For the past couple years, I've been planning to go abroad for my 40th birthday - either Argentina or Peru. But when Mom died in late January, I sunk into a months-long functional depression (still there, though I take active steps to combat it). By the time I got out enough to start thinking of a trip, all the Machu Picchu trail trips were sold out, and I wasn't sure I'd have the money anyway. Plus, before she died, Mom made my sister and I promise to use some of the inheritance to go to Australia together, which we'll probably do in the next couple years, which would also cross one of the continents off my bucket list (and leave only South America and Antarctica to go).
I still wanted to go somewhere, though. One of my other bucket list items has been to go to an airport and buy a ticket to the next plane leaving, no matter where. But then I remembered months ago I read about Pack Up + Go, which plans surprise 3 day/2 night trips somewhere in the US. It's something I also wanted to do, so went for it.
For two or more people, the minimum is $650/person. For single travelers like me, it's $1000 per person minimum (due to hotel costs being split with multiple travelers and other things). So I signed up, filled out an extensive survey (part of which you'll see in a screenshot below), and paid my $1,000.
They sent an initial email confirming, then a second email reminding of the trip a few weeks later, and today I got the long-awaited weather report and packing tips email:
I've redacted dates and flight info so people don't reverse engineer and try to figure out where it's going (I'm keeping this a surprise until I get to the airport).
My immediate thoughts are that we're headed somewhere in the Northern part of the US. Putting this together and the following excerpt from my survey:
A couple other notes: They've never sent anyone to places like New York City and LA, based on the philosophy that people will book their own trips there (despite that there's still an early vote for NYC). I also mentioned later in the survey that I hated Philadelphia when I visited there.
With all that in mind, my initial guesses are Seattle, Portland, and Boston.
The current running vote tally from the Facebook crowd:
Seattle: 4
San Francisco: 3
Boston: 1
Portland: 1
Denver: 1
New York City: 1
Cour d'Alene, Idaho: 1 (the Pumpy Tudors option)
I've allowed people a max of 3 cities for guesses, though most have chosen 1 or 2. Personally I don't think it'll be San Francisco, though I did ponder it for a minute - I feel like it's too short a flight and would be more something Pack Up + Go would do for a road trip option ($400/person for multi-, $650 a person for single travelers on that).
I'm really looking forward to this.