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Reviewed by Jamie Michele for Readers' Favorite
Managing the Bucket List: The Journey Begins Volume I by Carol J. McIlwain is a self-help travel book with memoir elements about making long-held travel ambitions achievable through planning that fits the person taking the trip. After retiring from the Department of the Navy in 2023, McIlwain begins a Travel Big Year shaped by the project-management habits of her career. She first considers how someone can build a bucket list around genuine interests before testing that thinking through her own travels. Each destination becomes a travel journal supported by preparation advice drawn from what happens along the way. An unexpected travel problem becomes information for the next journey. Across the year, McIlwain’s experiences show how a bucket list can move from a collection of wishes into a plan for seeing more of the world.
Carol J. McIlwain makes Managing the Bucket List: The Journey Begins Volume I a book readers can use the moment they begin planning a trip. Her project-management approach gives them a method for taking a place they hope to visit and deciding what must happen before departure, so the advice has a direct purpose. McIlwain proves its usefulness through situations she actually encounters. After her luggage goes missing following Switzerland, she explains why essential clothing belongs in carry-on baggage. Her exhausting arrival in Barcelona similarly shows why hotel timing deserves thought before a flight is booked. I also loved meeting the woman in Alaska who was traveling independently in her eighties, since she embodies the possibility McIlwain encourages readers to imagine for themselves. Well written and inspiring, readers who have kept a bucket list waiting and are finally ready to go will adore this book.
