There are some experiences in life that are truly once in a lifetime, things we’ll only be able to enjoy for a single moment.
Everyone has a different idea of what these are for them, but here are some that come to mind:
1) A Trip to Antarctica
National Geographic (and I’m sure a few other companies) have these incredible educational cruises to Antarctica. I just think it would be amazing to set foot on every continent and see a place that most people will never, ever encounter. These trips can run from $10,000-$40,000 per person. I don’t know where my life will take me, but I’d probably splurge on this with my husband way later in life if we could swing it. Just looking at the pictures from these expeditions is absolutely breathtaking. I bet we’d learn so much! Is it just me or is the thought of this trip really, really cool?
2) Having Dinner With Warren Buffett
Apparently, some people have paid a few million dollars to have dinner with Mr. Buffett. While I’d absolutely love the opportunity, I don’t think I’d spend that much money on it. Do you think that investment would be worth the return? Unless he’d just give me a few shares of his company out of the goodness of his heart, I probably would just stick to reading about his investment techniques and trying to learn from him that way. Side note: I would actually pay to have dinner with Ivanka Trump, but only because I think we’d end up friends and get to have many more, haha!
3) Space Travel
It’s already in the works, but I’m pretty sure that in my lifetime, having pedestrians take a quick space shuttle ride might become more commonplace. I don’t think it’s ever going to be as affordable as your typical plane ride. (It is outer space we’re talking about!) but perhaps taking a quick trip just to the edge of the atmosphere won’t set you back too far. I would definitely do something like this if I could afford it.
4) Performing In Front of Millions of People
If you are a singer, how much would you pay to be able to sing with your favorite band in front of millions of people? Or, if you are an athlete, how much would you pay for the opportunity to play with your favorite stars? I know there are people out there who would love the chance to perform in front of a lot of people and possibly be “discovered” along the way!
Of course, the difficult thing about declaring something as “once in a lifetime” is that you never actually know if it will happen again! Plus, my list might look very different from yours. Most of the experiences that I want to have fit into the travel category, but yours might be something completely different.
So, in the spirit of pursuing fun once in a lifetime memories, please share what would be the ultimate once in a lifetime experience for you and how much you would pay for it.
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I just recently was looking at Antarctica trips. It’s on the long list, but getting closer to the top. It’s up there with a world cruise. As for space travel, when I win the lottery, it’s the first thing Im doing.
Taynia Yes! You are my kind of girl!!
I would be too terrified to travel into outer space. I never want to leave Earth!
I really want to go to the Maldives before they sink into the ocean but it’s sooooooooo expensive. Maybe one day.
Holly at ClubThrifty Haha come on Holly. We can go to outerspace when the kids are all grown. It will be awesome. ;) The Maldives would be amazing!! David was just talking about them too. India first, then the Maldives. :)
Haha, these are some cool options. I would love to do some kind of Safari through the Serengeti. I would also love to visit Tibet and possibly do a vow of silence for a few weeks. Dinner with Buffett would be awesome, but I’m not sure worth millions of dollars. I can’t imagine that he’s charging that kind of fee, unless it’s for some kind of charity.
Matt @ Mom and Dad Money Oh yeah I don’t think he charged it. I think they raffled it off for charity. :) A safari sounds awesome!!
Oh, I’d LOVE to go to Antarctica! However, I think I’d be doing that alone as my wife would have nothing to do with that at all. ;) It’s so hard to nail down where to travel, as I want to go everywhere. :) I think I’d like to go for the dinner with Buffett – he just has so much wisdom to share and with us only living ten minutes from each other, maybe he’d cut me a deal. ;)
FrugalRules That’s so funny you say that. My dad has been wanting to go to Antarctica for forever and my mom is like ABSOLUTELY NOT haha! So I guess we’ll have to take him with us. :) Awesome you live so close to Buffett. Why aren’t you bffs?
A trip to Antarctica would be pretty cool – 90 degrees below, and darkness for 3 months, just like a bad winter in Scotland.
Also a trip to space would be exciting, but only once a star ladder is build. Don’t fancy the idea of being strapped to a rocket.
Stuart @ DailyMoneyBucket LOL Stuart, y’all are making me rethink my bucket list! I have to go though!! Haha.
