How to travel as a couple
“I don’t want to be “Tied Down” to someone. I want to be Set Free with someone”
If you’re thinking of traveling with a partner for the first time, you’re in for a few surprises. We’re not talking about spending weeks in resorts and 5 star hotels, but rather experiencing life outside your comfort zones in foreign countries and unfamiliar languages and cultures. These are testing moments for most couples whether they’ve been together for years of just weeks.
Are you ready to start spending every waking (and sleeping) minute together with your partner – 24/7…
The true colours come out and start to show after only a few days together on the road. You will quickly learn everything there is to know about one another – what makes you tick, adjusting to each others habits, stress triggers, patience levels and so on.
But, really most couples, especially those that meet on the road, don’t expect to travel with another partner throughout their journeys. Your previous individual solo adventures were probably what you thought to be some of the best moments of your life. This to a certain extent will not entirely change, but, after traveling and sharing so many more amazing memories with a partner, it will now be hard to even compare the two experiences.
Travel is not all glamor, the reality is not always what you see on blogs, Instagram, Facebook, or other social media platforms. Relationships are hard work, so it’s to be expected that traveling as a couple is extremely hard work. However, it can be easy and be the best time of your life. You will learn more about each other, your relationship and yourself than you ever could have in any other situation.
Even it you have never spent much time abroad with a partner before. If you love to explore, you should try to travel together. You may not quite know what to expect, even more if it is still an early relationship, you both have a great connection and are super keen to start exploring more countries, but why are you still maybe a bit anxious about the idea of this. Let us ease your worries with some of our advice.
Here are just a few of our tips for travelling as a couple from our experiences on the road:
⁃Be patient; go with the flow. Things will go unexpectedly wrong at the worst times. Try to roll with the punches. Learn that some things can not be controlled and in return will require a lot of patience. Delays happen, and things may not turn out as you’d imagined. So, don’t stress, if you can laugh it off it will be a much smoother ride,
⁃Communicate; be open and honest to each other about what you want out of the trip and be ready to compromise. You both can achieve your goals. Communicate these needs as often and as early as possible. Your goals could be as simple as a restaurant or museum you’ve always wanted to visit or a dive spot you just can’t miss,
⁃Compromise; most of the decisions will be made as a couple. The freedom of decision making as a solo traveler is no more. Be flexible and considerate of each others needs. Also don’t be too greedy – separate needs vs wants,
⁃Expect to see each others best and worst; you will always learn something new about your partner when traveling together. Emotions will run high at many stages of the trip. You will see all sides of your partner – sensitive, angry and embarrassing moments will happen. Successful couples soon enough get to a point where they will accept each other for who they are. You will learn how to live with your lover through all conditions: stomach bugs, broken bones, not showering for long periods at a time, moments of hunger, stolen and lost travel items, all kinds of accidents and shameful moments. But in the end you’ll have good stories to tell and laugh abut together,
⁃Talk about money often; agree clearly up front how the finances will be handled. Set a budget comfortable for both of you and review this every few days. Keep track of every dollar you spend in the notes app on your phone. Sit down every few days after counting your money leftover in your wallet to see if it equaled what was written down. It will become a bit of a game to see how close you are to the correct amount remaining in the end but also make you more aware of your expenditure,
⁃Embrace doing nothing; make room for downtime to relax and not worry about when the next bus is leaving or where your next meal will be. It’s sometimes hard to sit around doing nothing and feel like you aren’t wasting precious time, but, this will have a positive impact on your trip ten fold. Enjoy the quiet times to ease the pressures of stress from constantly moving around,
⁃Make a bucket list; discuss big ticket items you really want to do. You might be fortunate enough to both share similar tastes when traveling so this will be easy. If you do happen to have differences, divide these fairly and you can still decide to those together or not. This could be a hike such as a volcano you’ve always wanter to climb in Guatemala. It could be done as a solo trip but completing the trek together will make for an awesome experience to share with someone. Even though you may later vow to never climb another mountain again together, at least you would have shared that experience,
But, our number one tip is, to be in the moment. No matter where you are or what you are doing. Try not to plan ahead too much. Don’t rush. Slow down. Embrace the times you miss that bus or get caught walking back to your hostel in the pouring rain! You might even stumble upon the best beach you’ve ever seen or discover a new favourite restaurant. Enjoy and don’t take yourselves too seriously. Look at the bigger picture. Your time on the road might be over before you know it and you could be sitting back at a desk in your 9-5 gig. Make the most of it. You never know if you will be back in these places again together,
You might hear of many other couples on the road who found it tough traveling, but there are also many others, like s u r u n c l o u d who only ever had mostly good and memorable experiences. If you are lucky enough to form an effortless connection then why not try to compliment this with a passion for travel and exploring further and deeper together. Travelling together can be an easy choice to make. Travelling with someone special is truly a unique and rewarding experience. Give it a go, it’s a real experience and you might just not trade your travels together for anything.
