We all have things we’d like to do before we leave this world. Some things are personal in nature, like be a good parent or make a difference in the lives of others. However, when we think of things we’d like to do before we die, we usually think of experiences and grand trips.
National Bucket List Day is April 24. BetKansas.com took a break from Kansas sports betting and decided to see what state residents dream of doing before they die. Starting with a list of top bucket list ideas from BucketList.net, we used Google Trends to see which ranked the highest according to search interest score.
The search period was between 2004 to now and the search interest score is compared to other topics searched.
Kansas’ Top Bucket List Items
Going On a Trip Somewhere Stands Out
The top three things Kansans have on their bucket lists involve taking a trip, and five out of the top 10 require getting out of the Sunflower State.
The top three things are going on a cruise, visiting the Grand Canyon and jetting off to Paris. Finding a port with a large cruise ship has a search interest score of 44, which is nearly double the second experience of visiting the Grand Canyon and it is double that trip to France.
The closest cruise ship ports to Kansas are on the Gulf Coast, with Galveston, Texas, 677 miles from Kansas City, Kansas. New Orleans is 685 miles, while Mobile, Alabama, is 692 miles. East Coast ports are all similar in distance — Charleston, South Carolina (932 miles), Jacksonville, Florida (954 miles) and Baltimore, Maryland (967 miles).
That trip to the Grand Canyon is similar at 925 miles or a little over 15 hours driving from the middle of Kansas.
Those flights to Paris won’t take you as long. United and American airlines can get you to the City of Light or the City of Love, whichever you’re looking for, in about 11 hours from Kansas City with connections in Chicago or Detroit.
The other trips call for going scuba diving and seeing the Northern Lights.
You can technically train to scuba dive in Kansas. But to do it right, you’re going to want to be in some salt water, and that’s going to require that trip to the coast. Many cruise ship vacations include scuba diving, so you can knock out two bucket list items in one trip.
The other bucket list items in the Top 10 include getting married, running a marathon, going skydiving, buying a house, and getting a tattoo. Come to think of it, you can pretty much do all of that while on a cruise except for buying a house.
And who knows, maybe you could find that dream house while you’re on vacation in the middle of one of your cruise stops.
If you want to win some money to start your house fund, check out BetKansas.com for the latest Kansas sportsbook promos.
Author
Douglas Pils has been a sports journalist for 30 years in Texas, Arkansas and New York having worked for the San Antonio Express-News, the Associated Press, The Dallas Morning News and Newsday. He currently runs the Student Media Department at Baylor University.
