Thursday, February 19, 2015

10 Best Tips for Couples Who Travel Together

travel tips for couples


Over the past several years, I have done a ton of traveling on my own, with friends, and with family. However, most of my travels have taken place with Nick, where we venture to new places together. I absolutely love traveling with Nick, and we have learned a lot about each other through traveling. However, it is not always fun and games when traveling as a couple. Today, I'm going to share my ten best tips for couples who travel together! 

Nick and I's first ever couples trip to Las Vegas
1. Always take the time to communicate with your partner. Before, during, and after a trip, take the time to communicate with your partner about how you are feeling and what you want to do. Communicate your preferences on where you want to stay, what you want to eat, and activities you want to partake in. By having an open and honest dialogue, each of you is bound to enjoy the vacation much more. 

2. Keep a sense of humor. Laugh! Things happen on vacation, and it is important to be able to laugh it off. You are traveling to enjoy new experiences, and you are traveling as a couple to do this together. Make sure to enjoy it!

3. Be willing to compromise. Chances are, while traveling as a couple you will want to do different things at some point. On our most recent trip to Riga, I wanted to go, go, go for the entire six hours we were there. Nick was a great travel partner for the first four hours, and then made the very valid point that it was his vacation too, and he wanted to sit down and relax for a little while. I recognized the fact that he had been very accommodating and did everything I wanted for the first four hours, so we found a cozy cafe to sit down and relax at. Compromise, and be willing to do something your partner wants- after all, it is their vacation too!

hanging solo poolside in Las Vegas
4. Take some time for yourself- alone. As mentioned above, you and your partner won't always want to do the exact same things while on vacations. Beyond this, being together 24/7, often in the close confines of a hotel room, can be exhausting after a while. Take some time alone, and do whatever it is you would like to do. For example, whenever Nick and I go to Las Vegas, I usually start my mornings off poolside while he hits the gym or goes for a run. It is a good chance for both of us to be alone, doing whatever we would like to do, and have some time apart. 

5. Respect your partner's thoughts, opinions, and feelings. The truth of the matter is, you are two different people. Just because you want to do something, doesn't mean your partner does. If you do not respect their thoughts, opinions, and feelings, any trip will go downhill- quickly. Take the time to listen and understand why they feel the way they do about things. Often, a simple conversation can help to smooth over any bumps in the road that you may encounter while traveling. 

Enjoying a stroll in Stockholm
6. Talk about your budget in advance. Always, always, always talk about your budget in advance. Have an amount that you are planning on spending for flights/transportation, hotels, food, activities, anything that may come up. While it is important to set a budget, it is also important to be realistic about this budget. However, having these discussions in advance can help avoid any awkward conversations that may arise during the trip. It is a lot more difficult to say no to something on the spot, versus planning it in advance!

Nick is our official photographer- I'm lucky to get any
pictures with him actually in the shot!
7. Divide up the various responsibilities of the trip. Although you are traveling, there are still various responsibilities- who brings the room key with, who pays for things, who makes sure you get checked in for flights on time. Divide up these responsibilities, and it will save you the trouble of having the "shoot, nobody grabbed a room key" dilemma. When Nick and I travel, I am always in charge of checking us in for flights and carrying our boarding passes and passports. On the other hand, he is in charge of our luggage. Dividing things up like this can make traveling much smoother!

8. Be flexible. Things change, and that is O.K! You might have an entire trip planned, and then at the last minute some aspect of it changes. Be flexible and willing to adapt to changing conditions. 

Nick planned a picnic in Oslo, while I was in charge of the food & drinks for it
9. Take turns and make sure you both participate in the planning. Often, it is easy to either let your partner do all of the planning or to do it yourself. Make sure to find different aspects of the planning that you both enjoy. With Nick and I, he is usually in charge of selecting our hotels or resorts, while I take charge in selecting the restaurants that we visit and excursions we go on. By each of you taking on portions of the planning, you can build your excitement together. 

10. Most importantly, remember you are a team. On vacations, it is entirely possible that things may go wrong. Perhaps your luggage is lost, or you get ripped off by a cab driver. These things happen. If something does happen, it is essential to remember that you are a team. Chances are, your partner did not want these negative things to happen either. Rather than take it out on them, find a way to laugh about it and move on. Don't blame the other person for these negative things- remember, it is the two of you versus the world while you are traveling!

Now that I have shared my best tips for couples who travel together, I'd love to hear yours! How do you and your partner make traveling together easy and fun?

