Giving Up Control [Journee Entry 1]

So, here’s a thing I suspected about myself but didn’t know for sure until today. I am a complete control freak when it comes to holidays and booking them. In the 20+ years my husband and I have been together, he’s always been quite happy to leave the booking of holidays and associated shenanigans to me. Because I like it, I really do. I like picking flights, picking hotels, sorting car hire. I like checking and re-checking. I like printing off my itinerary and putting it in my borderline obsessive plastic wallet. I like fretting that I’ve forgotten something and then I enjoy the satisfaction of everything going 100% according to plan.

Well, today I’ve thrown caution to the winds. Today, I gave in to Himself’s encouragement and I booked a Journee trip.

tl;dr, I’ve given the reins to complete strangers. They’ve selected a destination for us based on a questionnaire we completed (no obligation – it’s worth doing just for the curiosity factor!). They will sort the flights, the accommodation and three specific excursions in the four day/three night stay. All they’ve given us at this stage is an early description and they’ll send more clues as we approach departure. (I think I’ve worked it out from the initial proposal, but that’s OK, because even if I’m right, I have never been to that place and it looks dead cool). They send you a pack right before you leave with a ‘reveal postcard’ that they encourage you to open only once you’re at the airport.

‘That sounds exciting,’ said Himself.

I didn’t reply. I was struggling with the idea of stepping one big toe out of my comfort zone. But in the end, the concept of the adventure of it all won through and we committed. So I figured I’d put some bits and pieces about it all in here – but not too much, because I’m acutely aware that other people may choose to book such a thing and I wouldn’t want to create inadvertent spoilers. I won’t share the clues they send or anything like that for the same reason. What I will do is report back as to how the entire process goes and feels.

First impression is a good one. I had a couple of questions both before and after booking and the team got back to me swiftly, with courtesy and good humour. I suspect they’ve already got me pegged as Mrs. Anxious from County Durham, but they’re super kind about it. I am a great believer in talking about good customer service when I get it and so far, these guys are outstandingly good.

I have a ‘Journee Passport’ on my phone home screen now: lots of it is locked, but things they will open up to us as we get closer include:

• Weather forecast
• Packing list
• Curated lists of suggested places to visit and good restaurants

It’s exciting and terrifying in equal measure – giving up control like this is alien to my mindset, but for the sake of Adventure[tm], I’m willing to give it a go. I also figured that it was a good reason to get back to posting on the blog, so there’s that, too.

Wish me luck, people, I’m going in.