My Ultimate Travel Bucket List: 10 Dream Destinations I Can't Wait to Visit

There’s something magical about having a travel bucket list. It’s more than a collection of places you hope to visit one day... it’s a reminder to dream bigger, stay curious, and keep planning adventures that truly excite you.

In this episode of Tourist to Traveller, I’m taking you behind the scenes of my own travel dreams and sharing the destinations that are currently at the top of my bucket list. Some are wild and remote, some are iconic for good reason, and others have been calling my name for years. From sleeping beneath the stars in Oman and chasing the Northern Lights in Finland to swimming with humpback whales in Tonga and standing amongst Antarctica’s towering icebergs, these are the experiences I can't stop thinking about.

Whether you're planning your next overseas holiday or simply looking for inspiration, I hope this episode encourages you to keep dreaming and reminds you that every unforgettable journey starts with a single idea.

What You'll Learn in This Episode

• Why having a travel bucket list can help you travel with more purpose
• My top 10 dream destinations and what makes each one so special
• Travel trends I'm seeing towards slower, more meaningful and experience-led travel

Helpful Resources & Links

Free Download: The Ultimate Travel Bucket List Planner 

If today's episode has inspired you to start planning your own dream adventures, download my free Travel Bucket List Planner. It'll help you organise your dream destinations, prioritise future trips, set travel goals and start turning your bucket list into reality.

Related blog post: I've also written a companion blog post featuring all 10 destinations from this episode, with additional travel inspiration and photos. You'll find the link in the show notes, along with more destination guides and travel planning resources on Tourist to Traveller. My Ultimate Travel Bucket List. 

Connect & Explore

Find destination guides, travel planning resources and more at touristtotraveller.com, and follow along on Instagram @_touristtotraveller for behind-the-scenes planning and future travel inspiration. 

