Travel planning can be a real chore. Booking flights, deciding on the right hotel and building an itinerary might be fun for some, but others dread it. That’s why some travelers are opting for an unorthodox travel strategy that eliminates the planning stage altogether. It’s called “mystery” or “suprise” travel, and the destination isn’t revealed until the day of departure.
This idea isn’t new. Some friend groups plan regular mystery travel vacations, with one person or family planning and booking the itinerary for everyone else.
Lanie van der Horst, a travel blogger, asked her husband to plan a trip. He decided to keep the destination — Byron Bay, Australia — a secret.
“I literally cried when he told me that he had a trip planned that I didn’t have to think about,” van der Horst says.
LET A TRAVEL COMPANY PLAN YOUR TRIP
As these surprise trips have become more popular, travel booking companies have begun offering them. Customers pay a flat fee for the trip and set certain guidelines such as dates and preferences, but the destination remains a surprise until the last minute. For group travel, this means that everybody will be surprised when the destination is revealed.
Mystery travel is not only exciting and simple to plan, but it can also nudge travelers to explore destinations they may never have considered otherwise.
“If you like white-water rafting, you may have already been to the well-known spots in Arizona and Colorado,” Roshni Agarwal, co-founder of The Vacation Hunt, a mystery travel service, said in an email. “But did you know that the U.S. National Whitewater Center is in Charlotte, North Carolina?”
HOW IT WORKS
Although it differs from travel agency to travel agency (and from friend group to friend group), the basic process of mystery travel involves:
— Choosing a date or range of dates.
— Deciding on a budget.
— Setting certain parameters or preferences.
Preferences could include the types of activities you enjoy, such as outdoor adventures, or exclusions for destinations you’ve recently visited or plan to visit.
Then you wait and let the anticipation build. Some mystery travel agencies (and friend groups) will even send a physical envelope with the trip details inside — not to be opened until the day of departure.
Airfare and lodging costs are included in the trip budget, which can vary from $1,499 per traveler for a short weekend trip (3-4 days) to several thousand for longer international excursions. Recommendations for food and activities are generally offered, but the costs are not included for package trips.