Would you book a return trip without knowing the destination?
A colleague at my new job was telling me about blind bookingĀ earlier this week and I thought it was a really interesting idea. But is it a good idea? And more importantly: would you go for it?
First of all, letās start with the basics:
What is Blind Booking?
Eurowings (formerlyĀ Germanwings)* offers blind booking from a number of airports (including Cologne/Bonn and DĆ¼sseldorf). First you select your airport, and then a āthemeā. These range from culture or hiking and nature to party or gay-friendly (dependent on your airport).
Under each theme youāll find a list of 10-20 destinations, any of which you could be jetting off to. After selecting the right theme for you, you then pick your chosen dates ā provided they are available and no more than 45 days in advance.
You can then choose to pay an extra ā¬5 per destination you want to exclude from the booking.Just come back from Venice? ā¬5 and you wonāt be heading back.
Finally, you pay and only then do you find out where exactly youāre heading off to.
So the only question remains ā would you do it? Iām assuming you can guess which way I would lean, but I can see that there are both pros and cons to an adventure like this. First, letās look at the downsides of blind booking.
The cons
I think the biggest drawback to blind booking would be budget. Itās hard to plan for accommodation if you donāt know where youāre going: you might end up in Geneva with a budget for Bucharest.
Thereās also another issue with timing. A weekend sounds like an ideal time to get a quick taster of a surprise location ā however, you could end up flying out very late Friday night and returning in the early hours of Sunday morning, leaving you with only one day to actually see the destination.
The pros
Surely the biggest pull to do this would be the sense of adventure. Sure, youāll only spend around 10 minutes during the booking process not knowing where youāre going, but for me that would be perfect: enough adventure to get excited, but enough time to adequately plan.
Secondly, I think blind booking would offer a real opportunity to travel outside of your comfort zones. Most people have favourite destinations: either areas they love returning to or places high up on their wishlist ā but what about cities you might not have considered? A Francophile might not choose to head to Krakow, but might love it all the same.
Likewise, it might present an opportunity to give a destination a second chance, or to return and do it justice.
My feeling would definitely be to go for it.
In 2012, I headed out to visit a friend in Venice, simply because she was living there at the time. It was a city I otherwise wouldnāt have headed to, but I absolutely loved the place. Iāve also made a pledge this year to visiting the winner of Eurovision 2014 before it hosts the competition, in an effort to travel a bit more outside of my preferred locations. Hence, I really love the idea of blind booking and Iāve been pretty excited since I was told about it.
But what about you?
Would you be willing to gamble on a weekend away?
Which destinations would you pay to avoid?
Comment below!
Check out where I went with Blind Booking here.
*Iāve no idea if this is offered by other airlines. This post was not endorsed or sponsored by Germanwings.
I’ve read about blind booking on another blog before (though I can’t remember what airline it was…) and I found it a cool concept. I’d like to try it as I often find myself wishing I could add more adventure in my life. š
PS: If you chose a gay-friendly destination, you wouldn’t have a budget for Bucharest since there are more chances of seeing a real live unicorn than ending up here š
I bet there are other airlines offering a similar deal, but I haven’t come across any…
Manchester is actually included in the gay-friendly destinations – just another reason to love MCR!
I’d have a go, definitely. Are you going to take the plunge now you live out that way?
Definitely! Just need to decide when. Thinking of taking the ‘Culture’ theme and paying ā¬5 to cross Nuremberg off the list.
I’d give it a try! Though it would be a bit disappointing to end up somewhere you’d been recently I imagine they are most likely to have tickets to offload for the less popular big name destinations so you may well end up somewhere you’d never think of. Look forward to seeing where you end up if you do it!
From what I’ve heard, there’s a good chance of ending up in Switzerland as they and get rid of tickets to more expensive places. Not sure when I’ll be doing it yet, but will be sure to keep you informed!
Hmmmm interesting. If I had a Shengen visa, I might try this out once or twice, especially to more esoteric locations.
Definitely! Which theme would you pick?
Probably nature one, though I wish there was a ‘culture’ one – probably matches the best shopping destinations though, no? I can definitely efficiently spend 24-48 hrs going to museums, castles and monuments.
You’re in luck – there is a ‘culture’ choice. This is the one I think I will be choosing.
Anyone come up with the concept of a blind cruise?
I sense a gap in the market…