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peek into this week's episode. You know, little did we know that we were actually preparing ourselves for what would become many adventures in the future.
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Scott.
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And I'm Melissa. And we
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are the Sunshine Travelers. Our passion is travel and sharing our experiences with those who enjoyed as much as we do, or those who want to learn more about travel, or even those that just want to live vicariously through our travel stories. No matter where you fall along that journey, get ready to hear about our firsthand experiences as we visit some of the most interesting and amazing places on earth. As we get started on a fresh new year, we felt like it was time to update our bucket list with all of the suggestions that have been made to us over the last year. Our very first episode back in April of 2023 talked about creating a travel bucket list, something that you can use as inspiration for your travel journeys. Today we want to give you a glimpse into what our bucket list looks like now. We'll share with you our top 10 destinations that are on the top of our bucket list looks like now, we'll share with you our top 10 destinations that are on the top of our bucket list. So grab a notebook and pencil and let's get started on helping you build out your travel bucket
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had a fun and safe holiday season. We traveled locally to visit some family and had lots of opportunities to talk about our bucket list. So we thought there's no better time than now to update our creating a bucket list episode. And if you haven't listened to that original episode, it's our very first one that we did back in April. So look for episode one. Yeah, and it's
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become a really popular episode. I think it's just piques people's curiosity about, you know, creating a bucket list. I think it just piques people's curiosity about creating a bucket list. I think people always have ideas about places that they might want to go, but just always getting more ideas, right? Hearing about people's experiences and different, not only where to go, but what to do in certain places too, because that's part of a bucket list too. I think
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we talked about in one of our last episodes that it's just become a common occurrence for us to run into people all over the world, no matter where we're at, and just have these conversations about their travel bucket list, right? And we find out about some really amazing places that we hadn't thought about, or even sometimes different experiences in some of those places that we've already, you know, discussed.
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Right. That's true. Yeah. We ran into, well, a new listener now when we were in Flagstaff just over dinner and started talking to her and her mom and just ended up having a really long conversation about all the places that she had been. Like you said, like she was talking about she got to go on an African safari and tell about her experiences, but she actually knew the people who own the camp, right? So her experience was different because she was like, oh, we, even though it was fantastic, we stayed at the same place the whole time, right? Or just even talking, as we said, we did with our friends, Mo and Erica, right? Things that we have done that are on their bucket list and they've been all over the world.
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Yeah. Well, in that very first episode, there were a few places that we talked about, the Galapagos, going on an African safari in Antarctica. You know, those were some of the top places that we had chose. We also said the Nevermore One travel goal for us was to just visit a new country every year, right? So it didn't have to be a specific country, but making sure that each year we're prioritizing going to a new country, somewhere we've never been before.
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Right, yeah. And we talked about this in the last episode too, is that we actually checked that off and then some, right? So it's good to have those goals. And then if you exceed them, it just makes it all the more exciting.
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I'm so excited because this year we're going to check off the African Safari. And we can't wait to tell you more details on that. So make sure you're staying tuned. Future episodes. Maybe we can talk about the process and going out and planning. Because this was the first, kind of the first trip that I've ever planned by myself, right? Working with the travel, you know, a safari company in Kenya. And so I've been the one doing most of the planning on this. You know, I've learned a lot through this process. Yeah.
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And you've spent a lot of time too, right? It's not hasn't been, I mean, you could just say, okay, give me the details and, but you've gone back and forth with a lot of questions and cause there's tons of options too, right? Of things that can be offered and just going through that process as well. There's
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still tons of questions that I have for them. You know, as I, as I talk to different people, they're like, well, did you think about this? Did you think about that? And so still going back and forth, just the important part right now is making sure that we get reservations kind of booked in because some of the places we're going to be staying are very small lodges. And so we don't want them to get booked up before we get that booked in.
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true. And speaking of the African Safari, so that not only will give you one new country for the year, but also the continent of Africa. And so then that gets you closer to all the continents too.
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to go back and look at the list. I think it's actually more than one country that we're going to be doing the Safari in. So looking forward to it.
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Absolutely.
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So, you know, we also talked about our chalkboard wall that we had in our kitchen at the old house. You remember that
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wall? I do. Yes.
