Bucket Lists with Re-visits

We have no bucket list, the closest is a couple travel ideas for Europe that we talk about as preplanning and to keep an eye out for travel deals.

But, I would say just about every trip now, we revisit someplace we have been. Last April/May we went to Southern UK, revisiting a place in Cornwall and Portsmouth we had been, and London for maybe the 5th or 6th time, but included maybe 4-5 new places

Next April we will be going to Southern Spain and Portugal, revisiting at least 3 places we have been, plus 3 new places. Then I am doing a beer trip with my Son and Brother hitting at least 3 or 4 places I have been, plus a half dozen new places.

I guess the last trip we did that was all new places was Portugal several years ago, but that was rare. There is something interesting, maybe comforting, in revisiting a place you have been, especially 10 years later or so.

I would definitely go back to Paris and London before going back to Rome. I have been to all three many times and to me Rome is too crowded and I have seen all I need to in that city. Paris and London seem to get more and more interesting to me each time I go and I leave wanting to go back for more. As far as a country I want to keep going back to I would say Switzerland for hiking and Germany for the Christmas markets.

I have always had a bucket list in my mind, but the more I travel the longer it gets.

Still, at 75, I have done about 90% of my list.

Yes, we have been back to some places, but the focus is on new places. Although my Wife hadn't been to Egypt, so we went there in January even though I had been there before. This time, I got to see Abu Simbel. It was still great to see it again.

I have been to 81 foreign countries and still advise to do places you haven't been before you go back to what you have seen.

I don't have a bucket list either so I have done a lot of revisits to Paris and London. I've also revisited Rome, Venice, Florence etc in Italy and am not drawn to them like Paris and London. I 100% agree with Charles' statement: "Paris and London seem to get more and more interesting to me each time I go and I leave wanting to go back for more." My "to-do" lists for both cities get longer and longer after each visit, lol.

I did visit all new locations on my last trip in August - Did Orkney and Shetland with a few nights either end in Aberdeen as a landing spot. I am SO VERY enamored with both Orkney and Shetland and will get back to both places. Wow, blew me away. I did not have expectations, it was a kind of last minute trip so had not done a lot of research but wow, amazing area. Also an excellent location for a summer trip when everywhere else is too hot for me! 62 for a high in mid-August? Sign me up!

I'm in my mid-70's so I will age out of my current tour company in a couple of years because his tours are pretty strenuous but I hope to be going strong for a couple more years. After that I will do Paris, London and various spots in Great Britain. I want to do a winter/Christmas Market trip to Paris, London, Bath and Colmar even though I am not a shopper!

I will also choose a revisit if there is a special exhibition. I made it a point to go to the Vermeer Exhibition in Amsterdam last Spring. Wow, that was completely amazing.

I've had a bucket list (or wish list) for travel for as long as I can remember. And the list has changed over the decades as some were accomplished, some dropped off for one reason or another, and others were added. Right now the list is short, and most of them are revisits. And none on that list are in Europe. But that list is more or less for extra special trips requiring more time, effort, and money than our usual European jaunts. A visit to somewhere in Europe is usually a combination of places we've been to before and really enjoyed, with a few new places added for variety. I can't ever imagine growing tired of time spent in Paris or London or Florence.

I always have a fluid list of things I'd like to see. Our last trip we did a week in Rome after Sicily because it was convenient and I was able to put together places none of us had been before. On the previous trip however I chose a few days in London for the 4th or 5th time vs a 2nd time in Venice. I have never been to Spain, but I would choose London/UK/Poland/Czech Republic which I have been to many times over it. Go see what you want to see.

I have an unwritten bucket list. But, I also feel content now that I did complete my top contenders, so if I could no longer travel, I did complete all of those.

My list will always have repeats on it that rate higher than some locations I haven’t seen. Mainly because I’m choosing atmosphere, specific activities, and beauty in art that’s fulfilling to me vs. a checklist counting countries/cities.

One year I returned to Paris for a week after having just been there the year before as part of our itinerary. I just felt like we had rushed through our 4-5 days there, so that week the next summer was taking time to savor Paris. It was wonderful, and when I return, I always remember that special week.

