help you build an amazing trip around any event, place or activity.
The world is YOUR oyster!!
This saying has always resonated with me, from a speck of sand an oyster grows, from YOUR one idea a trip, can be planned. Whether it’s a fully planned out once in a lifetime trip where you nurture YOUR oyster. Or a grand adventure where you arrive at a destination (your speck of sand) & watch YOUR oyster grow.
To be truthful we don’t ‘wing’ our travel ‘destinations’, we mostly plan. Mainly due to the limited time we have in places. However, we do add a lot of ‘wing it’ days into our plan for once we get there.
The ‘Destination DO’ decider will help you with this, so you can have the best of both worlds. If you have an abundance of time & no fixed address, ‘wing away’.
Though I have always had that Bucket List Destination ‘DO’ List & added to it regularly, like shoes to my closet. Being a bit of a nerd, I like to add this to our travel planner (& I use those words loosely). As we build our site, we hope to inspire & help you to build your list by Wandering with us. Also we would love for you to share with us some of your fondest memories & future plans.
Being a visual person at heart & to keep focused I create vision boards of our plan. Last trip overseas I created, ‘A snap shot of OUR Europe’. Stay tuned by joining our mailing list for more information on how YOU too can create one.
Note: Whilst we essentially travel as a couple & love the comfortable to luxurious style. This tool can be used by solo’, couples, friends & families that wish to create memories together.
How to change YOUR Bucket List to Destination DO list
How do we make our decisions, well that’s as easy as pulling a rabbit out of a hat. Or more correctly a tag out of a box or other vessel! We want to go a lot of places so we created a method (must be the scientist in me) to help us.
This will help YOU choose not only places but events & activities to add to your list. Our ‘Destination Do list’ builder in the free printable travel planner will explain it, in 4 simple steps.
We have used this method for our last few trips local & overseas, we are now using this for future travel planning. I love the fact we have ‘some’ days planned & then some are our ‘wing it’ days. Essentially planning to NOT PLAN…
This has been a great benefit to us not only building the base list, which gets added to frequently, it is my hope this will do the same for YOU. It’s also helped in planning budgets, because we want to go ‘so’ many places.
We haven’t looked back since changing our bucket list to destination DO list and neither will you.
Researching Your ‘DO’ Destinations
Once we have our destination, we build an itinerary around that, looking at other places we want to explore whilst in the area. This involves some Google searching you could do a generic search like ‘best things to do in [+country]’ or ‘must do’ & these are a good base. We have found being more specific in your search as an example we include words like ‘local’, ‘hidden places/gems’, ‘unique’ or similar words.
Though for the best results I recommend you be as specific as you can. It’s as simple as ‘[your thing] + [country]’, you don’t have to be word shy Google seems to like that.
For example, some of ours are ‘Whisky Distilleries in Southern Tasmania’, ‘Great day walks along the Great Ocean Road’ or ‘Electrical displays or events in [+country]’.
This includes a lot of wandering around the area. We also love local tours (usually food & small groups), especially free (tours for tips) keeping the budget down. We often have healthy debates on the merits of small vs big group tours.
I can even sometimes convince Greg to do, the occasional hop on hop off bus, (a secret love of mine)!! Well maybe not so secret…. Flipping a coin is often involved here, actually if I am honest it is always involved.
Tip: Always have a few ‘wing it’ days as you always find something that only the locals know about.
Once you have YOUR Destination DO list
When you can or will travel & for how long you are going for, is also something to consider. Many of you may have set times you have to have holidays and/or a set amount of time you can take. For us spending as much time as is possible in & around one place is a priority consideration.
From our base is Tasmania, Australia most trips, (excluding local) require a plane or boat in the initial plan. When travel planning, we have to consider our final destination on the DO list, especially if it’s the northern hemisphere. We also make sure our Travel Insurance is done well before booking.
The what’s on & where to of YOUR Destination DO list, often determines the length of your travels, & your packing lists (also included in our FREE Travel Planner).
Our Travel Planning System, another tool we use, can be additional help for comparing costs, budgeting & keeping things organised.
Our Travel Planning System, another tool we use, can be additional help for comparing costs, budgeting & keeping things organised.