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And I think it was like during the holidays one year, we put up there like, what is our bucket list? Right. And so each of us took a piece of chalk and kind of wrote in some things on our bucket list.
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I think maybe it was maybe like after the holidays, because we used to hang like Christmas cards on that wall. And so then maybe for the new year, I think it was. And then we did it and our kids did it. And there were things on there that they wanted to have experiences that they wanted to have. And our son in particular, like I remember he had a particular place he wanted to go fish and different
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I think it
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like that. So yeah, that was a great, that was a great way to have like a living, you know, bucket list on the wall.
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And I think, you know, little did we know that we were actually preparing ourselves for what would become many adventures in the future. You know, at that time, we had no idea that we didn't travel a lot back then. I mean, I traveled for work, but it was something that I And did. it was just for the purpose of going for Like work. I didn't travel a lot back I then. I mean, traveled for but work, it was something that I And did. it was just for the purpose of going for work. Like I didn't do a lot of touring and stuff like that while I was there. And we've talked about that in other episodes where sometimes I didn't even have a clue about some of the things that were just right around me in places that I would go. in places that I would go. And so, you know, when we wrote that initial bucket list, this wasn't even, it wasn't even a twinkle in our eye or an idea of something that we might do in the future.
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Yeah, that's true. And so just don't discount maybe the power, right, of writing things down, even if it's not, you know, I'm not going to do it this year. I might not do it in five years, but the power of writing those things down that someday that you want to be able to do that.
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And we'll talk a little bit about that in the future, because I think bucket lists mean different things at different times in your life. And so we'll talk a little bit about that. I'll tell you what. Why don't we get started talking about what our top 10 bucket list is right now? You want to do that? Sounds about Yes. what our top 10 bucket list is right now? You want to do that?
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Yes. Sounds good. Our top 10 bucket list. So bucket list, I guess we should preface this by saying our bucket list is longer than this. And when we originally wrote this bucket list, we also said, here is a bucket list for the next 10 years, right? And so then looking back over that list, checking some things off this past year, and then saying, what of these is okay, probably like our
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Yeah. And things will change over time. But right now, here's what we have. So first is the safari in Africa. So we're going to check that off this year in 2024. Very excited about that. So number two.
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two is the trip to Antarctica or the cruise to Antarctica, right? And we've kind of been going back and forth, which one are we going to do first? And then we just, you know, we had to make a decision. And we've talked about this before. So this upcoming year is a big anniversary, is a big birthday. And so really wanting to have like a big bucket list, right? And planning for that and planning for that financially and time-wise and all the things too, right?
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you realize our last big anniversary was the Mediterranean trip that we did? Yes, it was. In the long summer through Europe. So we've
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Yes, it was. In the long summer through Europe. So we've got some
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pretty good big anniversary celebrations that we do. Third is Morocco. And so we had said, you know, Marrakesh and Fez particularly. We just haven't done enough really research into those because there might be other areas in Morocco. As a matter of fact, we're kind of toying with the idea is that we might start our trip this year in morocco and then fly to kenya and then from kenya we do the safari and then after that finish in cape town so we would do like top to bottom of africa that's pretty amazing yeah that would be
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that would be really cool but that would be probably a good little stopover and it wouldn't be it would give you like we've talked about before it could kind of give you a taste too it went like we might do like a long long time in morocco but kind of give us a taste of okay then what what else would we want to see as well but i would add to that like probably casablanca probably doing something more in the desert right a lot of people do like, you know, with the camels or do some kind of more of a trek type of a thing. So quite a few places, obviously, in Morocco
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we want to add to the list. We also have Iceland in number four. And I think, you know, Iceland is mostly there. You know, we've had family members who have traveled to Iceland, lots of friends who have traveled to Iceland. But I friends who have traveled to Iceland. But I think we also think about Iceland in excuse of the northern you know, terms, me, lights. So, we definitely
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want to get to a point at some time where we can try to experience the northern lights. Right. And this next year, I think, is supposed to be really, really good for that. And Iceland is another place where certain airlines like Iceland Air and things like that, if you're going to Europe, offer incentives for a few days stopover or some kind of stopover, right, for that tourism
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And then in number five, we have Phuket, Thailand.
