Bridget Jones’s (Travel) Diaries: Bucket List

Welcome to my second entry in Bridget Jones’s (Travel) Diaries! Enjoy!

by Bridget Jones, Social Media Manager
September 8, 2015

Dear Diary,

For my second post I thought I would write about my bucket list. Of course I have the basics from skydiving to graduating college, but this specific list is my travel bucket list. Now this is list is more of an idea of where I want to go and, theoretically, I would love to visit all of the places before I die, but in reality that’s probably not going to happen. A bucket list should be a list of things that you want to accomplish, however it should not be a list of things that you just want to check off. Your goal should not just be doing things on your list just to check them off, you should want to visit places and do things for the experience, because you really are interested and have a passion to do said things. Anyway, let’s get started because this is gonna be a long list.

Helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon
- I’ve been to the Grand Canyon and it seriously took my breath away. Now, imagine flying in a helicopter a thousand of feet above the earth and suddenly flying over the tree line and just being swallowed by all that is the Grand Canyon– definitely bucket list worthy. It may be cliche, but everyone needs to visit the Grand Canyon before they die. It will change your life and you won’t even realize it until you leave, talk about some nice rocks.
Palau
- Palau is literal paradise. Located in Oceania Palau is made up of 500 islands filled with white sand beaches and crystal blue waters. Imagine snorkeling in the Pacific Ocean, then going back home to your bungalow on the beach. This is what heaven looks like, ladies.
Visit every National Park in the USA
- National Parks have a special place in my heart. Ever since I first visited Yellowstone back in 5th grade I’ve fallen in love with them. There’s nothing like looking up to literally billions of stars in Yosemite and realizing how beautiful everything is or swimming in a river in Smoky Mountain National with your sisters, hoping the day will never end. There is a total of 58 National Parks in the USA and I want to enjoy all of them. The top ones I want to visit include Acadia in Maine, Arches in Utah, Bryce Canyon in Utah, Crater Lake in Oregon and Hawaii Volcanoes in Hawaii.
St. Helens, OR
- Now, this may just seem like any run-of-the-mill town 30 miles outside of Oregon, but you would be wrong. A little movie called “Halloweentown” was filmed there and they reserve the entire month of October to LITERALLY RECREATE HALLOWEENTOWN. That’s right, they light the jackolantern in the town square and everything. As a Halloween baby I feel obligated to pay my dues to my favorite holiday/birthday by visiting the real life Halloweentown.
Hawaii
- For the past eight months I have had a fascination with Hawaii. Maybe it’s the gorgeous tropical beaches that literally look like a wallpaper on my netbook, or maybe it’s the fact that it’s an island far away from everything and everyone I’ve ever known. Whatever it is, I want to go there and soon.
India
- I have been in love with India ever since I did my travel fair project in 5th grade about this beautiful country. I got to research and present all about India, I even got to wear a sari. Everything there is beautiful: the culture, the people, the clothes and the food. I having been lusting over India for seven years now and I cannot wait until I get the chance to finally visit.
Australia
- Specifically I would love to snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef and climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge, but you know seeing a wild kangaroo would be cool too.
Visit all 50 states
- Who doesn’t want to visit them all? So far I’ve been to 28. Imagine starting in Maine and ending in California and literally visiting every continental state in one trip. #roatripgoals
Visit NYC at Christmas and New Years
- Now this is a classic. I would love to see Rockefeller Center all lit up for Christmas and just experience the excitement that is the ball drop in Times Square.
Throw a dart at the map and go wherever it lands
- The ultimate spontaneous adventure.
Visit every Disney park
- So far I’ve been to Disney World five times and Disneyland twice and I will be going back to both many more times, but I am also interested in venturing over to Disneyland Paris, Hong Kong Disneyland, Tokyo Disney and Shanghai Disney.
Backpack through Southeast Asia especially Cambodia and Thailand
- This is the quintessential backpacking trip. I’ve never been backpacking before, and I will probably have to start out somewhere easier, or at least somewhere that I know the language, but I would love to tour Southeast Asia with just the bag on back and and the shoes on my feet.
Spend the night on Antarctica
- Not many people get the chance to visit Antarctica because well, there’s nothing really there. The loneliness and mystery of it all makes it bucket list worthy.
Italy
- I went to Italy during the summer of 2014 before junior year with the Latin group from STA and I fell in love. I would love to go back to Italy and spend more time in Florence, Volterra and Venice as those were my three favorite cities we visited. I would also visit some new places including Burano, Cinque Terre, Lake Como and Naples to swim in the blue grotto, a sea cave that looks extremely blue because of the sunlight.
Swim in Mexican cenotes
- My sister visited Mexico over the summer with friends and they swam in cenotes, cave like pools that sound like happiness in water form. They are so clear you can see straight to the bottom. I kinda have a thing for natural bodies of water I can swim in I guess.