Paula: Welcome back to the Truly Expert Travel Podcast! I'm your host Paula, and today I have a very special guest — someone I know personally and have actually traveled with. He is a genuinely fun person to travel with, and he has an incredible approach to seeing the world. Please welcome John Johnston from The Bucket List Things! John, tell us a little about who you are, what you do, and where you are right now.
John: Right now I'm in my basement office, back home in Canada — right in the middle of wine country in eastern Canada. By way of introduction, I'm probably a more mature traveler than a lot of your audience. I started traveling seriously when I was about 50. My website is bucketlistthings.com, and the way it all came about was through a movie — the Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson film called The Bucket List. I watched it and thought, what a great idea. So I started writing down everything on my bucket list, and it turned out to be a fairly predictable list — France, Italy, Spain, Germany. That wasn't very exciting. So instead, I started planning each country around something really cool, a little unusual, a little adventurous, maybe a little risky. That became things like hot air ballooning over the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, or hiking the Grand Canyon rim to rim — and back. Each country, I try to do something unique. My style of travel is fairly active. I rarely stay in one place more than two or three days.
And while it might sound like I'm traveling all the time, what I try to do is plan trips that let me see as much of a country as possible — and as cheaply as possible. Because if I can do a trip less expensively, I can do five trips a year instead of four.
Paula: That makes total sense. And you do a mix of solo travel and group travel, right?
John: Yes. I do some solo travel — probably more than most people. I also do small group travel. I actually just completed a full organized tour, which is pretty unusual for me. I was probably the oldest person there by a bit, but there were about 28 of us on a G Adventures trip through Southern Africa — starting in South Africa, up through Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and ending in Zambia at Victoria Falls. It was a 21-day tour on what they call a Lando, which is basically a converted overland bus packed with camping gear. Long days, but an incredible experience.
Going on a tour is different because you're not in control — you don't decide where you go or what you see. But the logistics of getting around Africa, particularly if you've never been there, can be pretty intimidating. Joining a tour just made sense. That said, if I went back to somewhere like Kenya or Tanzania, I'd plan my own trip now that I have a feel for the ground.
Paula: So how do you usually decide where to go next?
John: A lot of it is serendipity. I'll get an alert about a great airfare to somewhere exotic I wouldn't normally think of — and I book it. There are a couple of services I rely on heavily. In Canada, I use YYZ Deals — it's run by a guy in Toronto who spends all his time scouring the internet for cheap fares and then posts them. I also use Next Departure. In the States, there's Scott's Cheap Fares, though I think they've rebranded. These are either free or very low cost.
My most recent deal was a flight to Riga, Latvia — in the Baltic States, just near Sweden, Finland, and Russia. It's not a destination most people think of, but the fare was $540 Canadian round-trip including taxes, flying with TAP Air Portugal from Toronto to Lisbon and then on to Latvia. For that price, you can't say no.
Paula: Wow. And the Baltic States are quite close together, aren't they?
John: Exactly. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania — their capitals are all within three or four hours of each other by road. And from Tallinn in Estonia, you can actually take a ferry across to Helsinki and squeeze in a couple of days in Finland. It's a really efficient corner of the world to explore.
Paula: How long do you usually travel for?
John: Normally three to five weeks. Occasionally two weeks, but my philosophy is: if you're spending a lot of money to get somewhere, you may as well see as much as you can. Brazil is a good example — it's enormous. If you really wanted to see the country properly, you'd need 12 to 15 weeks. It's like arriving in the United States with two weeks and trying to see New York, Chicago, Las Vegas, and San Francisco. You'd spend all your time traveling. So I try to stay two to three days in each location, then move on. I sort of curate my own tour.
Paula: And how do you find people to travel with?
John: Usually I'll post somewhere that I've just snagged a great deal — say, to Turkey — and almost immediately I'll get two or three people emailing me saying they've always wanted to go to Turkey and asking if they can come along. A lot of them are women whose husbands hate to travel — my wife isn't a fan either, which is partly why I travel solo so much. Others are single, and solo women travelers often feel a lot more comfortable if someone is handling the logistics and they have a travel companion. I've got what I jokingly call a travel wives club, and depending on the trip, different people come along.
