Life Is Too Short: What's On Your Sports/Travel Bucketlist?
I lost my father on Christmas 2019 just prior to Covid. That just reconfirmed to me that life is too short and motivated me to travel internationally for the first time in 5 years. I called my manager and told her that I had not been outside the US since I started my job and she gave me the green light to take some time off. I have quite a few items on my bucket list and was able to knock out 2 of them just before Covid shut down the world.
January 2020 - Ten days in Australia. Bondi Beach & Opera House in Sydney. Great Barrier reef in Cairns. Australian Open in Melbourne.
February 2020 - Ten days in Costa Rica.
Next week knocking off Maine, NH, and Vermont off my never-been-to list (5 more states to go after that) as well as Montreal for F1. Capping off that trip by sitting on top of the green monster for Tigers @ Red Sox.
My bucket list still includes several countries, Africa to hit 6 continents, and many sporting events (Masters, Wimbledon, etc) as well as dozens of college football stadiums (25 P5 down).
What's on your sports/travel bucket list and what are your plans to check them off?
There's one thing on my sports bucket list that I have no excuse for not doing; I've been to Dublin but never to Croke Park. The Home of Gaelic Games, location of the All-Ireland finals in Gaelic football, hurling, and camogie, where 80,000 fans watch a bunch of amateurs play for nothing more than pride. On top of that, it's consecrated ground: Google "Bloody Sunday". More history than Fenway, Yankee Stadium, and Lambeau combined.
On my sports bucket list is trying to get to Augusta once for the Masters. The ticket lottery just opened up yesterday so I made sure to sign up.
Might not sound like much but September football in Ann Arbor has become our bucket list. Wife is undergoing treatment for cancer recurrence, so we sold the house and plan to travel the country living the “life’s too short” mantra as soon as her treatment ends. And it will start with a month stay in A2 and four home football games. Sold season tickets 20 years ago to move to Florida and the return visits have been far too infrequent. Looking forward to rectifying that starting Labor Day weekend.
Sports
- a Summer Olympics before they become total disasters
- a World Cup overseas with the USMNT in it
- a Michigan NY6 bowl game
Travel
- climb Kilimanjaro. Didn't get to do it when I went to Tanzania, missed two subsequent friend groups who went and did it
I did your Jan 2020 trip in 2017 capped off by epic 5 set final Roger over Rafa. Going to be hard to top it honestly. Also saw Roger open the 2018 Wimbledon tourney on Centre Court which was amazing.
I'd put a USA hockey gold medal game extremely high on my list.
Sports- I want to go to the Rose Bowl parade in the morning and enjoy a Michigan victory in the afternoon. Something about that game that I must do once in my life if I can.
Travelling- have had 3 cancelled flights to Iceland so would like to get there once but I want to go in the winter with hopes of being lucky enough to see the northern lights.
Just got back from Machu Pichu so that is off the list. If anyone wants to see that please stay at the only 5 star hotel in the town. The river outside will make you wish you slept there the rest of your life.
I need to see the pyramids in Egypt so that is what is left for me. I have many things I wish to see but that is the one last iconic trip to see.
Go Blue!!!!
Machu Pichu is one of the big items on my list so I have a lot of questions:
- When’s the best time to visit?
- How many days/nights would you spend on Machu Pichu?
- Did you hire a guide/tour?
- How long in advance did you book flights, train/bus tickets, hotels, guides, etc?
Machu Pichu is one of the big items on my list so I have a lot of questions:
- When’s the best time to visit?- We went in March. Weather was beautiful.
- How many days/nights would you spend on Machu Pichu? We were in Machu Pichu for 2 days. We only went up once and did it with a guide. You see everything and we didn't want to go back up. We may have but it was rainy and there was no chance to see the sunrise on the 2nd day.
- Did you hire a guide/tour?-Yes
- How long in advance did you book flights, train/bus tickets, hotels, guides, etc?- 6 weeks because Iceland cancelled our flight again and we said we are going on vacation so we did it.
We did Lima, Cusco, Machu Pichu, and Lake Titicaca. Was 10 days total. Everything there is super cheap. Food was amazing. I had a travel agent set it up with drivers taking us to and from the airports and we did a couple group tours. Worth every penny. Have Fun!!
Go Blue!!!!
Thanks!! Sounds like an amazing trip. Did you guys go to Rainbow Mountain as well?
Go Blue!
Summer/Fall of 2024, the America's Cup will be in Barcelona. If I'm not there for that, I'm missing out.
Oh also I'm planning on London for the basketball game this year, which should be a wild week since it includes being in England for the England-USA World Cup game on Black Friday and Michigan-OSU on Saturday.
I would love to do the Olympics and the World Cup. I am curious for those who have experience attending these events in the past on how long in advance does one need to start planning? So like tickets, hotel, flights that kind of stuff?