I’m Doug West: retired, living in the Philippines, and proof a big bucket list doesn’t need a big budget.
Hope all is well with you and your bucket list. My name is Doug West, and I’m retired and living in the Philippines.
I’ve been traveling for a long time, here, there, and everywhere, with plenty more still on the list. I’m not a rich guy, so I use a mix of research and travel hacks to do the things I want to do.
I needed an actual list of goals, a bucket list, to get started. I’d post it somewhere I’d see it every day as a reminder, and every day I’d look at the number one item on it.
After someone told me I’d set the bar too high, I started thinking it was just a dream and nothing more.
Then the day came when I realized it might actually be possible. After watching a video and doing some research, the dream turned real.
That’s Emirates First Class on an A380, a savings of almost 72 percent.
Since I started traveling, I’ve planned every trip using apps, websites, blogs, vlogs, books, and videos. It’s all out there, usually standing right in front of us.
Shanghai, China
The China Years
When I retired, I hit the wall nobody warns you about. I finally had the time I had wanted for decades, and no idea what to do with it. Then I read a post that put one idea in my head: go teach English in China. I went for it.
Ten years. That is how long I ended up teaching over there.
I loved my students, and I still keep in touch with a lot of them today. It turned into one of the best chapters of my life, and I nearly talked myself out of it before it ever started. In the end the visa rules caught up with my age and I could no longer teach. But those ten years are the reason I trust a list. One post, one decision, and a whole life I would have missed if I had waited for the right moment.
A casual look at some of the places already checked off, with more still to come.
There’s one thing that beats all those apps, websites, blogs, vlogs, books, and videos: experience.
What works on one trip carries straight into the next.
Wait for someday, or that perfect day, and you may never go at all.
A list on the wall keeps the goal in front of you, every single day.
My goal at Bucket List Boomers is to help fellow bucket listers reach their own travel goals, affordably and without the guesswork.
It’s the same question Doug asked himself before he ever left home.
