The All-Budgets Bucket List

The fact that we aren’t going anywhere means all we can think about is going everywhere. We can’t be the only ones. With more time on our hands, lots more, we’ve fallen down a rabbit hole of holiday dreaming and armchair travel. With more cruises cancelled for 2020, we’re looking ahead and deeming 2021 the year of the bucket list. If we have to wait for our next holiday, we’re sure as hell going to make it worth the while.

It’s a term overused, bucket list. What isn’t a ‘bucket list trip’ these days? But there’s something about the idea of making a holiday that has long been on your wishlist a reality that feels like just the tonic in these strange times. That said, bucket list trips weren’t all created equal. Antarctic expedition or Peruvian mountain hike, Amalfi coast limoncellos and high tea on the Transatlantic. Whatever floats your boat, it’s time to put the wheels in motion on those big trip aspirations. Here are some of our own to get you started…

 

Egypt River Cruise

The Nile has us enraptured from school age and the pharaohs and pyramids of the stories have their ancient secrets uncovered on a river cruise of Egypt. This Viking river cruise sees Egyptologists accompany you on a tour of Aswan spice markets, Luxor temples, traditional felucca rides along the river and explorations of age-old monuments.

 

Northern Lights

Bucket list doesn’t always mean big spender. Northern Lights cruises are surprisingly good value for money and seeing the skies painted red and green is worth every penny. We’re still not quite over the postponement of Iona’s maiden season but we’re convinced she’ll be worth the wait and this Norwegian Fjords cruise from Southampton has bucket list appeal without the price tag.

 

Alaska

The reality of losing a whole Alaska season of sailings hits hard, so it’s one of the first places we’ll finally be ticking off our list next year. The icy peaks and glacial expanses of the Last Frontier have adventure written all over them and we’ll be searching the sea for whales, exploring the Alaskan Railroad, kayaking fjords and sailing past glaciers millions of years in the making on this Holland America Line sailing that follows in the footsteps of the great Jane McDonald.

 

Transatlantic to New York

Few sailings are quite so iconic as Cunard’s Transatlantic crossing from Southampton to New York. The idea of boarding in Southampton, cases creaking with suitably stylish outfits for a week on a Queen, and cruising beneath the Verrazzano Bridge into the Big Apple has us all sorts of excited. The city that never sleeps fills every minute with something else to do, so we’ll make the most of it with a day or three to explore, before heading home with our Macy’s haul.

 

Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is an epic feat of engineering but few put this manmade marvel on their bucket lists for a look at its nuts and bolts. The seafarer’s shortcut is 50 miles you’ll never forget when you join one of the 14,000 ships that use the canal each year. With Panama, Guatemala, Mexico, Costa Rica and Colombia on the port lists, it’s little wonder that a Panama Canal cruise has become one of the ultimate itineraries for the intrepid. We’re eyeing up Celebrity Millennium’s late September itinerary here.

 

Amalfi Coast

The Amalfi Coast is romance personified, a melee of stop you in your tracks vistas and knock you off your feet food. If this is all sounding a little superlative heavy, it should; describing the Amalfi Coast in a way which does it justice takes every ounce of extravagance a language has. Tuscany, Sicily, Florence and Pisa often join the antipasti of Italian destinations on an itinerary and if that isn’t enough to persuade you, we give up. This Azamara Pursuit itinerary is an Italian immersion.