29 comments:

  1. These are all such great tips! When H and I did our first trip together that wasn't to one another countries we did a 5 week trip around Europe so a lot of time just the two of us. We also weren't living together and in the early stages of our relationship so money was not something we talked about often, but we made sure of it when we started planning this trip. And spending time apart, it can make such a difference, awesome tips gal!

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    1. I bet the 5 week trip definitely took your relationship from early stages to wayy past that point! Traveling always seems to do that. Nick and I's first trip was just a weekend, but it was also about a month after we started seeing each other. Now, I can't imagine not traveling the world with him!

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  2. My husband and I also travel a lot together, in fact most of of time pre marriage was spent travelling. We think no couple who haven't travelled together should get married because you learn so much about each other when you travel!

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    1. How cool, Corlie! And I definitely agree that traveling is something you should do pre-marriage if you are planning on traveling at any point of your life. IT is such a great learning experience!

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  3. Brilliant and well stated. Met my hubs while traveling the USA from London. We traveled back to London together after my stay here. Them we embarked on a year of traveling the world. We married in Cairo, Egypt. 25 years later, we have inspired out kids to travel, we are sending the oldest of to college in a few months, from Il to Cali :) and we still travel extensively.... We love to travel without plans and make it up as we go. Fun times!

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    1. Thanks! Wow, it sounds like you have such a cool story! Traveling together is definitely important and can create such a deep bond.

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  4. These are such great tips. I completely agree on communication + sense of humor, first and foremost!

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    1. Thanks Ashley! Sense of humor is definitely important- you have to learn to laugh at yourself!

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  5. Great tips! A sense of humor is key when traveling - you should also see the funny side of things along with communication and of course the give and take aspect. I'm definitely like you and always want to go, go, go whilst the German is definitely the Nick of the two of us and wants to relax a little more!

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    1. Thanks, Rachel! It is hard to communicate and compromise sometimes- but just something you have to do. I do enjoy at times when my husband forces me to relax a little bit- makes the trips easier!

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  6. A lot of great tips here. I think my husband and I do a lot of these naturally without really thinking about it, which only reaffirms for me that he's a good travel partner. We are the same way too, in that I am the one taking all the photos, so sometimes I have to make him stop and get a shot of me so that it looks like I was on vacation too. ;)

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    1. Natalye, it is very true that a lot of these come naturally if you have a good travel partner. That is funny you and your husband are opposite with the picture taking- I very rarely get shots of Nick in pictures, and on our trip to Riga I got 0 of him!

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  7. Well perfect timing for this post since my boyfriend is coming to visit in 2 and a half weeks! Ahh! Love these tips and definitely could use some right about now! Especially the "keep a sense of humor" I often forget this one! :X oooopss! I should have him read this as well *cough* Divide up the responsibilities! Thanks for sharing! :D

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    1. How exciting for you Lauren! I bet you will have such a great time together. Enjoy!

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  8. Great advice - the compromise one is key (and I'm not the best at). I like to go go go and my husband likes to chill and relax, so compromise is key.

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    1. Thanks! Like you, I have to work on the compromise one- but hey, none of us are perfect!

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  9. Great tips! I think that living together and travelling together can be really different and so many of the points you mentioned are really important, especially the compromise one which can be difficult when you want to see everything and don't want to stop for a sit down!!

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    1. I'm like you where sometimes I don't want to stop and sit down! Usually (at some point!) I realize I need to compromise a bit with my husband and take a break. It is a work in progress!

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  10. Great tips! And these definitely apply to anyone traveling with anyone else, haha. Communication is KEY—otherwise someone's going to get passively angry at the other person and it's going to erupt somewhere else.

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    1. That is definitely true Michelle, these are good for anyone else as well. I can be a little bit passive aggressive, so communication is so important before, during and after trips!

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  11. Luckily, my fellow is easy-going and lets me take control of our travels.

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    1. That is so nice! I can usually take control of some things, but I do have to remind myself to consider what he wants too. Traveling together is so great!

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  12. These are really helpful tips, not just for travel but for having a healthy relationship in general. th

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    1. I totally agree with you Estrella- definitely important for any relationship!

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  13. My husband is usually like - ok, you plan and I'll go with you. The "laugh" tip is so important and I should remember about it more often - that's the thing I'm still learning ;) But it is getting better and I'm becoming more and more flexible with every passing trip :)

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    1. It is definitely hard to be flexible sometimes, especially when things seemed perfectly planned and then something changes. I feel you for sure on that one, Joanna!

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  14. Those are some great tips you have shared. I just want to ask you from where do you book your hotel rooms. I usually go through reservationcounter.com. Do you have any other suggestions?

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