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Yes. And that was one that Mo and Erica talked about that they absolutely love spending time in Thailand. My sister did a study abroad in Thailand and absolutely loved that. And so in that, you could do some city, but you could definitely explore the beaches and the beach resorts. And with that one too, a bigger part of your cost is getting there and your time is getting there, right? And then it can be a lot more affordable in these beach resorts once you're And there. then it can be a lot more affordable in these beach resorts once you're
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there, right?
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then number six kind of i think in the same general area is bali yes
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want to explore bali i know that the tourism has exploded there right as people see that on social media and things like that and people who would go to bali like back in the day like it's changed a lot but with that one probably trying to find some unique experiences smaller hotels and things that we could like really find a place and like support the community and just not like overrun tourism type things yeah i think that
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that's so important. You know, you hear these stories about all these great places, then everyone starts going there and it just overruns their ability to support such tourism. You know, they're kind of glad to have the tourism initially, but then all of a sudden their infrastructure can't support it. And they just don't have a place to get rid of trash or water infrastructure for that many people or roads and all of those things. And so all of a sudden it can take a really gorgeous place and have a huge natural impact to it. Our
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Colin and Meg from Digipack Snacks podcast that we had on one episode recently had a chance to go to Bali. So we'll have to go back and take notes and ask them some things about their suggestions as well.
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So number seven, the Maldives.
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I think that's just like the classic that you see with the overwater villas. And we have some friends from the UK who love to vacation in the maldives just because it's a lot closer for them but that's
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one of those recently that i've seen people say not here but here right so they say not the maldives but somewhere else yeah
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but it's just one of those things where it's like oh do you want to go right see that for yourself i think that's i think that's a big thing right because people are like oh don't go here and and you know some of that is just
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think that's
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for attention and then some of that is for oh maybe this other place is just as pretty you want to go to that place yourself right and see that we've had we had somebody tell us about about stonehenge don't go to stonehenge like that's just whatever and it's like no stonehenge is is a bucket list right is something that you need to go see for yourself. So that's hard to, you know, you need to go see it for yourself.
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number eight, Australia, New Zealand. For me, Australia is, you know, on the list because that's one of the continents. I need to check off all seven continents. So if we're going to do Africa this year, we're going to do Antarctica next year. That leaves only Australia to check off all seven.
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Yeah, and then just New Zealand. We've just heard fantastic things about. One of my favorite
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things about. One of my favorite wines is from New Zealand.
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true. So, we need to definitely plan a chunk of time for Australia and New Zealand.
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Yeah, that might be one of our slow travel areas. Of course, I don't know. I've heard that's pretty expensive. So, we may not want to travel too slowly there. That's true. pilgrimage trails. We definitely want to do that. Mo and Erica talked about it when they were on our show and the trip that they did. That is so right up what we want to do. And so we've got to get that somehow or another. I think we got to get that higher on the list.
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And I think that the thing about that one is that it feels doable, right? It's not is that feels right? doable, like completely roughing it, It's not like completely roughing it, but it's doable and the scenery and all the things. I think it's accomplishable for people like they talked about, right? For people of all ages.
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we keep talking about these because we're actually starting to come up with plans based on some of this bucket list, right? So in this year, we're doing the safari. We're making plans for 2025 to do Antarctica. And so Listen Out, that's one that we're throwing out there as a possibility that maybe we could do as kind of a listener experience. And so if you're interested in that, make sure you let us know because we're going to start looking into that pretty quickly. And then also, you know, we've said, hey, in 2026, maybe that would be the good year for us to kind of stay domestic and explore some of the U.S US's great national parks. So either buy or rent a motorhome and really just go and travel for three months and visit those different national parks. I can stop along the way, can work during the day, and then on weekends and stuff like that, we can go off and explore. And so it really does, when you have a bucket list, it helps you kind of start to think and plan and stuff like that.
