Never Again! What's On Your Unbucket List?

Maybe I was more adventurous in my youth, or perhaps I was just more foolish. Or it could be that the innocence of past times has simply evaporated and what was once considered safe is now less so.

In any case, here is what I call my “Unbucket List” – the things I’ve done but will never do again.

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I won't carry cash

Cash’s reputation has made a full 180-degree turn from when I was a teenager. Back then, my mother would slip a “just in case” quarter into my shoe as I departed the house on a date.

The thinking was this: Should my date turn out to be a serial killer, I could jump out of his (presumably moving) car and use the coin in a public pay phone to call for help. I grew up associating having cash with feeling safe.

Nowadays, I charge everything on my credit card or pay with a debit card, so I have little, if any, use for cash. I even swipe a card at the parking meter. My Uber fare goes automatically to a credit card. Even the national parks have stopped taking cash, although they are being sued over that.

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If I share a meal out with friends, usually one person charges the bill total to their credit card and the rest of us pay them our share on the spot using the Venmo or Cash app on our phones. Never again will the words “I forgot my wallet” be believed, if they ever were.

Carrying cash gives the bad guys something to steal. And it is actually less safe than using your credit card, which will provide protection against loss or theft. A side benefit: I can carry a much smaller purse that doesn’t weigh a ton from all the coins inside.

I won't hitchhike ever again

Safety concerns aside, who besides the guys in the ambulance would stop to pick up a 74-year-old woman on the side of the road with her thumb sticking out? Actually, who picks up anyone with their thumb sticking out nowadays? It’s a foolish way to expose yourself to danger. But it wasn’t always like that.

Hitchhiking’s Golden Age began in the Great Depression. It flourished in the post-war years when transportation cars were beyond the reach of many. Fast forward to me in my teenage years – the 1960s – when hitching a ride in a stranger’s car was a foundational pillar of the counterculture movement.

When I graduated college in 1972, my backpack and my hitching thumb took me all over Europe and the Middle East. I hitched at times alone; at other times, with people who I met in youth hostels along the way. I was never afraid and the trip felt more like a rite of passage than anything close to a dangerous situation.

I fell in love with traveling, but never hitchhiked again. In fact, when I later married and had kids, I taught them to never get into a car with a stranger. And nowadays, I always sneak a quick photo of the Uber driver who picks me up before I enter the car.