I went on Wizz Air's mystery trip to a destination unknown until the plane landed - would I do it again?

A whole lot of nerves, a whole lot of excitement, and a whole lot of ‘Where the hell am I going?!’. On Thursday, March 7 I arrived at Gatwick Airport ready for Wizz Air’s mystery trip of a lifetime where I had no idea which destination I was heading for.

The only information I was given beforehand was that it would be 18 to 20 degrees and I would need to pack some swimwear and hiking gear. Packing was a nightmare. Could there be a chance of rain? Could it be warmer or colder than that?

Before I arrived at the airport thoughts were swirling around of where I could be going. The trip lasted until Sunday evening so I thought surely it must be a two hour flight max, with me thinking it could potentially be Portugal or maybe even Greece - but who knows? It could be anywhere. 

I have never done anything like this before, I have never done a Wowcher mystery holiday or had a trip booked for me where I don’t know where I am going. I always plan, know what to pack and know where I am going. But if trips and opportunities like this come around again I would 100% go. 

I was joined by 33 other lucky winners and their chosen guests, who had won Wizz Air’s ‘Let’s Get Lost’ trip which had been posted as a competition on the airline's Instagram page. Over 5,000 people entered to win this year's mystery holiday trip - the airline ran the campaign before with previous winners going to the likes of Abu Dhabi and Vienna. 

I was really confused as to how it would all work - surely we would look at the flight board and know where we were going? Surely it would be on the boarding pass? How wrong I was. Everything was very much kept a secret. The destination on the departure flight board read ‘Unknown foreign’ as it did the boarding pass. The only giveaway was that the flight would be landing at the destination at 9pm.

From this information we were all trying to guess. As we all chatted and passed each other on the plane there started to be rumours of perhaps Croatia, or Turkey, but none of us really knew. 

Boarding the plane and having no idea where I would be heading was so thrilling and hilarious at the same time. During the flight I was eagerly looking out of the window, trying to guess where we were, which became a little difficult when the sun set and it was pitch black outside. The cabin crew informed us that the plane was beginning to descend and we were all craning our necks to look outside the window.

All I could see were so many bright lights and what looked like a bustling city. I was so excited. The plane landed and it went silent as it was announced: “Ladies and gentlemen, we would like to welcome you to Antalya, Turkey”. The plane erupted with cheers, claps and laughter. 

But the excitement didn’t stop there as now we were very eager to find out the itinerary of the trip. What would we be getting up to? What did they have in store for us?

As we disembarked the plane we were greeted in a private lounge in Antalya Airport with drinks, food, and live violinists. As it is Wizz Air’s campaign trip there were lots of camera crew and pictures of people’s reactions of where we had landed. It was all a lot of fun.

We were handed the itinerary for the next few days and it looked surreal. Wild water rafting, jeep safari, dinner at a Nemo restaurant, boat ride to see a waterfall - it was a lot more than I was expecting, and I really couldn’t wait for it. 

We stayed at the Maxx Royal Belek Golf & Spa five-star hotel in Belek, which was a stunning and grand hotel that was just fabulous to stay in for the trip. The hotel had so many gorgeous pools, one of which was an outside heated pool that we enjoyed on the last day. It had a chocolatier where you could have free chocolates and amazing restaurants with pretty much any food that you could wish for. The trip was an all-expenses paid holiday so we could all enjoy what the hotel had to offer. 

On the first full day we had the rafting, Tazi Canyon and jeep safari experience. I was pretty nervous about the rafting but I am so glad I did it and experienced it. We were all put in boats, with a guide, in our pretty hideous wetsuits, helmets, and oars, and rafted through the river which had the beautiful scenery of the Taurus Mountains around us. Once our boat got over the first current we were loving it, and got very competitive to beat the others. We got a little wet to say the least but it was so much fun. 

Then we were off on the jeep safari. For some reason I expected a relaxing ride, but this was far from the case. We were off-roading, flying around bends and through puddles, sitting in the back of a jeep clinging on to each other to make sure we didn’t fly around and land on each other. The driver had some very up-beat, dance music on and we couldn’t stop laughing. We stopped off at a viewpoint of the stunning Tazi Canyon and returned back to our base.

That evening we dined at the ‘Nemo’ restaurant in the ‘Land of Legends’ resort in Antalya which had exquisite food including squid, sushi and an amazing aquarium in the middle which had a variety of majestic sharks. The next day we explored the enchanting old town of Kaleici which was really charming, visiting the likes of the almost 2,000 years old Hadrian’s Gate. I was really surprised by how much history Antalya has with its glimpses of the Roman and Ottoman periods all around.

The town also had a stunning harbour where we had a boat trip to see the Duden Waterfalls. It was a beautiful sunny day with the ocean sparkling and looking a gorgeous turquoise colour. The boat trip was lovely, I spotted jellyfish in the water and seeing the waterfall gushing into the ocean, and feeling its sprays of water from on the boat, was a great experience. 

We then dined at the 7 Mehmet Restaurant which had interesting food including a pumpkin dessert with tahini sauce, and a delicious array of starters. The lunch overlooked the ocean and everyone had a really good time chatting away about our experiences so far, and getting to know each other as the winners of the competition were from all over the UK from Essex to Scotland. 

On our last day we had a truly exhilarating jet boat ride that went so fast it took my breath away. The driver spun the boat around so of course we all got very wet, and at one point all I saw was what looked like to me at the time, a big tidal wave coming over us. It was so much fun and we all really enjoyed it. A lot of us couldn’t stop laughing at what we had just experienced when we got off. 

Then it was time for one of my favourite experiences, a buggy safari where we took the steering wheel. We drove the orange little buggies through fields of trees and dirt, and I was really in my element and pretty shocked at how well I could drive it. I must admit I did get very into it, overtaking others, and speeding through trees - maybe I was an F1 driver in a past life - but it was such a fun experience that I wanted to do it all over again. When we got back to the hotel we had a lot of spare time to explore the grounds and do as we pleased before it was sadly time to go back to the hotel before heading back to the rain-soaked UK.

Looking back, it really was a trip of a lifetime. A surreal experience not knowing where you are going. You get to try things you perhaps would never normally do on your holiday, go somewhere you perhaps wouldn’t have thought of yourself, and meet amazing people. The journey into the unknown was a delight and will always be a standout moment in my life.