Venice is always a “yes”! It’s difficult to go to Italy and not swing over to stay there a few more days.

The big cities aren’t the only repeats on my list. The itinerary for my next trip to Italy began with the desire to return to Spello to attend their Infiorate and expanded into a 32-day itinerary. Stresa, Italy and Chartres, France and Salzburg, Austria are written in permanent ink in my mental bucket list. : )

I am not a bucket lister, although I have a spreadsheet with places I have never been, and I hope to work some in soon.

But I am an avid "revisiter" (if that is a word)...and over my 40+ years of foreign travel, I have returned to Paris at least a dozen times - honestly I have lost count - and I know that I will go again, god willing...

I don't have a bucket list nor does my wife.

When we go away we always revisit old favourites and pop into a few new places as we do.

My wife’s bucket list item is to stay at no less than 80 of Spain’s Paradors. My only real backer list item is to visit Cuba, other than the naval base at Guantanamo (been there numerous times). On our trips, if we happen by a place we’ve previously visited, we’ll stop. Some countries we simply deem to dangerous to visit because of politics and world events.

Scotland (beyond Edinburgh) and Iceland (beyond Reykjavik) are about all that's left on my true bucket list. I may never get to either because I hate to leave the beautiful PNW in summer, and I wouldn't relish them any other season. Probably a good combination for one trip via Icelandair.

I've visited Paris and London numerous times, but both are still on my radar. Endlessly interesting as others have noted, logistics are pretty simple. I might take 7-10 days in each, one of these years soon. No point putting up with the flights unless I'm in Europe for awhile.

I like repeating places. Not as interested in "seeing" new places and checking them off/ compiling a list as experiencing things I know I like in places that heighten those things.

So repeat visits are great! But to me a bucket list feels like things you haven't done. So I don't really have repeat visits on a bucket list.

Very top of my re-visit list would be Scotland. I went in 2009 and I was completely taken with the landscape, people, music, food, and history. Being there exceeded my expectations, and really touched my soul.
Second would be Paris, but a much mellower trip this time--parks, cafes, strolls, side streets--just walking around without having to hit all the "big sights." (2004 was a very busy sightseeing trip all over the city).
Third would be Spain---but this time to walk the Camino Frances (2011 was to visit Madrid and Barcelona).

I don't have a bucket list per se but I do debate whether to revisit someplace I've been before versus trying somehwere new. So far, I have revisted London, Paris, Rome, Amsterdam and Prague. Given how places change and memories fade, I sometimes wonder how to think about places I visited decades ago.

When we were younger the bucket list was "new, new, new." A few negative experiences had convinced us that repeat visits invariably disappoint. That place we thought was magical when we were (even!) younger didn't hold up on a later revisit, etc.

But then, surprisingly, more recent revisits started to be much more revelatory.

I think age and experience is core to your question. In early years of travel, the experience of new was paramount. And repeating a past destination seemed disappointing. But with age, knowledge, wisdom (?!!), the revisit can actually be seen in a new light. It just takes some time and distance to make that possible.

Now most of our future travel is based on returning to places we visited many years ago. Funny how things evolve...

Would a 2nd visit to Rome rank higher than a 1st visit to London?

Funny you should ask. Last year (in fact, exactly 1 year ago today!) I went to Rome for the 2nd time. In March I will go to London for the first time. Reason? I wanted to go with my husband. No regrets. We plan to go back to Rome in the next couple of years. Will London be a repeat for us, too? Seems likely.

I had an actual bucket list: Prague. In 2014, I had a serious health scare, at about the same age when my mother and grandfather had become terminally ill, and I was feeling sad that I might never see Prague. So, my husband and I determined to go there, if I was able. That summer, we took a trip to Budapest, Vienna, Prague, Czesky Krumlov, Salsburg, and Munich. It was wonderful.

It turned out that my health situation was less serious than originally thought, but my husband and I had decided not to put off travelling any more, because one never knows. So, every year since then, excepting 2020, we have taken a "big" trip someplace.

