A Mystery Trip

The most difficult weeks of the year are when I don’t have my son over a holiday break. Last spring I was already dreading the week in December after Christmas, when he would be with his dad and I would likely not even be given the chance to video chat with him. So I caved to an Instagram advertisement. I’d seen it dozens of times before. Journee. They book everything and you show up at the airport. I think they got me this time with the allure of a short quiz that would match me to the right destination.

So I took the quiz. The next day they sent me the sort of trip they would send me on, if we were to put down the down payment. The trip sounded magical. A city. A tour through the surrounding areas. A small village. A castle. It also sounded like it would push me a bit. I always want to go to cities, but I never think to take a tour outside of it. I’m sure I’ve missed a lot by never exploring countrysides, towns, historic landmarks. You wouldn’t believe how close I live to Stonehenge and I’ve never even considered going.

We put the money down and started getting a clue every month about what our destination might be. I guessed it quickly. I’m not sure why. I think I’d seen someone else get sent to this city in one of their ads and it seemed to fit. But then other clues made me doubt myself. Regardless, it was fun. We liked the clues. They talked about history and geographical features. An entire clue was about bookstores! It also kept me not-dreading the end of December. That was its main purpose and it was succeeding.