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(lái)，“旅行盲盒”消費(fèi)激增，并且很受中國(guó)年輕人的歡迎。在常規(guī)旅行中，人們常常會(huì)提前做好假期規(guī)劃。選擇“旅行盲盒”的旅行者們通常以低價(jià)（100—200元）購(gòu)入盲盒，在選定出發(fā)城市后，從飛往幾個(gè)目的地的機(jī)票中隨機(jī)抽取一張。當(dāng)旅行者決定好去往抽中的目的地時(shí)，他們的旅程就開(kāi)始了。

“通常來(lái)說(shuō)，獨(dú)自旅行的費(fèi)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(gè)目的地，這感覺(jué)很棒，費(fèi)用也低。”程姓市民在接受《海報(bào)新聞》（一家山東媒體）采訪時(shí)說(shuō)。

16歲的廖梁語(yǔ)（音譯）把他對(duì)“旅行盲盒”的興趣付諸實(shí)踐。幾個(gè)月前，他和幾個(gè)朋友進(jìn)行了一趟“盲盒”式旅行。之所以有這趟旅程，是因?yàn)樗麄冎械囊粋€(gè)人買到前往湖南省省會(huì)長(zhǎng)沙的盲盒。出人意料的是，廖梁語(yǔ)買到的盲盒也是前往長(zhǎng)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(yǔ)的一個(gè)朋友告訴他，長(zhǎng)沙是一座網(wǎng)紅城市。但是，廖梁語(yǔ)還是決定要親身前往去看一看。

“我最大的發(fā)現(xiàn)就是，長(zhǎng)沙是一個(gè)充滿反差感的城市。”廖梁語(yǔ)向《中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)》記者談道，“你可以同時(shí)看到摩天大樓和小巷中的老房子。”

因?yàn)榭蛇x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(lái)了活力和經(jīng)濟(jì)效益。比如，位于云南省的德宏是一座迷人的城市，此前因?yàn)槿狈π麄鞫儆杏慰偷絹?lái)。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(guān)注，現(xiàn)在客流量也很穩(wěn)定。

但是，也有很多人對(duì)“旅行盲盒”感到失望，因?yàn)樗麄冊(cè)谫?gòu)買盲盒后碰到一些問(wèn)題，比如旅行時(shí)間不合適，航班臨時(shí)取消，甚至是退款難。在旅游網(wǎng)站工作的孫為立在接受采訪時(shí)建議，消費(fèi)者在購(gòu)買“旅行盲盒”時(shí)，要選擇正規(guī)的平臺(tái)，并且一定要簽訂合同來(lái)保障自身權(quán)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(dòng)的人（或事物）

The band became a sensation overnight.

vigor /'v?ɡ?（r）/ n. 活力