Like geovagriffith and Jean, I have now been to the places I would most regret never seeing. You see, it's not about merely checking items off a list, as some people imply for some reason. It's about trying to minimize regrets as I near the end of my life. I don't see what's wrong with that.

Of course, there are still places I'd like to visit. The world is a vast and diverse place, and there are so many fascinating places to see, foods to try, landscapes to admire, etc. I can't imagine doing much revisiting, but maybe when I'm less mobile or less energetic, I might prefer to revisit more familiar places. I'm 65, so that might come sooner rather than later, but in the meantime, I'm still very interested in seeing new places. If I stop doing so, it will be because the spirit is willing, but the body is weak. Our next trip will be to Taipei, Siem Reap, and North Vietnam. After that? Maybe Greece and Turkey. Maybe Poland, Sweden, and Finland. Maybe Australia. Who knows?

I would return to Paris, because I missed seeing the Père Lachaise cemetery, due to nasty weather. But I would probably do so as a stopover of a few days on my way to someplace else. I would revisit parts of Namibia, but would probably add that to a visit to Botswana.

Mostly, though, I love seeing new places and having new experiences, even though I'm a senior citizen. :)

Excellent topic. I have a small bucket list for places I have not yet been, but top on my list for repeats would be Paris.

My very first international trip was a very budget excursion when I was 23. I connected with my college room mate who was finishing a year as a rotary student in England. We did London, took the train to Paris and then took the ferry to Ireland where we successfully hitch hiked. Incredibly low budget, a day pack with two changes of clothes inside and lunch picnics that would have made rick proud.

I've been to Ireland a couple of times since, and England and Scotland. But I really want to go back to Paris and spend a little more money. I might wait until Norte dame is at least partly refinished.

Part of the equation for repeating past cities is time available verses age. Any time you do a repeat place as a main feature of your travels you forgo that timeframe forever. Well, forever is not that long a time anymore for some of us. So we have to triage our desires for the new place against the horizon of our lives.
Sure, I could repeat Rome, but why, when so much else is out here. When usually taking two overseas trips a year I can look ahead, foresee, how many places I could possibly visit. At what age is the great slowdown going to happen? The slowdown of physicality to achieve the trip at all, or the slowdown of the mind relating to desire to try new things when it is so much easier to visit the known, the safe, the familiar. Where one doesn’t even have to think too much.
Bucket list or not. You got to move. You have to be open. You have to believe in the excitement of new places. Once you start going back, you have already succumbed to the low end of travel excitement.
But, if your age is out there, then you are compromising and shortchanging yourself.
Then again, it is your life and who cares anyway?

For me, all are interesting replies. Responses are as varied as people are different.

The desire to "re-visit" seems to come down to a few things:

reasons for travel -- culture, history, love of travel, being dragged along,
money -- most of us have to live within a budget, regardless of time
time left to travel (age) / current health
how much time available to travel -- responsibilities at home, such as care-giving make a difference
experiences -- if you had a great romance in a certain city you may always want to return.

our interests change or get enhanced -- some places are one and done, but the visit may have turned your attention to something you had not thought of in the past. For me, a visit to Bayeux Tapestry sparked an interest in the Norman Conquest.

Open minds and flexibility are order of the day.

"It's about trying to minimize regrets as I near the end of my life. I don't see what's wrong with that."

@ BB - Yes! This! This is a real motivating factor. My Mom loved to travel yes, in her last days in the nursing facility, every day when I visited her she would say she regretted that she never saw the Great Wall or went on a Safari to see the African animals. She had dementia so this was a daily statement to me. I really decided then that I did not want to have travel regrets. As mentioned upthread, I don't have a bucket list but I've been back to Paris and London enough times that I've got a good feel for them and that makes me very happy!

I also think that the new vs revisit is related to personality issues, lol. I'm a detail oriented person. Others like a big picture situation. To me that makes a difference in how we all travel as well as GoWest's summary above.

