101 Things to Do Before You Die: Leisure and Activities by The TI Review Team
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Fly a Spitfire by Arnie Wilson
Yes, it’s possible. One or two have been converted to include a passenger seat. Persuade the pilot to let you take control for a few minutes. It virtually flies itself. What a thrill - and the sound of that Merlin engine. Keep a look out for Messerschmidts coming out of the sun!
Attend a Hindu Wedding in India by Sally Howard
Mad, messy, magical affairs and the apex of human pomp, from sarees glowing like exotic plumage to bizarre weeks-long preparatory rituals.
Skydive Over South Island by Sally Howard
Twenty seconds of gut-quaking noise, confusion and chaos - then 90 of pure serenity
Soak Up a Storm by Phillip Sen
Think you've seen rain? There's nothing quite like the elemental violence of a tropical storm or the freshness and clarity of the afternoon air when it's done. In Shanghai the sky turns black and the waters cascade like thunder from the elevated highways; in Delhi the monsoons flash-flood the city streets in minutes; even Angkor can be rendered almost unrecognisable. Get caught in an Asian rainstorm at least once, like here at Ayutthaya, Thailand. It'll turn your view of life on its head.
Ski in the Alps by James Wallman
Ski or board through untouched powder and sparkling blue Alpine air above a blanket of clouds, punctured by snowy peaks.
Drink Champagne in a Treehouse by Anna Jankovich
Drink champagne in a tree house 30 meters from the ground in the forests of India (complete with flushing toilet!)
Hear the Cante Hondo by Tim Elliott
Witness the cante hondo (deep song) being sung by an old aficionado before the bullfight at Aranjuez’s ancient bullring in Spain.
Ride the Camino del Muerte by Tim Elliott
Ride (drunk, if necessary) atop a grain truck coming down Bolivia’s Camino del Muerte, the most dangerous road in the world.
Cross the World’s Tallest Bridge by Graham Reid
The world’s tallest bridge is at Millau in Southern France. Drive across it or sit beneath it, but Sir Norman Foster’s bridge spanning the valley at Millau is industrial design as poetry, and the first great piece of 21st century architecture.
Think Big by Graham Reid
Cape Kennedy Space Center. When you reach for the stars, you have to think big. Everything here, from the width of the runway to the trucks which haul out the massive rockets, is very big indeed. And, consequently, you feel small.
Raft in Tasmania by Cameron Wilson
Franklin River, Tasmania. Tasmania’s Franklin River is a world renowned rafting destination, both because of the beauty and remoteness of the country through which it flows and because of events in 1983, when thousands of Australians took to the streets to save it from being dammed. 1,272 people were arrested for defying the Tasmanian government in what remains the largest act of civil disobedience in Australia’s history. This is true expedition rafting, not a holiday; it’ll change your life. (The October 2006 edition of National Geographic Traveller magazine nominated rafting the Franklin River among its Top 50 Tours of a Lifetime.)
Bungee Jump in New Zealand by Kapka Kassabova
New Zealand: bungee-jump into a river in the south island (head-dipping optional) and feel simultaneously on top of the world and at the bottom of a canyon. Some people buy the video of their moment of glory, but I find that tacky. The whole point is that it’s and an ephemeral and powerful experience that you can’t share.
Float in the Dead Sea by Amy Rosen
Float in the warm, supersaturated waters of the Dead Sea and learn for a few moments what utter weightlessness feels like.
Fly Down a Luge in Canada by Amy Rosen
Try luging at the Canada Olympic park in Calgary, where you fly down the icy chute, feet forward, toes tipped in, shoulders flat, chin tucked into chest, travelling at speeds of up to 65 km an hour. You may not be an Olympic athlete, but at least for 33 seconds you can feel like one.
Brave the Irish Sea for the Traditional Christmas Morning Swim at Sandycove, Dublin by Gillian Ivory
Swimming at these temperatures may turn your lips blue, but that’s just an excuse to sip from bottles of brandy passed around on the shoreline. By the time you get home to the turkey you can justify any amount of indulgence.
Check out our lisitings for luxury hotels in Dublin
Sail a Felucca by Nigel Tisdall
Sail a felucca down the Nile, travelling mainly by night when the banks are festooned with stars and neon-lit minarets. In the day you can visit the ancient Egyptian temples lying between Luxor and Aswan.
Travel with Your Lover, First Class by Catherine Fairweather
Travel with your lover, first class, by train from Moscow to St Petersburg. Close out the cold and the rest of the world in your compartment-cocoon. It’s not high luxury but there are still details like linen sheets, wood panelling, tea served from a samovar at daylight and a view of endless birch forests, ghostly beneath the snow, to soothe the soul. An experience that probably hasn’t changed very much in a 100 years. Romantic and affordable with it.
