Every year, people discover new ways to explore the unfamiliar. If you’re looking to up your travel game this year, here are six travel trends that will leave you with an unforgettable experience and help you leap out of your comfort zone.
Mystery Travel
Would you hop onto a plane without knowing the destination? Sounds a bit unorthodox, right? However, traveling with little information about your destination is a growing trend.
Mystery travel allows travelers to sign up for a trip without knowing the details until the last minute. This unconventional way of traveling came about as a way to add an extra element of surprise for travelers. Since social media helps you get every photo, video, and detail of a destination before you go, it can leave you a little underwhelmed on your trip.
This travel trend not only sprinkles on a little more excitement, it can also take the pressure off of planning your trip. Booking a trip, even a weekend getaway, often requires at least a few hours in front of the computer diving into an endless sea of web searches. Yes, travel agents can alleviate some of the work, but you still have to do your part. With mystery travel, everything is decided for you.
If this sounds like the type of travel for you, here are a few companies that are offering this experience.
Journee
Your experience starts with filling out a short survey about your interests, budget, and travel dates. With this information, Journee matches you with a destination and sends you non-easy clues about where you’re going. Journee will handle everything, including accommodations, airfare, and local experiences. Before leaving, you’ll meet at a designated location, discover your mystery destination, and start your adventure.
SRPRS Trips
If you’re looking for a little mystery, maybe not an entire trip, SRPRS offers city breaks to unknown destinations. Simply let them know what you’re interested in, download their unique app, and be guided to your mystery destination with unforgettable experiences.
Dark Tourism
You can probably guess what type of travel this involves from the title. Dark tourism involves visiting places historically associated with death and suffering. It sounds grim, but it has its advantages.
Besides the goth kid you went to high school with, you might be wondering who’d be interested in this type of travel. What are the benefits of dark tourism?
For one, if you love horror movies, you might be into visiting sites with crumbling houses, mangled trees, and burned objects from a bomb explosion. Even though visiting graveyard sites, can fulfill your interest in the supernatural, touring sites of tragedy is also a way to face the traumas and horrors of the past.
According to the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience (ICSC), an organization that promotes dark tourism, they focus on providing safe spaces for people to remember and preserve even the most gruesome parts of history. By doing so, visitors can connect the past to current human rights issues. Visiting these sites can provide a sense of consciousness and build empathy.
Detour Destinations
You probably plan to visit major cities when you travel. Places like London, Barcelona, Rome, and Paris are the rage. However, these places can often be overcrowded and expensive. If you like the excitement of major cities but can sometimes get overwhelmed, try visiting a detour destination.
Detour Destinations are all about traveling to less-known locations. Instead of trying to get a photo in front of a crowded monument, you can take a small tour a few hours away and have an authentic cultural experience.
For your next trip, try searching for cities within an hour of your destination. You might be surprised at what you can uncover.
Set-Jetting
New York and Paris are cities that have fallen victim to set jetting. This is when travelers visit the destination where their favorite TV shows or movies were filmed. While this can be exciting, visiting the place where movie magic once happened can also lead to disappointment.
With different camera angles, the perfect lighting, and actors, any destination can look like a must-visit place. However, old movie locations aren’t always as dramatic as they seem on the screen. Most destinations are regular cities with fascinating culture and history but nothing sensational.
If this type of travel excites you, pursue it. Let a movie or film inspire you, but remember, there is so much more to explore than what they show on TV.
Digital Detox Retreats
A few decades ago, going on vacation meant disconnecting from the world and only capturing moments on a digital or disposable camera. Nowadays, it’s nearly impossible to disconnect, as our phones mimic oxygen tanks.
From the moment we wake up to the moment we go to bed, our phones are no more than an arm’s length away. If you feel like your phone and technology, in general, have been running your life, you may need a Digital Detox Retreat.
Imagine being in paradise, and instead of focusing on getting the perfect beach photo, you’re enjoying the sounds of the waves. No more scrolling before bed because you’re listening to the sounds of nature.
Digital Detox Retreats help guests disconnect from technology and settle their overstimulated minds. Guests spend their days meditating, doing yoga in nature, and being entirely in the moment. These types of getaways also focus on creating healthy habits with technology.
Cultural Exchange Programs
Traveling as a tourist can be a rewarding experience. However, you may want to push past the typical and gain more cultural experience.
Cultural exchange programs involve immersing guests into the local culture through staying with host families, participating in cultural activities, working with local companies, studying at a local school and volunteering.
These programs give visitors insight into different cultures and lifestyles, leading to a broader perspective. Living close to people from diverse backgrounds can lead to greater emotional intelligence, empathy, and self-awareness.
Finding new ways to travel is a great way to learn more about yourself and other cultures. Don’t be afraid to try something new; remember, you can always return to a more traditional means of travel.
