Traveling with your partner who shares your interests may be fun, especially if you’ve been planning it for a long time, but you may want to consider these travel deal breakers before going. Maybe the Hollywood trailer of a sunset by the ocean on a boat is already playing in your thoughts, or maybe it’s playing while you walk hand in hand along the beach, looking wildly in love in each other’s eyes. Regardless of your relationship goals, you should consider these trip deal breakers with your (new) partner – and potentially, how to solve them.
Curious? Keep reading, I will offer some solutions to each deal breaker.
Check out this post if you’re looking for the ultimate romantic destinations with your partner.
Consider this: Once the initial dopamine rush wears off, you may quickly regret going on such a trip because you discovered some differences that you haven’t known or noticed before.
Let me lend you a hand with that, with the amount of travel I’ve done in my life with or without a partner, I’ve accumulated many deal breakers, or rather red flags that I look for in a partner before traveling anywhere.
You may be a Disney couple, however, there’s a difference in being compatible in life or when traveling
Travel Deal Breaker #1 – Your Interests
While you may have similar interests overall, how are these when it comes to more concrete situations? Maybe this is your first trip as a couple, so you may want to talk about this matter in more detail with your partner.
Nonetheless, consider this situation: You look adorable with those pink sunglasses, where animals begin to emerge from the forest as you sing and swing down the street with your beloved.
BUT WAIT A MINUTE.
What happened after that? You were so excited to see the historic district of this town, but your partner decided they’d instead go to the mall – true story. While you may have planned the trip together and decided on what you will do together, keep in mind that they may change their minds about what they want to do.
What exactly does this mean, Anna?
I’m glad you asked – does this mean you prefer to go hard-core hiking for hours, getting wet and into the river with all your clothes, rappel down a cliff, whereas they like to sit on a Caribbean beach and relax? So, what’s the solution if that’s the case?
Unfortunately, you may be highly compatible in all aspects of life – except when it comes to travel and experiences. This is something to consider and may also vary in the trip you’d go on. Your partner may be down for a city trip but start side-eyeing you if you mention snowboarding – an important convo to have, what are their travel deal breakers, and what are yours?
Here’s How You Can Solve This Deal Breaker
If you still want to travel together despite such a stumbling block, the solution would be to spend some time apart, which is very healthy and exciting – enjoy the benefits of both solo and partner travel at the same time.
While you may go to Puerto Rico together, you may spend a couple of hours apart researching things you wish to do together and then meet up later. It’s a win-win situation if you’re willing to make this sacrifice. If you don’t want to travel somewhere alone, it might be your personal deal breaker that needs to be addressed before the vacation is destroyed for both of you.
There’s nothing wrong or unromantic about spending some time apart when traveling; on the contrary, you’ll be ecstatic to meet your spouse for dinner again, eager to tell them everything about your journey!
If you are looking for a travel hobby to enjoy together why not try being a scuba diving couple!
Travel Deal Breaker #2 – Music
No matter how much you love your partner or friend, you WILL have to decide what music you will listen to on a road trip. This means that while you may have mutual music tastes, you must be OK with listening to some of their music tastes that may make you want to rip your hair out.
Or you’ll just fall asleep because they want to listen to classical music after you’ve been driving for 4 hours after a long day.
The debate over what to play next may end up being a dealbreaker for road trips together – yes, it may seem silly to refuse to go on a roundtrip with someone because of differences in music tastes. However, after 10 hours of listening to something you don’t like, your ears may just start bleeding, and you may want to kill each other.
Fun fact: When I have ADHD, I listen to the same songs repeatedly to increase dopamine levels or focus. This has been a deal breaker for many – but I’m not sorry 🙂
Here’s How To Solve This Deal Breaker
Music can be important, and while most couples have similar musical tastes, this can vary when it comes to trips, particularly road trips. Here’s the deal: You can’t change your partner’s music preferences, you can control when music is played (and how often).
Some ideas on how to work around this deal breaker:
- The driver gets to decide the music – I guess, this increases the motivation to drive and get there faster? Win-win.
- Before your trip, you will make a shared playlist where you both add your faves to it – during the trip, you play on shuffle. No one can be mad because it’s random, ha. Check out this post for the best songs for wanderlust
- You compromise to listen to one’s music for a specific amount of time and then switch – communication is key.
- Listen only to music that you both like – you will survive a few hours without listening to specific songs while you’re stuck in a car.
- Lastly, the driver listens to their music while the other partner will listen to their music with their headphones – not ideal, but an option.
Travel Deal Breaker #3 – Food, Food, Food
For many couples or individuals, food is the primary reason they desire to travel or experience something new, as each area, town, city, or nation has its own specialty. However, with food limitations or picky eaters, this may rapidly become difficult and rather frustrating.
If you’re thinking, “Oh no, we’re not picky eaters,” I understand. But what if you fall in love with a restaurant and a certain sort of food and desperately want to return, or if you’re going to try out a new spot, but your partner has their heart set on something else?
What are you going to do? Simply split lunch and eat it separately? That’s an option, but do you really want it? Most likely not. Consider the following alternatives before this becomes a huge deal breaker and you or your partner refuses to try new sorts of (particular) foods.
Here’s How To Solve This Deal Breaker
Food brings individuals from all backgrounds together, yet it may also alienate them due to differences. Having backup plans and solutions for such unforeseen problems is critical so that your fantasy trip does not turn into a nightmare and the last time you travel together.
Here are some options:
- Many restaurants allow you to take your food and carry it to another restaurant. While it may be necessary to call ahead and check depending on the type of restaurant, it is typically not an issue, as food has been a contentious matter in my previous relationships. Eat together, but eat anything you like at a restaurant with a better view or atmosphere.
- Take out from both restaurants and go to a nearby park, location, or neighborhood, or simply dine in the car with a beautiful view. Anyone up for a picnic? I’m down. You get to eat anything you want while avoiding any difficulties, often with a better view even. Consider using these zero waste travel swaps if packing meals up to takeaway.
- Make a deal with one person to pick and alternate decision making – communication is more important than ever!
Ultimately..
..whether you’ve been planning your holiday for years, or only a couple months, it’s important to be aware of these common travel deal breakers. Traveling with your significant other can be fun, but you should always prepare yourself for the worst.
People don’t always realize the importance of travel deal breakers until they are in the midst of a trip. The following is a list of good travel deal breakers to keep in mind when traveling with your partner – solutions included.
What’s something that you’ve found to be a deal breaker when traveling with your significant other?
About the Author
Anna Dykeman (The Tatted Nomad) is a traveler, blogger, and entrepreneur who can’t keep herself still. She’s always on the move, whether working hard on a new passion project or exploring a new city as a part-time digital nomad. Dare to keep up? Check out her blog The Tatted Nomad for everything digital nomad, social media marketing, mental health, and travel (and to see her latest addition, Novah, her service dog and travel companion). As a psychotherapist (to be) she also offers insights about your mental health related questions – anything you see that isn’t covered but you have questions about? Let her know! Follow Anna on Instagram.
