Mystery Box Trips: To Parts Unknown

“盲盒”式旅行：去未知的地方

In recent years， mystery box travel purchases surged and became trendy among Chinas young people. In normal trips， people often plan their vacations well in advance. After buying a mystery box at a low price—usually from 100 to 200 yuan—however， the travelers using this method will select their departure city and receive several destination options to choose from. After the destination is decided， their trip begins.

“Going out alone usually costs too much and that too many people dont know where to go. However， the mystery box directly assigns me a few destinations， which feels wonderful， and its cheap，” a citizen surnamed Cheng told Haibao News， a media outlet based in Shandong Province.

Liao Liangyu， 16， has turned his eagerness to go on a mystery box trip into reality. He took a mystery box trip with a couple of friends months ago. It started when one of them got a mystery box ticket to Changsha， the capital city of Hunan Province. Surprisingly， Liao followed suit and got Changsha too.

近年來，“旅行盲盒”消費激增，并且很受中國年輕人的歡迎。在常規旅行中，人們常常會提前做好假期規劃。選擇“旅行盲盒”的旅行者們通常以低價（100—200元）購入盲盒，在選定出發城市后，從飛往幾個目的地的機票中隨機抽取一張。當旅行者決定好去往抽中的目的地時，他們的旅程就開始了。

“通常來說，獨自旅行的費用很高，而且很多人不知道去哪里旅行。然而，盲盒直接為我指定幾個目的地，這感覺很棒，費用也低。”程姓市民在接受《海報新聞》（一家山東媒體）采訪時說。

16歲的廖梁語（音譯）把他對“旅行盲盒”的興趣付諸實踐。幾個月前，他和幾個朋友進行了一趟“盲盒”式旅行。之所以有這趟旅程，是因為他們中的一個人買到前往湖南省省會長沙的盲盒。出人意料的是，廖梁語買到的盲盒也是前往長沙的。

Right before their departure， a friend told Liao that Changsha was an Internet sensation. But he still decided to go and see it for himself.

“My biggest discovery is that Changsha is a city full of contrasts，” Liao explained to China Daily. “You can see skyscrapers and old houses in alleys in the same view.”

Since the destination options include many less popular cities， travel mystery boxes also bring vigor and economic benefits to these destinations. For example， Dehong is a beautiful city in Yunnan Province yet had few visitors due to a lack of promotion. Following its inclusion as a mystery box travel destination， however， it has gained a lot of attention

and is now thought of as a solid location for tourism.

But even so， a large number of people feel disappointed with travel mystery boxes because they can encounter many problems after purchasing one， such as inappropriate travel times， sudden flight cancellations， or even challenges with refunds. Sun Weili from a travel website suggested in an interview that visitors buying mystery boxes should choose reliable platforms and sign contracts to guarantee their interests.

啟程之前，廖梁語的一個朋友告訴他，長沙是一座網紅城市。但是，廖梁語還是決定要親身前往去看一看。

“我最大的發現就是，長沙是一個充滿反差感的城市。”廖梁語向《中國日報》記者談道，“你可以同時看到摩天大樓和小巷中的老房子。”

因為可選的目的地包括很多冷門城市，所以“旅行盲盒”也為這些地方帶來了活力和經濟效益。比如，位于云南省的德宏是一座迷人的城市，此前因為缺乏宣傳而少有游客到來。但自從這里被納入“旅行盲盒”可選目的地后，便獲得了大量的關注，現在客流量也很穩定。

但是，也有很多人對“旅行盲盒”感到失望，因為他們在購買盲盒后碰到一些問題，比如旅行時間不合適，航班臨時取消，甚至是退款難。在旅游網站工作的孫為立在接受采訪時建議，消費者在購買“旅行盲盒”時，要選擇正規的平臺，并且一定要簽訂合同來保障自身權益。

Word Bank

surge /s??d?/ v. 飛漲；激增

follow suit 跟著做

Efforts to persuade the remainder to follow suit

have continued.

sensation /sen'se??n/ n. 引起轟動的人（或事物）

The band became a sensation overnight.

vigor /'v?ɡ?（r）/ n. 活力