When I first thought about creating NorthAmericanDarrell.com, I had a few simple goals. 

Document my past travels. 

Share what I am doing now. 

Show people that travel does not have to be expensive. 

Inspire somebody to get out and go. 

And, of course, visit as many places as humanly possible. 

So far, I would say it is working. 

The website gave me one place to collect trips, mistakes, budgets, stories and memories that would otherwise be scattered across thousands of photos. It also gave me an excuse to keep looking ahead. Because every time I cross one place off the list, I somehow discover three more. 

The list gets shorter for about five minutes. Then I watch a travel video, talk to another traveler or find a cheap flight somewhere I have never been. And suddenly the list is longer again. 

That is a pretty good problem to have. 

Years ago, I found a list of fifteen places considered some of the best destinations to visit in a lifetime. Naturally, I turned it into another challenge. Today, I have visited eleven of the original fifteen. 

Thailand. Greece. Indonesia. Portugal. Peru. Italy. The United Arab Emirates. France. The United Kingdom. The United States. And Spain. 

Eleven down. Not bad. 

Especially when so many of those places were once just names on a list. 

Every one gave me something different. 

Thailand helped open my eyes to Southeast Asia. Greece and Italy gave me the history, scenery and food I had imagined. Portugal and Spain helped teach me that I enjoy travel much more when I slow down instead of racing from attraction to attraction. 

Peru became much more than a checkmark. 

France and the United Kingdom gave me completely different versions of Europe. 

The United Arab Emirates showed me what happens when ambition, money, architecture and brutal desert heat all meet in the same place. 

Indonesia reminded me that one country can feel like several different worlds depending on which island you are standing on. And the United States? 

I have spent decades traveling around it and still have plenty left to see. [

The checkmark is satisfying. 

But the memories are what matter. 

There are still three places from that original list I genuinely want to visit. 

Sri Lanka. South Africa. And Bora Bora. Sri Lanka interests me because it seems to pack beaches, wildlife, train journeys, food and culture into a relatively small country. 

South Africa has been on my radar for years. Cape Town, the coastline, the history and finally doing a safari would make that one hell of a trip. 

And then there is Bora Bora. Yes, I know Bora Bora is an island in French Polynesia and not technically a country. 

My bucket list does not care about technicalities. If it requires a long flight, looks unbelievable in photos and has a decent chance of making my credit card cry, it qualifies. 

Then there is India. India was on the original list, but for now I have removed it. That does not mean India is not worth visiting. Millions of people love it, and I understand why it is on so many bucket lists. It simply does not excite me enough right now to justify the time and money. And I think that matters. 

A bucket list should be yours. 

Not a list of places you feel obligated to visit because somebody else says they are important. 

Travel time is limited. Money is limited. 

I would rather spend both on places that make me excited to book the flight. 

Maybe India makes it back onto the list one day. 

Travel has changed my mind plenty of times before. 

And that is probably the biggest thing that has changed about the way I travel. 

The older I get, the less interested I am in racing through countries just to increase a number. 

I still want to see as much of the world as possible. 

But now I want enough time to actually experience it. 

Find the neighborhood coffee shop. 

Eat the street food. 

Figure out public transportation. 

Walk the same route enough times that I stop needing Google Maps. 

Stay long enough that somewhere starts to feel familiar. 

That is the difference between visiting a place and actually experiencing it. 

NorthAmericanDarrell.com started as a place to document where I had been. 

Now it is becoming a record of how travel keeps changing the way I think about money, retirement, freedom, time and what I want the next part of my life to look like. I

f one of my stories helps somebody finally book a trip, rethink an old plan or realize that seeing the world does not have to cost a fortune, then the website has done its job. 

The list will keep changing. The check marks will keep coming. And hopefully I keep finding new places to add faster than I can cross them off. 

Because finishing the list was never really the goal. 

Living the experiences was. 

Keep traveling. Keep adding to the list. And most importantly… 

Live life to the fullest.