Transcript

Speaker 0:00

Welcome to the Tourist to Traveller Podcast, the show that helps you go beyond the guidebook and turn your bucket list dreams into real adventures. I'm Tahnee, a travel blogger, podcaster, and everyday explorer who's been ticking off epic destinations for over 20 years while balancing a 9 to 5. Each week I'll bring you inspiring stories, destination deep dives, and practical tips to help you plan smarter, travel deeper, and capture those unforgettable moments along the way. So, grab your passport, pack your curiosity, and let's get started. Today's episode is a little different because I'm letting you into my own travel dreams. People often ask me where I'm traveling next, but something I don't talk about nearly enough is all the places I haven't been yet. Even after more than 20 years of traveling, my bucket list somehow keeps getting longer. And honestly, I love that. Every destination I visit opens the door to five more places I suddenly want to explore. So today I'm sharing the destinations that are currently at the very top of my bucket list, why they've captured my imagination and what makes them so special. And a few of the practical realities that come with planning trips like these from Australia. Hopefully, by the end of this episode, you'll have added a few new places to your own bucket list as well. So let's dive in. I secretly love a bucket list, and I actually think they're really important when it comes to planning your future travels. Your bucket list is essentially the list of places you absolutely just have to see before you die. And while I love traveling to hidden gems, off-the-beaten path destinations, off-the-grid destinations, I also have my own bucket list items. For most people, their travel bucket list evolves over time, and mine has absolutely done that. Because the more of the world that you explore and the more you shift through different phases of life, the more your goals and your wants and needs around travel start to shift and start to change. Mine change every single year, and I swear, every time I go on a new trip, I hear about more destinations and I explore more purely through my research. I have ticked off a lot of bucket list destinations throughout my travels, including traveling to the pyramids in Egypt, going to Petra in Jordan, exploring Marrakesh and the Sahara Desert in Morocco, and visiting Corfu in the Greek islands with my dad. My first bucket list wasn't intentional. It was just kind of a list of places that I always imagined traveling to. And for me, this list started in childhood. Instead of being read children's books and nursery rhymes, our bedtime stories were books about the world. And that was by choice for some crazy reason. That is what we asked to be read as children at bedtime. So we read books on ancient Greece and ancient Rome and the great pyramids and animals and space. And it just started me thinking at a very, very young age about these incredible destinations and these historic sites that I thought I would never have the chance to visit in my lifetime. Then I reached adulthood and had adult money and realized that all of this could actually be possible. And this is where my jet setting really began. I know something belongs on my bucket list when I just can't stop thinking about it. I know because of all of the posts that I seem to save through Instagram, uh, I have a couple of folders, or a couple. I have many folders in Instagram save with travel inspiration. And it's those, it's those destinations that I seem to just keep coming across and saving and going back to. They're the ones that I know are at the top of my bucket list. And if you ask me if I could travel anywhere in the world right now, I guarantee it'll be one of my top 10. And that's what I want to take you through today. It's going to give you a little bit of insight into the destinations I'm looking to travel to, but also hopefully might give you a little bit of inspiration for future destinations for your bucket list. So let's dive into destination number one, and that is Oman in the Middle East. Oman is a trip that I actually had planned out to take early this year, and that trip was unfortunately delayed due to the conflict that is going on over there at the moment. Oman for me is on, well, very high up on my bucket list because I really do enjoy Middle East destinations, and Oman feels like it is very much under the radar. The tourism numbers there right now are still relatively low. It is quite a safe country in the Middle East, and it is spectacular. You've got incredible desert destinations, you've got amazing food, the history is incredible, the culture, the architecture, you've got mountains and waddies, you've got camping under the stars, you've got beautiful islands, and it is such a great road trip destination. Everyone that I know who has been to Oman has put it so high near the top of their favorite destinations that they have ever been to. And that is why I'm so excited to go. This country is actually quite large, and it would be very challenging to visit at all, to visit it all. But I want to travel via road trip. I originally put Oman on my bucket list when I travelled to Jordan in the Middle East. Our stopover was in Musket in Oman, and that was, I guess, the first glimpse of the Middle East that I'd ever seen in real life. And we had quite a lengthy stopover at the airport. So as we were flying in, and whilst we were at the airport for many hours, and I was just looking out the window, it was crazy that even though I'd never been to the Middle East, it just looked exactly like what I'd seen on the news, even though this was quite a safe country. Um, I was just really fascinated and I just had never really imagined that a lot of the Middle East countries were uh safe and easy to travel until I did this trip. So that is when Oman went straight onto my bucket list. Funnily enough, Oman has uh funnily enough, Oman actually has quite a large range of uh luxury accommodation options over there, some very, very luxurious resorts and one in particular that is way out of my price range, but you can actually get a flying fox into the resort. Yes, you heard me correctly, and it is stunning. So um you can also do uh like you can also do desert camping. There is such a big range of experiences in Oman. For me, I'm Australian and