Like any list it’s important to tick things off so you feel the accomplishment of completing a goal. We have continually built on our ‘Destination DO list’ just from ideas. Often just from a conversation, which usually starts with me saying ‘How do you feel about going/doing’??? I keep to the set number of spaces, which are all currently full. These are all local short trips, so once one is finished another is added.
It is our greatest hope our site inspires you to plan your next trip & build memories with YOUR personal Destination DO list. I’d love to for you to keep us updated, throughout our journey.
Our Destination DO List
With the way the world & travel are right now our immediate & future travel is based in Australia. Although, I want to share with you some things that are on our list, as we get around to each one & update our site, we will include links below.
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- Tasmania
- We will be taking you with us traveling all around the state. Sharing the best of the North, South, East and West, food, wine, spirits, caves, walks & waterfalls along the way.
- Victoria
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- Great Ocean Road walking track
- Melbourne & surrounds
- Day trips from Melbourne
- Geelong
- The Dandenong’s
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- Tasmania
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- New South Wales
- Sydney & surrounds
- Day trips from Sydney
- Central Coast & Hunter Valley
- Coffs Harbour & surrounds
- North Coast
- Australian Capital Territory
- Canberra & Surrounds
- Queensland
- Northern Territory
- South Australia
- West Australia
- New South Wales
Our overseas list will be updated once we are travelling overseas again.
Being a visual person, I also like to build a vision/dream board to keep me focused. The next project I will be working on are free templates, which will help you build your vision boards. I will keep you posted on this. You can use these as a screen savers or print it out for great motivation for all your destinations!
I am always happy to reply to any comments, suggestions for next articles or a hello. You can contact me through our Social Media or at jeanine@letsgoawandering.com with any questions or comments.
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Our Favourite Travel Planning Resources
From Bucket List to Destination DO List
11 Best benefits of small group tours – and why we love them
11 Easy Ways for Traveling more Sustainably
23 Great Sustainable Travel Essentials – it’s the little things
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Great plan! I’m planning a girls week trip with my sisters. These are some good places to check out and try on the trip. It’s good to have some plans to help explore.
Glad it can be of help to you…and I agree some plans are good…
Very interesting post! I just got back from a European trip and similarly, had a few things planned out and I also left a few days unplanned to go with the flow. I’m glad I did not overschedule.
It’s so easy to do, but with trips like Europe if there is something we want to do we schedule it in especially if it has to be booked in
I love your Bucket list to DO list. I have a list from here to the moon and back and I guess it just moved to I MUST DO list.
I so enjoy your posts and always filled with great ideas and wonderful suggestions.
Thank you so much… I think mine’s to the moon als and YEAH ‘must DO lists’ are better.. I am so glad you enjoy the post and really happy they are helpful to you
This is such a great idea, I love this, thanks for sharing!
Thank you I am so glad you love it….
I love your saying, Bucket List to Destination DO List. Thanks for sharing this is a great list.
Thank you so much It’s how we choose to think now and makes our dreams realities…
Getting your dream vacation on a list is a great way to get concrete. You need to plan in order to believe that it will become a reality.
Thank you and yes those are my thoughts exactly dream~plan~travel…
I like the DO in capitals – is makes it so much more positive.
Thank you… I am glad my intent is clear as that is exactly what I wanted
Great advice! Puts the focus on action and the positive.
Thank you That was the idea to put some focus on the positive of going to a destination
That’s a great idea. I am going to borrow that one. Thank you in advance 🙂
Thanks you and your welcome…
Such an interesting read. I love the idea of a Destination DO list instead of a bucket list.
Thank you so do I it just seems more doable ha ha no pun intended…to me anyway… glad you liked it
great timing ⏱ after such a long time of restricted travel 🧳 this is a great tool to get me started on my next trip- thanks heaps
Thank you glad we can help get you started on your next adventure…
What a cool idea for a blog post! I love how you put the word DO in there, sounds so much better!!!
Thank you…we LOVE to DO our destinations not just have them on a list….
I love that you have come up with an alternative to “Bucket list” as it is so overused. Your travel planner is a great resource. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you I am glad you liked it and I agree it is so overused and not entirely positive…a DO list just seemed to make sense to me…
I think the hurdle a lot of people have with travel is turning their ideas into an action plan. This is a great idea to spur that into action!
