Travel can be a more intense experience than life at home, and it holds true for couples travelling together too. But traveling with your mate can also be an enriching experience that brings the two of you closer together. Here are some tips for travelling with your significant other, whether you are planning your first trip together or have been exploring the world as a couple for some time.
- Pick the right location. Any destination can be romantic. Romance is more about who you are with, what you do, and your state of mind than where you are on the map. Sure, some locations are more picturesque or have more “romantic” lodging options, but that doesn’t mean they are the perfect place for you and your sweetie. Focus more on what you want to see and do and go from there. If you get bored lying on the beach all day, you aren’t going to have a great trip, no matter how “romantic” the resort claims to be. Talk to your significant other and discuss what you each want to do and what your travel style is and select a location based on those considerations.
- Plan together. In many relationships, it seems like one person always takes the reins of planning while the other is contented to be led. This can work out fine for decisions such as where to go to dinner, but when you are talking about spending several days, and possibly several hundred dollars on a trip, both people need to contribute to the decision making. Once you’ve settled on a location, you can divvy up the planning responsibilities in one several ways.
- Compromise. In the travel planning and on the trip, you have to realize that you can’t get your way all the time. When creating an itinerary that includes both what you want to do and what your significant other wants to do, you often will each have to give up a few things in order to make it work.
- Talk about budget before you go. Money is one of the main sources of disagreement for all couples, whether they’d be travelling or not.
When you travel with someone, you quickly figure out how he interacts with other cultures, how she manages money, how she handle stress, or how he deals with conflict when you two cannot escape each other. Travelling together for the first time as a couple can be a make-or-break experience.