The Travel Corporation recently released its Top 10 “Bucket List Trips” https://thetravelcorporation.com/topten/  A definite ‘must read’.

While reviewing I realized it’s already April, and 2015 is moving on at an accelerating pace, and it is high time I asked myself ‘where to next’?

I travel extensively mostly for work reasons, but there are still numerous places that I hold as dream destinations. Posing the ‘Top 10’ question was a wonderful exercise, and a superb opportunity to explore what would fulfil my curiosities.

Immediately some ‘must see’ places! They are not necessarily in order of wish fulfilment. So here is my list:

• Alaska’s Mt McKinley in the winter months, absorbing its overwhelming majesty
• Discovering Myanmar, a country deeply rooted in Buddhist culture now opening up to the world
• Surfing the waves in Costa Rica, seeing this green paradise from the vantage point of its waters
• Breathing in the crisp air and taking in the incredible, wide open, white views while snowboarding on Japan’s north island of Hokkaido
• Becoming fully absorbed in the 360 degree, open road views of Americana all around me while cruising Route 66 on a Harley Davidson

And the places I want to visit that our Trafalgar guests can see annually, but that I haven’t yet experienced first-hand are:

• Vietnam, a place that causes my imagination to overflow with all of its incredible history and cultural richness, not to mention great cuisine
• Czech Republic, I recently visited Prague for the first time, but just for 48 hours. Having seen it briefly, the thought of being surrounded by such breathtakingly ornate architecture makes this a definite list entry
• Norway’s fjords, which must be simply, utterly awe inspiring

Still, for all of the energy and excitement created by my personal travel wish list, what struck me most was what naturally evolved through my thought processes. At its core: it’s not really about the travel – I need to feel at my most fully alive.

The result was adding the following onto my wish list:

• A true ‘going out there and giving back’ trip: building homes or schools in areas hit by natural disaster such as Haiti, or Tacloban in the Philippines
• A yoga retreat in an ashram in southern India

So not 10, but rather, a lucky 12 places, all varied experiences. Each has its own offering, and own reason of why they matter to me.

I am intrigued by their diversity. Some will create happiness because they are personal dreams. Some will make me value the trip because it will be about the wellbeing of someone else. After all that is what travel is all about: sharing.

I find myself reenergised about my desire to travel. I hope you too take the time to ask  ‘where in the world do I one day dream of seeing, of knowing, and of being?’

Whatever the reason for your choices, however the list is shaped, make it your list.

Be curious, be open and allow yourself to live the dream and immerse in the ‘here and now’.

Enjoy the beauty of discovery that is only found through the power of travel.