You only live once…
Life is short…
Live your life to the fullest…
These might be clichés but actually they are impossible to argue against. Pissing your life away is something you will come to hugely regret in the end. Yet this is exactly what most of us end up doing.
A good idea is to keep a bucket list, because in that case you will know exactly what to direct your efforts towards before, well, kicking the bucket. A bucket list is very individual and may include a myriad of different experiences or achievements. However, somehow when one is constructing a list it usually ends up centred around travel experiences. Ours definitely is! We have chosen to make ours public, hoping some of you will use it to draw travel inspiration or motivation and perhaps even make a list of your own. We highly recommend you do that!
May we suggest you use some of our 63 unique bucket list ideas as inspiration?
In the process you might find that you start thinking about your life on a deeper level, learning new things about yourself and your priorities in life. That is a pretty healthy thing to do once in a while. That’s why we constantly revisit our list – adding new targets and reassessing whether the existing items still align with our hopes, goals and dreams.
You can find our list below, and we would love to hear about yours as well! There are so many life-changing experiences available out there and we have probably missed a lot! Please throw a comment with your take on those or send us a message on your social media channel of choice.
Click on each bucket list item to read more. The ones in green we have already been fortunate enough to tick off. Each and every one of those was a unique and mindblowing experience we’ll never forget!
Unique Bucket List Ideas
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.
Flying like a bird. The ultimate sense of freedom! This one requires a little bit of commitment so it might have to wait a while. But it will definitely happen. As of now, we don’t have any specific kind of aircraft in mind. Perhaps a small helicopter? Or a microlight? All we know is that we will be taking flight sooner or later!
In fact, we already got a tasty flying treat. And we are hooked! Check out this post about The Day Kia Piloted A Cessna Around A Snow-Capped Mountain in New Zealand.
This is definitely not something you’d want to miss if you ever visit New Zealand!
No we are not talking about cage diving with great white sharks. That’s just cruel. But there are many types of sharks you can dive with sustainably around the world and we simply HAVE to try that. Perhaps in the shark sanctuary of Bahamas. After seeing that in an episode of Netflix’s “Tales by Light” it has skyrocketed up the list.
A big dream of ours! We would love to experience this epic, frozen, uninviting landscape that is surprisingly full of wildlife. Antarctica is nature at its wildest – must be such a thrilling adventure to visit. And it will happen sooner or later. The price is a bit of a challenge, but that won’t stop us forever.
We will bundle this up with Antarctica for a true adventure of epic proportions. Located at the southern tip of South America, Patagonia has some of the wildest nature on the planet. Looks absolutely surreal. We aim to hike the W trail in the Torres del Paine national park before moving down to Ushuaia to board a ship towards Antarctica.
Having recently obtained our diving certificate, of course we need to experience the world’s largest coral reef. There are a lot of very interesting dive sites around the world, but when you are new in the game, this one will always be high on the list.
We have been dreaming about a phenomenal thru hike – and still hope to one day hike the Pacific Crest Trail. Thousands of kilometers long, it takes around half a year to complete. We have a lot of other commitments at the moment, so that will have to wait a little while longer. For now, the 3-week John Muir Trail in California is more manageable and will still allow us to experience a magnificent thru-hike of American proportions. If that goes well, perhaps we will decide to take the next step.
Rumour has it that the next few years are not too good for catching Northern Lights due to the current low-point on the 11-year solar cycle. We might still give it a go this winter in Sweden or Iceland but nothing is decided yet. It is definitely one of nature’s great displays that we want to experience before kicking the bucket!
We regret not having explored Scandinavia more – especially considering we lived there for so many years. After moving away, there was suddenly so many places we wanted to visit. The full 4-week Kungsleden Trail in Northern Sweden is high on that list.
Well, it is only Kia who has never had a pair of skis strapped to her feet. But we aim to change that next winter – Nick is really missing it.
An old dream and a very convenient license to have for our future travels. We should get this sooner rather than later but where does one find the time?!
When, at some point, we go to China – this will be top of our list. We will aim for one of the less touristy areas of the wall and take a long day hike. Should be wonderful.
This is another one we can accredit to the TV show “Tales by Light”. Looks absolutely spectacular. Call us crazy, but the closer we can get to the bears the better!
After our amazing autumn visit to Tokyo, we cannot stop thinking about going back. This time we will aim for spring, and hopefully experience the famous Japanese cherry blossoms. We want to see the rest of Japan anyway, so might as well make a big trip out of it! Getting very excited by the mere thought of it.
There’s quite a few places you can try this and we don’t really care where. All of them will be cold but awesome. Could be paired with chasing the northern lights.
This looks like a great hike – with some lovely Italian food and wine on the way. What’s not to like?
We will be going whale watching in Iceland this summer – but the ultimate goal is to jump in a dry suit and dive with those bad boys! Our diving experience considered, this is probably still a little ways off. Good to have something to look forward to!
At 5.895m (19.340 feet) Kilimanjaro is only a few 100 meters higher than the highest point we reached on our Everest Base Camp trek. So we are quite confident we can handle it. But it should still be a great experience and would likely be the first real mountain that we summit (although non-technical). There is a sense of achievement in that, especially considering it is the highest peak in Africa. We would then combine the trip with a safari on the Serengeti and perhaps some beach relaxation in Zanzibar. Awesome!
After having an amazing first-time safari experience in South Africa, we are hungry for more. Venturing to the Serengeti for The Great Wildebeest Migration might satisfy that hunger for a little while.
We saw a plethora of animals on our safaris in South Africa – but struggled a little bit with good lion sightings. A trip to the famous Masai Mara in Kenya should solve that problem once and for all!