Paula: Ha! And I can confirm — he did take me on a road trip through Quebec. Every asbestos mine and train wreck site along the way.
John: It was a curated experience! But yes, we did rent an Airbnb in Quebec — it was... unique.
Paula: There was a light switch on the ceiling. A rock in the middle of the basement. And the bathroom sink was outside the bathroom.
John: And the shower was beautiful — lovely enclosed glass — but the taps were on the opposite wall. So you'd turn it on, jump in, shower, then get out and reach across to turn it off. Character building.
Paula: So tell me about your approach to accommodation when you travel internationally.
John: I use hostels a lot — and I want to say upfront that hostels are no longer the smelly backpacker dorms people imagine. In fact, I'd rather stay in a hostel than a luxury hotel in many cases. If I'm only somewhere for one night, I'll book a dorm bed. But if I'm there a couple of days, or if there's a group of four or six of us, we'll rent out a whole dorm or a few private rooms. It substantially cuts costs.
And the cost savings go beyond just the room. Hostels have kitchens. So we'll make breakfast in the morning, pack a lunch to take with us, and eat out at a restaurant for dinner. It brings down the overall food bill significantly.
Paula: I think people don't realize you can actually book private rooms in hostels — it's not just dorms.
John: Absolutely. And I've stayed in five or six hostels that would genuinely rival four-star hotels — beautiful rooms, pools, great facilities. But what makes a hostel truly different is the people. Everyone there is a traveler. They want to talk about where you've been, what you've done, where you're going. "Do you want to grab a beer?" That spontaneous social energy just doesn't exist in a regular hotel, where people tend to keep to themselves.
Paula: How do you pick a good hostel?
John: I check ratings on Hostelworld, Booking.com, or Agoda. If a hostel has a 9 out of 10 rating with 500 reviews, I can be pretty confident it's decent. If it's rated 9 out of 10 but only has two reviews that look like they were written by the owner's relatives, I avoid it. I also read what people say — is the staff friendly? Is it clean? Personally, my criteria might be different to others because I'm not spending much time in my room. I'm out exploring, or in the communal areas chatting to people. So I really just need it to be clean, no bugs, good WiFi, and decent hot water pressure. I can live with everything else.
Paula: And do you look for social hostels specifically?
John: Yes — I want a social hostel, but not a party hostel. There's a real difference, and you have to look carefully at reviews. Usually the reviews will mention something about noise levels or late nights if it leans that way.
I did once end up in what I'd call a party hostel in Siem Reap, Cambodia. It was part of a chain called Mad Monkey, and honestly it looked like a five-star resort — beautiful pool, great bar area. At about 11pm, everyone announced they were going bar hopping. I was ready for bed. But I went, and it was a brilliant night. You come home with those memories. I was probably the only adult in the room — if you'd call me an adult, which many people don't.
Paula: Tell us about the Brazil incident. Because this is the one I need people to hear.
John: Right. So I was in Brazil, going from São Paulo to Iguazu Falls. I looked at my options and found an overnight sleeper bus leaving at 9pm, arriving at 6am. It saved me a hotel night and a day of travel. Perfect. These buses have beautiful lie-flat reclining seats, so I settled in, arranged all my stuff around me — luggage, passport, money, water bottle, everything — and eventually fell asleep.
I woke up when the bus stopped at a rest stop. The door opened, and I thought: great opportunity to use a proper bathroom instead of the one on the bus. So I grabbed my phone, jumped off, and walked toward the bathroom. The door closed. The bus left. And there I am chasing it through a parking lot at 2:30 in the morning, waving my arms.
I'm somewhere in Brazil. No idea where. The only thing I have is my phone — with no charger.
Paula: Oh no.