We don't have a bucket list per se. We like to take a cruise to new places mixed with old favorites. On the next trip we will pinpoint places from the cruise that we liked and go back there for a bit. Sometimes we wander and find new places.

Seconds are always the best. Ya done the big things. Now its time to BE there.

"Love is lovelier the second time around" said Sinatra. And so are many of the places we all visit. Being familar with a place often means one can really savor a location rather than just "doing" it as has been discussed over the past several days.

"It's about trying to minimize regrets as I near the end of my life. I don't see what's wrong with that."

Here, here. It's ok to regret traveling somewhere, but it's not ok to regret not traveling there.

Penn,
I have done an East African safari as well as seen the Great Wall of China. But, I have been to Venice 6 times and loved that city.

However, I would not wish to go back to Venice again.

i know people that only vacation at the mountains of North Carolina. They love it there and don't go anywhere else.

That is a very personal preference.

Still, in my mind, the World is filled with so many amazing places to see. I know that I won't see all, but I am trying.

I love Paris and London, but after doing those cities a couple of times, I have done much of the countryside and smaller cities in Great Britain and France. I actually found that I loved doing those places perhaps even more than Paris and London.

There are cities I want to revisit precisely because I saw all my "top things" the first time around - possibly when I was younger and traveling at the speed of light. I want to go back to travel at my today pace, surely seeing less and possibly absorbing more.

Some places we’ve returned weren’t as nice as when we went the first time, like the now overcrowded Cinque Terre. You could say that some bucket list places, the second time around, pail in comparison.

The more places I visit and the older I get the more my travel motivators change. Eight years ago I said I would not likely go back to the same place. The reasons that I want to travel have changed. I started out a culturally sheltered person. I am not that person any longer. I am now envisioning a lot more re-visits in my future. I haven't even been to London yet and who knows, maybe I won't ever get there? I don't feel that previous sense of panic that I used to feel about "missing out". I feel more relaxed, as long as I have 2 sets of tickets booked and showing up in "my trips" of my Delta app.

I have settled into the "something old, something new" mindset, though actually I like to start with the new as it takes more energy, then I can relax a bit in a familiar city...which seems to be either London or Budapest. This spring I visited Rome then on to Budapest, in the fall it was Edinburgh (a new serious contender for repeated visits) then to London...I love exploring new places, but there are very specific things that draw me back repeatedly to these places so right now, there is nowhere else that out-ranks them.

Some places we’ve returned weren’t as nice as when we went the first
time, like the now overcrowded Cinque Terre. You could say that some
bucket list places, the second time around, pail in comparison.

This hurt a little but I still like :)

I just completed a trip that took me to four places I had never been before as well as a return to London. Certainly, the December weather, especially in the UK, was a factor, but my favorite place was London, which I had previously visited three times over the years.

Travel is intensely personal. Upon reflection, I would call my trip a checklist trip rather than a bucket-list trip because I was visiting places that I had read much about and that I thought I needed to see. For me, this is my last checklist trip--and my last winter trip unless I am going to a city like London. I was thinking about a spring trip to eastern Europe because I have not seen Prague and Budapest. I now realize that I wanted to see those cities largely because I have never been there and it seemed that I needed to see them. That trip will not be taking place, certainly not in 2024.

After decades of travel, I find that I generally prefer large cities to smaller cities (though Salzburg, Grenada and Bruges are exceptions) and to the countryside, that I like the sea but care little about mountains, and that the trip approach of going to a number of different places (see the itinerary for nearly any RS tour) is not for me.

In Europe, the two best places I have visited are London and Paris. Hands down. One can make any number of day trips from either city. For example, from London, you can visit Bath, Oxford and Cambridge. On my second tier, I have Berlin, Salzburg, and the Amalfi coast. I do want to return to Italy, though not because I "should," but because what I have seen there makes me want to return (and because I disliked Rome, I feel I one day need to give it a second chance).

But the biggest mistakes in travel that I have made and that others make are thinking that we need to visit several different places in one country to appreciate it and that we have to go to certain places because we "should." And this also includes museums and other sights listed as "must see" in the guidebooks.

