Bucket List
My bucket list of things I want to do and see around the world. It includes places I wanna visit, things I've always been curious about, and random ideas that stuck with me over time. There's no strict structure or ranking, just a personal collection that keeps growing as I come across new things worth noting.
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Altyn-Emel National Park
A huge desert park in Kazakhstan with a singing sand dune, chalk cliffs, and herds of wild kulan. Remote and empty.
Anavilhanas Archipelago
Hundreds of islands in the Rio Negro of the Amazon, a maze of black water channels, flooded forest, and beaches that appear in the dry season.
Antarctica Cruise
A ship down through the Drake Passage to the white continent, with penguins, seals, whales, and icebergs the size of buildings.
Antelope Canyon
A narrow slot canyon near Page where light beams cut down through wavy sandstone walls. It is on Navajo land, so you go with a guide.
Arenal Volcano
A near-perfect cone rising above the rainforest, with hot springs at its base fed by the volcano's heat.
Atacama Desert
The driest desert in the world, with salt lagoons, geysers, and some of the clearest night skies anywhere. A landscape closer to Mars than Earth.
Badlands National Park
Striped rock formations and eroded buttes that look like another planet, with bison and bighorn sheep wandering the prairie around them.
Cappadocia
A region of fairy chimneys, cave dwellings, and underground cities in central Turkey. Best seen at dawn when hot air balloons fill the sky.
Charyn Canyon
A red rock canyon in southeast Kazakhstan, often compared to a smaller Grand Canyon. The Valley of Castles is the main stretch to walk.
Corcovado National Park
The wildest park in Costa Rica, on the remote Osa Peninsula, with tapirs, scarlet macaws, and all four of the country's monkey species.
Cyclades: Milos & Santorini
Whitewashed villages, volcanic cliffs, and blue water across the Aegean. Santorini for the caldera views, Milos for the strange rock coastlines.
Daintree Rainforest
The oldest tropical rainforest on earth, where the jungle meets the reef on the Queensland coast. Cassowaries and crocodiles included.
Diamond Beach + Jokulsarlon
A glacier lagoon full of floating icebergs that drift out to sea and wash back up as chunks of ice on a black sand beach.
F-Roads
The rough gravel tracks that cross Iceland's interior highlands, open only in summer and often involving river crossings. A 4x4 and some nerve required.
Gobi Desert
A vast cold desert across southern Mongolia, with sand dunes, dinosaur fossils, and flaming red cliffs. Nomad camps are the way to see it.
Great Bear Rainforest
A vast stretch of temperate rainforest on the BC coast, home to the rare white spirit bear, wolves, and salmon-fed grizzlies.
Great Nile Migration
The largest land mammal migration on the planet, millions of antelope moving across the floodplains of South Sudan. Barely visited and hard to reach.
Great Ocean Road
A coastal drive in Victoria past the Twelve Apostles sea stacks, surf beaches, and pockets of rainforest. One of Australia's best road trips.
Greenland
An island mostly buried under ice, with massive fjords, calving glaciers, and tiny colorful settlements clinging to the coast.
Gwalior Fort
A massive hill fort in central India, with carved palaces and rock-cut Jain statues built into the cliffs below. One of the more striking forts in the country.
Unknown ยท Public domainHawaii
Volcanic islands in the middle of the Pacific, with black sand beaches, active lava, rainforest, and big surf. Each island has its own character.
Hokkaido
Japan's northern island, known for deep powder snow in winter, flower fields and volcanoes in summer, and far more space than the rest of the country.
Huashan Mountain
A sacred granite peak near Xi'an known for sheer cliffs and the plank walk bolted to the rock face. Five summits connected by knife-edge ridges.
Icefields Parkway
A mountain highway between Banff and Jasper, past glaciers, turquoise lakes, and waterfalls the whole way. One of the most scenic roads in the Rockies.
Volcano Hike in Iceland
Iceland keeps erupting, and when conditions allow you can hike out to fresh lava up close. The Reykjanes peninsula near Reykjavik has been the recent hotspot.
