My Travel Bucket List

OMG. I was looking through my “memories box” and I found this old bucket list I created in… high school? Maybe jr. high? Based on my handwriting I’m going to guess around 9th grade. And good for past Jessica to be so ambitious. Color me impressed! So naturally, I was inspired by my past self to make a digital list that I could check off and include these bad boys that at one point I really wanted to do. (LOL at “get married” & “have a child” but I guess I wanted those things- still do, now that I’ve checked them off- so good on me!).

Proud to say I’ve checked off a lot of these!

This will be a lifelong, ever changing and updated, never-ending blog post with a running list of all the places (some cities, some monuments, some full countries, some experiences) I want to go to and checking them off as we go…

UNITED STATES
I’d like to go to all 50(1) states; current count [21/51]: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Washington DC.

Drive Route 66
Alaska
Antelope Canyon, AZ
Horseshoe Bend, AZ
Big Sur, CA
Big Bear, CA
Club 33 Disneyland, CA
Key West, FL
Savannah, GA– I dream of a “sister cities” road trip w/ Charleston
✔️ Hawaii– Family vacay on Maui!
Chicago, IL
New Orleans, LA
Big Sky, MO
White Sands, NM– If you don’t know about this place, check out Alison Anderson’s video about this place. P.S. I love her.
Crater Lake, OR
Portland, OR
Charleston, SC– I dream of a “sister cities” road trip w/ Savannah
Austin, TX
✔️ Arches National Park, UT– I visited when I was in 5th grade but I want to go back now that I can fully appreciate it.
Yellow Stone National Park, WY

NORTH AMERICA

Banff, Canada
Niagara Falls, Canada
Baja California, Mexico
Cabo, Mexico
Mexico City, Mexico
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

SOUTH AMERICA

Buenos Ares, Argentina
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
San Paolo, Brazil
Costa Rica
Galapagos Island

CARIBBEAN

Let’s be honest, I want to go to as many Caribbean islands as possible! Current count [3/???]- ✔️Nassau (Semester at Sea 2011), ✔️San Salvador Island (2017), ✔️St. Lucia (honeymoon baby! 2019)

EUROPE

Brussels, Belgium
Prague, Czechia
French Riviera
Colmar, France– OMG I saw Flying the Nest go here and I must visit.
Berlin, Germany
The Black Forrest, Germany– I NEED to see those fairytale places in real life!
Island hopping in Greece– Santorini, Mykonos, Crete etc.- ✔️Mykonos (2011)
✔️Athens, Greece– I visited on Semester at Sea (2011) but I want to go back with my hubs and babe.
Iceland
Ireland
✔️Italy– Florence (2014), Naples (2011), Rome (2011, 2014), Venice (2011, 2014). There are so many more places in Italy I want to visit. I think I could spend a month there just traipsing around.
Madrid
Moscow
Giethoorn, Netherlands
Portugal
Scotland

ASIA

Dubai, UAE
Maldives
Thailand
Tokyo

AUSTRALIA/ PACIFIC

Great Barrier Reef
Perth
Fiji
New Zealand

AFRICA

Cyro, Egypt– I gotta see them pyramids!
South Africa– specifically Cape Town and this place!
Botswana– after reading Prince Harry’s book, Botswana place sounds amazing.
Kenya
✔️Tanzania– Another one I was fortunate to visit with my family when I was a teenager but want to go back to fully appreciate.

ANYWHERE & EVERYWHERE
Some from my high school bucket list too!

✔️Run a 5K– Ok so I didn’t run it but I paddled it!
Ride in a hot air balloon
✔️Get married– Happened in 2018! Kind of a weird bucket list item but high school me wanted it so…
Ride a horse on the beach
✔️Have a child– Happened in 2021! Also a weird one but hey, I did it!
Go to a drive in movie
Go cliff jumping
Cage dive with sharks
✔️Learn to play one song on the guitar– ok… does a ukulele count? Uke was my 2020 quarantine hobby!
See a TV show filmed live
✔️Get a psychic reading– got my tarot cards read at a friends epic birthday party (hi Melissa!) literally 1 week before I gave birth!
Visit all the Disney theme parks! Current count [2/6]– ✔️Disneyland (hello, I’m a local!), ✔️Walt Disney World
Swim with dolphins in nature– not yet… but I did swim with turtles!
See baby sea turtles scurry out to the ocean!
Visit all the NBA basketball stadiums with my husband. This is a lifelong dream of Brandon’s and I’m down for it. There’s a fantasy of renting an RV and taking a NBA road trop across the country but we’ll see about that…Current count [3/29]– ✔️Staples Center: LA Lakers (We’re season ticket holders so we’ve been a bunch!), ✔️TD Garden: Boston Celtics (thanks to a delayed flight we snuck in a game! 2016), ✔️Barclays Center: Brooklyn Nets (not sure if this counts because we saw the All Star Game there but I’mma go ahead and say yes 😉, 2015)
Snorkel or dive in the Great Barrier Reef
Swim with whale sharks
See the 7 wonders of the world. Current count [1/7]– ✔️Colosseum in Rome (I’ve been twice! Once on SAS, 2011, and once with my sister, 2014)
See the 7 wonders of the natural world. Current count [1/7]– ✔️The Grand Canyon (EPIC road trip with my bestie, 2017)
Stay in an overwater bungalow
Swim in a mermaid tail
✔️Fly first class– did that on our honeymoon in 2019! This was our wedding gift from our in-laws (hi!) and it was bougie af.
Visit the set of Gilmore Girls at Warner Brother’s Studios
Kayak in La Jolla cove
Goat. Yoga.