Travelling as a couple is a unique journey where you are constantly flowing from pleasure to extreme pain. From love to a depth of hatred that you didn’t know you had within you. Travel with your significant other can certainly test the boundaries of any relationship. Really surviving a trip together is mastering a skill that you didn’t know you had. There are very few things that you can do to stay in that bubble of peach colored romantic happiness.

Shit happens. Things go wrong. The world at some point will hate you and test you. Just for giggles. And there’s very little that you can do about it. As a traveling couple, we’ve experienced our own levels of ups and downs. Thankfully for everyone involved, I’m not a crier as I look terrible with big red blotchy eyes.

Here’s the very simple truth of how we have had our relationship survive the travel lifestyle.

Get used to hearing bodily functions.

Everybody poops. It’s a fact of life. One of the most difficult things to get used to is the sound of someone else using the bathroom. When you’re traveling there’s every chance that one of you or both of you will get travellers tummy. Which will result in you hearing things you really would prefer not to.

Then there is always that super fun moment when you walk into your hotel/hostel room and find that the bathroom is next to the bed. Or that the internal walls are only made out of glass. Nothing else but crystal clear glass.

It always tastes better…

When it’s someone else’s. No truer words have been spoken especially when it comes to food on the road. It always takes better when it’s not yours. So learning to share is a huge help when you’re travelling as a couple. It also makes more economic sense to share and then consider ordering another round.

Alone time is a good time.

No I’m not talking about sneaking away to masturbate. Though no judgment if that’s what you need to do to keep yourself happy. There’s nothing wrong with a little alone time. Spending 24/7 together is tiring. There’s only so much you can talk about, things you can consider before things get a bit boring. You need time apart to do separate things, see things and then actually have something to talk one another about.

Even when we are out hiking I have alone time. Podcasts and books become my best friend. Whereas James just hides in his head and finds someone to talk to in there.

Even if you’re usually in a long distance relationship than you do need some alone time occasionally.

It’s not always about being right.

But just for the record, I’m always 100% right. Unless it comes to directions in which case I outsource this task to James. Or when the question is about how to best pack my backpack or do I need that extra thingy. Again I’m an intelligent woman who outsources the things I’m not great at to James.

In all seriousness, travel is about compromise. Some days you need to put your pride aside and compromise. You will end up arguing at some point. It’s totally natural and will likely be over something totally irrelevant and not worthwhile. At the time it’ll be a colossal issue that will irritate you to your wits end. Pick your battles and remember that winning the battle doesn’t always win the war.

Travel is tiring.

The actual act of traveling is tiring. It’s exhausting. Not to mention that jet lag is a total and complete jerk that wants to mess with your head, your heart as well as your sleeping pattern. Some of our biggest arguments have come after travel days. Being aware that this is an issue could help you mitigate some of the more serious non-sensical arguments.

So how do we survive as a travelling couple?

We spend time apart. We travel together and alone. We argue. We laugh. We are actually just regular people doing our thing. There’s no magical cure. I could throw some common sense at you and tell you to be patient, be understanding and be forgiving but eh, that might not be your style.