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Yeah, and think, you know, how can we make this possible? And how can we fit this in? And how can we prioritize this? You know, if this is a priority for you, if travel is a priority, how can you prioritize that? And we are so far away on the East Coast from so many of those national parks, right, where other people might be able to take weekend trips and do things. It requires longer travel. So that would be a good way for us to see that, especially having our dogs and different things like
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so then in number 10, to round out our top 10, we have on there Buenos Aires, Argentina. So I've been to Buenos Aires before, but this is one of those places that I told Melissa, I want to go back. I want us to do this together. Now, I went for work and we didn't know that it was a holiday there when we had planned to be there. And so when we got there, the people that we had been working with to plan this trip and all, they knew when we were coming. But once we got there, they said, well, today's a national holiday, so no one's going to be in the office. And so instead, they had planned some activities for us. And, you know, we did kind of a walking tour of Buenos Aires. And it was just one of those places that I said, I want to go back and I want to take Melissa and I want to spend some time here.
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And, you know, Scott, that is a good one that you could put on the front end of an Antarctica or the back end of an Antarctica, right? Because a lot of times you would go to Buenos Aires and then fly to Ushuaia and then go, you know, on the ship. So.
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Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think that that's is, doable. So, Melissa, you know, on the ship. So. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think that that's is, doable. So, Melissa, you know, we've talked a lot about bucket lists, but what does it mean to have a bucket list? Is, you know, because we have 10, the top 10 places, is that like, you know, next 10 years? Or, you know, why would someone create a travel bucket list? I think
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it just gives you a goal, right? Of things like as you see places, oh, I'd like to go see those places for myself. And so for us, not necessarily for the next 10 years, because we've mentioned, oh, if we could do Morocco along with something else, if you could visit Iceland on the way to something, you know, or something like that. But I just think it gives you, if you love travel and you love to experience
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new places, I whatever reason, just gets deprioritized over time, right? And other things become more important to you. And so, you know, you shouldn't ever think of a bucket list as these are the things, if we write them down, we got to go do these things, right? Right,
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because you may, like you said, you may say, okay, I'm not really interested in that. Or something else would come up and you say, oh, I really want to go see that first or prioritize that first. And Mo and Erica also talked about how, you know, as thinking about as they're younger, prioritizing international travel, right? Because they're thinking, okay, we can do a lot more of that other travel or hopefully, right? That's the goal in the U.S., you know, as they get older or something like that. So, you know, maybe thinking about those things, if you want to, I don't know, swim with the whale sharks or hike some of these hikes, you know, those kind of things you might want to think about, you know, we need to plan to do that sooner rather than, you know, later.
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And so, you know, for us us it may not be 2026 that we you know go tour the national parks but right now as we're just kind of thinking through our heads that seems to make sense but you know something else may come up that we want to do instead of that
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and the other thing Scott is bucket lists may not necessarily be destinations either it can be experiences right so you may have do doing otter balloon somewhere on your bucket list, but that could be done in lots of different places. Maybe doing a train ride. So one of the things that I wanted you to experience is not only the Grand Canyon, but also I had seen that train and saying, oh, let's take the train into the Grand Canyon. And that's one that we're going to come back and do a whole episode on. And so our favorite way to book local experiences is through Viator. And you can do a lot more with Viator. It's one site with 300,000 plus travel experiences you'll remember. We like using Viator because of the free cancellation policy. Plans may change and so you can receive a full refund if you cancel at least 24 hours in advance of most experiences. You can also go ahead and book your spot with their reserve now pay later feature. And of course, before booking, we always read the trusted reviews. Viator has 4.3 stars from over 140,000 Trustpilot reviews. If you go to sunshinetravelers.com slash Viator, you can explore and book your next local experience.
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So one of the things that we wanted to add into the episode about bucket lists is I found an article on Forbes about destinations for 2024, right? And so these were the top destinations based on a report. And let's just go down through and because we've been to several of these number one the maldives we talked about that number two niagara falls now we've been to niagara falls and i would say that niagara falls is something that you definitely want to experience but you should definitely look to stay somewhere else other than in niagara falls unless you just really like that touristy Vegas style atmosphere. Yeah, we wish
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would have stayed in on Niagara on the lakes. We visited that, went to a winery and we were like, oh, we wish we would have stayed there. Had a cute little town. So that's just a tip. But yes, Niagara Falls is definitely a place that you want to visit and do the boat tour and the Maid of the Mist and do those touristy things. Book them on Viator. But definitely, we would say stay at Niagara on the lake.
