For me, one of the biggest joys that comes with travel is the anticipation of getting to explore someplace new and to learn about how other people live. I guess that is why I enjoy writing about travel about as much as I love traveling itself. It is also why I love putting together an annual travel adventure bucket list so that I can see how my travel hopes and dreams evolve and change over the years. Not only is it a great way for me to create a blueprint for the travel adventures that I would like to have in the future, but it is also a way for me to look back and see how my travel preferences and priorities have changed throughout the years. If you haven’t tried putting together an annual travel adventure bucket list, I would strongly suggest trying this exercise out for yourself.

My Travel Bucket List from Previous Years

Before I get into my current travel adventure bucket list, I want to point out that you can still review my travel adventure bucket lists from previous years below. Looking back on these previous lists, it amazes me how much my appetite for travel adventure has grown. No longer am I satisfied with a restful beach vacation. The destinations on my current list all seem to revolve around adventures that I would like to have at those locations.

Go Ice Climbing at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

If you have taken a look at my top travel photographs from 2021, then you are aware of my big kayaking trip last summer. One of the highlights of that trip was getting to kayak along the breathtaking Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. With that big adventure crossed off my bucket list, I have room to add another adventure that I would like to have at Pictured Rocks. This is an adventure that I will have to partake in during the winter months. Each winter, the waterfalls at Pictured Rocks freeze and produce some of North America’s best ice climbing features. I would love to return to Pictured Rocks and partake in this incredible activity. I’ve already signed up for climbing classes and hope to cross this adventure off my list soon.

Hike Across the Grand Canyon

This is an adventure that I added to my travel adventure bucket list last year, and it is one that I am really looking forward to being able to cross off my list. Over the past few years, I have been trying to really ramp my travel adventures up to the next level. A few years ago, I climbed my first fourteen-thousand-foot mountain in Colorado and this past autumn I hiked the difficult unmarked trail to Reflection Canyon. While I have been to the Grand Canyon to hike and photograph it many times, all of my hikes there so far have been day hikes. In the near future, I would like to hike across the canyon from rim to rim. This will be an epic adventure that will really push my hiking ability to the limits. You need to plan this trip far in advance because you need a back-country permit to camp out in the canyon, so it likely won’t happen this year with everything else I have planned. However, my hope is that I will be able to complete this hike in the next few years.

Climb Mount Rainier

Hiking across the Grand Canyon isn’t the only big adventure that I have on my travel adventure bucket list. After I climbed Grays and Torreys Peaks a few years ago, I knew that I would want to climb bigger and more difficult mountains in the future. There is just something about being in the mountains that makes me feel whole. I love the beautiful scenery, the crisp air, and the incredible adventures that these landscapes offer. While I plan to summit even more fourteen-thousand-foot peaks soon, I am also starting to plan a summit of Mount Rainier in the not-so-distant future.

Mount Rainier is renowned as being one of the best ascents for preparing climbers for more challenging alpine climbs elsewhere in the world because of its technical difficulty and because it is the most glaciated peak in the continental United States. Again, the challenge is part of the allure for me. I want to start exploring other mountain ranges around the world and I want to continue to challenge myself as an adventurer. I can think of no better way to prepare myself and test myself than to climb this epic peak in the next several years.

Explore Antarctica

One of the longest-standing destinations on my travel adventure bucket list is a trip to Antarctica to explore the wildlife and incredible landscape. Between the gigantic icebergs that can be as big as buildings and the abundance of incredible marine wildlife, Antarctica has long been my top travel destination. I would have already visited by now if it weren’t so difficult and expensive to get to and tour. After all, it’s not like you can just book a plane ticket and land in Antarctica tomorrow. That is part of the appeal for me though. Travel to Antarctica is something that needs to be carefully planned and visiting the world’s seventh continent is something that has to be earned. It’s an expensive trip, so it is going to require quite a bit of saving, but one day I hope to visit Patagonia and then take a cruise to Antarctica to photograph and explore this beautiful place.