John: With the help of Google Translate, I managed to figure out that another bus from the same company would be coming through. When it arrived, they picked me up. And when I got to Iguazu Falls, the local field agent was standing there with every single piece of my luggage — my glasses, my money, my passport, all of it. The bus driver had called ahead and arranged for it all to be taken off.
There are genuinely great people in the world.
Paula: What did you learn from that?
John: Never get off the bus without telling the driver where you're going. Even if you don't speak the language, you use the universal sign for "I need the bathroom." That's the lesson.
Paula: So what's coming up next for you?
John: First, I need clearance from my wife. But ideally, my next trip is to Newfoundland — the island on Canada's Atlantic coast. In June, icebergs that have calved off Arctic glaciers float down past the island, and the sight of them is simply breathtaking. The cold radiating off one up close is something you have to experience. Newfoundland also has some of the most welcoming, hospitable people I've ever encountered, and the scenery is very much like Ireland — craggy coastlines, lobster, incredible seafood.
From there, I'd take a ferry to the islands of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon — French overseas territories just 20 miles off the Canadian coast. They use the euro, have gendarmes, speak French, eat baguettes. It's a wonderful way to visit France without leaving North America. You do need your passport.
Paula: And after that?
John: In September I'm heading to the Baltic States — Riga, Vilnius, and Tallinn are all UNESCO World Heritage sites and some of the finest examples of medieval walled cities in all of Europe. And then later in the year, I'm looking at Indonesia — Bali and Lombok, which I've never visited — or possibly the Philippines, which I love. And North Vietnam and Laos are on my radar too.
Paula: What about Kazakhstan? I know you mentioned that.
John: I looked into it, but the airfare alone from here is around $2,500, and a G Adventures tour of Kazakhstan runs close to $9,000. My entire African trip — which covered multiple countries over 21 days — was about $3,000. So for what Kazakhstan would cost, I could do two or three trips to Europe. I'd love to go someday, but the math just doesn't work right now.
Paula: Where can people find you online?
John: My website is bucketlistthings.com. I'm on Facebook as Bucket List Things or John Johnston — I have two pages. I'm on TikTok as bucketlistthings, Instagram as bucketlistthings1 (someone got there before me), and I'm on Threads and YouTube as well. My YouTube channel is probably the least active one, but it does have a video of me dressed as Goofy, driving a go-kart through downtown Tokyo in the famous Mario Kart experience. Nintendo apparently threatened legal action over the Mario characters, so they switched to Disney. I assume Disney hasn't noticed yet.
Paula: Ha! Before we wrap up, any tips for long-haul flights?
John: A few things that have become essential for me. First: noise-reducing headphones — absolute game-changer. I travel with two inflatable pillows, one for lumbar support and one for my neck when I lean against the window. I bring a sleep mask. And once I'm settled, I have two scotches and two melatonins, pull my blanket up, and I'm asleep for six to eight hours. I have no trouble sleeping on planes — the only issue these days is waking up sore, which I blame on the seats and definitely not my age.
Paula: Window or aisle?
John: Window. And I can usually hold out for eight to ten hours, so I'm not clambering over people in the night.
Paula: Any apps you'd recommend?
John: Rome2Rio is fantastic for figuring out how to get between places — most travelers haven't heard of it. There's also Fairy Hopper, which I used to navigate the Greek islands and the Philippines. For accommodation, I use Hostelworld and Booking.com primarily, and Agoda in Southeast Asia. And honestly, beyond apps — just talk to locals. Some of the best experiences I've had came from a conversation with someone in a restaurant who told me about a place I'd never have found on my own.
Paula: That's great advice, especially for solo travelers. John, thank you so much for coming on — it's always a laugh with you, and you've given our listeners so much to think about.
John: It's been a pleasure. Hopefully I haven't scared everyone off hostels and sleeper buses.
Paula: Not at all — if anything, I think you've inspired a few people to finally book that trip. Thanks everyone for listening to the Truly Expert Travel Podcast — we'll see you next time!
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