Iguazu Falls
A wall of roughly 200 waterfalls straddling the Argentina and Brazil border. The Devil's Throat, where the water just drops into mist, is the centerpiece.
Independence Hall
Where both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed. A UNESCO site in the middle of Philadelphia, with tours through the actual rooms.
Iskanderkul Lake
A turquoise mountain lake in the Fann Mountains of Tajikistan, named after Alexander the Great. A waterfall nearby drops off the edge of the plateau.
Istanbul
The city straddling Europe and Asia, with the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Grand Bazaar, and ferries crossing the Bosphorus.
Jiuzhai Valley National Park
A valley of bright blue and green lakes, waterfalls, and snowy peaks in Sichuan. The colors of the water are the whole reason to go.
Kaindy Lake Sunken Forest
A lake formed by an earthquake, with submerged spruce trees still standing straight up through the water like bare poles.
Kasanka Bat Migration
Every November millions of straw-colored fruit bats pour into a tiny patch of swamp forest in Zambia. The biggest mammal gathering in the world by sheer numbers.
Kimberley Region
A rugged, remote corner of northern Western Australia with gorges, waterfalls, and ancient rock art. The Gibb River Road cuts through the middle.
Kunming
Yunnan's capital, known for mild weather year-round and as the jumping-off point for the rest of the province. Lakes, old streets, and the Stone Forest nearby.
Lake Tekapo
A milky turquoise lake under the Southern Alps, known for lupins in summer and some of the darkest skies anywhere for stargazing.
Landmannalaugar
A geothermal area in Iceland's highlands with rhyolite mountains in reds, greens, and yellows, plus hot springs to soak in after a hike.
Carol M. Highsmith ยท Public domainLibrary of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building
The most ornate of the Library of Congress buildings, with a Great Hall that looks more like a palace than a library. Free to walk in and stare at the ceilings.
Lofoten Islands
A chain of jagged peaks rising straight out of the sea above the Arctic Circle in Norway, dotted with red fishing huts.
Luxor & Valley of the Kings
Ancient Thebes, with the huge temples of Karnak and Luxor on one bank of the Nile and the royal tombs cut into the valley on the other.
Maasai Mara National Reserve
Kenya's side of the Serengeti ecosystem, known for big cats and the dramatic river crossings during the migration.
Machu Picchu
The Inca citadel perched on a ridge above the Urubamba valley. You can skip the multi-day trek and still get there by train and bus, then walk the ruins.
Mamiraua Reserve
A flooded forest reserve in the Brazilian Amazon, home to uakari monkeys, pink river dolphins, and canopy walkways above the seasonal floodwaters.
Mangystau
A surreal region on the Caspian coast of Kazakhstan, full of chalk mountains, underground mosques, and rock formations that look like nothing else.
Mekong River Delta
A maze of rivers, rice paddies, and floating markets where the Mekong empties into the sea. Life here happens on the water.
Milford Sound
A fiord on New Zealand's South Island, with sheer cliffs and waterfalls dropping straight into the sea. Often rainy, which only makes it better.
Mistico Hanging Bridges
A trail of suspension bridges through the rainforest canopy near Arenal, putting you eye-level with the treetops and whatever lives up there.
Monteverde Cloud Forest
A misty mountain forest where the trees drip with moss and epiphytes, home to the resplendent quetzal and endless birdsong.
Monument Valley
The sandstone buttes that basically defined the look of the American West on film. It sits on Navajo land along the Arizona and Utah line.
National Archives Museum
Home of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, all kept under dim light so they do not fade. The rotunda is the main draw.
DXR ยท CC BY-SA 4.0Niagara Falls
Three big waterfalls on the border between Canada and the US. The Canadian Horseshoe Falls is the wide one you have seen in every photo.
North Cape
The cliff often called the northernmost point of mainland Europe, where the land just ends at the Barents Sea. Midnight sun in summer.
