Traveling With Your Significant Other

Traveling with your loved one is one of the greatest adventures in the world. Experiencing new places, foods, and cultures together will strengthen your relationship and create memories to last a lifetime. That doesn’t mean things can’t get stressful--- so The Travelling Mooseys and SaltWaterVibes teamed up to give you the best tips!

1. Relax: Traveling with your significant half is one of the most wonderful adventures of your life. This is where you truly learn about one and other, as most of the time it will often just be you two. We find traveling is the perfect excuse to spend a lot of alone time with each other and have the most fun together. Although, if you are about to go on your first trip with your partner, and are nervous about it, don’t be. Instead, embrace it, relax, and get excited! By the end of the trip, your relationship will most likely be stronger. 
2. Choose a Destination Together: One of the main tips we recommend when traveling with your significant other is to choose a destination that you both want to visit. There is nothing worse than having your other half constantly moaning about how they do not want to be there. Although, traveling to the destination that you both want to visit is definitely a much more enjoyable adventure, as both of you are excited and interested in your choice of destination. So, our advice is to choose wisely.
3. Figure out the Money: Before hitting the road it is important you talk about the mula. How do you plan on splitting costs? Often times we split things by categories. I will pay for the car rental and gas, while Rashawn pays for hotel and one activity or something along those lines. We always talk about it beforehand so that way one of us doesn’t feel the pressure to pay the way for the other.

      4. Learn to Compromise: Traveling with your loved one is an amazing experience, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be frustrating. Visiting somewhere new means lots to see, eat, and do! But what happens when you and your loved one want to eat at two different places, or do two different things? Thats where you compromise. Rock, papers, scissors for who gets to pick today and who picks tomorrow! If it's between two restaurants, get appetizers at one place and dinner at the other. In the long run it will make both or you happier and decrease any unwanted attitudes! 

      5. Do your Research: Accommodation is an important factor for us, as we want the place we stay to feel safe, welcoming, and comfortable, while having a great atmosphere and close to point of interests. As a result, we strongly recommend you put in the time to research the area you are staying in, in order to find your perfect accommodation that best suit your needs. Online sites, especially Hostelworld and Booking.com, travel books and friends recommendations are great sources to start your research. An experience we had when we did not research our hostel in Hiroshima, Japan, resulted in us running away after 10 minutes of arriving to our hostel due to hundreds of spiders jumping around our room. We are terrified of the little creepy crawlies, so it was our worst nightmare. So, remember to always RESEARCH to avoid having a bad experience like we did.

  6. Be Spontaneous: After planning for a trip for months, it can almost feel like a daunting checklist going through your itinerary. Don’t forget to be spontaneous through it all! Let’s say you planned to eat at an amazing restaurant, but on your walk there you see irresistible street food! Don’t sweat the small stuff and be spontaneous and enjoy the trips unplanned moments. They might turn out to be some of your favorite! If you see something off the road, pull over and check it out, spontaneous exploration is good for the soul! 

   7. Plan Together: We think it’s important for you and your partner to both get involved in organising and preparing for your trip, as it allows both of you to be fully aware of what you are going to be up to. Preparing together also creates a sense of excitement for the build-up of your trip, an excuse to go out for coffee. Although, if you have travelled before, then you will know that your plan will often deviate once you’re on your travels, as you will find things to do that you were not aware off during the initial planning stage. That’s just travel for you and why we love it!

  8. Snap some Pics: Traveling the world with someone you love is definitely worthy of picture overload! Snap lots of pictures for memories and keepsakes forever. It can be great bonding trying to make fun poses and take cute selfies. You don’t have to have a fancy camera either, why not go buy a disposable? Take it through the city and develop them as soon as your home to treasure your trip forever! 

  9. Create a Luxury Emergency Fund: If you choose to go on a backpacking holiday, then you may be living off a low budget. We therefore, highly recommend you put aside what we call a “Luxury Emergency Fund”. This is because after weeks or months of you two living on a low budget, you probably won’t have eaten and drank the amount you should be taking. Plus, you would have probably have slept in uncomfortable places. Unfortunately, this will naturally make your partner and yourself tired, hungry and frustrated, which may cause you two to have silly arguments with each other. When this happens, stop what you’re doing. Open up the “Luxury Emergency Fund” and go stay and eat somewhere nice, or go on really fun activity with each other. You’ll be surprised how amazing this refreshes both of you, and how all your negative emotions suddenly vanish and turn to positive ones.

  10. Talk it out: Remember the good old days before fancy cell phones when we actually talked to each other? Ha! Don’t forget about it-- if you are feeling annoyed, or excited, frustrated, or nervous-- talk about it! Traveling alone gives you the chance to bond and learn more about each other, even the tough stuff. Talking about the trip together before hand and what each of you expects can also help to alleviate some travel stresses along the way because you both are on the same page. 

next month: pros and cons of traveling with your partner: his vs. hers

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