Reverse Bucket List…

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What would be your reverse Bucket List? Experiences that are meant to be awesome, once in a lifetime moments… but in reality rate as anything from ‘meh’ to ‘fuck that!’

Mine is…

A spa day. Totally boring and over priced to wallow in a pond of other people’s filth.

Everest Base Camp… never seen such a pile of litter. Made me feel sad.

Christmas shopping in London. Sensory nightmare.

North West 500… how to become the most hated being on the planet, drive a camper van round the narrow lanes of north Scotland.

Designer outfit. I still looked like a mad old bat.

Fish and chips by the sea at sunset. Getting covered in the shit of psychopathies seagulls isn’t what happens on Instagram.

Also
Raw kelp carb diet healing retreat.

Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Was so excited to go and it was just packed with cynical grifters who just saw foreigners as money pools. Everything was targeted at middle class Americans, from the souvenirs to the constant upselling of tours of an "authentic" floating village. (Pro tip, the floating villages in Shanghai, China, are more authentic and less busy and you won't get fleeced the same way)

Stonehenge. I wrote two academic papers on it before I saw it (re-evaluations of other people's work) and I was so bloody disappointed. I would have preferred the massive fence of the seventies and eighties because at least that would have given the landscape some interesting feature. Still love what it stands for but just not what they've done with the site.

Still waiting for someone to suggest something i'd actually want to do.

The infrastructure is still set up for a very small rural community. And the locals in the main don't have the cash to invest in infrastructure

There are far more campers tha there are camping places

try not to hold up other traffic that isn't on holiday - use passing places to let cars behind past. Repeat. No matter how annoying it is.

Use lay-bys to let other cars past if you have a tail and the road is too busy to allow overtaking

Don't take a large vehicle that you find hard to drive on tiny single track roads, or one that you hate reversing with

Do take your litter with you

Don't empty waste anything into streams ,

don't piddle or poo near streams which are often local drinking water supplies ( no there are not many public toilets or convievient pubs or cafes to pop into)

Don't expect much in the way of accommodation or pubs or shops outside of the really big towns
Or public loos

Stunning area though

Anything and everything Disney.

Oh and don't park even for just a minute in a passing bay

Notting Hill Carnival. The image : Vibrant colourful spectacle, music, dancing policemen, jerk chicken etc etc.
The reality : Horrible, threatening, lawless, dangerously overcrowded and fucking scary. At one point, I genuinely thought a Hillsborough type crush could happen. Never, ever again.

Skiing- just didn’t like it - never again!

Stadium gigs. No I don't want to stand in a crush, pay ten pounds for a drink, or take a half an hour to fight my way through to the toilets, thus missing a chunk of the gig.

Not exactly a bucket list item but seeing the Crown Jewels. Takes forever to shuffle past, you're not allowed to stop and properly look, and they're just a bit naff really.

The northern lights- Not as good as the pictures because cameras capture it better, stood in a very cold dark field with hundreds of strangers and being in Reykjavik- the most expensive place I’ve ever been

Oh that's so sad. I was in Angkor Wat 25 years ago before it was commercialised and it was incredible.

Breakfast in bed. I just don't want the crumbs in my bed. I'd rather get up.

manicures. Most boring experience ever and feel horrible. I admit they look nice but that is it.

NIghtclubs or anything involving loud music and dancing. (that part of weddings, etc)

Oh god, breakfast in bed is a shit example, sorry. By the time I read a few PP (spas etc), I forgot the main idea of once-in-a-lifetime stuff and thought it was just treats/things that might be considered little luxuries etc.

I wanted to see the Magna Carta for years built it up into a huge thing and took DD as it was a monumental bit of history queued up and went in the tent - took An hour to queue up - eg. A book with nothing else and no translations Meh…..

Great idea for a thread. Generally I avoid big expensive bucket list things as I think most would be disappointing and over hyped.