Okavango Delta
A river that empties into the desert instead of the sea, creating a maze of channels and islands full of elephants, hippos, and big cats. Explored by dugout canoe.
Old Pine Street Presbyterian Church
A colonial-era church in Society Hill, the last Presbyterian church standing from old Philadelphia. The graveyard out back holds Revolutionary War soldiers.
Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve
A huge flooded forest reserve in the Peruvian Amazon, full of river dolphins, caimans, and birds, reached only by boat.
Pacific Coast Highway
The California coast road, hugging cliffs above the Pacific through Big Sur. One of the great drives, with pullouts every few minutes worth stopping for.
Pamir Highway
One of the highest road trips in the world, crossing the Pamir mountains of Tajikistan above 4,000 meters. Rough, remote, and hard to forget.
Petra
The rose-colored city carved into sandstone cliffs by the Nabataeans. You reach the famous Treasury by walking through a long narrow canyon.
Phong Nha Region
A karst region riddled with some of the world's biggest caves, rivers running underground, and jungle-covered limestone peaks.
BLMUtah ยท Public domainPorcupine Rim
A mountain bike trail above Moab that rides along canyon rims with big drops and red rock views the whole way down.
Preikestolen
The Pulpit Rock, a flat cliff top with a sheer drop to the Lysefjord below. One of Norway's most photographed viewpoints.
Reading Terminal Market
One of the oldest public markets in the country, packed under one roof in downtown Philly. Pennsylvania Dutch stalls, cheesesteaks, fresh produce, and way too many lunch options.
Salar de Uyuni
The largest salt flat on earth. In the dry season it is a cracked white pattern to the horizon; after rain it turns into a giant mirror reflecting the sky.
Sarek National Park
One of Europe's last true wilderness areas, deep in Swedish Lapland. No roads, no marked trails, no facilities, just mountains, glaciers, and reindeer.
Serengeti National Park
The classic East African savanna, endless grass plains full of lions, elephants, and the herds of the Great Migration.
USGS ยท Public domainSmith Rock State Park
A high desert canyon in central Oregon, often called the birthplace of American sport climbing. The Crooked River loops around towering tuff and basalt walls.
Son Doong Cave
The largest cave passage on the planet, big enough to hold its own jungle and weather. Access is limited to a small number of guided expeditions each year.
South Georgia Island
A remote sub-Antarctic island packed with hundreds of thousands of king penguins and elephant seals, plus old whaling stations and glaciated peaks.
Spis Castle
One of the largest castle complexes in Central Europe, sprawling across a hill in eastern Slovakia. Mostly ruins now, but the scale is the point.
Svalbard
An Arctic archipelago closer to the North Pole than to mainland Norway, with polar bears, glaciers, and months of polar night and midnight sun.
The Great Migration
Over a million wildebeest and zebra moving in a loop between the Serengeti and the Maasai Mara, dodging crocodiles at the river crossings.
Tiger Leaping Gorge
One of the deepest river gorges in the world, where the Yangtze squeezes between two snow-capped ranges in Yunnan. The high trail is a classic two-day trek.
Lars0001 ยท Public domainTortuguero National Park
A network of jungle canals on the Caribbean coast, reachable only by boat or plane, famous as a nesting beach for sea turtles.
Trolltunga
A slab of rock jutting out over a lake 700 meters below, in the Norwegian fjords. A long day hike to reach the famous ledge.
Vancouver Island
Old-growth rainforest, surf beaches, and rugged coast off Canada's west coast. Whales offshore and bears inland.
Victoria Falls
One of the largest waterfalls on earth, where the Zambezi drops into a gorge between Zambia and Zimbabwe. The spray is visible from miles away.
Wakhan Valley
A remote valley following the Afghan border, with the Pamirs on one side and the Hindu Kush on the other. Old forts and hot springs line the route.
Yasuni National Park
One of the most biodiverse places on Earth, deep in the Ecuadorian Amazon, with clay licks where hundreds of parrots gather.
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