For You

I'll start by saying I've never been on any kind of mystery trip... ever! And I'm still not sure whether I would go on one or not to be honest.  But I must confess that I am feeling a little bit tempted. Every time I see one advertised I wonder whether I should give it a go... but something always stops me. I suppose my biggest issue with booking a mystery trip is that I worry I will end up somewhere I've already been to or, even worse, that it will be a destination I've already been to and that I didn't like!! However, of course, you could also argue that I may end up somewhere that I've always wanted to go... hmm, tricky. [caption id=attachment_302 align=aligncenter width=563] Up in the air![/caption] But if I'm being totally honest, the real problem with it is that I am a bit of a control freak (anyone who knows me will confirm this!). And that control is taken away from me if I go on a trip where I don't know in advance where I'm going, isn't it? OMG, I won't even have a guidebook for when I get there - what will I do, how will I manage?!!  I'm far too much of a planner to cope with this - just thinking about it now is bringing me out in a cold sweat! But this is a largely a modern problem, isn't it? I can now go online and find out pretty much everything I need to know about a destination before I arrive (and I do, believe me!), whereas in days gone by, this wasn't the case. And I definitely think that this has taken away some of the magic of travel - I know pretty much what to expect before I even set foot out of my house... [caption id=attachment_264 align=aligncenter width=477] What would I do without my guidebook?? [/caption] So I can see the appeal of this type of adventure travel. It does add an element of excitement to a trip if you have no idea where you are going to end up and what you're going to be doing, which is quite fun isn't it? And, let's face it, some of our most enduring travel memories often stem from things we weren't expecting - things that surprised us on our travels... so I guess this is just taking that element of surprise a step further.  And, apparently, this type of trip is pretty popular right now with more and more companies offering mystery trips - which means plenty of people must be booking them or this wouldn't be such a growing travel market. It seems to me that maybe this type of holiday offers us something we can't get when we know in advance exactly where we are going/what we are going to be doing. I think what it does is it gives us a sense of excitement to be venturing into the unknown - something which we have largely lost when we travel nowadays... [caption id=attachment_1960 align=aligncenter width=503] Going on a magical mystery tour...[/caption] So what do you think? Have you ever gone on or would you ever book a mystery trip? Let me know in the comments... Happy Travelling! Kate 