63 Unique Bucket List Ideas – Stop Wasting Your Life

We have finally done it! We went on the most amazing hot air balloon ride above the rolling hills of Tuscany in Italy! It was an amazing adventure – to say the least… We have written a full blog post about this unique bucket list adventure to convince you to try as well!

Our goal was simply seeing the Victoria Falls – considered one of the natural wonder’s of the world. However, we ended up properly experiencing them in all their glory. We marvelled at the panoramic view opposite the falls, where the spray falls like rain, we river rafted in the canyon below, flew like a bird in the sky above, sailed on the great Zambezi river feeding the falls and swam in the pools on the very edge itself. We spent the last few days of our great trip to Southern Africa at the Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe and Zambia and what a way to say goodbye to the continent. The locals call them The Smoke That Thunders – what a glorious name to such a glorious place. A true wonder of the world in our minds and a place that should definitely make it onto your bucket list. We have created a blog post describing in detail how it felt to fly as a bird above these majestic falls, and are also working on a new blog post to give you all the tips and tricks as well as further convince you to buy those flight tickets.

The fact that The Great Pyramid of Giza wasn’t voted in as one of the new man-made wonders of the world really makes us doubt the validity of that list. It did get an honourable mention, but come on, the pyramids are by far the most impressive man-made structures built anywhere on Earth. The Great Pyramid of Giza also happens to be one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world, and impressively it is the only one still standing today. A lot of people haven’t seen the pyramids in real life because they are afraid to travel to Egypt. That is a real shame – we felt absolutely safe during our visit. The sheer scale of the structures are utterly awe-inspiring and should not be missed. Yes you will get harassed in various ways by countless salesmen, and some of the poor animals are not treated with the respect they deserve, but that does not mean you should not go and experience the greatest legacy left behind from ancient times. There is a lot of room for improvement around the sites but we would still recommend you give the pyramids a chance. Read more about Cairo and the Pyramids on our designated Egypt page here.

Already before visiting New York, we knew that we wanted to get a bird’s eye view of the city that never sleeps.  And yes, the view from Empire State Building or Rockefeller is absolutely magical. However, nothing compares with the perspective given in a proper heli flight. We chose a company located a few hours outside of the city, which is one of the few still offering flights without doors! That’s right, they take off the doors of the aircraft so your line of sight, and camera, is not blocked by annoying windows. It was a little bit expensive, of course, but words cannot describe how amazing the experience was. This is something we would recommend everyone does if going to the big apple. Just skip a few of the usual pricy tourist traps to compensate for the added expense. You can read everything about it in our adventure travel story right here.

We have several hikes on our bucket list, because well, we love hiking. It also happens to be the perfect way to experience nature. It allows you to see some places where proper infrastructure is not in place for other means of transportation. Some of our best memories come from our hikes around the world. Long and short. If you don’t like hiking, you are really missing out on some extraordinary experiences. Like the highlands in Iceland. The Laugavegur Trail in a remote mountainous region of the island is considered one of the most beautiful hiking routes in the world. We have to agree! Wow! What a breathtaking landscape. Spanning 55 kilometres, you pass through the most otherworldly scenery we have ever seen. It’s like something out of a movie. No wonder they filmed much of Game of Thrones in Iceland. We had to carry all of our equipment, including tents and food, but it was soo worth it.

Read our mega guide to the EPIC hike right here – to help you plan your trip as well.

On our way to Everest Base Camp in the Himalayas, we passed by the glorious Khumbu glacier. We didn’t get to walk on it though. Luckily, we only had to wait a few more months for a new opportunity. When in Iceland we went on a 5-hour hike on the Falljokull outlet glacier. It flows like a river of ice from the massive Vatnajokull icecap that covers 8% of the island. The landscape is utterly surreal up there, full of crevasses and weird ice formations with small streams of water running down and into countless holes scattered throughout the ice. What a lovely day!  It was surprisingly easy to walk on, once you got the hang of the crampons. It didn’t take us long to feel like real glacier explorers. We highly recommend this sort of activity if you visit Iceland – you will never forget it. 

Our first trip to the Himalayas took us to the Mardi Himal trek in the Annapurna Region of Nepal. And what a trip that was. We were absolutely stunned by the raw beauty of the mountains as well as the hospitality of the Nepalese people. We were so impressed that as soon as we departed, we booked a new, much longer trip, starting just 4 months later. You can read about our experiences in a new blog post, very soon!