A neighbor recently went on an Asian trip and talked about how she did not enjoy Vietnam. My question was of all the places in the world, would would you want to go to Vietnam. Again, because how we travel and where we travel to is very personal, there are are no right and wrong answers, only interesting subjects for lively discussion. And I am not suggesting my approach is right for others. But I have finally discovered what is right for me.

Scotland (beyond Edinburgh) and Iceland (beyond Reykjavik) are about all that's left on my true bucket list. I may never get to either because I hate to leave the beautiful PNW in summer, and I wouldn't relish them any other season.

Dick, I've been to both places in May (Iceland in 2018 and Scotland in 2023) and really enjoyed them during that month. I had very good weather (and no midges in Scotland), and not nearly as many crowds to deal with.

”But the biggest mistakes in travel that I have made and that others make are thinking that we need to visit several different places in one country to appreciate it and that we have to go to certain places because we "should." And this also includes museums and other sights listed as "must see" in the guidebooks.”

I agree & disagree with this thought. Some examples:

When my husband & I decided to see Italy year ago, we signed up for the 17 Day RS Best of Italy tour which stays in eight locations. Some of those locations wouldn’t have been on our list if we had planned it independently, so imagine our delight when we seriously loved all of them! (And have returned to them.)

I could give a similar example for other countries, too, where staying in many locations in the country has broadened our appreciation for their culture & sites.

On the other hand, narrowly focusing on “must sees” causes travelers to be in the now crowded sites & locations. When we were planning my daughter’s first trip to Italy last year, I balanced her desires with several options for her to choose to fulfill those with crowded & uncrowded sites.

I find this question easier to answer for Europe than say the National Parks of the USA. Using Rome as an example it's more likely than not the city I'm flying into & out of for Italy. So I use the 24 hours or so of arrival & departure to see things I hadn't seen prior. In the middle its new places. I can see the same scenario working for multiple European countries.
Last year I got to visit Grand Canyon & Zion etc. I was just looking at a video from Zion & was wishing I could return in 2024. If time & money were no object. But there are loads of National Parks I haven't seen yet so I think I should focus on those.
I want to see & do it all!

I’ve been traveling internationally since I was 5 years old. I traveled on my own overseas when I got my first job out of college at age 22. I don’t believe in bucket list travel because it doesn’t fit who I am.

I return to the same parts of the world many times in the over 30 years I’ve traveled as an adult. It could be to visit friends, enjoy the museums I’ve loved and peruse their current exhibitions, and see something new from places I’ve been many times before. When I know I have vacation time, I look at flights to see which is the least expensive to/from Europe or has a low number of miles to convert and then plan my future trip accordingly. Often times, open jaw itineraries have fewer mileage requirements than round-trip. This can allow me the flexibility to visit new parts of the continent for me. I use Europe's high-speed trains to travel between cities as I do whatever I can to avoid all transatlantic flights that involve changing planes. Nonstops only for me. I use www.seat61.com to help plan my rail itineraries. I highly recommend them.

Like so many other posters here, I don’t have any particular Bucket List and I do enjoy re-visits. Definitely want to re-visit London, Paris and Scotland and Germany. I love large cities with all the hustle and bustle of museums and iconic sites. But, I embrace slowing down and breathing fresh air and marveling at beautiful vistas whether they be craggy mountains, open seas or rolling hillsides leading to deep forests.

I want to re-visit the Germany of my childhood to get a different perspective now that I’m 60 years older. Last years trip to Scotland to find some of my ancestors and learn more of my heritage just whet my appetite to re-visit this gorgeous country. I also want to re-visit Italy but focus on an area that I haven’t explored in the past namely, South of Amalfi and the Southeast part of Italy in Matera.

My cousin and I are planning a Danube river cruise in 2025 to include countries that are new to us: Hungary, Austria and Czechia. We’ll start in Germany for a week and then join the cruise. Another place I’ve not been to is Amsterdam. So, after a re-visit to Paris, I might enjoy 3-4 days in Amsterdam before heading home.

