“Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education;

in the elder, a part of experience.”

-Francis Bacon

There are many traits and characteristics a person can use to describe themselves as. Often when using these descriptors a person is either one or the other. For example, in life you can either be defined as a thrill seeker or someone who likes to stay at home. Now personally, I don’t consider myself to be a complete adrenaline junkie. It’s not like I actively search out activities that could cause me physical harm, but, at the same time, I also don’t consider myself to be someone who likes to stay home all the time. I am the type of person who is in the middle somewhere. I don’t mind doing crazy things, especially if it’s an option, but I wouldn’t want that to be my only option. Take bungee jumping for example, which happens to be my fifth item on my bucket list. It is an option for me and it’s something I wouldn’t mind doing, but bungee jumping is also one of those things where once I do it,  I don’t really have the drive to do it again. In a sense, I am like a one-time thrill seeker. Once I have done it, I don’t see myself doing it a second time (unless it’s skydiving, that I will never get old of).

Since I consider myself in the middle of being both a thrill seeker and a home dweller, my mindset for when I do, do risky activities is “to go big, or go home.” In this case, with bungee jumping, I plan to do exactly that! Well sort of…Although it is no longer the highest suspended bridge in the world, the Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado is still the highest bungee jumping spot there is. The bridge is approximately 321 meters deep, which is about 1,053 feet, making it the highest in the world (Yes, the world). However, given the extreme equipment needed to bungee here, jumping is only offered once a year during the Go Fast! games at the end of September and it is by invitation only. After doing some research, the only way to get an invitation to jump off the Royal Gorge Bridge is to be a Go Fast! athlete and to be a Go Fast! athlete you have to apply for their sponsorship and all this other complicated stuff. So, unfortunately, with this bucket list item I have to turn back on my motto and go with the next best thing, which is the Macau Tower in Macau, China. Macau Towers is the second highest bungee jumping spot in the world, standing at around 233 meters tall. Unlike the Royal Gorge Bridge, the Tower is accessible to anybody at anytime of the year.

To get to Macau, China you obviously have to take a plane, which we have seen in previous blog posts adds to the cost quite a bit. This time is no exception. A round trip flight to Macau, China leaving from Philadelphia Airports I found averages around $1,240 dollars. Unfortunately, the cost of the bungee jumping package at the Macau Towers is not relatively cheap either. The price of a standard jump is $420 dollars. However, this package does include a T-shirt, an e-Certificate, a Membership Card, and a Macau Tower Entry Ticket, so you are not just paying for the bungee jump. But with the cost of airfare, in addition to the cost of the jump makes the total of the bucket list item to be about $1,660 dollars.

“I am not the same having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world.”

-Mary Anne Radmacher

As we grow and become different people, certain aspects in our life reflect this transition. Whether this change is evident through our appearance, personality, likes, or dislikes, everyone has the ability to evolve into something better. Just like people who can evolve as they go on in life, so can a person’s bucket list (well at least for me). As I have grown throughout the years, many of the things that I once included in my list have since been removed or changed. This is most obvious in my bucket list for items four, five and six. These have constantly changed throughout my life as I have found and discovered new things to be excited about. In years prior, those three spots have included things like going on a cruise, climbing a mountain, and even holding a tarantula, despite my crippling fear of spiders. And although some of these items have remained on my list, the changes that they represent are essential to me as a person.

One of the most beautiful countries in my opinion is Australia. Australia is filled with thousands of unique and exotic plants and animals that can be seen all over the country’s land. There are many staple spots in Australia such as the Sydney Opera House, the Outback, and more specifically the Great Barrier Reef. Visiting and possibly scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef is item number four on my bucket list. Since I first heard about it from my cousin, who was lucky enough to see it for herself, I have wanted to go and explore it myself. The Great Barrier Reef, which is located off the coast of Queensland in northern Australia, is known for being the largest living thing on Earth. The Reef is composed of thousands of reefs and hundreds of islands made of many types of hard and soft coral. It’s home to an array of species of colorful fish, starfish, turtles, and even dolphins and sharks. The Great Barrier Reef is truly magnificent, the fact that it is so large it can be seen from space is just unbelievable.

As a result of the Great Barrier Reef being such a popular destination spot in Australia, there are countless tours and dives that take you out to the site. I was able to find a boat tour through the company Sight Seeing Tours Australia that offers not only a boat tour of the Great Barrier Reef, but also a complimentary snorkel around the Reef as well. This package is priced at only $109 dollars. However, due to the price of airfare, the price of the overall trip increases quite a bit. On average, a flight to Queensland, Australia is about $2,000 dollars. Luckily, I was able to find a round trip ticket for only $1,406 dollars, reducing the price by almost $600 dollars. This, as a result, brings the total of the trip to $1,515 rather than $2,109 dollars, which is what I would have paid otherwise.

“We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.”