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Then on number three, they had Mona Lisa in the Louvre. So go to Paris and go see the Mona Lisa. I'll tell you just kind of a spoiler alert. You got to look hard for it and it is very small at the
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tip that we actually did this one was they had like a late night at the louvre and that was those were the tickets that we booked and so it was open in the evening so it was way less crowded like as far as waiting to get in and stuff like that so just look and see if that happens to be a thing when you're there. And it was in January. So it wasn't like it was like in the summer or anything like that. But that was that made it a great experience because it was way less people.
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And then you and Will found in Madrid, Spain, the fake Mona Lisa.
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Well, it's not the fake Mona Lisa. It's ones that his apprentices had done. But yes, when we asked the people, so this is that, oh, I can't remember the museum. It starts with an R. Yeah, it doesn't matter. Okay. So anyway, but we had asked them, oh, where is this? And they were just like, why do you want to see that? We have all this great Spanish art. Like they really were just probably like, oh my goodness, these terrible Americans. But yes, they have. His apprentices had done some Mona Lisas there, and there actually are several, which is very interesting.
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it doesn't matter.
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The number four, Bora Bora in French Polynesia. You know, I was looking, we don't even have that on our list anywhere. It's not on our top 10 list, and it's not anywhere else. I don't know, maybe we need to think about that one the next one number five climb the statue of liberty in new york so we've been there and done that did
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climb to the top or was it closed i don't know if
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know if we climbed to the top or not honestly i don't think that we did yeah or i don't know that
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that it was closed i think it was one of those things where then for that like you had to buy tickets like way in advance or something but we've actually i think been to we've been there at least once, maybe twice. But yeah, I don't know that we climbed to the top. We've been
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top. We've been to Staten Island and, you know, did the tour there. But yeah, you should definitely put that on your list. I would highly recommend it.
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Or at least go, like, at least go over to it, right? And do the boat tour. And like you were saying, you go over to the Statue of Liberty and then you go to Staten Island and usually to see the whole thing but i mean if you can if you can plan ahead and climb it if they still do that just to be able to get up close that's one thing we found
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thing we found found out about some of these lists is they might recommend things that you can't even do but number six to see the northern lights and And they said, you know, they mentioned Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Greenland, or Finland for doing that. Number seven, visit Stonehenge. So we've been there and done that one. And as Melissa said, we had someone who was like, why in the world would you do that? But, you know, it's an experience and you should definitely put that on your list. Number eight, the Taj Mahal in India. I actually added that to our bucket list today when I saw that because it's something that we've talked about and I said, oh, that's one place I've never been, even though I've been to India many times, I've never been to the Taj Mahal and if I was going to take you to India, that would be one of the places that I would take you to go to. Number nine, visit Times Square in New York City. So we've done that many times. Well,
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so we have a funny story about that too. So you know how it's like really, if people get like on the New York Times bestseller list or just different things, like you get your picture up on the Times Square. So we went one year for Thanksgiving and I think they had a promotion at like American Eagle. And if you spent so much and they took your picture and you got your picture up on the, the, you
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did, you remember that? Up on the thing on Times Square.
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remember that? Up on the thing on Times Square. We all had our picture up on the, on the billboard in Times Square.
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Yeah. Number 10, visit the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. And so, you know, this was one where it's a really tall skyscraper and like it's, I don't know, 170 stories or something like that. And they have some observation decks that you can go out on and see the, you know, the skyline. That one looked kind of interesting, but I don't know that it's really high on my list. Although I think Dubai might be one of those places that would be interesting to go and check out. And
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Dubai is a place where you could intentionally plan like a stopover.
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As a matter of fact, I think they want you to.
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As a matter of fact, I think they want you to. And spend the night. And you could see, you know, you could spend a few extra days. And so that might be somewhere you could stop when you're going to, you know, Asia or some of these other places that you've talked
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Yeah. Number 11, Pompeii. So we've actually been to Pompeii on our European trip. We did that. Then number 12, that's the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. And by the way, if you've been there before, they've announced that there's a projected completion date of 2026. And I think that's the 100th anniversary of his death. And so go and put that back on your bucket list or either add it to your bucket list. That's one of those places. It's just absolutely amazing. And to see it in person is just something else.
