Guided by Whale · 150+ ideas
Curated from real bucket lists of presidents, athletes, and icons.
Bucket list ideas worth doing before you die
Curated from the verified bucket lists of presidents, athletes, billionaires, and icons — then expanded to cover every kind of life well-lived.
Travel
25 ideas
See the Northern Lights in Iceland or Norway
Walk the Camino de Santiago (800km across Spain)
Safari in the Serengeti at sunrise
Visit all seven wonders of the world
See the cherry blossoms in Kyoto, Japan
Drive Route 66 end to end across America
Spend a week in Antarctica
Swim in the Dead Sea
Watch the sunrise from Machu Picchu, Peru
Take the Trans-Siberian Railway across Russia
Sail the Greek Islands for a week
See the Great Barrier Reef
Visit the Taj Mahal at dawn
Explore the Amazon rainforest
See the midnight sun in Scandinavia
Visit every continent
Road trip across New Zealand
See the Pyramids of Giza
Trek to Everest Base Camp
Visit the temples of Angkor Wat, Cambodia
Ride the Orient Express
Visit all 50 US states
See the tulip fields in the Netherlands
Hike through Patagonia
Experience Carnival in Rio de Janeiro
Famous people who checked travel off their list
Adventure
25 ideas
Skydive from 15,000 feet
Bungee jump off a bridge
Climb a mountain over 4,000 metres
Surf a wave over 10 feet
Swim with humpback whales
Run with the bulls in Pamplona
White water raft a Class V river
Hike the Appalachian Trail end to end
Dive the Blue Hole in Belize
Sleep under the stars in the Sahara
Paraglide over the Swiss Alps
Cage dive with great white sharks
Climb El Capitan in Yosemite
Ride a motorcycle across a country
Complete an Ironman triathlon
Hike the Pacific Crest Trail
Go on a polar expedition
Zipline through a rainforest canopy
Learn to free solo climb
Do a polar bear plunge
Drive a racecar at full speed
Go canyoneering
Trek across Iceland
Kayak the Grand Canyon
Dog sled in Alaska
Famous people who checked adventure off their list
Creative
25 ideas
Write and finish a novel
Learn to play a musical instrument
Paint something you're proud to hang on a wall
Learn to cook 10 world cuisines from scratch
Record a song and release it
Perform on a stage in front of a crowd
Learn a new language to conversational fluency
Design and build something with your hands
Take a photograph that stops people in their tracks
Write your memoir
Learn calligraphy
Create a short film
Take a pottery class and make a finished piece
Learn watercolour painting
Design and make your own clothes
Build a piece of furniture from scratch
Start a podcast
Perform stand-up comedy
Choreograph and perform a dance
Compose an original piece of music
Illustrate a children's book
Throw a kiln-fired ceramic pot
Learn to draw portraits
Write and perform spoken word poetry
Publish an article in a magazine
Famous people who checked creative off their list
Achievement
25 ideas
Run a marathon
Learn to fly a plane
Start and grow a business
Earn a black belt in a martial art
Become fluent in a second language
Complete a triathlon
Read 52 books in a year
Become completely debt-free
Meditate every day for 365 days
Learn to code and ship an app
Climb the corporate ladder to a role you dreamed of
Compete in a national championship
Earn a postgraduate degree
Break a personal athletic record
Master a complex card trick
Memorise a long poem or speech
Build an investment portfolio
Complete a Tough Mudder
Do 100 push-ups in a row
Become a certified scuba diver
Get a pilot's licence
Compete in an obstacle course race
Solve a Rubik's cube in under a minute
Complete a 100-mile ultramarathon
Qualify for the Boston Marathon
Famous people who checked achievement off their list
Humanitarian
25 ideas
Plant 1,000 trees
Fund a child's education for a year
Build something that outlasts you
Raise money for a cause you deeply believe in
Donate anonymously and tell no one
Start a scholarship fund
Build a school or library in an underserved community
Volunteer at a hospital for a year
Teach English in a developing country
Adopt or foster a child
Donate a kidney or be a living donor
Leave a legacy gift to a charity in your will
Start a foundation
Clean up a beach or river in your community
Create a free resource that helps thousands of people
Advocate for a policy change you believe in
Feed a hundred families
Sponsor a refugee family
Run for local office
Start a community garden
Write a book that changes someone's life
Give blood 50 times in your life
Reduce your carbon footprint to near zero
Build homes with Habitat for Humanity
Leave a place cleaner and more hopeful than you found it
Famous people who checked humanitarian off their list
Found something that speaks to you?
Whale tracks your bucket list, shows your personality archetype, and matches you to the famous person whose ambitions look most like yours.
Social
25 ideas
Famous people who checked social off their list