– Anonymous

One of my favorite Christmas movies, if not my favorite Christmas movie growing up was the Polar Express. This animated adventure packed movie that features many fun, whimsical songs really resonated with me as a kid. In the movie, the three main characters embark on a journey surrounding the concept of whether or not they believe in Santa. A reoccurring theme throughout the movie is that believing doesn’t always meaning seeing. This really spoke to me as a kid because that very same year the movie came out I was struggling with whether or not I still believed in Santa. The Polar Express movie reinvigorated the Christmas spirit in me, during a time I didn’t see the point in having one.

Although the movie as a whole is very well done, one of my favorite scenes is when Billy, the one main character, is singing the song “When Christmas Comes to Town”. The singing is done beautifully, however, what attracted me so much to this particular scene was the visuals that went along with it. In this scene, Billy is in the back of the train by himself singing about how awful his Christmas experience has been so far. When the other main character joins him and starts singing about all the joys there are during the Christmas season, a spectacle of lights and colors appear in the sky. These lights and the display of patterns they made in the night sky captivated me as a kid. Even though I had no idea what these lights were, I knew that there were special.

If you couldn’t tell already, seeing the Northern Lights are the third item on my bucket list. Since I was first introduced to them in the movie, the Polar Express, I have wanted nothing more than to see them in real life. To many, including myself, the Northern Lights are one of the few things truly spectacular about this world. The lights are caused by nothing more than electrically charged particles from solar winds entering into the Earth’s atmosphere and interacting with the gases. However, the fact that the sky is able to produced an array of colors and hues is still fantastically beautiful to me.

Since the Northern Lights reside above the magnetic poles of the northern and southern hemispheres, there is a variety of places to see the color spectacle. Towns across Scandinavia, Alaska, and even Canada have reported seeing the lights and have made quite the effort in trying to market the lights as the main attraction there. However, according to one of my relatives, who has actually made the journey to see the Northern Lights, has said that the best place to view them is in Norway. Just like the other countries listed, there are multiple towns in Norway that offer the attraction of seeing the Northern Lights. Unfortunately, my relative did not specify which Norwegian city she visited, therefore, I am just going to pick the cheapest one to travel to, which happens to be Tromsø. A roundtrip flight to Tromsø, Norway leaving from JFK airport in New York City is only $832 dollars, thus bringing the total of the trip to be only $832 dollars. Since the Northern Lights are located in the sky and can be viewed from virtually anywhere in Tromsø, Norway, there is no need to pay extra for any travel package that “takes you on the Norwegian experience” in viewing the lights. The only other expenditures that will be made on this trip that slightly alter the price are for hotel and meals, but those costs vary greatly and are not considered in the overall price. Other than that, item three on my bucket list is relatively inexpensive, which is honestly a sigh of relief.

“Better to see something once, than to hear about it a thousand times.” 

-Asian Proverb

After last week’s surprise derail and writing about item eleven, I decided to continue on with my bucket list in numerical order with item number two. Much like skydiving, item one on my bucket list, item two is also extremely personal to me.

As a young child, I went through a series of phases that caused me to like many different things. My interests were constantly changing from one thing to another. Although a majority of my hobbies lasted no more than a month or two, there was one exception. That one exception was my interest for sharks. This first appeared shortly after I saw the critically acclaimed movie “Jaws”.  Now, I first saw the movie “Jaws” at the age of seven and although it terrified me, I became extremely fascinated with the idea of sharks and how they were the rulers of the sea. Soon after, my life revolved around sharks. I wanted to learn everything there was about sharks. So, as a result, I bought almost every book relating to sharks that there was in the bookstore near my house. I studied these books for days, learning all the different species, all the facts there were about sharks, even all of the different shark attack stories that had happened over the years. These books captivated me in a way no other book did when I was growing up. They made such an impression on me that I still own many of the books today.

Anyway, this fascination I had for ocean’s killer fish drove my desire to one day swim with them. Traditionally, people don’t swim with sharks, unless that person is inside of a metal cage. However I didn’t want to be behind some metal barrier, I wanted to be able to experience the sharks up close and personal in their natural habitat. Unfortunately, due to how unpredictable sharks can be, this is not the safest method. The only way to experience sharks naturally without a metal cage is to pick the safest shark, which happens to be the whale shark. Despite the whale shark being the largest species of shark, they are the most non threaten of the bunch. This is a result of whale sharks being filter feeders rather than predators.

The best place to view and experience any type of animal is in their natural habitat. Since whale sharks live in the ocean, there are an infinite amount of places they can be seen. However, one of the most common places whale sharks tend to migrate to is Mexico. I was able to find a local service not too far off the coast of Cancún, Mexico that provides daily boat trips out to a small island that is often frequented by the creatures for a very small price. The Isla Holbox Whale Shark Tour, the service’s official name, costs about $130 dollars. Usually, airfare to these places increases the price of the trip significantly, however, I was able to find a round trip flight to Cancún, Mexico for only $442 dollars.  Making this item on my bucket list the cheapest so far at a total of $572 dollars.