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And it's amazing to see it from the outside, but please get tickets ahead of time and go in. And if you do it like in the late afternoon where you have like that golden hour light, that light on that stained glass is just phenomenal.
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Number 13, number 13, Cinque Terre in Italy.
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Yeah, so I've had the opportunity to visit there. That's somewhere where I want you to go with me, but I also want to stay in the towns and spend some time there. And your brother and his wife got to do that this summer and had a fantastic experience staying with a family in like a small little bed and breakfast.
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Yeah. And then number 14, this is one we've seen many, many times, but we'll see again this year in just a couple of months, which is Big Ben in London. Number 15, Chichen Itza in Mexico. We have an episode on Cancun where we talked about going out to Chichen Itza. It's definitely one of those places. It's just a marvel to see in person. But then also to think about how these people without computers and modern technology just really understood the sun and the seasons and mathematics and all this stuff. And so Chichen Itza is one of those places I think everybody should probably put on their destination list. If you're in North America, it's a fairly easy one to get to. Yeah,
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very easy to get to. Day trip from Cancun, too, right? They have lots of tours that go out there that include lunch, and they have the motor coaches. So it's just an easy one to get to, one of the wonders of the world.
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Plus, they also have that new airport.
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to get to one of the wonders of the world and well plus they also have that new airport they have the new airport and they have a new rail that is going to go from cancun and down so they're going to have a rail line as well that's opening you know this spring or parts of it are going to start opening this spring i
00:29:18 SPEAKER_00
number 16 was trekked through the himalayas so it wasn't very specific about that but you know it did show a picture of someone hiking through the Himalayas. So it wasn't very specific about that, but, you know, it did show a picture of someone hiking through the mountains. I'm not sure that we're really mountain hikers, but definitely visiting the Himalayas would be something, you know, to see and experience. Right.
00:29:37 SPEAKER_01
And I think you could do like smaller hikes, you know, day hikes or, you know, a shorter type of a hike as well.
00:29:45 SPEAKER_00
17 was Alcatraz in San Francisco. So we've been there and done that one. That's a very interesting trip. I don't like San Francisco very much. You know, as of late, I think, you know, it's got a lot of problems, but, you know, that trip that we did and went over to Alcatraz, that was pretty interesting. Yeah.
00:30:04 SPEAKER_01
Again, buy tickets. That's a National Historic Site. You need to make sure to have tickets and stuff ahead of time. But that is very interesting as well.
00:30:11 SPEAKER_00
Number 18 is the White House in Washington, D.C. I thought this was an interesting one to show up because the list was actually not a U.S.-based list. I believe the group who created the list is based out of London.
00:30:26 SPEAKER_01
And so I'm not sure 100% how they still do this, but used to be you would contact your representative, right, to be able to schedule the tour and then you get to go to the public places. And so we've actually gotten to do that. So again, you plan ahead. I
00:30:39 SPEAKER_00
again, you plan ahead. I don't know what happened after COVID to all these things. So you might want to just do your research on that one. However, we have visited the West Wing and visited the White House. And that was a really interesting tour. Number 19, float on the Dead Sea. The salt content, your body just naturally floats. And so go and do that. And then number 20, admire the views of Yosemite. So that's
00:31:08 SPEAKER_01
on our, you talked about the national park list for sure, to visit Yosemite. So that's pretty
00:31:14 SPEAKER_00
interesting. We've checked off quite a few of these. So let's just do a quick recap on how do you create a travel bucket list?