flying there is quite a lengthy journey, which is why I haven't been there yet, to be honest, but I cannot wait to go to Oman. Let's move on to destination number two, and that is Iceland. Iceland for me is oh, it's such a combination of so many things that I'm obsessed with. So the nature and the rugged landscapes over there are just incredible. You've got you've got ice, you've got waterfalls, you've got, you've got volcanoes, you've got black sand beaches, you've got the ring road and the midnight sun. And as an Australian, the the weather and the landscape over there just feels so foreign, and that's something that I love so much about it. Now, Iceland is a funny one for me because from everything that I've read, visiting in their summer and visiting in their winter are two completely different experiences. So I actually want to do this trip twice. Top of my bucket list is summer. I want to go there. Uh, and I've talked about going there with my sister, and of course, I have to go back in winter to experience a completely different Iceland. The funny thing for me is I actually really hate the cold and I hate being cold. So that might sound like a strange destination for me. But tourism at the moment, it is rapidly increasing, but it's still not too bad over there, and it's just big open wide spaces. And being from out back Queensland in Australia, that is something that I absolutely love. This is another great road trip destination, and I envision doing this in the summer months, possibly in like a camper van. I don't know yet. That might be a terrible idea. Uh, in winter, however, I will definitely be staying in very warm lodges and accommodations. So Iceland is number two on my bucket list. Number three, if we're gonna stay with the cold weather theme, is Lapland in Finland. Yes. Back to the cold, which is something that I don't love, but I'm fascinated because it's just a landscape that is so foreign to me and um weather that is so foreign to me. So looking at pictures and video of Lapland, it feels magical to me. It just kind of feels like a childhood dream. And there are a few places in the world that people say the home of Santa and this is one of them. So at Christmas time, especially, Lapland is just absolutely magical. So, yes, I want to go in winter. I want to go around Christmas time where all you can see is white. It's just snow. Everything is covered in snow. Uh, there are igloo hotels there. There are beautiful cabins that have uh glass ceilings so you can look up and see the northern lights. You're in the Arctic Circle, there's reindeer, there's dog sleds, there's incredible train journeys, and it just looks so, so magical. The one downside about traveling to Lapland in winter is the number of daylight hours. It is so minimal, if any. And I I haven't even mentally prepared myself for that, but I can't wait to go. Once again, this destination for me is so far away from Australia and so expensive for me to get to, but I can't wait to go. Number four, this is so much closer to home, and this is Tonga. Tonga is an island destination, and flights into Tonga aren't the easiest to get, but it's so beautiful. Tourism in Tonga is really low, which means that the experiences that you can have there are so authentic. The locals are lovely, lovely people. One of the things that I would love to do in Tonga is to swim with the whales. Now I'm a huge animal lover and I will only support ethical wildlife experiences. And there are so many places around the world where you can swim with whales, but it doesn't seem ethical. There are places where there is a lot of over-tourism, where they are fed to keep them within certain areas purely for tourists, and I don't support those whatsoever. Tonga, however, is a different experience. Now, because of my goal of swimming with the whales here, I do want to do some training and get a free diving certification before I go. And the main thing that has stopped me from going to Tonga so far is that, well, you kind of need to travel in the right season for the whales. And for me, the timing has just never really aligned. Outside of swimming with whales, I really want to dive into the culture here, and it is just a really beautiful island destination. Destination number five is in a similar vicinity, and that is the Solomon Islands. Once again, this is much closer to home for me, and the timing just hasn't worked out, but I was very close to going here this year as well. This is another beautiful island destination. Solomon Islands also has very low tourism numbers. It's relatively easy to get to from Australia or New Zealand or the Pacific Islands, but from elsewhere in the world, it is much more challenging. It feels truly off the beaten path. Here, island hopping is the way to get around, and there are so many islands. This is another place where the locals are really friendly, and exploring local villages just gives you a whole new perspective on local living there. I think because of its remoteness and how hard it is to travel to, that is one of the appeals to me, and also why most people don't ever get to experience the Solomon Islands. Let's move on to destination number six. And the only reason I haven't been here yet is the cost. That is Antarctica. Antarctica is so expensive to get to because you can only travel there from a couple of destinations around the world. And just to get there is really expensive and takes a long time if you are Australian. So the most common way to get there is on a cruise or a tour or an exhibition. Typically, you will travel there via boat over many nights with many stops along the way. You do need to cruise through the Drake Passage, and it is well known for having some of the roughest seas in the world. I've seen clips of people who have been cruising through the Drake Passage online, and it is truly terrifying. As much as I want to travel to Antarctica, it's kind of one of those things you just have to do to get through it. Anyways, why I want to go to Antarctica? Well, it just feels like another world. You've got snow and ice, you've got rugged landscapes that most people will never experience in their lifetime. The wildlife is one of the biggest appeals there. And uh most of the tours there, the things that they have every day to do, to see and do, it is usually wildlife-based. You've got incredible silence, you've