“Exploration is really the essence of the human spirit.”

-Frank Borman

I decided to deviate from the order of my bucket list and skip ahead to item eleven, rather than do item two because after this long week of homework and exams why not? Actually, the amount of stress that has been lifted off my shoulders from all the finished work reminded me a lot of the carefree attitude that is heavily expressed in item number eleven on my bucket list. So rather than talk about item two, I decided to be relatable and switch to item eleven.

The eleventh item on my bucket list is to participate in the Holi Festival in India. I was first introduced to this festival in high school by accident. Every year, all the language departments at my school would participate in this International Festival that not only celebrated the cultures of the languages we taught at our school, but also the many others in different countries. Since it was such a big event at my school, students were only allowed to go during their English period because of how crowded it could get in the gym. However, me, being a rebellious teenage, also went during my lunch period. As a result, I stumbled upon a group doing this as their project and was instantly fascinated. Since I didn’t know much about Indian culture at the time, this truly captivated me.

To summarize, the Holi Festival is a festival that commemorates the victory of good over evil, brought about by the burning and destruction of the demoness named Holika. This festival marks the end of winter and the abundance of the upcoming spring harvest season by typically being celebrated in the middle of March. The Holi Festival is more commonly known as the “Festival of Colors” due to the fact that people spend most of the day smearing colored powder all over each other’s faces, throwing colored water at each other, having parties, and dancing under water sprinklers. The Holi Festival got its name the “Festival of Colors” from Lord Krishna who liked to play pranks on the village girls by drenching them in water and colors. There are many rituals performed throughout this festival, however, the main emphasis of the Holi rituals is on the burning of demoness Holika.

Since the only way to travel to India is by plane, a majority of the cost for this bucket list item is the airfare tickets. Unfortunately, airplane tickets are not cheap. Therefore, a roundtrip plane ticket from Philadelphia to Delhi, India is about $950 dollars. Although that price is not favorable, the price of a trip to Mathura for the Holi festival provided by Padhaaro is. This five day trip that begins in Agra and is led by one of their local experts is priced only at $115 dollars. Making this overall trip a total of $1,065 dollars. Apparently, you can put a price tag on adventure! And, unfortunately, this it isn’t a relatively cheap one.

“And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count.

It’s the life in your years.”

–Abraham Lincoln

The one aspect that connects almost every single human being on this Earth is the ability to dream. We all dream and we all have dreams we want to accomplish during our lifetime. No matter how big or small the dream is, the impact it has on us is immeasurable. Dreams and aspirations often dictate our lives in what we say or do. We make certain decisions within our lives based on the hopes of one day making these lifetime goals a reality.

The most tangible representation of a person’s dreams is the bucket list. The bucket list is a list of things or places a person wants to do before he or she passes. The list can be short with only a few items on it or extremely long with many. Regardless of size, the list is always very personal to the creator. I, for one, have a bucket list with forty-three items on it that I have been adding to since I was little. This list means more to me than anything. I cannot imagine a better life for myself than being able to complete all forty-three of these things.

The very first item on my bucket list, as well as the most important item to me on this list, is skydiving. I know this is probably extremely common and slightly cliché to say, but I have wanted to skydive since the age of seven. Now I don’t know what originally attracted me to the thrill of wanting to jump out of a plane, but all I do know is that the attraction has not yet faded. Not even my slight fear of heights has altered my desire to skydive. However, skydiving is only one part of the dream. The other half is that I want to specifically dive over the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon, in my eyes, is one of the most beautiful places in the United States. Since a majority of the skydiving trip is floating down, the view is an equally important aspect in considering whether or not to skydive.

Nowadays, almost every time you turn on the television, a commercial for a travel website pops up telling you about how their website compares thousands of prices for hotels or airfare fast. Although these commercials are annoying at the time, these specific websites will prove extremely useful for this passion blog both now and in future posts. To make sure that neither you nor I find ourselves in extreme financial debt by trying to accomplish lifetime goals, I will try and provide the best price for everything mentioned.

There are a variety of ways to travel: by plane, bus, train, or car. However, the least expensive mode of travel to the Grand Canyon is a mixture of both a bus and a plane. The trip to the Grand Canyon begins first on a flight from Philadelphia to Flagstaff. A round-trip ticket for a flight like this is priced at $350 dollars. The journey continues on a bus from Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon, which is only priced at $27 dollars per ticket. Finally, the cost to skydive over the Grand Canyon is a total of $299 dollars, courtesy of Paragon Skydive. This brings the overall total of the trip to be about $676 dollars. Although this may seem a bit costly, the memories gained from this experience are priceless.

(Since people live in different areas the means of transportation and charges are subject to change.)

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