00:31:24 SPEAKER_01
a lot of times it's, you know, places you see on TV, you read on the internet, people that you talk to. I mean, I think for us, that's a lot of it, right? When people would talk to, especially when we start talking to people and we're like, oh, we have a travel podcast, or if we've talked to our different guests, and they've, you know, told us about all these places that they've been to. Just then marking those down. One of the places that was on the list as we, Scott and I were talking about this, he was like, I don't know what that is. And so he mentioned he had added a place to the list and the Taj Mahal you had added to the list, right? This was a place in Mexico that I had seen like a blogger talk about and just marking on the map. I've mentioned taking your Google Maps, you know, and marking saving places either to your, you know, you could have make a bucket list folder, you could make a want to travel folder, you could make a specific, you know, for London, you know, all these places you want to go, you know, I do all those different things. But I wanted to talk about one place that we have found a lot of inspiration here recently is on a television show that we actually saw on a Delta flight. I think you actually found it and it's called Amazing Hotels Life Beyond the Lobby. And so it's a couple of travel writers and a chef or travel writer and a chef and they go around and they visit these amazing hotels. And what is so interesting about it is, yes, they talk about the hotel and it's amazing, but they get to know if it's a smaller hotel, like the owner, the person that built it. And then also the people that live there and the lives of the people that live there. And then they kind of take over some of the jobs and stuff like that. So you really see not only, okay, this would be a very cool place to visit. And some of them are huge hotels, but some of them are really small places and way out of the way places. So if you just want some unique travel inspiration, check that out. It's called Amazing Hotels Life Beyond the Lobby, and it's found on Prime.
00:33:13 SPEAKER_00
Yeah, Amazon Prime. You know, you also talked about places that other people have been to. And, you know, they told you about, you know, we've got friends that do a lot of travel. So when we talk to they're telling us where they're them, and they told you we've got going. friends that do a lot of travel. about, So when we talk to them, they're telling us where they're going and that tends to add things to our bucket list. But then, like I said, we sat down at the bar in Sedona and we had a conversation with this lady sitting next to us. We told her we had a travel podcast and all of a sudden for the next hour, we were just talking about all these different places to travel. And so, you know, those are great inspirations. And then also you're going to hear about a lot of different places on our podcast. And so those might be things that you want to add to your bucket list as well. And I would just say mostly it's whatever inspires you. So if you see something, hear something that inspires you, and it just really piques your interest, and you say, man, I would love to do that sometime, that's your first hint that that should go on to your bucket list. Yeah,
00:34:15 SPEAKER_01
as you were saying that, it also makes me think is that everybody's can be so different. So for example, our son is really interested in history. And so when we went to Hawaii, I mean, yes, there's all these adventure things and the beach and just seeing Hawaii, but then taking the time to take him to see Pearl Harbor and to see that because that was something that was interesting to him. Or in London, sure, there's lots of history, but specifically going to the Churchill War Rooms, right? So just having, like, there's just so many experiences that you can have in these places that are catered to what is of interest to you. But if you are, you love flowers and
00:34:53 SPEAKER_00
if you
00:34:55 SPEAKER_01
and what, like in London, you can go to so many places that are catered toward that or shopping or, you know, just anything. So these places can finding those experiences and museums and whatever that cater to the things that you're interested in in a location.
00:35:14 SPEAKER_00
you're a foodie, go to the place that, you know, will inspire the types of food that you really love, you know. And so there's just so many different ways to figure out what should go onto your bucket list. And I would say try to make some of them things that are absolutely attainable based on your travel abilities, right? It's always fun and encouraging to be able to check off something on the list. You know, make sure to stretch yourself as well, because after all, it is a bucket list.
00:35:42 SPEAKER_01
true. And you you know that's a good point of you talked about food like that may be somebody's bucket list right to go to certain michelin star restaurants or to go to certain restaurants by certain chefs right and that may be london or new york or paris or you know wherever that your whole bucket list could be created around those food experiences. Yeah. Or as the one that we saw on the unique sleeping in the ice hotel. hotels, Scott said Now, that is not on
00:36:15 SPEAKER_00
there was nothing about that No, that was on
00:36:20 SPEAKER_01
except to see it. And what we learned was that you don't have to sleep in the room that during the day, it looked like you checked out, you checked in really late and you checked out really early, right? Because it's freezing cold. You just like hang out in the room. You could tour the hotel, right? But go into, or, or the ice bar, right? So they have ice bar there. So that might be on your bucket list. We talked about that in Islam Harris or just seeing it, but not sleeping in an ice hotel, but that could be on be on i mean that's on lots of people's bucket list they do like 30 000 guests a
00:36:48 SPEAKER_00
guys that are listening to this this is not a romantic place to take your significant other so i'm just throwing that out there make sure that those are there are some things that you can obtain because you want to be able to check those off make sure that you stretch yourself you know know, something really big, maybe that you're not right now even comfortable even thinking about, but put it on there, talk about it, listen to other people, hear their stories about it, and then you're going to feel more and more comfortable to take that step towards achieving your bucket list. And then, you know, make sure you're writing it down. We actually keep ours on Apple Notes file that we have shared between us. And, you know, you heard me say just earlier, is it right before the show and we're preparing for it? I added the Taj Mahal to there. Because when we were doing the research, I said, oh, that's something we've talked about. And it's somewhere that I would love to take melossa. So that's the piece that I was going to say next, which is to update it. And as you check things off the list, make sure you're adding new things.