Punting in Oxford from Magdalene Bridge was something I'd always wanted to do. It turned out to be something of a curate's egg. The punting was way harder than it looked and we immediately became entangled in a chaotic knot of tourists from all over the world who were equally incompetent. It caused much hilarity between us all as it was like floating dodgems but wasn't the serene, scenic experience I'd expected. Also it was drizzly.

Simple things are by far the best. A couple of drinks and a curry and naan in a friendly local Indian restaurant. A Sunday roast after a hike in a country pub. A dog walk. A game of scrabble. A browse round a farmer's market or car boot sale on a sunny Sunday. A drive thru costa and a drive in the country. A new book by your favourite author with a glass of your favourite wine - preferably in the bath with some nice bubble bath.

Big stuff is so overated..........

ps for anyone who is disappointed by Stonehenge go to Avebury or the Rollright Stones - way better and free of charge plus Avebury has a pub within the (gigantic) stone circle.

Hmm. Thinking. But I love a spa day. Did NOT like cruising

I agree with you that the actual process of having a manicure and/or pedicure isn't fun and is just boring. I never understand why some people love it! I just can't wait for it to be done. But I still do it occasionally for the end result.

However, this thread is about bucket list experiences and I don't think a mani/pedi or going to a nightclub is on anyone's bucket list.

I followed a friends advice about the Sistine Chapel - which is to get the earliest possible entrance to the Vatican museum, and then RACE through the 50% of it which is en-route, so that you get to the SC before it gets too busy. That way it is genuinely wonderful. The downside is that you miss 50% of the museum, so you either decide that's ok, or you go round again, which effectively means seeing the SC twice...

Tried skiing in UK. I was crap and wouldn't do it for a holiday. (Too bendy, not enough strength)

The jumping off anything high is also a no, (bungee or parachute or cliffs or canyoning)

Don't like getting cold and wet.

Hate the idea of a spa day..

No to Glastonbury etc.

Ditto camping.

Going to hot places on holiday.

Whale watching is underwhelming.

Things I've done and liked which I would add to a retrospective bucket list:
I have been to the Olympics, (football, UK )
Been to Iceland which was very good)
USA New England fall was pretty good but we missed the best leaf colour so a bit of a risk when booking.

Canadian West Coast was beautiful.

I agree with so many things mentioned here that it's scary!

Me - Big sporting events, the Oscars or similar, the Coronation, Destination weddings/events even if I like the place, Accompanied tours, Cruises, Coach trips, Anything involving fun for kids, Crowded tourist attractions/cities/sites.

But I have done lots of my bucket list items by now as I am OLDER... none of which involved the above 😉

Just go in a normal size car and spend money in local businesses
while behaving like a reasonable person, you’ll be fine!

This thread is excellent 🤣

I agree with Glastonbury - absolutely awful. Massively overrated and definitely not as "cool" as I thought it would be.

Cambodia - horrible place. Angkor Wat was ok, but then the exploitation of local people etc takes away from the beauty of it.

The Alamo in San Antonio - bizarre place. We went and stood outside it and I was like "so where is it then?" And it was like "well this is it." We went and had a look round but totally underwhelming.

Kerala (Fort Kochi) in India - yet another town ruined by cruise liners. Really sad to see.

Firework displays. I think bonfire night is ok but it's all a bit meh. Even the "really really good ones".

I'm a weirdo, love a spa day. (has to be a decent spa of course)

I agree with the Dubai haters though. Once was more than enough.

Tall buildings - Shard, Burj Khalifa, Empire State etc... it's expensive and I don't enjoy it, I get enough of a view from an airplane or building that's a few storeys high. No more tall buildings for me.

Also Disneyland - horrific, never again.

Caledonian Sleeper was ok, not as fun as I'd hoped but I did sleep well.

Things still on my bucket list: yoga retreat, Norwegian cruise, Rome, Vienna, Copenhagen, Lake District, Lake Annecy, riding holiday, walking holiday in Italy, Pompeii, Douro. I could go on 😉

Pompeii in the summer. I visited on a scorching hot day it felt like I was going to die and I was surrounded by loud American tourists. I'm sure in the off season it's much more pleasant an experience however I won't be going back to find out.