Journee Plans Your Journey—And Retains It a Shock

In a journey panorama the place practically each element could be deliberate, managed, and optimized, a quiet countertrend is rising—one which celebrates the unknown. For vacationers accustomed to getting access to the very best of all the things, thriller journey presents one thing rarer nonetheless: an entire shock.

I didn’t know if I used to be the type of one who might hand over management of a complete trip—not to mention our twentieth anniversary journey—to strangers. But after I l found Journee, a journey firm that retains your vacation spot a secret till the day you allow, one thing in me lit up. It sounded thrilling, a bit of audacious, but additionally surprisingly releasing. After years of meticulous journey planning, might I simply…let go?

I first heard about Journee at a celebration, when a buddy casually talked about they’d booked a “mystery trip.” The thought caught, and after a late-night search I used to be hooked. Founded in 2019 by three former Depop colleagues—Ed Tribe, Megha Chaturvedi, and James Gillard—Journee was created to strip the stress and sameness out of journey planning. Their promise: spend quarter-hour filling out an in depth on-line questionnaire, they usually’ll match you with a tailored, experience-first journey to a vacation spot you received’t study till the airport. After scrolling by actually stellar Trustpilot reviews and grinning on the giddy airport-reveal movies on their Facebook page, my husband and I made a decision to take the leap and fill out the survey. 

We solid a reasonably broad web in our consumption type—saying sure to mountains, seashores, and cities—prioritizing someplace actually lovely, colourful, and photogenic. We ranked being outside on the high of our listing: surrounded by nature, wandering by charming villages, and consuming our means by the area’s meals scene. (Others would possibly prioritize museums, performances, and historic landmarks, however for us, that was secondary.) We eagerly accepted practically each kind of tour (canyoning, caving, crusing) however we additionally wished some slower moments (meals excursions, spa remedies, wine tastings). We had been versatile on lodging, whether or not a non-public home or resort, however requested a number of luxuries like a pool and personal balcony. We additionally included loads of areas we didn’t need them to ship us, largely as a result of we’d already visited them and wished this to be a very new expertise. Finally, we set a complete journey price range—and inside 24 hours, we acquired our first proposal. 

It was imprecise sufficient to maintain the thriller alive (“…an extremely picturesque region that can really only be described as paradise—remote, pristine, and virtually untouched, with everything from stunning beaches to vivid blue lakes, majestic green forests, and bright florals…”) but with particulars particular sufficient to hook us (“…a canyoning experience where you’ll explore a river interspersed with peaceful natural pools…”). 

We had 5 days to approve it or request a re-match. Full disclosure: we requested a number of proposals—every one intriguing—earlier than selecting our favourite. Once we stated sure, the four-month countdown started to guess our excursion-filled vacation spot. Greece? Croatia? Norway? Madeira?

The shift towards experience-first journey has been constructing for years. McKinsey stories that right this moment’s most discerning vacationers more and more prioritize immersive, individualized journeys over vacation spot alone. Marriott’s 2025 Intentional Traveler research exhibits a rising demand previously decade—significantly post-pandemic—for journeys that supply emotional resonance, connection, and authenticity. Preferred Hotel & Resorts echoes this shift in its first-ever Luxury Travel Report (2025), noting that vacationers now search “the unrepeatable—places that excite, environments that surprise, and experiences rooted in individuality.”

Journee embraces this evolution with a rising catalog of greater than 90 locations—many chosen as a result of they’re beneath the radar. “We’ve seen that more affluent travelers are increasingly drawn to places that feel undiscovered,” says Lakeim Knights, a member of Journee’s Community staff. One of Knights’s favourite elements of the job is increasing the catalog with locations which are immersive, maybe off the crushed path. Some standout matches embody Slovenia’s alpine lakes and storybook cities, Albania’s rugged coasts and Ottoman-era villages, and Cyprus’s sun-soaked ruins and hidden coves. Other Journee vacationers have traced the winding streets of Porto, ridden camels throughout the Sahara at dawn, and basked in Malta’s crystalline waters—all with out figuring out their vacation spot till the day they left.

For these trying to elevate their journey, they will request upgraded flights, non-public airport transfers, and unique eating reservations. “No matter how specific your request, we encourage you to reach out and we’ll accommodate you,” says Knights. By late August 2025, these choices might be formally constructed into the proposal course of for higher-budget journeys, with the staff proactively reaching out about high-end preferences.

The particulars of our Journee

I received’t lie: the four-month countdown was pure anticipatory bliss. Journee stored the suspense alive with playful hints, then despatched an in depth packing listing and climate report every week earlier than we left. “We build as much excitement as we can through the clues,” Knights says, “spreading everything out to heighten the anticipation.”

So… drumroll… 

We had been going to the Azores—the distant, rugged group of Portuguese islands within the Atlantic, about 850 miles from mainland Europe. After opening our reveal envelope and discovering our departure gate, we did some last-minute Googling to study concerning the archipelago. But as soon as we let go and let the itinerary unfold, we discovered a uncommon type of peace.

The Azores had been breathtaking: crater lakes ringed by emerald hills, volcanic cliffs plunging into the Atlantic, steaming scorching springs, and small cities stuffed with heat, welcoming folks. Over the course of every week, we loved 5 thoughtfully deliberate excursions: a mixture of half-day and full-day adventures. We went on a meals tour by the cobbled streets of Ponta Delgada, sipped fresh-brewed tea at a tea plantation, and circled the rim of a dormant volcano by ATV. We noticed whales cresting the waves on the open Atlantic, and—my favourite!—canyoned by a rainforest, rappelling down waterfalls and zipping by the jungle on traces our guides strung up on the spot. With no expectations and no listing to test off, we wandered, reconnected with one another, and explored a pristinely lovely paradise we would by no means have chosen for ourselves—however that turned out to be precisely what we would have liked.