Mystery travel - would you do it?

[tdew]

I just read this article about having a company plan your vacation as a surprise to you. It sounds interesting, but I don't think I could do it.

http://www.smartertravel.com/blogs/t...ml?id=10442619

Would you?

[jimtbay]

Not based on that article, does not really sell me on the program. The overall concept intrigues me but it may be more fun to pick a destination and go it on your own and figure it out when you arrive.

[bodega]

I am too old to play this game and like control of where I am going and staying. I can see younger peopole doing this if the price is low enough just for the thrill of it.

[tdew]

I knew one young couple who were getting married - since she had been so involved with the wedding planning, he was in charge of making all the plans for the honeymoon. All she knew ahead of time was what climate to pack for.
That worked out well and I think it would be fun - as long as the planner knew what you liked and didn't like.

[TPARick]

I know an agent on the east coast of FL that does mystery bus tours for seniors and they love it. She has done one day and a few 3 or 4 day mystery bus tours. In addition to her regular scheduled senior bus tours.

She was thinking of doing a short mystery tour via plane, just tell the clients to bring a passport and pack some clothes. I'm not sure if she ever did it or not. I haven't talk to her in awhile.

[tdew]

I did mystery day trips with my kids one Summer. Each Wednesday they knew we were going somewhere, but not where. That was fun, but I was on the planning side of the adventures.

[Ned]

Originally Posted by bodega

I am too old to play this game and like control of where I am going and staying. I can see younger peopole doing this if the price is low enough just for the thrill of it.

My feelings precisely.

[deangreenhoe]

I once had a very feisty client we'll call "Carol." Carol spent her entire adult married life doing what husband Roger wanted to do every year for vacation, which was basically camping somewhere in the nearby Midwest in their travel trailer, at best only traveling as far as they could drive in a day. As soon as Roger retired, Carol got fed up, came into my office and flat out told me she was booking a trip by air for both of them and Roger wasn't being consulted, or even told he was going on a fly/drive/hotel vacation out west, until the day before departure. Even then, Roger would have no idea where he was going until they boarded their flight.

It scared the CRAP out of me to participate in the ruse because apparently Roger did not wish to fly anywhere and we were booking nonrefundable tickets. But Carol was insistent, was paying the tab herself, accepted the risks of a possibly uncooperative Roger so I handled the arrangements.

On that first trip Carol had to enlist the help of their two adult sons to get Roger to the airport. As Carol retold the story, the only reason he finally climbed on that plane was that he was too damned cheap to let the tickets go to waste. LOL.

Roger found out that he loved the experience, even agreed he just might want to do something like that again some day.

A few months later, Carol came back into my office to pick up cruise brochures. I told her how impressed I was at how far Roger had come in the travel planning department, but Carol said, "oh, Roger flat our refuses to take a cruise. But he's gonna!" Then she giggled in such an endearing way that here we went again, me participating in sending Roger off on another new adventure against his will, and this one was again a last minute surprise.

After that one, Roger just gave in to the madness. In fact, as far as I know, Carol never told Roger where he was going next or gave him a lick of advance notice until the luggage came out of the closet a day or two before departure. It became their "thing." And that's how Roger came to take to his grave the experience of visiting a huge chunk of the U.S.A., Hawaii, Alaska, the Caribbean, Mexico, Western Europe and Australia. Obviously he knew something bigger was up when we took his passport photos and filled in the forms in my office but just grinned shyly when Carol threatened me within an inch of my life to not let it slip to Roger where he was headed next.

[susanliber]

What a great story Dean!!

Once in a while I do Mystery Rides with my ladies....sometimes it is even a mystery to me. They love my mystery rides. Most of the time though they TELL me what they want to do.

[Ned]

Wonderful tale Deano. Thanks very much for sharing it.