How To - Travel With Your Partner

If both of us are still alive to write this blog post, we must be doing at least a few things right.

I wrote that first sentence way back at the end of 2023, when we were first sketching out what we might write for this blog during our travels. We’ve been traveling together on this world trip for almost 10 full months now, and since both of us are still here to write it, I must have been correct. Before this long adventure we’d already been on several international trips together and survived, but traveling for 13 months with one person can be a tumultuous affair. We always viewed this trip as our final “Big Test” before getting married, one we hoped would have very few rough spots, if any. In truth, we have had a few difficult moments, but we’ve gotten through them all and ended up as better travel (and life) partners because of them. If you’re thinking about a trip with a family member, partner, or friend, take our key learnings below to heart and you should have a grand time!

Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

It’s pretty common to hear marriage counselors or “relationship experts” emphasize how important communication is, but it really is the bedrock for any successful partnership. Being honest with each other, as much as we can be, has consistently been the best way to stay on the same page about what we want to do, where we want to go, or what we want to eat. Don’t feel like going on a hike? Say so!

Learn To Hear Both The Said & Unsaid

As much as we preach that it’s always best just to be honest and communicate, sometimes that can be pretty hard. Maybe your partner doesn’t want to tell you when they don’t want to do something because they know you’re really excited about it. Or perhaps they don’t want to be a buzzkill by wanting to skip an activity to recharge back to at the hotel. In these moments, being able to read your partner's facial expressions, body language, and tone of voice is truly key. Of course, it’s a difficult task to hear the unsaid, but try to feel things out from the start and ask a few questions to determine their opinion without asking outright. 

Make Compromises

Traveling in a pair or a group means that the trip isn’t just about you – you’re exploring a new place or making plans with another person’s interests, dislikes, and priorities in mind. Don’t forget to leverage the communication learning to suss out what your travel buddy might want. And if those wants don’t align, consider making a compromise with them. Find a way to balance activities they want to do, ones you want to do, and ones that you can share. Or employ our next learning to make sure both of you are happy at the end of the evening…

Take Time Apart

Traveling with another person for weeks or months on end, will inevitably get difficult at some point. No matter how perfectly you and your partner typically spend time together, this length of time will bring challenges you didn’t expect. We’re very compatible in terms of how our interests match up, but sometimes we have different ideas of how we want to structure our day, what our priorities are, and how we’re feeling on different levels (stress, exhaustion, homesickness, etc). When we find that we’re clashing on these, we’ve made an effort to take some time apart. This doesn’t mean traveling alone, but rather means that we might go on separate walks, do different activities, or structure a part of the day differently to clear our head. After all, distance makes the heart grow fonder!

Pick Your Partner Up When They’re Feeling Down

We all have rough days, and across 13 months of non-stop traveling to (now) over 20 countries, each of us have had a number of days where we’re just feeling off. Sometimes it's a mood you’re stuck in, other times it's something going on back home, or maybe…it's just a tricky period (oops). No matter what your partner is going through, it’s important to be compassionate about the way they’re feeling and remember that these moments happen to you too. Depending on your relationship or your love language, you might try to cheer them up with a sweet treat, a cuddle, or simply offer to be there by listening.

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