What to add to your ultimate travel bucket list

BUCKET LIST definition: a list of the things that a person would like to do or achieve before they die. [Cambridge Dictionary]

Many people have bucket lists of the places they want to travel. Many people don’t.

I didn’t have one for a long time. The usual places sounded good enough to consider: Machu Picchu, Paris, Sicily, Patagonia, the Caribbean beaches… 

Once I was established as an experienced yoga teacher, people assumed I’d been to India. I never have. I’m sure India is amazing, but I was getting at home what yoga teachers would go to India for (think Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat Pray Love). I didn’t feel the need to go, I was so satisfied here. 

I went through a decade-long period during which I didn’t feel compelled at all to see the world. I was experiencing a lot right here. I didn’t realize it at the time, but that decade, for me, was a decade of traveling inward and, as they say, finding myself, excavating the parts of me that I buried deep down to fit in. Yes, even non-pleaser rebels do that.

I was enthralled and spellbound. It was an AMAZING decade of traveling far and wide into the depths of me. I cried and laughed, I was angry and ecstatic, and I started to make better decisions that I wouldn’t regret or be tempted to justify later, and I started to see clearer boundaries between my own space and someone else’s. I hiked really difficult trails, I mean trials, and learned to relax and play in the waves, the undulation between the good and bad, until there seemed to be no good or bad, just what is. I became my own chef, making my own meals, exactly how I wanted them. Me, who hated to cook learned to love to cook. My body got strong and supple, and my mind began to expand and see things it had never seen before. My teacher said that the furthest distance anyone will ever travel is from the heart (truth) to the navel center (our will). I have to say, it’s a first-class journey absolutely worth taking. First class, because on this flight, you are supported beyond expectation.

Turning your ‘getaway’ into a celebration

That inner journey turned what I’d historically do to getaway to take a break from my hard and mundane life into a celebration of it. Instead of drinking a glass of wine to take the edge off, it was occasionally, to celebrate special moments with friends. Instead of drinking coffee to wake up, it became my after-lunch dessert, a treat I could take or leave. Instead of going somewhere to get away from my life at home, it was to celebrate life and friendship. Instead of doing something because I couldn’t say no, it was to say yes because I can and I wanted to. All this to mean, when I come back to my normal routine, it’s not a bummer; it’s a celebration.

The cool thing about learning to navigate and feel more at peace within is that it transfers to everything outside of you. You no longer rely on the external to have a good day, a good vacation, or to feel better about yourself. No matter what’s happening on the outside, and who you’re with, or not with, you’re self-regulated and feeling lucky. Your self-worth and sense of adventure remains steady. You no longer get away; you celebrate all of it. Honestly. Meaning you’re not faking it until you’re making it.

Put this destination on your bucket list. But actually, go there now.

Your journey begins with meta cognition. There’s a part of you that can observe yourself thinking and feeling. Who is this part of you that can do that? Take this question down the rabbit hole and travel to your personal Wonders of the World.

It’s the wildest and most incredible journey you will take.

Sometimes we fall in love with a city so much that we move there. Your inner journey is like that - you’ll fall in love, move in, and feel amazing in your own skin. And like having to navigate unlearned languages while in other countries, you’ll find yourself navigating through language differences within yourself. And with that, your world opens up.

Definitely also go to Machu, Patagonia, and all the wonderful cities, forests, beaches, and wonders of the world if you so desire. But this one’s a must-go destination; don’t wait. It’s a yes and proposition. Go in. Go out. Go in. Go out.

Love, Savitree

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