Your Bucket List Disappointments

[38Chevy454]

Thought it would be fun to list the items that were on your bucket list and once you did that item, were disappointed and won't do that item again

Something like took a cruise, but then was seasick. Or tried a new hobby and failed or unable to get excited about continuing it. Or travel to somewhere and it was not a nice visit. Or bought that long sought car and it was a lemon.

So let's hear your bucket list disappointments

 

[Car-Guy]

I'm still looking for the perfect vehicle. The right look/style, performance, options... I've had a few that came close recently but no cigar, yet.

 

[skyking1]

Driving across Kansas in the winter winds was not on my bucket list, but I will not seek out that experience again.
I did most things before I had a bucket or list, or even a bucket list.
I tried my own business and that was less than thrilling, I guess that is the best I can do on-topic.

 

[brett]

On one of our snowbird trips in SE Asia we flew to the Philippines for what we planned to be a three week visit.

We spent four days, then took another two days to arrange a flight back to Thailand. We were very disappointed on a number of levels.

We were thankful that we had an open schedule with no firm accommodation or travel commitments. The upside....it made us appreciate Thailand even more!

 

[skyking1]

good to hear Brett. I never had a hankering for the Philippines or Malaysia, but always wanted to go to Thailand. Now to convince DW

 

[COcheesehead]

Not really a bucket list item, but one I heard a lot about and went in with high expectations.

Las Vegas

The other was the US Virgin Islands

Ouch

 

[HenryD]

Before I owned lakeshore property I used to dream about how cool it would be to zip around in a speedboat I could keep at the end of my own dock. I bought the house, boat, etc. about 20 years ago. Literally the first time I got the boat up on plane I thought "this is not as fun as I thought it would be and I spent a bunch of money getting here". I've gotten way more satisfaction out of the sailboats I've owned and have no desire to deal with the hassle of waterfront property anymore.

 

[Aerides]

On our first trip to Japan, DH was very excited to visit the Tokyo Anime convention. It was ok, but not like you'd expect, a bit too corporate, and not enough cosplay!

On the back end of our trip, we found out there was a 2nd convention, less organized, more home grown, more fun sounding, more led by enthusiasts vs the companies trying to showcase their shows. That particular day there were heavy winds, and many of the trains were shut down - all the elevated ones - so the normal route wasn't doable. We ended up taking about 3 hours to do a 1 hour trip, including the challenges of translations and re-routes as some things got cancelled en route. The last leg was a bus... but we made it!

We got to the door....and it was no admittance if you didn't have an advance ticket, sold out days before.

We trudged away and saw massive lines for the buses to start our journey back. I decided we were gonna BTD and get a cab instead...

Ah well!

 

[2017ish]

Machu Picchu.

My expectations were overly high, as I'd been dreaming of going there since I was in middle school.

The large number of people, too many of whom were focusing on getting the exactly perfect instagram photo with no concern for other visitors, was a big turnoff.

Luckily, a climb up Huayna Picchu (and being at the front of that line) to an unobstructed overlook helped a lot.

 

[COcheesehead]

Machu Picchu.

My expectations were overly high, as I'd been dreaming of going there since I was in middle school.

The large number of people, too many of whom were focusing on getting the exactly perfect instagram photo with no concern for other visitors, was a big turnoff.

Luckily, a climb up Huayna Picchu (and being at the front of that line) to an unobstructed overlook helped a lot.

Funny you say that. Someone else I know said they had to stand in line to take a photo of the mountain town. Not my kind of adventure.

 

[Gumby]

When I was 8 years old, I read a book about the famous archaeologist Howard Carter and how he discovered King Tutankhamen's tomb. Ever since then, I have I wanted to go to Egypt and see the Valley of the Kings for myself. And, after 55 years, that dream finally came true this past October. It was a grand and glorious trip. We saw all the wonders of ancient Egypt, cruised the Nile on a dahabiyah for four nights, ate well and had a great time.

But, the tomb of Tutankhamen was actually not all that impressive. It was small and crowded and the designs were just painted on the wall rather than carved into the stone and then painted like the other tombs. And aside from his mummy in a glass case, there was nothing else in the tomb.

Going inside the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza was also somewhat disappointing. First, it is about 100 deg. inside, and for about the first 100 feet you are climbing through a tunnel angled up at about 30 degrees. It is roughly 3 feet by 4 feet, so you are hunched over the whole time, nose to tail with the people ahead and behind while squeezing past sweaty people coming the other way. After awhile, you reach the grand gallery, which is tall enough to stand up, but still only about 3 feet wide with a press of people coming the other way. And your reward is the King's Chamber, which is plain stone room completely devoid of any decoration whatsoever. No paintings, no hieroglyphics, no nothing.

I will say that those were only minor disappointments, and I'm still glad we went.

 

[NW-Bound]

I don't really have a bucket list, meaning something I must do before I kick the bucket.

I do have many places that I would like to see, not in any particular order, where I will go when there's an opportunity. And because I don't set high expectations, I am rarely disappointed.

 

[CardsFan]

Thought it would be fun to list the items that were on your bucket list and once you did that item, were disappointed and won't do that item again

Something like took a cruise, but then was seasick.

Cruising was it for us. So many people raved about them. So we went on a true bucket list item, an Alaskan cruise. Spent 3 days in Seattle on both ends and had a really good time.

