There is a saying that if you can travel with your partner, then you can definitely marry him. While traveling is clearly a fun activity, it also serves as the ultimate litmus test for your relationship.
Are you comfortable being with your partner 24/7? Can you handle each other's quirks? How does he control his temper when you get lost? Does he treat you any differently? Does he pee with the toilet seat up or down?
There is no other way to get to know your partner better than traveling together. Living in with your boyfriend does the same thing, but traveling is inarguably a smaller and easier step to take. It takes you both out of your comfort zone and exposes your best and worst selves. If you want to make sure that you're ready to take your relationship to the next level, then here are the reasons why traveling with your partner can help you arrive at such decision.
13 Travel Gives You Quality Couple Time
You can hang out with your beau as much as you want, no third wheels attached. It's your time to create lots of wonderful memories that you'll fondly look back on in the years to come. It also gives you the opportunity to try something new, whether it be as extreme as bungee jumping or as simple as sharing an authentic Chinese dish.
Seeing the world together is certainly an experience that is more romantic than a hundred candlelit dinners or movie dates combined. Plus, it also doesn't hurt to have a dozen more couple photos for your future wedding montage.
12 Travel Shows Your Partner's Preparation Style
Before embarking on your vacation, you first create a travel and budget plan together. The way that your significant other plans, packs, and saves money for your upcoming trip will give you a peek of how he handles preparations. If he's irritable and disorganized all throughout the planning process, then how do you think he'll handle something bigger, like a wedding?
Planning together also shows you how committed he is to your relationship. If he doesn't make any efforts and lets you do all the planning, then his lack of initiative shows that maybe he's just committed to himself and his convenience.
11 Travel Will Teach You About Financial Cooperation
Unless your boyfriend is a mega millionaire, you will probably split your expenses when you travel, from the cost of your accommodations down to your meals and snacks. Traveling is a great way to learn more about your partner's spending habits. Does he stick to your budget, or does he go crazy with his credit card? In short, how does he handle his finances?
If you're thinking of marrying your partner, then traveling would be a great way to practice financial cooperation that's necessary for cohabitation. You'll both learn how to set a budget and stick with it, no matter how tough it might be. Consider it as a practice for married life.
10 Travel Makes You Learn New Things About Your Partner
Whoever thought that your partner can actually speak Italian? He probably never got the opportunity to mention that to you before, but now that you're lounging away in Rome, that language skill of his comes in handy.
It's nice to discover new things about your partner while you're traveling, as it makes your relationship more exciting. Who knew that there's still so much to unravel about your partner's character? Of course, this also works the other way, as you might also uncover some unpleasant discoveries. The question is, can you handle them, or will they spell a deal breaker in your relationship?
9 Travel Improves Intimacy
According to a survey conducted by the US Travel Association in 2013, traveling with your partner is much more likely to spark some sort of romance than a gift. The survey also showed that 77 percent of couples who travel enjoy a happy and intimate sex life.
But it's not just about a bountiful sex life. When you travel, all the restrictive patterns of a relationship are going to melt away. For instance, your partner will see you in all your non-made-up glory. Small talks will turn into real conversations. And it is through these things that you forge a real and more intimate connection with each other.
8 Travel Allows You To Ask Deeper Questions
Traveling makes you spend a lot of time together, so most of the time, you have no choice but to talk to each other. Grab this opportunity to ask each other questions that you haven't had time to discuss before, such as his future plans, his childhood and family life, or even his past relationships.
Couples who are at ease with each other won't have problems sustaining such intimate conversation. However, if both of you can't find a common ground to talk about, then you have to start asking yourself if this lack of compatibility will really work out in the long run.
7 Travel Lets You Compromise With Your Partner
When you travel to different places, you'll face a lot of situations that will challenge both of you and force you to make decisions. For example, what if he prefers to get a massage while you'd rather go out and explore your surroundings?
During times like these, it's important for you and your partner to reach a compromise that will satisfy both of you. It might be splitting your time between adventure and relaxation, or skipping both things altogether and settling for an activity that both of you will love.
The keyword here is compromise. If one of you is unwilling to compromise, then perhaps you don't just value each other that much.
6 Travel Showcases Cultural Sensitivity
Traveling may be fun most of the time, but it also removes you from your comfort zone and exposes you to people who are unlike you, be it in values or socioeconomic status.
This is where cultural sensitivity comes in. Is your partner capable of being sensitive and compassionate to things that are far beyond his comprehension? How does he show respect for the different ways of life of the people that you encounter in your sojourns? Being insensitive of other people's cultures is a huge red flag, as this shows his lack of acceptance and respect for things that he doesn't agree with.
5 Travel Shows You And Your Partner's Values
Values are defined as a person's principles or standards of behavior, as well as what they consider important in life. You may know that your partner prefers mustard over ketchup, but that's just scratching the surface of his personality. Traveling allows you to delve deep into what he really considers important in life.
For instance, you are a devout Catholic and would love to drop by the Vatican for a day. Your partner is an atheist who doesn't like the idea of visiting an establishment that he doesn't believe in. Will you be able to work around such a huge difference in values, or will this be a huge barrier to your relationship?
4 Travel Lets You Work As A Team
When you go out there and explore a foreign place, you make decisions together. You share everything together, starting from the burden of travel planning down to making decisions on where you should eat dinner. Things become even more difficult when you decide to go on a hiking or camping trip, as you have no one but yourselves to rely on. Such situations will reveal whether you work well as a team or not.
It also helps build trust because both of you are at the mercy of each other. You'll know for sure if your partner's got your back all the time.
3 Travel Reveals Character In Tough Situations
You're embarking on a road trip and you run out of gas in the middle of an empty highway. You're exploring something off the itinerary and you end up getting lost. You have this pressing urge to pee but there's no bathroom in sight.
How does your partner react when faced with these tough situations? This is your chance to see whether he keeps a cool head in a crisis or he'd rather lash out on you. This also reveals your real character to your boyfriend, and whether or not he can handle you at your worst. At the end of it all, it will help both of you to work well together in solving problems—a necessary skill if you want to spend the rest of your lives together.
2 Travel Makes You See Each Other's Flaws
Even if your boyfriend looks like the personification of a Greek god, he's not perfect. You'll get to see all his flaws when you travel together, from his loud snore after a tiring day to a nasty case of indigestion that he gets after eating spicy food.
These are not exactly bad things, as this will allow you to see your significant other in a more realistic light. Similarly, he gets to see the real you underneath all your attempts to look perfect in his eyes. If in the end you're willing to embrace all of him, warts and all, then maybe you really are meant to be together.
1 Travel Bonds You Together
Traveling is an experience that can never be taken away from you. They create long-lasting memories so that when you return to that same place years later, it ceases to be just another location, but becomes a place where he told you that obscenely funny joke or that spot where he proposed to you on bended knee. It becomes a part of you, giving you and your significant other an unbreakable bond that can never be matched by all the gifts you exchanged together.
And if you feel that your bond only grows stronger with each place that you visit, then you know for sure that he's the one.
sources: beautyandtips.com, popsugar.com, matadornetwork.com, trekeffect.com, lifehack.org
