Bucket List: Wishlist

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World, Anywhere, Once in a Lifetime Experiences

This month's take on my Travel Bucket List is different from the usual articles. All my previous articles for my Bucket List series featured either trips that I had taken which had been on my list or new additions to my list as I travelled.

For this month's article, I would like to list down 3 trips on my Travel Bucket List that I intend to complete as soon as time and budget permit. Why? Because the World is changing. and changing fast. The old saying that "a place will always be there to be visited" may no longer hold true in our current fast changing world. Climate, Politics, Wars, Revolutions, Pandemics and many other unforeseen events are dramatically altering where and when we can visit.

For example, in the near and foreseeable future, it is difficult to see how I can be allowed to travel for leisure to China, Japan and many other Asian destinations. Pandemic-enforced border restrictions mean that some of these destinations will not be opening up to international tourists for quite some time yet. Even for those destinations which claimed to have "opened up" or is "opening up", onerous pandemic-related medical testing requirements and the associated costs and inconveniences are good enough to keep me away from even any thoughts of visiting.

Apart from pandemic-induced border restrictions and closures, many other places have also become un-visitable for now due to security issues such as internal civil unrests, political upheavals and of course, wars. Add climate change to the equation and that further put more places out of reach of leisure travel.

For now, countries in the western part of Europe are actually the only ones which have truly re-open their borders, as long as visitors are fully vaccinated. So, I have shortened my Travel Bucket List to just 3 items for now.  I am now reviewing my travel calendar. Once I have the time and money, I will be quick to embark on these trips, just so that I can visit these destinations before some so-called Black-Swan events occur and make these trips unattainable.

Travel Bucket List for the near-future:

1. Village of Saksun and viewing wild Puffins at Mykines, Faroe Islands (Denmark)

2. La Sagrada Familia and Casa Mila, Barcelona (Spain)

3. Mont Saint-Michel, Normandy (France)

Time to start researching for these trips and hunt for budget-friendly air tickets and accommodations!

Freshly-brewed latte, Swiss Air Business-Class Lounge, Zurich International Airport, Zurich, Switzerland (2017)


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