I must admit, I started my travels as a solo traveller and based all of my trips around destinations that were safe for young women on their own. As time went on and I found myself dating my boyfriend, we began travelling together.
Multiple year-long trips later, we have definitely worked out a few things while travelling that helped strengthen our relationship. Many of these things wouldn’t have been as quick to the game had we not been on the other side of the world together.
It’s also fascinating how many people think travelling with a partner is a bad idea. I’m not sure why people feel that way, and whenever I ask they just say you should only do a short 2 week trip maximum with a partner.
What do I say to them?
You’re just travelling with the wrong person!
Why are you dating somebody that you can’t or won’t travel with? Not everyone enjoys long term travel and I can respect that, but when travelling long term is that important to you, why wouldn’t you want to share that with the person you’re choosing to date?
Anyway, let’s talk about the positives about travelling with a partner and how doing so can strengthen your relationship.
Making new memories together
Who doesn’t like to make new memories? And what’s more special than having experiences with your partner in a new exotic place?
The memories you make during your travels will stick with you forever and can often make you stronger. You’ll be talking about that time you took a river boat across the border for years to come!
Each get better at budgeting
When travelling long term, you normally need to have a budget in mind. This can be something agreed in advance or just a rough guideline. It’s hard to make an exact guess of how much everything will cost until you are in each destination.
This means you need to be cautious and mindful of how much you are spending. If you expect to travel for an extended period together and you’re not filthy rich, you’re going to need to budget and have that all important talk about money. You need to be on the same page.
See each other at your best
There is just something about travelling and having new experiences that makes people radiate happiness. It’s such a nice glow to see. That is what you can expect your partner to see when you are travelling together too.
Since they are with you for the majority of the time, they’ll get to see all of your best traits and remember why they fell for you in the first place! If you’re travelling and happier, you’ll easily be able to strengthen your relationship – it’s a win win.
And worst
Look, it’s not all going to be happy families and romance 24-7. Travelling can get stressful. You might have been stuck in a loud hostel the day before an 18 hour bus journey.
Maybe you got sick eating street food. Either way, you are bound to witness your partner in stressful situations. This gives you a good insight into how they handle things – if at all. If you can both make it through a bad travel experience, you can make it through anything.
Have you checked out the harsh truths of backpacking as a couple for a year?
Practice living together
Normally if you travel long-term before living together, it gives you great practice. You’ll get used to being in each other’s personal space ALL the time. In normal circumstances when you live together you also work, and have at least 8 hours a day apart.
When backpacking you normally have all the time in the world so that’s a lot of time to be with the same person.
Learn to Compromise with each other
One of you wants to get drunk and hit the beach everyday. The other wants to wake up early and visit architectural buildings. Just like many other things in life, You will need to make some compromises along the way. You want to make sure that you can both enjoy the trip to its full capacity.
Experience romantic places
There is something beautiful about witnessing a beautiful sunrise or sunset. Maybe a breathtaking view across a mountain range. What’s even better than seeing these things, is experiencing them with a loved one.
After travelling for so long with someone you start to associate these beautiful landscapes with that person. If I ever travel or spend a day without my boyfriend I wish he could see them too.
Learn about that person
You might think you know everything about your travel companion. But that won’t be the case until after you have travelled together. You’ll learn what makes them tick, what ticks them off and how they adapt to new unknown worlds. All things you may not learn as fast in the comfort of your home towns.
Learn to be the others’ support system
If you ever come face to face with a natural disaster or very long delays during your trip, you might get stressed out and upset. Going through these moments with your partner means you can both comfort each other.
Maybe you travel through an unsafe area of a city, or a stranger says something that worries you, these are the times you have no choice but to be there for your partner and be their support system.
You’ll watch them grow
Ignorance is a strong word, but everyone is to some extent. What’s good about backpacking together is you’ll learn new things, witness new cultures and become less ignorant together.
Being around new people in unknown places you’ll learn to become better people and more patient. These are all great traits to keep and bring into your own relationship.
Each of these points will help make you more patient people as well as better to each other.
Now, don’t get me wrong, these are not the only things that will strengthen a relationship as the usual ‘relationship’ things will still be necessary, but when travelling these will definitely be some of the big factors.
So, with that being said, Where are you going on your trip?
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