Travel Tips for Couples

by John Webber

8 Tips for Traveling with your Significant Other

Travel can be stressful, but patience, kindness, and humor will keep you strong. And when traveling as a couple, remember when doing anything that you’re on the same team.

BE PATIENT WITH EACH OTHER
Jetlag can induce crankiness in even the most agreeable of people. Know that you probably won’t be at your best until you’ve both adjusted to the time change, and treat each other accordingly. Both of you need to personally understand that you’re probably going to be affected much more than you think you’re going to be affected, and you need to be a little more patient. “The two of us have learned as we’ve gone along that there are certain things that will add a little more stress. Travel does that. No matter what, there are problems that are going to arise.”

REMEMBER THAT YOU’RE ON THE SAME TEAM
Taking out your frustration on your partner for something that’s out of their control just makes a bad situation worse. If you’re a couple, you have to realize that you’re in it together. To get mad at the other person because maybe they made a mistake or maybe there was something outside of their control is only going to make the situation worse, and then you’re going to ruin the whole purpose of traveling together.

GIVE PASSPORTS TO ONE PERSON FOR SAFEKEEPING
Designate one person to hold important documents so that everything you need to keep track of stays in one place. That way, you don’t have to worry about one person losing their passport and trying to hunt it down.

DIVIDE UP YOUR MONEY
Passports should stay together, but it’s better to split up the cash so that you each have enough to get by if someone’s stash gets lost or stolen. Whenever you get money out of the ATM, always split it up so that if something were happen to one person, you at least have money in one of the other wallets.

BE REALISTIC
Traveling as a couple should be wonderful – but don’t expect it to be perfect. A lot of people think of romantic travel as all long walks on the beach and candlelit dinners, but sometimes it’s food poisoning and flight delays too.

BE A LOYAL FRIEND
Sometimes, you just need a friend to get you through those rough patches. You have to be able to be there for the other person and be a support system and be their friend – as a travel partner, to be a loyal friend is hugely important.

PERFORM SMALL ACTS OF KINDNESS
Something small, like a morning coffee run while your partner is still sleeping (even if you don’t speak the language or know where the local coffee shop is), shows that you care about their well-being. It’s just seeing how you can be kind and how you can make the other person’s travel a little less stressful. It will go a long way, and the other person will really thank you for it.

HAVE FUN
Approaching travel with a sense of humor makes the whole experience less stressful and more enjoyable for both of you. Whatever it may be, you want to be able to sit next to this person and enjoy it no matter what’s going on, so choose your travel partner wisely.

“Do not go where the path leads, travel instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”  @wbbrjp

CIRPAC Travel / Phone  213 387-4345 / 3407 W 6th Street, Los Angeles CA