The Inspiration Behind Julie Off Duty: A Surprise 2-week Trip!

I admit it. I'm a procrastinator. And I continually procrastinated (like, 5 years) to create this website, leaving all these beauty and travel tips and stories just floating around in my head and helping no one! But my fall vacation finally got the ball rolling. Ay yo! Thanks to that holiday,  Julie off Duty was finally born... it was just too cool of a trip not to share with all of you! 

The Mystery Family Trip

Have you ever craved to just show up at the airport, having NO idea where you’re off to next? Or maybe you’re not quite that daring but you want to live vicariously through someone else as they do it? Well, count your lucky stars, because that is exactly what my family and I are doing - and not just once, but FOUR TIMES! 

For the past few years, my father, brother and I have gone on a vacation together in the fall, right after fashion week. I was the one who always planned it, partially because I went to school for Travel & Tourism, and partially because I’m a bit of a control freak (plus my dad’s a “basic" traveler, and I’m a little “extra”, if you know what I mean). 

But my anxiety vanished when I discovered Jubel. 

I first found out about Jubel thanks to an article on Facebook (where else to things happen?). In short, the company curates a “spontaneous” mystery trip for you based on your preferences. You fill out a simple but thorough questionnaire about things like your travel crew (flying solo? with friends?), your budget, destinations you wish to discover and which you'd rather avoid, and how much info you want to know about your journey (keep it a total surprise? know the continent but nothing else?) and they plan it all for you. Along the way, you would get envelopes to open that told you where your next destination would take you. How exciting would that be to do live?!! 

Read on to find out where we end up! 

Where would you choose if you curated a Jubel trip like we are doing? Could you get by knowing less than every single detail? Tell me in the comments! And watch my Instastory live (@julieknailsnyc) to find out each destination we are going to next as we open the envelope! Where’s Phil Keoghan when we need him?