Funny thing….I have a friend who went to Antarctica and said it wasn’t very fun at all. In fact, she openly discouraged people from the trip because everyone got seasick on her boat, there’s zero to see there, and it’s a long way to go for absolutely nothing. She isn’t a whiner, btw. That said….I’d still like to go ;-)
I have several trips I’d love to take, but none qualify as “once in a lifetime.” There’s a cool tour of castles in Scotland that’s for runners. You run in a great setting every morning and then tour the rest of the day. Every day you’re running mileage in the best setting they could find. There’s a great bike trip right now around Yellowstone that looks awesome. I want to see King Ludwig’s castles in Bavaria. A close friend wants to run the Great Wall of China Marathon, and I’d like to do it with him. Luckily, none of these trips is “once in a lifetime” expensive.
AverageJoeMoney No way!!! Can’t believe your friend didn’t like the Antarctica trip. I’d be upset to pay 10k each and not like it. All those running trips sound really amazing!
AverageJoeMoney I’ve always wondered about the running/ biking trips, they sound fantastic but expensive. Luckily, most of my “once in a lifetime” travels have been paid for by work. I did Antarctica while working on a cruise ship and was also unimpressed.
I would pay $50,000 to shadow Donald Trump or Oprah for a week. I admire their stories and I think one week with either one of them could turn my money into millions. If shadowed one of them for a week, I would probably learn so much and apply it to my life and business.
MonaSez That’s a pretty reasonable price! I might pay that to shadow Ivanka haha!
Hmmm I don’t know. This is hard. I think space travel sounds interesting but I would probably chicken out at the last second. Plus there is that new movie coming out with Sandra Bullock where she goes into space and it looks like she gets unattached, so that would be a big nightmare haha
SenseofCents LOL I haven’t heard about that movie!
For me it has and always will be space travel. There was one time I was mad that I did not do aeronautical engineering in school and I was very sad to see the space shuttle retire…lol
BorrowedCents I think you will get to!
As a performer I would never pay to sing in front of thousands of people, in fact, I won’t unless I get paid. People often forget that performing is a profession not a hobby for the people who do it.
brokeandbeau I absolutely know that performing is a profession, and I hope you didn’t take offense to the post. I danced for over 20 years and was in a preprofessional company so I have a high level of respect for performers who do it as their careers. I was thinking more like an American Idol situation where you would essentially pay to get in front of the right people to help your career take off.
BudgetBlonde No offense taken- just something I think people often fail to consider. Unfortunately, I think a lot of folks who want to be performers think they do have to “pay to play”.
brokeandbeau BudgetBlonde Ah, makes sense. Best of luck in your career!
I would definitely do the space travel thing! I would also spend whatever is necessary to live in Hawaii sometime in my life, even if it is only for a year. That has always been a dream of mine.
ayoungpro I bet living in Hawaii is more possible than you might think. I mean, look at the crazy place we live haha. Anything is possible!
BudgetBlonde I agree, but I guess it is about priorities right now. While I kids are young, we want to be near family. I will live in Hawaii one day though. :)
ayoungpro BudgetBlonde That’s true! Can’t forget about the cute bambinos. :)
I don’t know if you could call it once in a lifetime, but I do want to travel the US for at least a year non-stop, hopefully in an Airstream trailer. I think it would take a year of living expenses, probably around $25K plus the cost of the trailer. I also think I’d like to live by the ocean, but maybe if I can visit enough I don’t need to do that one full time.
Eyesonthedollar I really like that idea. I definitely think taking a year off while you’re young would be a nice luxury!
No thanks to space travel and I wouldn’t pay millions for a dinner with the big man. Trip to Antarctica I would probably pony up for, because I want to hit all the continents. I’m most likely to splurge on anything to do with travel (minus space).
BrokeMillennial It looks like you, me, the hubs, and John from FrugalRules are going to Antarctica then, haha!!
BudgetBlonde Sounds like a solid crew to me! I’m in! BrokeMillennial FrugalRules
BrokeMillennial BudgetBlonde FrugalRules Yesss!
