Journey to the unknown with 'mystery' travel
— -- What exactly is this street-food vendor trying to get me to eat? What little shop is around the next corner? Mystery is one of the great joys of travel. It keeps us surprised, delighted, and just unsettled enough to heighten every experience. But what if the mystery started before you even packed your bag?
That very proposition—mystery travel—is one that's gaining popularity. The basic idea isn't revolutionary: Spouses, siblings, and friends have been surprising loved ones with preplanned trips for a long time. But the chance to outsource the mystery, to keep all travelers in suspense until the last minute, is a relatively new notion.
Not for everybody
Turning over a wad of money and plunging headlong into someone else's vision of your dream vacation isn't for everyone, most notably anyone with very limited vacation time and specific ideas about how to spend it, control freaks, and those for whom planning the trip is a huge part of the vacation itself.
For others, though, it's a perfect fit. Passing on the planning simplifies matters, and the added dose of mystery emphasizes the thrill of travel. Denise Chaykun at Magical Mystery Tours, a San Francisco-based mystery-tour-planning company, reports that most of the clients are experienced travelers who "tend to be adventurous and up for anything." So far, she says, the mystery travel concept has mostly attracted couples and pairs of friends in their 20s and 30s.
Similarly, American Express Nextpedition is most popular among 20- to 40-year-olds with an adventurous spirit and passion for travel. And Ellen Bettridge, vice president of the American Express U.S. Retail Travel Network, says that one of the more surprising trends is the mystery trip popularity among honeymooners, suggesting "after months of planning a detailed wedding, many brides and grooms relish the thought of having someone else taking care of the planning process."
Three different approaches
Mystery travel is still a relatively new trend, and there's no one right way to do it. Here are three different approaches that have cropped up recently and are getting some buzz:
• Categorize, Then Customize: American Express is the biggest name in the mystery-trip game right now with its Nextpedition service. Before beginning the booking process, travelers take a fun poll to determine their traveler type (types include "detourist," "tasteblazer," and "poshaholic"). Using these traveler types as a baseline for planning, specialists then customize a trip based on more of your personal information and preferences. U.S. trips start at $1,000, and international mystery vacations start at $2,500. All trips come with 24/7 assistance. Recent Nextpeditions have included a culinary tour of New Orleans and a Barcelona-by-Vespa adventure.
• Mystery on a Budget: A growing number of companies are offering mystery trips that can be customized to any budget. For instance, Magical Mystery Tours creates trips based on personal interests and financial limitations. Recent trips the company has planned include a long-weekend anniversary trip to Yosemite and a multiweek trip to Portugal, which, the company reports, included "swimming with dolphins, hiking, and lots of great Portuguese meals."
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