Benefits Of Travelling With Your Partner- By Reshma

Why You Must Travel Together!

In life, it’s not where you go, but who you travel with –Charles Schulz

Each time we retell a story of travel, you and your partner is pushed back to that moment in time together, is it not? Travelling just does that. It gives you opportunities to make private, funny memories and bond while reflecting on that memory. These are the bits and pieces that form a timeline of events that shape your relationship. These are pieces that nobody else can understand. Like, no one can understand the time when you missed a flight in Thailand. The worry and the adventure when the taxi driver was watching a YouTube video while zipping through rush hour traffic. Or the time when you biked up and down the mountains. The breath-taking views and communication in broken English with the locals. Travel creates us. It is created for us. By us. And when we do retell that story, of that moment in travel, we know that there is something inexpressible about that drive or ride, that only we share.

Travelling together also teaches you about you and your other. You become quite exposed to your partner; there’s very little that both of you can hide. It gives you a chance to learn about the small details of your partner – habits, body functions, health. Things that may test the relationship, and that which may require thought and conversation to work out between two people.

Frankly speaking, you don’t have much choice but to share when you’re on the road. And with this knowledge comes surviving as a couple. You might face the best or worst times with your loved one when navigating new places and situations, and how you work as a couple forms a crucial part of the learning. To be honest, it’s not easy to face brutal truths about who each one is as an individual and being able to manage through different situations. I mean travel gives you certain insight into whether the relationship is worth working towards, even though it may be a hard pill to swallow. It really pushes your partnership into the light. However, you get to see beyond your partner’s best side, because travelling does pull people out of their comfort zones by giving you a glimpse of certain idiosyncrasies which can be super adorable or super annoying.

Also, many a time, things can go wrong while travelling. Like a delayed flight, losing your wallet, or perhaps getting lost in a new city. Note how your partner behaves in such situations. Are they too proud to ask for help, are they problem fixers or do they end up whining and making you feel miserable as well? Or do they exert some patience? Perhaps turn it into a joke and laugh it off? What is the reaction that you can live with?

So, travelling is all about teamwork then. Just like any relationship is. Best to figure out whether you two operate in unison or not because obviously responsibilities get divided based on who does what better. Teamwork isn’t just about working together, it also means having each other’s back through thick and thin. Why not let your tours teach you and your partner to be a better team in case you suck at it first few times?

Long conversations are part and parcel while roaming about, and many a time there is a tendency for unresolved topics to arise. This is because they may have been let to lie idle and worsen with time. Journeying provides you and your mate with an opportunity to start a dialogue about your issues because you’re free and far away from work and stress. Fights are inevitable in a relationship, but is every conversation of yours turning into a confrontation?

Sometimes even when interests are similar, travelling will force you to give and take in many situations. Compromise may be demanded. It is only when you learn to compromise that you can push your relationship to new levels. Voyaging also helps improve chances at better decision making, since it burdens you as a couple to plan together. Therefore, two thinking heads are better than one. Of course, everyone needs space in their relationship as well. If you or your partner do not permit this ‘me time’ for each other, you may be facing trust issues and insecurities.

“Travel is like love, mostly because it’s a heightened state of awareness, in which we are mindful, receptive, undimmed by familiarity and ready to be transformed. That is why the best trips, like the best love affairs, never really end.” — Pico Iyer

In short, couples who travel together are happier, healthier, communicate well and are more likely to be satisfied in their relationships, share common goals and desires, enjoy more romance and spend quality time. Travel definitely has long term benefits, as holidays are seen as tickets to improve your self, lines of communication and reconnect with each other. But they can split the expenses too.

 

 

By Reshma Raju
M.Sc Psychology,
Certified Women’s Health Coach (USA)