Travel World
How to Travel Well With Your One and Only - Whether you've been coupled for decades or you're still in the heady rushes of newly found and committed love, traveling with your partner can be a joy unlike any other. From the present tense romance of experiencing exotic lands, foods, and cultures together to the memories you'll share and reminisce fondly over in the future, couple travel can be a truly exquisite way to bond even more.
Of course, traveling with your partner can also be an insufferable hell on earth that, in its most extreme forms, can sow the seeds of breaking up entirely. If you're happily coupled and looking to take a trip or two with your beloved, congratulations! Just be sure to mind these tips, so you can do it well.
Take Care of Your Physical Needs
Even the best-planned travel itinerary can go off the rails, and it's during those times of unexpected delay, discomfort, and true debacle that nerves can fray and tempers erupt — especially if you haven't tended properly to your body's needs. Low blood sugar, dehydration, and fatigue make controlling your tongue and behavior much more difficult when things are going smoothly.
When you're hungry and things begin to fall apart, well — let's just say it's a disaster waiting to happen. So, don't tempt fate. Stay hydrated, well-fed, and rested throughout every leg of your trip. When you're on the move, make sure you always have water and a snack with you, so just in case you get stranded somewhere for a time or your reservation falls through, you'll be able to stave off hunger and thirst until your problems are solved.
Stay Within Your Budget
Whether you have a large and roomy travel budget or a small and tight one, do yourselves a favor by sticking to it. Money is one of the primary sources of tension and disagreement between couples back in the real world, so why bring that tension with you on vacation?
Decide on a budget together — you can save money by booking flights online — and so long as the spending choices you and your partner make fit within the budget's parameters, agree that you won't even comment on one another's travel spending, let alone complain.
Spend Some Time Apart
One of the easiest ways to stay on good terms with any travel companion, but especially a spouse or partner, is to spend some scheduled time apart before such a time when you can't wait to get away from each other.
Almost every couple has differences in interests, which makes spending time apart when you travel relatively simple. Let your wife head to the medieval weapons museum, while you read a novel in a small café. By spending time alone, you'll avoid feeling cramped in time and space, and you'll also be more grateful for one another's presence.
Communicate Early and Often
The necessity of good communication, in any relationship, can't be overstated, but nowhere is that more true than in a couple on vacation together. As soon as his waking late starts to affect the day's plans and you feel annoyed by it, say something. If she keeps getting the first shower and you're left with only a scant amount of hot water, bring it to her attention.
With diplomacy and kindness, communicate early and often with one another, and you'll avoid most arguments.
Don't Try to Do it All
One of the keys to a successful vacation is experiencing new places without trying to do so much that you feel stressed out all the time. As much as you're able, don't bite off more than you can chew in a day's schedule.
While having just two days in Rome may make you think you have to tear around the place from 6 a.m. to midnight to make sure you see it all, a better choice would be to select a few key sites and experiences, and let the rest await a future trip.
Share Decision-Making
It may take longer, and it may mean that something you really had been hoping to do falls off the truck, but so long as you're both willing to compromise for the good of the pair, sharing decision-making will enable you to craft a trip and itinerary you're both excited about, and if some aspect of the trip is lackluster, there won't be anyone in particular to point a finger at.
So, book a trip for two to anywhere in the world. Armed with these suggestions, there's no reason you and your beloved can't have the time of your life together, regardless of what hiccups or troubles you come across.
