Traveling With Your Partner
Updated: Jul 19, 2018
Why it's important to travel with your partner before settling down.
During my last trip to Italy with Craig, I thought of a million reasons why it’s a smart idea to go on a lengthy trip with your partner before you decide if he or she is “the one.” I don’t mean a quick weekend trip to Miami or the beautiful Caribbean, because it’s rare that you would have a hiccup during trips like those. I mean at least a two week trip, visiting multiple cities within the trip.
Craig and I have done three trips like this so far. The first one was to China and Thailand, the second one was to Paris, Venice and Dublin, and our latest trip was to Paris, Florence, Rome and Positano.
I’ll start with the obvious; you create beautiful memories and experiences with a person you love. I love the feeling I get when Craig and I look at each other wide eyed and in complete awe as we see something for the first time, together. For me personally, I’ve always wanted a partner that had an interest in traveling. I love being immersed in new cultures, beautiful architecture, gorgeous beaches, and trying fresh foods from other places. The fact that Craig is the same way is a BIG plus for me. It’s helping me live the life I dreamed of! I can bring up some random place he’s never thought of visiting, and he will look it up and be completely open to going with me. So for me, that’s a kind of love I’ve never known. He takes interest in the things that interest me, lovingly and willingly. It’s an extremely fulfilling feeling.
Learning each other’s travel styles and interests can also give good insight to your future. For instance Craig is an animal lover and the dare devil type. He’s done safaris in Africa, bungee jumping, sky diving, and swimming with great white sharks to name a few. He’s also a minimalist, he’s completely comfortable and absolutely enjoys staying in hostels; he actually did it for a whole month in South Africa. Your girl Mandy on the other hand is very different. I love architecture, beaches, I’m the biggest foodie, and I love staying in fancy hotels. So I know you’re thinking, how do you guys even work then? It works because we love being introduced to things we wouldn’t do on our own! For example, I’ve been snorkeling in the Barbados. On a normal day where I would just stay on the catamaran while everyone jumps off, I actually jumped off too and saw the most beautiful shipwreck and colorful fish. I’ve also been to an elephant sanctuary in Thailand thanks to him, and I’ve truly enjoyed it. Craig takes interest in the restaurants I find and the things I want to try, and I know his belly and taste buds thank me for it. He’s also open to going to any museum, historical tour, or musical show I would like to go to. If I want to indulge and stay somewhere beautiful, he enjoys it. And he also appreciates my planning style (I hope!), I usually have itineraries planned of everything that we should see wherever we go. They end up being so valuable, we’ve seen so much!
You also learn a great deal about each other’s temperaments. Think about it, you’re away for two whole weeks, away from everything that is familiar. You are with each other all the time. If you don’t live together, I’m sure you can see why that is valuable. If you fight, you’re stuck together. You can learn how to handle these uncomfortable situations.
One thing I really appreciate about my Craigy bear is that I can tell he loves me. If I have a headache, or if I ate something that makes my tummy hurt, he will rush to find anything I need. He doesn’t get mad at me if I need to lie down for a while. I love our relationship because sometimes these trips can be hard. If you have a long flight, then a long layover, then another long flight to your destination, can you do that together? If you’re in one city and you need to wake up early to catch a flight to the next city, will you be grumpy? In my personal experience with Craig, we have each other’s backs. If I’m losing patience, he’ll make me more comfortable and vice versa. If I freak out because I lost the key to open my suitcase (which actually happened), he will calm me down and find some way to open it.
So basically, it’s important to travel together to learn about each other! I can definitely say with all that I’ve learned about my love, I couldn’t be more confident that I’ve found my person. <3