I love travel so I am totally with you on space travel. My husband and I did Zero Gravity for his birthday … or was it mine (can’t remember – I’m old!) and it was so cool! Antarctica isn’t high on my list (hey, I’m a Cali girl!) but I would do it, I think. :) We would love to take the girls on an African Safari and sail around the world. Some day …
TheHeavyPurse Zero gravity sounds so cool!! And I’m down for the safari as well!
This is difficult! The cruise to Antarctica does sound really interesting; going to a remote area in any part of the world would be neat. To see something most people never lay eyes on would be rather fun. I’m not sure if I would spend $10k on it, though. I really can’t think of any “once in a lifetime” things – I mostly just want to travel to different places! I have to pass on the space idea, I’d be way too scared!
JourneytoSaving Yeah 10k is a lot. I’d have to be much older in my retired super saver days to justify it!
Out of the list I’d take the trip to Antartica, although I prefer the sun, so a trip to somewhere remote and exclusive around the Ecuador I would be ready to pay a few thousand. But there are so many accessible destinations that I haven’t seen that I don’t know if I’ll ever do it.
RFIndependence So many fun places to see in the world!
Don’t think I would pay MILLIONS to have dinner with Warren Buffet. but I would love to have dinner with him! Maaaaaybe a few hundred…
LisaVsTheLoans Same here. A few hundred for sure!!
I personally would love the opportunity to run a marathon in Antarctica. It costs over $4000 to do though which is really high. Maybe one day after I have amassed my fortunes. :)
MicrosMissions You are far braver than I am. I just wanted to walk on some ice and see a few penguins, haha. A marathon would be incredible!
Holy crap I actually have no idea. I think I’ll just try to space out my dollars to have lots of “great memories over a lifetime” instead of paying a gazillion dollars for one “once in a lifetime” event. Maybe too I’m not that adventurous. :)
Beachbudget That’s actually not a bad idea LOL!
I would like to go touring in Africa. Do some of the tourist things like take a Safari, water water rafting on the Nile. But I would also like my boyfriend to take me to meet the host families he lived with when he studied their for a semester in school. For me I feel like Africa will only ever happen once for me. I love to travel though
LifeDollarSense A safari would be aweosme!
I think for me it would be to take a vacation with my parents (I know this sounds odd already!) to visit the places we lived. One trip down memory lane, so to speak. Except we would stay in the best hotels and have the finest food. Oh, and my family would come with. Just 10 days, beyond that would be not so much of a dream come true :)
Squirrelers That’s actually a really good idea!
I would like to go on a world tour 360 degree and visit as many countries (may be 100). Would like to spend 10 days in every country , so it would be a 3 or 4 years trip. Though I haven’t calculated the cost but it would be huge. Yeah, I know it is crazy idea….
Samgill Visiting 100 countries in one trip would be incredible!!!
Of those above, I”d probably, pick the dinner with Warren Buffet. I know – BOring! But people fascinate me! Antarctica is WAY too cold, the space trip is way to scary, and trust me: ya’ll probably do NOT want me on stage singing. As for my own idea, right now, after a busy week with the farm and the kids, my dream experience would be a good night’s sleep. :-)
Laurie TheFrugalFarmer Aw come on Laurie. You know you want to go to Antarctica. ;)
Hmm, I’m not overly excited about any of the above. (1) Antarctica is cold. Like really, really cold. (2) I would pay MILLIONS to meet anyone. (3) I’m not a huge fan of flying so I think space would be a stretch. (4) Introvert here! No performing for me!
That said, I would pony up the cash for most travel experiences. Or really awesome food/alcohol experiences. Travel, food, and drink have my heart (and my wallet!).
Erin My Alternate Life Oh yeah! I didn’t even think about food. Yeah I’d prob spend a lot to try some amazing restaurants!
1) Nothing. Its a little cold for me.
2) I’m not sure how much this would actually be worth. How much more knowledge would he impart compared to his books etc? As a one-off meal, I’m not sure how much I’d pay. Maybe $1,000?
3) This would be COOL and definitely a life changing experience!! Maybe $5,000 or more.
4) Too much pressure. I’d only want to perform in front of a million people at something I would be good enough at. However, if I could play tennis at Wimbolden Round One and win, I would pay $20,000.