Then we tried the Caribbean. No thanks. We have enjoyed all-inclusives in many of these places. Stopping for 1 day with 4,000 other folks was NOT the same.

DW has cousins that cruise about 20 weeks a year. They love it. Just not for us.

 

[Midpack]

I do have a written bucket list, almost 100 events/experiences. I don’t have any that were outright disappointments so far. However, we’ve done vacations to spots we have no reason to go back to, but trying new places is how we’ve found the places we really like and go back to - so no regrets. We’ve deliberately applied the ‘constantly try new experiences approach’ our whole lives, otherwise how can you find the ones you really enjoy? Vacation spots, restaurants, shops, activities, we’ve moved many times (I’ve lived on 3 continents and we’ve lived in 10 US states), etc.

 

[Marita40]

Well it wasn’t on my bucket list but Disney was the pits, IMHO. Don’t flame me.

 

[Phroig]

I always wanted to brew my own beer. I figured out that buying beer in the store and drinking it is a lot more fun.

 

[skyking1]

Well it wasn’t on my bucket list but Disney was the pits, IMHO. Don’t flame me.

It was good when I was 10, it was OK when I was 18.
I don't seek that again nor a Disney cruise.

 

[Dtail]

It was good when I was 10, it was OK when I was 18.
I don't seek that again nor a Disney cruise.

I live in FLA, but can't see visiting these types of parks anymore.

 

[NW-Bound]

It was good when I was 10, it was OK when I was 18.
I don't seek that again nor a Disney cruise.

On the other hand, my wife's niece loves Disneyland so much, she buys an annual membership to visit whenever she has time (she lives in the LA area). Said the visits helped her to relax.

She's in her 40s.

The last time I was there was for my kids, and they were in their pre-teen years.

 

[rk911]

never thought of the following as a "bucket list", but...

- wanted to be a licensed amateur radio operator since i was about 10. accomplished that when I was 25-30. earned my Extra Class about 10-15 years ago.

- wanted to learn to fly, too. was on my way to that when my wife had a skiing accident and I had to stop. but i accomplished that goal after I retired.

- best of all I wanted both of us to retire no later than 55. i tried for 50 but no go. we both did retire at 55.

 

[razztazz]

Things that didn't work out the way I wanted: (But not necessarily "bucket" material.)

1) Playing guitar. Even just the 4 chords and a cloud of dust style of playing has been a lot harder than I thought. Maybe it's age. Maybe I lost my sense of rhythm. Bought some recording equipment too. I thought: "Millions of 13 yr olds learn this every year, how hard can it be?" Hard enough.

2) Re-Hooking up with one of the Loves of my life after 31 years. We both thought it would be like a romance TV movie. Older, wiser. Like the song from that James Bond movie: "We've got all the time in the world." Or Kris Kristofferson's line about: "Talkin' of tomorrow and the money, love, and time we'd have to spend." But, people change.

Things I actually liked better than I thought I would:

Going from Apartment living to a house. I was leery of all the extra.... well, crap, that comes with a house. I had one in upstate NY in the 1980's. Thanks to knowing someone living in a trailer park, I decided to give that a try. Even with all the additional headaches and repairs it was still cheaper than renting (a nice apartment.) I also unexpectedly enjoyed mowing the lawn and shoveling snow. Mowed twice-a-week during the height of Summer and eagerly awaited the first substantial snowfall each year like a 6 year old. Since the heart attack I actually miss doing those.

 

[dmpi]

I had a simple goal. My goal was to make a road trip through remote areas of America in the middle of the night in a convertible with the top down so I can look up and see the Milky Way. We borrowed my brother-in-law Miata and heading out in the warmest part of August. The problem was when you get old (I'm in my 60s) your night vision isn't good. I could only see maybe 100 yards ahead; not good when you're driving through windy roads. I didn't have time to look up at the stars because the driving was terrifying. I was sure glad to see the sun come up! I was exhausted from the whole ordeal.

 

[skyking1]

ouch dmpi
That worked over eastern Montana and the Dakotas in the 310 @11,000 MSL, sans the convertible part. I got a crick in my neck from leaning forward to look up, but it was beautiful.
I filled my buckets up as a younger guy hooning all over the US in a twin engine plane. No Ragrets.

 

[Act2]

Kissing the Blarney Stone

Yuck. The stone itself is up a dark stone walled narrow passage way; the passage way was dirty, crowded, and full of bees(!!!). The people coming back down from kissing the stone said it was horribly unsanitary and slimy and not a good experience.

I ditched the crowded bee-filled passage way and never made it to the stone. But we were told you can get “the luck” by kissing someone who had kissed the stone. Now that is more my speed!!

 

[MarieIG]

Kissing the Blarney Stone

Yuck. The stone itself is up a dark stone walled narrow passage way; the passage way was dirty, crowded, and full of bees(!!!). The people coming back down from kissing the stone said it was horribly unsanitary and slimy and not a good experience.

I ditched the crowded bee-filled passage way and never made it to the stone. But we were told you can get “the luck” by kissing someone who had kissed the stone. Now that is more my speed!!

Yeah, went there as a kid. No bees, but I was (am) scared of heights, and it wasn't what I had imagined.