We celebrated Nick’s 26th birthday at Eleven Madison Park in New York City. It holds 3 Michelin stars and was, at the time, rated the best restaurant in the world (it took over from “our own” Noma back in Copenhagen, as they were closed for a while). Needless to say the whole experience was outstanding. The dessert(s) in particular were out of this world. As we departed the beautiful premises, a waiter came running after us with his hands full of cash. The restaurant will under no circumstances accept tips. That’s a first for us.

We hit two birds with one stone when we had a lovely birthday dinner for Nick at Eleven Madison Park in New York. Rated the best restaurant in the world in 2017, it also holds 3 Michelin stars. Regardless of the considerable price for such an experience, everyone should allow themselves the pleasure at least once in their life. Contrary to popular belief, you do get very full indeed from the small dishes and you don’t have to be a foodie or wine connoisseur to appreciate the masterful food & wine pairing. Anyone will taste the difference!

Sushi for breakfast? Yes please! Especially when prepared by the very best chefs, with the highest quality fish, at the most famous fish market in the world. We have created a full blog post on all of our favourite things to do in Tokyo, obviously including this one!

Warning! Saliva alert! It turns out Kobe beef deserves the credit and lives up to the hype. The rumours are true – this meat from some specific Japenese black cattle delivers so hard that you can never ever turn vegetarian. Yes we aim to cut down on our meat consumption, but the next time we find ourselves in Tokyo, we will be right back to our new favourite restaurant gobbling down Kobe beef by the kilo. There is just no way around it. You prepare the meat yourself at the table and it is glorious. Whilst it may appear to be just a glorified variant of the Wagyu beef you can find all over the globe, the taste doesn’t lie. You gotta try it out! We have created a full blog post dedicated to all our favourite things to do in Tokyo, including this unbelievable restaurant visit!

Moving abroad was a life changing decision that is probably the main reason we ended up starting a travel blog. Having studied 5 years in Copenhagen, we felt a change of pace was needed. We thus took our first jobs in London but only ended up living there for about a year. A sudden opportunity moved us to Abu Dhabi, where we stayed for more than 2 years. As we got increasingly comfortable, we also got increasingly bored. The only natural decision was to pack our bags and get on the move again. Today the world is our oyster. The experiences and lessons learned throughout the last few years have prepared us for the many obstacles and hardships you will eventually encounter when living a life permanently on the move. We hope. You can read much more about our journey on our About Us page.

The Namib Desert is the oldest desert in the world. It also has the tallest sand dunes – and of course we climbed them. Well one of them anyway. At 325m, the climb to the top of Big Daddy in Sossusvlei was no mean feat. Seriously, it was tough. But the view from the top made you completely forget that. As icing on the cake, you can clumsily run down the steep slopes and just a few minutes later you will find yourself in Deadvlei. Absolutely unbelievable place you just have to experience! We are sure you have seen plenty of pictures of the long-dead, sun scorched, acacia trees and their wrinkled shadows which stand in stark contrast to the bright white plains – but pictures doesn’t do it justice. It is truly otherworldly. We’ll make sure to give you all the details in our upcoming blog post about Namibia.

We had never been on a real safari before so when we travelled to South Africa we decided to see what all the fuss is about. We were blown away by the experience. It is something else entirely to see the majestic animals of Africa in the wild, compared to the local zoo. Wow wow wow! First and foremost you have the Big 5, originally named so as they were considered the 5 most dangerous animals to hunt on foot. We were lucky to see them all: Countless elephants, sometimes in herds 20-30 strong, 2 beautiful leopards, lots of glorious rhinos, a few terrifying lions as well as of course the particularly ugly water buffalos. But that’s just the beginning. We didn’t keep count of the literally thousands of animals we saw in the span of just a few days. So many photogenic zebras, giraffes, crocodiles, hippos, vultures and other birds of all kinds, monkeys, the rare and endangered african wild dogs, the even more rare and even more endangered pandolin, worthogs, wildebeest, chameleons, hyenas and many many more different wild animals. The highlight of the trip might have been when we, by a small watering hole and all by ourselves, discovered a cheetah! That was simply amazing and is something we will never forget.