got icebergs. I'm obsessed with penguins and would love to see them in Antarctica. And of course, I really want to do the polar plunge. If you don't know what that is, you basically stand on the edge of your ship in your swimmers. Typically, they have a rope or a chain tied around your waist just in case. And you literally dive into the freezing cold ocean where you are surrounded by ice. Is it uncomfortable? Yes. Will it feel like torture? Yes. Is it a once-in-a-lifetime experience? Absolutely. And that is why I have to do it. So this is a dream destination that is super expensive to go to, but I think it's one that is worth saving for. Next up, destination number seven, and that is Turkey. As a country, Turkey has so much to offer. Of course, you've got some of the really big famous sites, such as Istanbul, Cappadocia. Now I know I'm pronouncing that wrong. I really do apologize. I'm terrible at pronouncing names. You've also got Gallipoli. I am most fascinated by the history in Turkey, and that is the ancient history, but also the war history. As an Australian, Gallipoli is a place of significance for us, especially around Anzac Day. And it would be such a an impactful experience being in Gallipoli uh being in Gallipoli for an Anzac Day service. On top of the history, the the food in Turkey looks incredible, and there is just such a vast range of diverse landscapes there. Okay, next up number eight is Cuba. Oh, this has been on my list for a couple of years, and another one that I've been so close to booking many times. And I plan to go to Cuba with my sister. I love Cuba for a couple of reasons. I really, really love Cuban food. And the funny thing is that from what I've heard, people who go to Cuba say the Cuban food in Cuba is actually so much worse than Cuban food anywhere else in the world. And I don't know if this is true, but apparently it's because of the quality of the food that they're actually able to get their hands on in the country. And there is a lot of poverty there. So apparently that is one of the reasons why the Cuban food outside of Cuba tends to taste better. But that is one of the reasons. The music and culture is the second reason. I love Cuban music. I love Cuban dancing. And I think the whole lifestyle around the food, the music, the dancing, oh, it's it's something that just kind of feels intoxicating. And of course, you can't go past the vintage cars in Cuba. I also love that as a country, it feels like it hasn't changed for many, many years. It kind of feels like you're taking a step back in history. I'm also mindful that part of the reason for this is the government structures and the challenges that the Cuban people have been through. So it's a bit of a complex country, but one that I want to visit sooner rather than later, because I really do feel that once some of the um, I guess, barriers to entry have been lifted, I know it's a challenging country for many people to visit at the moment, especially if you are in the US or traveling through the US. And I think that once those restrictions start to fall away, or if in the future those restrictions start to fall away, it's just gonna have a tourism boom. And I want to go to Cuba before that happens. This is another trip that I basically planned out and I just haven't got to yet. So stay tuned. This is high on my list. Number nine, this is another trip that I had booked and I actually cancelled. Like I actually had all of the accommodation completely booked and cancelled at the last minute. And that's Namibia in Africa. If you want to know why Namibia is on my bucket list, look it up. The landscape over there is just mind-blowing, especially their desert landscapes Dead Vlay, uh, which is how do I describe it? It's it's kind of like it kind of looks like salt flats surrounded by red sand dunes with these like petrified trees in the middle. It looks like another world. That was the number one thing that fascinated me the most about Namibia. You've got the skeleton coast, you've got safari opportunities, there is a historic German settlement. So it's an abandoned settlement now, uh and I believe it was for diamond mining. So you still got the old homes there, and it's just kind of been re-recaptured by nature. So you can walk through these buildings that are now just filled with sand, which is really fascinating to me. It is one of the least populated countries per square kilometer on earth, and for that reason, it just feels so big and so open. Now, I'm not going here for the food because apparently it is not really friendly to people like me. I don't eat meat, and this is a heavily um this is this is a country of meat eaters, so I know that I'm gonna find this very, very challenging. Uh, but whilst traveling around Namibia, road trip is definitely the best way to get around. Whilst road tripping around. The days are often six, eight, ten hours long for driving. So you need a lot of time there and you need a lot of driving time and a lot of fuel there. So I had this entire trip booked, and the reason why I canceled it last minute was the conflict that started up in the Middle East. Now you're probably thinking, well, Tani, this is Africa. It's not the Middle East. And you were correct. But two things happened. Most of the flights from Australia had stopovers in the Middle East. So to avoid that, it was very lengthy and very costly. And secondly, knowing that we would have to drive sometimes eight to 10 hours per day, the fuel costs at the time would have been incredibly large. And the high risk of, you know, the only place to get fuel along the way running out of fuel was just not worth it for us at the time. So we ended up canceling and booking Vanuatu instead. Here you can expect a lot of safaris, a lot of luxury desert lodges, so much so that like some of them are very expensive, but they are jaw-droppingly beautiful. And while I do typically travel on a budget, I have to book a couple of luxury lodges here because I just think it's part of the experience. And this is one of the places in the world that I think I would actually consider a sunrise hot air balloon ride. And destination 10. This is probably the most uh typical bucket list destination that other people would have on their list, and you might have on your list too, and that is Machu Picchu in Peru. This is one that I've always been fascinated