11 travel companies that plan mystery vacations for the adventurous travel junkie

Would you go on a trip without knowing the destination first? Apparently, there are a lot of adventurous people out there interested in doing just that, which is why there are a whole slew of travel companies designing trips with mystery itineraries.

My first experience with this type of travel was in 2009 when fellow Clevelander Steve Belkin launched Competitours, a European vacation with a competitive edge. Several teams of two zig-zag around the continent doing cool activities that Belkin considers “sightdoing” instead of “sightseeing.” While that would be fine enough for me, Competitours keeps score and hands out a cash prize to the top three teams that earns the most points. 

I have never had any interest in a packaged tour. To me, travel means freedom from the regular routine. There’s something very freeing about leaving your fate up to the travel gods, rather that a tour operator, who runs a cookie-cutter business, putting up customers in cookie-cutter hotels and shuttling them around on the cookie-cutter bus tours only to spend five minutes at a castle before moving on to the next photo opp.

I digress, but my point is that the Competitours concept was so different and it intrigued me. I signed up on the spot and put my fate in Belkin’s hand, instead of the travel gods. Every place we went was a little different and the way we experienced a destination was unique. I always looked forward to getting a nightly email that revealed our next destinations and gave us directions to a particular address to meet. While the points didn’t matter to me, I couldn’t wait to find out my score and where I ranked. My partner and I finished in second place, exhausted but happy.

I liked Competitours so much, I did the trip again in 2014 and came in first place. Then, I went back in 2015 to make a travel documentary about the experience. The feature-length film called “Tripped Up,” makes its world premiere at the Cleveland International Film Festival on April 10, 2018.

So, is a mystery trip for you? Most likely. There are certain qualities that most travelers should possess before doing something like this. Are you adventurous, flexible, shameless, trusting to a point and willing to give up control? Then, keep reading for a list of companies, originally compiled by the Wall Street Journal, that have made it their business to surprise you.

1. Competitours

2. Pack Up + Go

3. Jubel’s Surprise Trips

4. Black Tomato’s Get Lost

5. Brown + Hudson’s Journey with No Destination

6. Magical Mystery Tours

7. Rustic Pathways’ Mystery Trip

8. The Vacation Hunt

9. Global Scavenger Hunt

10. Kudos OneLife with Hublot

11. Headlands Gamble

Have you ever done a trip like this one? Drop us a line and tell us about the experience!