Thank you and great observation I agree that could be the case in many circumstances.
I love changing the mindset from dreaming into action! This is so inspiring, and makes me want to form my destination do list!
Thank you so glad you want to make a “DO” list…It’s also why I chose the name the mindset of ‘doing’ not dreaming was a strong pull…
Yes! I feel like I rewrite my checklists every time I go somewhere. I love the free travel checklists to help make planning easy!
Thank you… I am so glad you love the checklist, I’d be lost without them myself…but I do love lists
Such a practical & useful Post 😀
Thank you glad you found it useful…
Such a useful tool! Thank you!
You are welcome… glad you like it
Wow this is so cool! I love this!
thank you…I am glad you like it
I also use the approach of planning some days but not planning every single day to leave room for spontaneity, especially when you have somewhat limited time (unless you’re going for a very specific purpose somewhere).
Leaving some days unplanned makes you feel free, which is the whole idea behind taking a vacation.
Definitely agree, I have found there is always something that catches your eye.. it’s another reason I like to encourage people to independently plan their travel so they can be in control of their ‘just breathe’ days..
This is a great idea-much more specific-more likely to happen!
Thank you, I like it also because it’s specific
What a great idea~!
Thank you… we like to view it as a ‘DO’ list so we have an action plan
This is a great take on this! 🙂
Thank you… we find it more about being positive…and doing
I love the intentionality behind this post! Action over goal setting is key to actually DOING anything in life. Thanks so much for this post. 😁
Thank you… and yes I totally agree the ‘DO’ list is there for our affirmative action… thank you for reading
I love your post! Such a great help for anyone that travels. It is amazing what we can miss sometimes by not doing the proper research
Thank you Giangi, Even when we do our research we often find places that have been missed once we get there. Which is why we often go on a free local tour first (tours for tips). These are usually run by locals and they have some amazing places they tell you about.
The ‘To Do’ List is always very useful for me as I have my dreams with goals to wherever I want to go. My last trip overseas was to Perth in 2019. Thereafter, I just traveling locally in Indonesia which is still amazes me till today.
Hi Daniel, I am with you 100% our last trip overseas was 2018 to Europe and have been in Tasmania for most of the last 2 yrs. But like you with Indonesia we are finding its amazing. Keep those dreams I know I am as my “DO” list is long.
I need this. I keep saying I want to go there, but we never go. Pretty sure the reason is planning, which is so hard to do. This planner is such a good idea.
Thank you and I’d love any feedback as I made this for people that are daunted by planning themselves or just think its too hard…I am rather passionate about independent planning especially trips. We have been on a few that have things included we just don’t do but have paid for… so now I am very selective or plan it ourselves.
I love this change in perspective. Bucket least always seems a bit morbid to me. I love to travel and will definitely make a Do List for the upcoming summer.
Yeah that makes me happy I can think of a lot of negative connotations with the word bucket… I change it to destination “DO” List as to me it is a powerful action word.
I love the term “Do List”. Bucket list always makes me feel like it will never happen lol.
Ha ha I know I love the term also & why I adopted it… Bucket list always makes me feel that you don’t get to do stuff till you “kick the bucket”… ha ha
Love this idea – so much less morbid than a “bucket list”! thanks for sharing with us!
Thanks and I totally agree
Great idea, I love changing the name (bucket list has such a heavy connotation!)
Thanks Stephanie, ha ha yes and the connotation gets heavier the older you get… so we got rid of it ha ha
I was just thinking of this morning. Why am I just sitting here instead of doing something, going somewhere, living life? Thank you for the reminder!
Thanks Michelle, you are most welcome and it most certainly is…keep me updated on your something or somewhere I’d love to hear…
Love the idea of a “Do” list. We all have places that we’ve dreamed about visiting forever. Putting the Do Destinations into play is awesome.
Ha Ha thank you it is always the way our motto is ~Dream~Plan~Travel~ just to remind us to turn our Dreams into plans then travel… Hopefully soon we can explore further
Oh my gosh this is such a great idea, I might have to borrow it from you!
Thank you Krysten, ha ha you can get the planner and have one of your own…
I travelled around Australia 25 years ago!!! Enjoy the trip and keep sharing.
Thank you Ilse, we live in Australia so will be sharing as we go till we can go further…