00:37:55 SPEAKER_01
And you also mentioned as we were talking about this, put it somewhere that you see often and somewhere to keep you inspired. As we're planning the trip to Europe later this spring, our son-in-law said to our daughter, do you want to spend $5 now? Or do you want to spend five pounds when we go to London? Or do you have to have that right now? Or do you rather save that for your travel experience? So just kind of keeping that in perspective too.
00:38:20 SPEAKER_00
Yeah. It was so funny because while we were visiting some family, we played the game left, right, center. And I don't know if you guys have heard of that before, but it's a dice game. And we started out with like three $1 bills. And as you roll the dice, you either pass one to the left, pass one to the right, or put one in the center, which is a pot. And then once it goes into the pot, the pot just keeps growing. And you keep playing until everybody's out of $1 bills. And the last person to have a $1 bill in their hands wins the pot. Well, our five-year-old granddaughter won the pot. I think it was like $45. And so they were asking her what she was going to do with it. And she said she was going to take it to London with her.
00:39:02 SPEAKER_01
So that can be a great way to inspire kids, right? To, you know, save their allowance or not spend this money here. Like if you're going to do a summer trip or you're going to go to the national parks or you're going to whatever, letting them save their money for, you know, a souvenir or for an experience there as well. So that can be a great like savings motivator too. And
00:39:21 SPEAKER_00
the last thing I would say is talk to people about their bucket list. And as you're hearing about their bucket list and the things that are on it, you might find that you have some similar items and you might find your next travel companion, someone who just loves to travel or someone who inspires you to travel more. And so, you know, talking about it often, you find people with similar interests.
00:39:48 SPEAKER_01
And that might be a great way to like plan a trip together or, you know, plan a whole trip instead of exchanging gifts or, you know, whatever it is.
00:40:02 SPEAKER_00
list episodes are always so fun to do. We love talking about what is on our bucket list episodes are always so fun to do we love talking about what is on our bucket list and why we also love hearing about what you have on your bucket list send me an email scott at sunshine travelers.com and let me know what your top 10 list is i can't wait to hear from you and
00:40:20 SPEAKER_01
speaking of amazing hotels this past year we booked some amazing hotels with Booking.com, including the High Country Motor Lodge in Flagstaff that we just stayed at and the Condado Ocean Club in Puerto Rico where we had that amazing view of just right at the ocean. You can discover your perfect stay with Booking.com where every trip becomes a memorable journey. journey. Choose from over a million properties worldwide from country homes that are so cozy to sleek city apartments. Find the best deals with their price match promise and enjoy great stays at lower cost. And because flexibility matters, book with confidence knowing that you can cancel with ease. You can also make informed choices about where to stay because there's millions of reviews from fellow travelers. Start your adventure now and visit sunshinetravelers.com slash booking to book your perfect stay. By using these affiliate links that we've talked about to book your experiences and your travel helps support our podcast and allows us to continue to provide new content on a weekly basis. Please consider using these links when booking your next travel. There's no extra cost to you and we are compensated by the affiliates. We hope that you enjoyed this episode and find some inspiration to help you with your travel journeys. Please consider going on your favorite podcast platform and leave us a review. The more five-star reviews we have, the more likely we are to be featured and discovered by others. Make sure to follow or subscribe to our podcast to be notified of new episodes as they are released. You can also find us on Instagram at Sunshine Travelers Podcast. Remember, that's travelers with one L. And most importantly, share it with your friends and help them catch the travel bug. You never know,