Needless to say, bathing in the Dead Sea was one of the highlights on our Jordan trip. We were a little let down by the ancient Mountain City of Petra but luckily the Dead Sea did not disappoint. Actually the Dead Sea is not an ocean, but rather a massive salt lake. It is the salt that makes it special. Clocking in at around 34% salinity, the water is so salty that you will float super easily on the surface. So easily in fact, that you can sit upright in the water, reading your newspaper. That’s just cool. Covering yourself in a thick layer of mud adds some additional fun to the experience, and is highly recommendable as all the salt and minerals will quickly start to irritate your skin. Curiously, when you are standing on the shore of the Dead Sea, you are also standing on the lowest point on the face of the Earth. That translates to 425m (1.400 feet) below sea level. That alone is enough to warrant a visit! Read much more about our trip to Jordan in our upcoming post!

Skydiving over The Palm in Dubai was undoubtedly the very best experience we had throughout our 2.5 years living in The United Arab Emirates. What a thrill it is to jump out of a flying aeroplane. After screaming for a few minutes during free fall, we got to enjoy the mesmerizing view of the Dubai Marina skyline as well as Dubai Palm, one of the largest man-made islands in the world. This is definitely a once in a lifetime experience we wish everyone could have. It might actually be the craziest of all the unique bucket list ideas in this post! Therefore we have written a dedicated travel story about the experience, hoping to convince you to take the leap yourself!

After our awesome Mardi Himal trek in December 2018 we went straight home and booked our next trip to the Himalayas. Just 4 months later we boarded a plane back to Kathmandu, and went on a 3-week trek to Everest Base Camp. What a journey. It turned out that 3 weeks in the mountains of Nepal was quite a different experience to the single week we had last time around. This is for sure the greatest adventure we have been on, so far. It was a rollercoaster ride. There was so many ups and downs – it was hard to keep track. But we would do it all again. And we think you should too! The views are magical from the very beginning, but something extra special happens once you go above 5.000m (16.400 feet). The landscape up there is just indescribable. Who cares that you need to stop and catch your breath every 3rd or 4th step, or that the temperature, even inside, is literally freezing. Just trust us on this one: The insane mountain views are worth all the hardships. And there will be a lot of hardships. But it doesn’t matter because you will come home and cherish this adventure for the rest of your life. Luckily, even though it seems tough, the hike to Everest Base Camp can be undertaken by everyone, regardless of physical shape or age. So start planning your trek now! If the picture below doesn’t do the trick, we will try to do a little more convincing in one of the next few blog posts.

It is estimated that 50-80% of all life on the planet exists in our oceans. So it is only natural that we would want to explore the underwater world as well! Of course, to do that safely, you need a little bit of training. Hence we finally took the jump and became certified open water divers in April 2019. We are so glad we took that decision and we actually had a blast during our training dives. But now we are also looking very much forward to focusing on the underwater sights rather than merely trying to survive and to pass our test. The sea can definitely seem like a scary place, but once you take those first few breaths underwater, everything changes. Now instead of danger, you feel an exiting sense of adventure. We are still very new in the underwater world but we are extremely excited to explore some of the remarkable dive sites still available around the globe. The way things are moving with the environment, now might be the last chance to experience some of the underwater marvels that sadly could be gone in just a couple of years.

We had the most amazing, and toughest trek of our lives, as we lived through the days on the Tour du Mont Blanc trail. We went through France, Italy and Switzerland, and it was EPIC, and you definitely have to include this on your own bucket list as well.

We did this on several occasions while road tripping around Iceland in our campervand! It is definitely something else. The warmth coming directly from the earth also creates a very distinctive smell, you will never forget!

Read about our road trip around Iceland right here.

There is a lot of places around the world where you can do this, but a few are standing out in terms of scenery. We wanted to do it whilst in Pokhara, Nepal, where you are surrounded by the Himalayas but unfortunately didn’t have the time. Finally we did it  during the summer near Mont Blanc, at Aiguille du Midi. At 3.842m (12.500 feet) we sure were airborne for quite a while and the surroundings was just epic. We wrote a full post about the experience here, and you can even find a full video dedicated to us taking flight for the very first time, here on our travel videos page.