We want to see a wild tiger sooo bad! Amazing creature – but very elusive. We will probably have to spend at least a few weeks in a jungle in India for this dream to come true. If that is what it takes that is what we will do!
Gorilla safari, on foot, through the dense jungles of Rwanda or Uganda. Sounds like a real adventure!
We pretty much planned an entire trip to Madagascar in 2018 but ended up not going. We will make it there eventually. Such an exciting and diverse country.
Yes we want to be beach bums in Australia for a little while. Of course. And surfing will play an integral part in that plan. Let’s catch some waves!
This is probably more Nick’s dream. Having already driven a Ferrari road car on the streets of Monaco and raced a F3000 single seater around the Abu Dhabi F1 Grand Prix track, the ultimate goal is still outstanding. For sure the opportunity will present itself eventually and, when it does, Nick won’t hesitate to press the pedal to the metal!
Yes, space. We know things are escalating a little bit on our bucket list but, honestly, going to space would probably be the highlight of our lives. We find space mind-blowing and super fascinating. We just HAVE to go out there someday. We have actually heard some rumours about the possibility of retiring on the moon – that sounds just like the right retirement home for two restless nomads such as ourselves!
This seems like the appropriate combination of adventure, excitement and craziness. We are all onboard. You can do this in a few different locations around the globe but most appealing to us is, perhaps surprisingly, Russia. There is just something exciting about the prospect of doing a little light aerobatics in a cold-war era MiG fighter jet.
The nature of New Zealand looks amazing on pictures. If, like for most things, reality is even better then we are in for a real treat here! Van-life seems like the logical choice for our NZ adventure and we can’t wait to start planning our itinerary. Please let us know if there are any places we simply shouldn’t miss?
As Denmarks neighbouring country in the north, it is pretty much a sin that none of us have really experienced the Norwegian nature. Especially the fjords, the coastline and the mountains are spectacular. We will make it a priority to visit – sooner rather than later.
Broadly speaking: We want to start out in California, hitting San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco on the coast. We then want to do some hikes in Yosemite before moving through Death Valley to Las Vegas. Now we are done with the cities. Onwards to Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon and so on. The journey will continue northbound eventually reaching Yellowstone. That will be awesome. Then further north crossing the border to Canada and hiking around Banff National Park. For the ultimate road trip, now is the time to hit the monster that is the Alcan Highway. All the way up to Alaska checking that thoroughly out. Then back down reaching Vancouver and Seattle before slowly making our way down the western coastline. At some point after an epic 3-month trip we would again be reaching Los Angeles where we could catch a flight to Hawaii or Mexico City. The adventure continues!
Yes this is a very popular and touristy trek but, damn it, we will do it too.
We were so psyched about Victoria Falls in Africa that any trip to South America wouldn’t be complete for us without visiting Iguazu Falls.
Svalbard is a legendary place! Perhaps we will go for the dog sledding or perhaps we will go to see polar bears. Should also be a fine destination for the northern lights. All those things combined sounds like a mighty trip!
Kia has already been but Nick is determined to try it out as well. Just need to find a good pair of lederhosen!
We are determined to hike down, and back up, the largest canyon in the world – whenever we get a chance to drop by that is!
Takes a little planning, and luck, to hit these massive salt plains when they are just wet enough to give that epic mirror effect, but not too wet so that you can’t access them. We will give it a go of course.
Oldie but goldie! We just have to hit Southeast Asia with our backpacks, like they did it in the hippie days and still do. Some people say tourism has ruined the region but we call bullshit on that! Best to check for ourselves.
Pretty sure these dragons are the closest thing to real life dinosaurs we will ever get a chance to see. And Komodo Island is supposed to be beautiful as well.
There are a lot of stellar wine regions in the world and we want to see and taste them all. In order to limit the scope of this massive goal a little bit, we count the following to be of highest importance: France – Italy – Spain – Chile – Argentina – California – South Africa – New Zealand – Australia.
So far we have been to StellenBosch and Franschoek in South Africa and in Tuscany in Italy. We will definitely squeeze in some blog posts mentioning our outstanding tastings and why we liked it! We hoped to also catch some in Southern France, but not this time around though. Gotta catch them all – sooner rather than later!
We want to see Hawaii and we want to hike volcanoes – why not combine the two. We also plan to hike a volcano or two in Indonesia so we will see who take the honours.
This one is a bit tricky. But if there is a lengthy eruption not too far away, and it is relatively safe to go, we will surely be there! Definitely have a fascination for the stuff! We are aware there has been a rise in volcano tourism and that people are not always safe about it. We won’t be doing anything stupid.
We want to go on an alpine mountaineering course to, in a safe manner, check out if that route is interesting to us. We have been very much in love with the mountains since going to Nepal. For the course, we are looking at Sierra Nevada in Spain (as we have family in the region) but there are also possibilities near Chamonix where we will be hiking the Tour du Mont Blanc. Decision pending!
After visiting Chamonix, and walking around this massive mountain on our Tour du Mont Blanc trek, we just have to do it. The mountain is calling us in away!
Sam
Wow! You guys have done a lot and are quite daring! Can’t wait for you to be able to have more adventures so I can gain inspiration and sometimes live vicariously through you!
Nick | The Danish Nomads
Glad you like it! We absolutely love adventures and we love dreaming as well. Definitely starting to get itchy feet under the present circumstances!
Giddy Guest
Great list! I totally agree the Fjords in Norway would be amazing to see!
I really want to visit the best restaurant in the world!!
Nick | The Danish Nomads
You should combine the two. Visit the Norwegian Fjords and then drop by Noma in Copenhagen. The food there is out of this world – can’t compare it to a “regular” Michelin restaurant, have to be tried 🙂