A good friend recently returned from a trip to Guatemala. Another friend, from a luxury cruise in the Mediterranean. One of my clients is visiting family in London, emailing me links to the restaurants he’s sampling (crepes, anyone?). Me? I’m here at home for the moment, reading their emails and listening to their stories, experiencing their adventures vicariously.

And committing my travel bucket list to paper.

As I mentioned on the About page, although I’ve traveled a good bit and been fortunate to see many amazingly interesting and beautiful places, I still have a long list of destinations I would love to visit. I’m not getting any younger, and I do believe that putting dreams and goals ‘out into the universe’ can help make them happen. Or, perhaps I should say, Help me make them happen–I realize I’m hardly passive in all this. So here’s the official TravelerWrites wish list, a.k.a. bucket list, in no predetermined order and subject to continual expansion:

Bhutan

Thailand
Wander the floating markets of Bangkok, visit Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai and the islands. I’m not sure which islands yet….Anyone have suggestions for some of the lesser-traveled, less developed places?

Ireland
Particularly western Ireland – Aran Islands, hear traditional Irish music in Doolin, hike around the Cliffs of Moher–and I’d love to see Belfast, the Lakelands region, Dublin and the Isle of Man, too.

Nova Scotia

Assateague and Chincoteague islands

Asheville, North Carolina

Apalachicola and St. George Island, Florida
Been wanting to go here since my mom visited a friend there several years ago and talked about the small towns, big delicious shrimp, beautiful beaches and…deep breath…quiet. VISITED 10/2010

Hawaii
Spent 10 days on Maui and Kauai after a family wedding but it was NOT enough time. I fell in love with Kauai and hope to go back for a longer period of time (and hike the Na Pali coast, which I didn’t get to) as well as visit the other islands.

Memphis, Tennessee – BBQ and blues, how can you go wrong?

Galápagos Islands

Machu Picchu

Zihuatanejo and Guanajuato, Mexico

Ride the Bodensee Bike Circuit (Germany, Switzerland, Austria)

Walk the Cotswolds

The Azores

Madeira

Hong Kong

Morocco

Race up Pikes Peak and participate in the Baja 1000 and the Paris-Dakar Rally
Oh, wait. Those are on Mr. TravelerWrites’ list. Not that I’d mind going along for the ride.

Zanzibar

Italy
The Amalfi coast, Turin (seat of the slow food movement and home to the Salone del Gusto–the 2010 show is October 21-25!), and, well, the rest of the country, too.

Budapest

Turkey

India

Vietnam

Australia and New Zealand
Just give me, like, three months for this trip.

Stay in an over-the-water bungalow on (make that ‘off’) a Polynesian island

Banff/Lake Louise

Malta

Ride the Trans-Mongolian Railroad

Maho Bay Camps on St. John
The owner just got a six-month lease extension in the hopes of raising enough money to buy the property from a developer. I plan to help. You? http://bit.ly/Jt6nH

Oaxaca, Mexico for Noche de los Rabanos

What’s on your travel wish list a.k.a. bucket list?