with because I learned about it as a child, being read about ancient history, and it just absolutely fascinated me. So, yes, I know that Machu Picchu is very popular, but there are so many other sites around Peru that have a similar history and are a similar look and feel, but don't have the crowds. And I want to get to those as well. And you know what? Sometimes the classic bucket list destinations are classic for a reason. And I felt the same visiting the pyramids in Egypt. Yes, they're so cliche, but once you get there and you see them and you step inside a pyramid for the first time, you kind of get why. So I'm a bit on the fence around the Inca Trail. I think if you're gonna go all the way to Peru and you're gonna go to Machi Picchu, you kind of need to do the Inca Trail. However, it is lengthy, it is very over tourist-touristed? Over. There are a lot of tourists there. They're actually damaging the trail with the number of people that are there at the moment. So I'm a little bit conflicted with do I do the trail for the experience or do I skip the trail and just go straight there to maximize my time without damaging the environment? I haven't quite landed on an answer on that one yet. I also really want to see the Amazon and also Rainbow Mountain. So those are my top 10 bucket list destinations. They were Oman, Iceland, Lapland, and Finland, Tonga, the Solomon Islands, Antarctica, Turkey, Cuba, Namibia, and Peru and Machu Picchu. And I'm gonna give you a bonus one, and I almost don't want to tell you this because if I you when I if you were to ask me the question, if you could go anywhere tomorrow, where would it be? This is where it would be. I don't want this country to change before I have the chance to get there, especially this destination. Oh, but I have to tell you, so you can check it out if you've never heard of it, and that is Socotra. Socotra is an island off the coast of Yemen. It is hard to get to, it is very dangerous to get to, and it is on the do not fly list for most countries around the world. It's almost impossible to get travel insurance for this country. And if you have a stamp from Yemen, a passport stamp from Yemen, a lot of countries around the world will not let you in. But Sakotra, oh, for it it kind of reminds me of a combination of the Galapagos Islands and Namibia, if that makes sense. You've got you've got animals and you've got plants there that are not found anywhere else in the world. The landscape, you've got tropics, you've got sand dunes, you've got, oh, it's incredible. And tourism is rapidly increasing in Socotra, but at the moment, the experience there is that you can only go on a guided tour. And most accommodation outside the uh the main towns, your accommodation is still intense. Yes, that is correct. That is how you travel around Socotra. It is so off-the-beaten path. It is very much a hidden gem. I am yet to tell anyone that I want to go to Socotra. And they go, oh yeah, Socotra. Because no one I've ever spoken to about this has ever heard of Socotra. And that is just another reason why I love it. So I've given you my top 10 bucket list destinations, but I've also given you my uh my highly secret number 11, which if you ask me where in the world I would go tomorrow, if I could go anywhere, it would be there. Okay, let's bring this one home. So there is a couple of trends that I'm seeing at the moment when it comes to bucket list destinations. I'm seeing travelers choosing more meaningful experiences over ticking countries off their list. So rather than just ticking off big, big bucket list items, they're looking to they're looking at things such as wellness-based travel or expeditions or travel with purpose. I'm seeing wildlife experiences becoming much more ethical, and I love that. Road trips and train travel are both booming. Slow travel is on the rise with travelers spending longer in fewer places, and people are also expanding their horizons with destinations that they may have not once had the confidence to go to. So when it comes to your bucket list, it's not really about collecting countries. It's really about experiences, the ones that you are going to remember for the rest of your life. And you don't need unlimited money or endless annual leave to have a bucket list experience. So dream now. You can start planning gradually over time. And just remember that every bucket list trip starts with choosing just one destination. So, what is your number one bucket list destination? I genuinely want to know. I'd also love to know if you have been somewhere unexpected that has captured your imagination. I've actually written a full blog post with this entire bucket list, including more detail on each destination. If you'd like to see everything I've mentioned today, I'll link it in the show notes. I'm also currently planning a trip to one of my top 10 bucket list destinations. I'm not going to tell you which one it is just yet. You'll have to keep, you'll just have to stay tuned to find out more, but I cannot wait to share that with you. I hope today's episode reminded you that a bucket list isn't about chasing countries or competing with anyone else. It's simply a collection of the places that light you up and inspire you to keep exploring. Some of these destinations might still be years away for me, and that's completely okay. Every big adventure starts as an idea, then a plan, then eventually becomes a memory you'll never forget. If you're feeling inspired to create your own travel bucket list, make sure you download my free travel bucket list planner. It'll help you organize your dream destinations and start turning them into real adventures. I'll link that in the show notes. I've linked my blog post in the show notes as well. Until next time, keep dreaming big, keep planning your next adventure, and I'll see you in the next episode. Thanks for tuning in to the Tourist to Traveller Podcast. I hope today's episode has inspired you to travel more authentically and plan your next adventure with confidence. Don't forget to head to touristtotraveller.com for today's show notes, resources, and free guides to help you plan like a pro. And if you love this episode, please hit subscribe and leave a review. It helps more travelers like you discover the show. Until our next adventure. Go beyond the tourist track and level up your travel experiences.