How to travel as a couple

For my 100th blog post I decided to dedicate it to my amazing boyfriend, who has supported me through my blogging adventure and through every step of the past 20 months. We wind each other up all the time, but that’s what makes our relationship work. We met while on ICS in another country, our first date was the holiday to Malmö and Copenhagen, so we have a mutual love of travelling. Since then we’ve been all over, so I wanted to share our tips and tricks to being a couple who travels together a lot!!

We are very similar people, but as travellers we are chalk and cheese. My boyfriend is the most laid back traveller on the planet, he won’t be on a plane until his name is called. I am the first person in the queue, even though I know the plane hasn’t landed yet. He also goes to places with no plan, I often research the place before and know every little part I want to see. BUT, I have been flexible and compromised, like he has for me, and we flew to Morocco with 4 night booked but no other plans!

 

Here’s the best advice I can give you as a travelling couple:

 

Get on

 

This goes without saying, in order to travel you have to get on well. In fact to be in a relationship you have to get on well, especially when that is put under stress by being in different countries and environments.

We’ve probably only argued properly twice and they were under stress. The first I was very hungry or should I say hangry and we had been walking up the hill in Serbia. We argued over which direction to walk back and we were dehydrated, grumpy and I let my boyfriend pick which direction to go. Then while walking along he continued to tell me why it was the best way to walk, even though we were walking. So I flipped out and walked off! All was good after 30 seconds though!!

 

The other time, was my boyfriend trying not to be angry with me when I made us get off the bus 1 miles too early in Cluj as I didn’t want to miss the stop for the airport.

Voice your opinions

 

Sometime this can lead to arguments, but normally it is better to share your opinions. This stops any of arguments getting bigger and loads of things getting dragged in. This doesn’t mean get really angry and e horrible, just let the other person know if there’s something you want to do or see. 

 

If you think we’re going the wrong way, say something rather than after we’ve gone the wrong way.  We put everything out in the open all the time, we’re always honest with each other and that really works while travelling.

 

Share your emotions

 

I have mentioned before, but I suffer with depression and my boyfriend is an absolute hero when he supports me through every struggle. It is important, especially while travelling, to share those emotions so we can plan our days accordingly.  

We’ve both had tired days, low days and just days where watching tv is all we want to do. I know we should be soaking up every second of travel, but you need some self care. My self care involves chocolate and my boyfriends is binge watching tv series. So we do that, and it works.

 

Take time for yourselves

 

This doesn’t mean you have to be apart, but just read a book, scroll through instagram or just have a few moments to yourself. We normally sit next to each other while doing this, but it just means we have some time for ourselves.

When we were in Bologna, I kept trying to write content for The Great Ambini, but using my phone was testing and my boyfriend was bored so acted like a toddler in need of attention. I was so annoyed by it, that I went to Tiger and bought a 1 euro cup and ball, which kept him quiet for hours! I would highly recommend!

 

Laugh often and have fun

 

We are happy, giggly and annoying people in public. In one museum, we once did a penis rating of all the statues – which kept us laughing. However, that’s what the world should be about! I laugh, sing and dance in public, I play games like a child trying to walk in a straight line and that’s how we enjoy travel.

We have so many inside jokes about things we’ve seen, heard and said. I also love people watching in tourist spots, sometimes we do sound like we’ve lost our minds when we play kids games to keep occupied.

 

In Venice, we hadn’t spoken to anyone else in about 48 hours – so we lost our minds and played “When I went to the supermarket I bought…”. It was beautiful and so random in the surreal beauty of the city! We also played some weird word games on the cross country trains in Italy (apologies for anyone listening to us get competitive!)

 

So that’s it guys. All the advice I have, if you have any other pearls of wisdom then comment below!

 

My boyfriend is my best friend and I love travelling with him, I just hope you have someone like that too.

Until next time

The Great Ambini

x x x

I also have these personal posts :-

• We need to talk about mental health 
• Hygge 
• Exam stress