Having a good travel companion can make the difference between an ok trip and an excellent journey. But does that travel companion always have to be your other half?
Mrs Romance and I love travelling together. We’ve been doing it for years – pretty much from when we first met. But every now and then it’s nice to have our own trips away.
When I first met Mrs R, I’d been to quite a few more places than she had. Now it’s pretty much even.
But that’s only from us going places with other people – or even on our own. It’s not like we don’t want to go together. Far from it. We travel so well with one another.
When the opportunity has presented itself, we do go our separate ways though. And it makes coming home something to look forward to.
When one of us does go away, telling the other person about what we did, looking at photos and spending time back together sometimes ends up being one of the best parts of the trip.
Even when you’re travelling together – especially if it’s a long trip – having a day where you’re not in each other’s pockets for the duration is essential.
Friends of ours do things a bit differently though. They rarely – if ever – go on holiday together. It’s got to the point where they both do their own thing vacation-wise.
The best example of what I mean is when she was heavily pregnant with their first child and he went on a 2-month diving trip to Indonesia.
I’m not judging them and it seems to work in their relationship, but I wouldn’t be confident about coming home and my key still working in the front door if I did that!
I mean perhaps it would have been ok if she hadn’t been about to give birth – I don’t think she likes SCUBA diving anyway so she wasn’t interested in going with him.
It’s a tricky area. Both Mrs R and I suffer from FOMO – an acronym I’ve only recently managed to commit to memory. Whenever either of us goes away on our own, there’s a hint of jealousy happening.
For that reason, we make sure we fully debrief what we got up to when we get home to the other person.
Telling each other about our solo adventures has a number of benefits.
1. It’s good to keep those communication channels open and well used.
2. It reduces attacks of Fear Of Missing Out.
3. It reduces the amount of time spent boring everyone else with details of your trip because you’ve had a chance to go through everything with someone who’s not only genuinely interested, but who’s also a captive audience!
Do you take separate trips away without your other half? What do you think of our friends and their solo sojourns? How much do you tell your other half when you return? Tell us in the comments!
Jean | Holy Smithereens
A great post discussion on an awesome topic! My husband and I do a mix of both. We love travelling together but we also don’t mind travelling on our own. The travelling on our own part is usually brought about by timing (ie its travel for work / project, and the other couldn’t travel due to work/other commitments or its just not practical to) . We are fine doing solo travel but don’t think we’d make that decision on a leisure trip.
As for your friends, wow 2 months away is long most especially if the other half is pregnant! Sometimes other couples’ behaviours and set ups seem strange to us but if both of them are genuinely happy and don’t mind then good on them! Maybe its their way of staying sane too 🙂
FOMO is very real and I too feel it once in a while, thanks for making it an acronym official!
Mr Romance
Hey Jean. Yes, I totally agree with pretty much everything you’ve just said here! Our friends do seem to be happy, so there’s no reason why we should judge. Does seem a bit weird thought, right? She also goes to be at like 7pm while he’s a real night owl. But again, if it works, it works.
Glad you agree about FOMO. I’ve always been like that and I think Mrs R is too.
Really enjoyed your session at the General Assembly talk by the way. Very interesting to see how a fellow travel lifestyle blogger does it.
Jxx
Sonia from Sonia Styling
It’s an interesting one! I’ve only ever been on short interstate trips by myself (never more than 3-4 days), but Mr SS has been to Bali (on one of his 3 – yes, 3, count them – bucks shows) and his interstate trips are more like 5 days and a lot more regular. I reckon the only way I’d holiday without him would be on a girls trip but I know for sure I’d miss the shit outta him by the end!
Mr Romance
Yes, this Bali trip that Mrs R has been on is the longest time we’ve been apart for a while. It’s a weird thing – I love my own space but it does get a bit lonely after a while. I think it’s probably easier on the person doing the travelling anyway.
Jxx
Sammie @ The Annoyed Thyroid
I’ve been on some weekends away with the girls but the truth is, when it comes to holiday companions my husband is the best there is, so I’d much rather travel together. Plus for me, half the fun of the trip is sharing it with someone who matters. I’m such a sap!
Mr Romance
Ha ha! Nothing sappy about it, Sam. It’s strange not being with the person you’ve chosen to spend your life with, isn’t it?
I wonder how our friends do it – like Gareth – who has to travel a lot for work. Must be tough.
Jxx
Anna Buckley
Jumped right out of my comfort zone a few weeks ago, left my husband at home and went solo on a cruise. Wrote about it extensively at annabuckley,com
http://annabuckley.com/2015/01/30/cruising-solo-trains-planes-automobiles-and-boats/
It was a bit strange at first, I knew absolutely no one and was forced to make friends, talk to strangers and engage with people at a whole new level…I bloody loved it!
Mr Romance
Hi Anna! Your trip sounds amazing. Just read all three parts to it – you weren’t joking when you said you’d written about it extensively, were you?! Well done for getting out there and travelling alone. It can be scary – especially if you haven’t travelled solo before or for a very long time. You really have to put it out there and be as sociable as possible, don’t you?
So glad you had a good time. I wonder – do you think you’ll travel alone again?
Thanks for sharing.
Jx
Anna Buckley
My next book is set on the East Coast of America and I will be heading there, alone, in September. Will hire a car and set out on a road trip to get off the freeways, find those hidden stories, meet the people, discover the places not listed in Trip Advisor…not necessarily prettty but potentially way more interesting. My husband is a little pissed off that he isn’t coming….now it seems the solo travel thing has bitten!
Mrs Romance
Perfect time of year for a roadtrip! You’ll love it. Try and hire a cool car too, then your husband will be really annoyed that he’s missing out x
Anna Buckley
Ouch Mrs R…now that would be far too mean…or would it, Thelma?!
Mr Romance
Ha ha! Thelma. Funny, Anna! Mrs R’s got a point though – reckon you should do it! 😀
Jxx
Rhiannon
My husband is currently travelling for work for four weeks and I’m not loving it. I get massive FOMO, so for me it’s a bit harder. We both agreed we prefer to travel together but also see that it is important to travel separately (boys’ trip, girls’ trip).
Mr Romance
Yes, 4 weeks is right on the edge of being too long, isn’t it, Rhiannon? Mrs Romance was away for a couple of weeks recently and it started feeling a bit weird. It’s great when they get back though. Travelling together – providing you travel together well – is always better I find. Work trips are funny though as even if you can go along for the ride, there’s often very little time to spend with your other half while they’re working.
Keep your chin up – he’ll be back soon enough. Use this time to perfect your duty free order for when he comes home!
Jxx