Hike the Infamous “W Trek” in Patagonia

Speaking of Patagonia, it is another one of the destinations that consistently shows up on my travel adventure bucket list. There are some truly fantastic mountain destinations in this world and Patagonia is certainly one of them. The region is spread across Southern Chile and Argentina, so there are a lot of different options on where to visit in Patagonia. However, the famed “W Trek” is always ranked near the top of the most recommended adventures to have in Patagonia, and it is definitely an adventure that is on my bucket list. I would love to explore much of the region, but this trek is something that I absolutely won’t miss out on when I finally do get a chance to visit Patagonia.

Hike the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal

Up until this year, I had a trek to the Mount Everest Base Camp on my travel adventure bucket list. While that adventure is still something that I am very much interested in pursuing in my lifetime, there is a trek in the Himalayas that I have become even more enthralled with over the past year. The Annapurna Circuit is one of the most challenging and incredible hiking circuits in Nepal and hiking that circuit has quickly skyrocketed up my list of travel adventures that I want to have. If you know me, then you know how obsessed I am with mountains. There are no bigger and more beautiful mountains in this world than the Himalayas and the Annapurna Circuit is one of the best non-climbing adventures thru them. Maybe one day I will grow comfortable enough with climbing to add a Himalayan climbing adventure to this list, but until then I will stick with hiking thru them.

Scuba Dive at Barracuda Point in Malaysia

A few years ago, before COVID struck, I had the opportunity to go scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and I absolutely fell in love with it. Before that, I had snorkeled in some incredible locations such as Cozumel, Maui, and the Galápagos Islands, but I had never scuba dived. That experience has gotten me hooked and I want to explore some of the world’s other top scuba diving destinations. One location that is very high on my list is Barracuda Point in Malaysia. This top scuba spot is infamous because of the likelihood of seeing large sharks, rays, and other marine wildlife. Almost every scuba diving site I have visited raves about this destination, so I have added it to my travel adventure bucket list for the near future.

See the Incredible Wonders at Petra

Like most travel enthusiasts, my thirst for seeing all of the incredible places in this world and learning about new things is what drives my passion for travel. That is why I am determined to see all of the “Wonders of the World” and why I have had so many of these wonders on my travel adventure bucket list. It may sound cliché to have the wonders of the world on your travel bucket list, but there is a reason they are called wonders. I have already seen Machu Picchu in Peru and came away from that experience absolutely amazed by its grandeur and beauty. Now, I have my sights set on a few other wonders. One of the top wonders on my list of things to see is Petra in the country of Jordan. I was supposed to visit Jordan and see Petra last autumn, but COVID restrictions got in the way. That trip has been pushed back until this Spring, and if all goes according to plan then I will get the opportunity to see Petra this year.

Visit the Great Pyramids in Egypt

Another destination that I had planned to visit last year before COVID got in the way was Egypt. There, I planned on touring Cairo and the Great Pyramids of Giza. The pyramids are another of the great “Wonders of the World” that I have wanted to explore since I was a child. Again, that trip has been pushed back until this spring, so I may still get a chance to visit the pyramids this year. If I do, they will be another one of the big destinations on my travel adventure bucket list that I will get to cross off this year.

Tour the Phi Phi Islands in Thailand

This is another travel destination that has been on my travel adventure bucket list for a while and likely won’t leave the list until I get a chance to see it. Ever since I watched the movie “The Beach”, I have longed to explore these islands and their stunning beaches.  Instagram is full of breathtaking pictures of the Phi Phi Islands and I would like a chance to capture this place myself.  Not only is the landscape a photographer’s dream, but there is some outstanding snorkeling and scuba diving in the area as well.  After scuba diving and snorkeling in the Galápagos Islands and the Great Barrier Reef, I am hooked.  I am not sure when I will have the chance to visit Krabi and the Phi Phi Islands, but that day cannot come soon enough.

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