Visit Dogon Country by Richard Newton
Even if you don't believe the theory put forward in a bestselling book that the Dogon are linked to aliens from Sirius, the people living in the villages at the foot of the arid Bandiagara Escarpment are unique. Their architecture, their dances, their five-day week, all set them apart. And as for their language - just saying 'hello' requires a formal exchange that takes the best part of five minutes. It's another world.
Swallow the Med by Catherine Fairweather
Greece, Islands: Free food is best: collect and eat your own sea urchins off the rocks in Greece on a remote island like Folegrandos or Sikinos. Prize them from their sticking-place with a knife, slice them open, squirt some lemon and slurp - it’s like swallowing the Med whole.
Sail up the Nubian Nile by Stanley Stewart
Sail up the Nubian Nile on a felucca in the arms of a sweet north wind, abroad an empty river uncoiling into the heart of a continent.
Visit the Cuban Car Park by Andrew Ferree
The Cuban car park contains a curious mixture of beautiful American floaters and small, reliable East European tin cans. The cars are noisy, they smoke and honk, but still they are an important part of Cuba’s timeless charm. For travellers, the cars represent a nostalgic reminder of times past, rolling treasures and a different life. For the Cubans? Well, have a look.
Sleep in Hay Barns by Andrew Eames
Germany: Cycle between the so-called "hay hotels" of northern Germany, sleeping in hay barns and feeling fully justified in tucking in to huge farmhouse breakfasts.
Visit a Sumburu Village by Andrew Eames
Kenya: Take a child into a Samburu village in Northern Kenya and witness his/her amazement at mud and wattle huts, Samburu clothing and weapons.
Soak in a Thermal Pool by Dea Birkett
Soak in a thermal pool at the Gellert baths, Budapest, followed by a foot massage.
Read Dylan Thomas in Wales by Fraser Harrison
Wales: Read Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood while sitting on a bench facing the bay in Laugharne, (in Carmarthen Bay, Wales) supposedly the original of Llareggub, with the castle behind you and Fern Hill in front of you. Thomas used to say the clocks ran backwards in this Lethean place, and so they did for me on a hot, happy day when I found myself marooned there because of a railway strike.
Take a Russian Banya by Rose Baring
Take a real Russian banya. Find a remote wooden bath-house in a clearing in the forest, in winter. Take a bottle of vodka (as good as you can afford) and a bunch of dried birch twigs or veniki. Settle into the fug of the steam room for as long as you can, sloshing the water over you and washing meticulously. Encourage the pores to open by thwacking your skin with the water-softened twigs. Now take a deep breath and go out and roll in the snow! When you have done this a few times, get dressed at leisure and down the vodka.
Enjoy a Lobster-Bake Picnic by Tom Brosnahan
Cruise the tortuously twisted coast of Maine, rockbound with granite and marble, and hedged with pine, spruce and fir, in a windjammer (tall-masted sailing ship), stopping at one of the innumerable islands for a lobster-bake picnic.
See Art from the Gulags by AA Gill
The Savitsky Art Museum - Nukus, Uzbekistan. This is a remarkable and humbling collection, thousands upon thousands of paintings, drawings and sculptures produced in the face of great danger. The most moving examples come from Stalin’s Gulag. Together this crammed and desperately under-funded gallery is a memorial to the power of culture, a candle of artistic resistance. The quality of the work varies hugely, from the great to the chronically derivative, but that’s not the point. Altogether they have a unique power.
Taking Tea at a Teahouse by Yvonne Van Dongen
Taking tea at a teahouse under one of Isfahan’s many bridges, Iran. The tea is delicious, the setting memorable and the decor of each teahouse is exotic maximalist. A great way to see Iranians at play - couples flirting, children smoking hubble bubble pipes with their parents, women nibbling sweet cakes.
Ride Along The Mongolian Steppes by Stanley Stewart
Ride across the Mongolian steppes where the wildflowers are as thick as Turkish carpets, the mornings smell of wild thyme and dung fires, and the world, unfenced, unsettled, untamed, seems new-born.
Visit Chianti Country by Melissa Rossi
Visit Chianti country, where the days are filled will bells and wine tasting at enotecas and you awaken to the sound of roosters crowing from nearby gardens.
Take Tango Lessons by Joe Cummings
Tango lessons in Buenos Aires. By the time I finally do this, the tango will probably be out of fashion, but I'm sure it'll come around again.
Drink Fresh Mint Tea on the Banks of the Nile by Annabel Skinner
Egypt, Aswan: Sip fresh mint tea in an Aswan garden on the shores of the Nile, while the setting sun catches the sails of feluccas returning home.
Interested in more activities? Check out Travel Intelligence's 101 Things to Do Before You Die: Hiking and Climbing