This year, I’m staying close to home here in Seattle and then visiting friends and family in the Chicago area in the Spring. Eventually, I’m thinking of moving to Portugal. Cross fingers I stay healthy enough to accomplish most of these travel wishes.

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays fellow travelers,

We don't have a bucket list, but we do have a Manifest-It list, which is a very large white board in our bedroom where we jot all kinds of ideas down, including ToDo lists, Project Lists, and travel ideas. We have very little travel experience. Have only been to Canada (by car!), Mexico (thanks to my father-in-law paying for us, although it was not a "cultural" experience at all, just a week at an all-inclusive resort 20 years ago), and Hawaii a few times (we have a relative on the big island).

The non-US places on our Manifest-It list include: Norway, Denmark (my sister and I, more than my hubby and I, plan to go there); Iceland (we'd be flying from Seattle, so seems like a no-brainer to add in a couple days in Iceland!); Italy/Croatia (cousins in Croatia; the food in Italy); England (history, castles, tea!), Canadian Rockies/Banff (natural beauty); and Costa Rica (nature/wildlife, equatorial adventures, and a friend lives there). The more reading I do, the more other locations also interest me - Germany (esp. Bavaria), Austria (esp. Hallstatt), Switzerland, Slovenia, the Dolomites (yep, I know that's a region in northern Italy)...Maybe we'll add these to our list eventually. If we can afford to take reoccurring trips abroad, we will, but more likely we will start taking these trips every 2-3 years so we can save and go debt-free.

By nature, we're total homebodies and love hanging at home with our family doing regional things. We're still full-time worker bees with kids in high school/college (and both living at home), though, so we cannot be as flexible as some might be.

We generally don't like to repeat-visit a place as I don't want to have the same expectations and have it fall flat. Hard to beat that 'first time' feeling experiencing a new place. E.g., visiting the Oregon coast - we go somewhere new each time, even though the places we have stayed were fabulous.

Cheers.

Kathy--Iceland is a perfect stopover on the way to Denmark and Norway. We did that exact thing in 2015 and had the best trip! That is when we got hooked on Iceland, actually, and wet just keep returning. We head back again in a month, 6th trip.

I had never heard the term bucket list until a few years ago. Still not sure what it really means.
Of the places I have travelled to there are many I would like to revisit. I know most of the one's in Europe I won't get back to though. It is a long and costly journey from rural Australia to Europe.
So mostly we think of travelling to new places.
New Zealand is our next trip, if we can organise things around our grandkid sitting duties.
I have been twice before in 1983 and 2001. 83 was for running events. 2001 we had 3 kids 8 to 14 and bugger all money so were pretty limited.

Re.Calvados' comment about over organising etc. lack of spontaneity.
Trip is planned for late April or May.
Haven't checked flight prices yet.
My passport has recently expired.
Haven't checked campervan prices yet.
Haven't any itinerary planned yet.
I do have an idea of places I want to see but haven't done any real research yet.
Even when we have a plan it will be a loose one that will probably change frequently during our journey.
That is pretty much how we go about it.

Some of you (from just my perspective) take the joy out of travel with obsessive organization of everything from where to go, what discounts to seek and on to what kind of money belt or lists of best whatever to tax cheats. If spontaneity could be organized and listed someone would do it.

As you stated, that is simply your perspective. And you are entitled to it. But everyone is not the same. Contrary to taking the joy out of travel, many people actually enjoy organizing where to go, what discounts to seek, what kind of money belt to use, and making lists for various things about their trips. That is their perspective, and they are entitled to it as well. No need to cast aspersions just because they enjoy traveling differently.

Nearly everyone reading and certainly posting on these forums has an enthusiasm for, and in many cases much experience with, European travel.

When does a bucket list become a checklist? In my mind, there is a slight difference. A travel bucket list suggests places that for some time I have wanted to go to. A travel checklist suggests places that it seems I should go to because of what I have read and because I have visited so many of my checklist locations. For example, if you have been to London repeatedly and other places in England, York may be on the checklist because, well, you have not yet been there.