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Travel Together on Your First Trip as a Couple

Love is in the air! You’re in a new relationship, and it’s finally time to take the next step. You’d like to travel together and hopefully survive your first trip as a couple! The first trip as a couple can be a bit daunting, and there’s a lot of new things that can be discovered about this new person that you may not have expected to find.

When you make the choice to travel together, you have the potential to create special memories that truly deepen your connection. You can easily fall more in love with your special person and see a new side of them when you travel together as a couple.

On the other hand, the first trip as a couple can go horribly wrong and result in a breakup. We’ve all heard the horror stories. For many couples, traveling together has a “make it” or “break it” factor.

Here are 9 tips to help you survive your first trip as a couple so that you can continue to happily travel together for years to come!

1. Communicate During Planning

When you travel together on your first trip as a couple, now isn’t the time to pretend that you really like snowboarding when you can’t stand the cold. You both need to be part of the planning process so that everyone is on the same page and no one ends up miserable. Be open and honest. If the proposed travel idea isn’t your cup of tea, it’s much better to hash it out beforehand.

2. Choose a Destination That Excites You Both

Set yourselves up for success. Choose a destination that piques your curiosity and has you both excited to travel together. You can both make a list of your top 3 choices for your first trip as a couple, and hopefully, you’ll have a match. If not, maybe those places have a common theme that will open up a conversation to reach a compromise. In the end, it’s no fun if one person is making all of the choices. Choose a destination that excites you both and you’ll be off to a great start.

3. Go With The Flow

Things will happen. Don’t stress. Try to roll with the punches. Travel smart and be prepared, but please pack your patience. Delays happen, luggage gets lost, and things may not turn out as you’d hoped. I promise you’ll get through it much easier if you can laugh it off.

When Jacob and I arrived in Tokyo, we had only been together for about 6 months, but we’d traveled together a few times before. We walked into the room and it was so incredibly small that we could barely even walk through to the other end.

We were shocked to find that we could barely store our carry-on sized luggage and still have room to walk around. It was very similar to a tiny dorm room without the top bunk bed and nothing at all like the pictures online. Hello wide lens! lol

We laughed so hard at the tiny space we had to call home. We made it work and the tiny room quickly became the butt of every joke. What could’ve been a cranky situation ended up being a funny story we still laugh about.

Enjoying Tokyo

4. Laugh Off Embarrassing Moments

Don’t take yourself too seriously on your first trip as a couple. Awkward moments will definitely happen when you’re out of your element. I was traveling back home to San Diego through the Havana airport in Cuba with Jacob, and we had just cleared security.

I was walking down the stairs towards the gates and I somehow slipped and completely fell down the stairs. It made the loudest noise and the stairs actually shattered into pieces.

Awkward!

Instead of being mad or frustrated I just got up and shook it off. I wasn’t injured, so we laughed it off, and I even posed for a picture with the shattered pieces on the floor.

The Cuban security officers just looked over and saw that I was ok and went on about their business. I officially left my mark on Havana.

If you see these stairs after clearing security on your way home from Havana, that was me.

Whoopsie! 🙂

Leaving my mark on Havana, accidentally.

5. Create a Joint Bucket List

Men and women can sometimes have very different ideas as to what sounds like fun for your first trip as a couple. When Jacob and I travel together, we like to make individual lists of items we would like to experience in that region.

We both research fun things to do and at the end, we combine our lists to make the “Master List” as a guide. It’s fun to see the different perspectives and combine our top choices. After we both have our “musts” covered, we use Google maps to see if there is anything else on the list nearby in the same neighborhood.

We have been able to add a few more items easily this way, and everyone is happy.

6. Leave Room For Compromise

If he really wants to go fishing or do something that you’re not really into, then go ahead and give it a shot. You may end up having a good time when you least expect it! Plus, he’ll be more open to your bucket list dream of riding horses into the ocean afterward. 😉

When you travel together, you have to make sure both people are getting the most out of the experience. Keep an open mind and support each other.

Turks & Caicos

7. Extend Your Budget

Traveling together as a couple can get expensive if you’re staying at a hotel and dining out for every meal.

You can save a bit of money by getting accommodation on Airbnb or VRBO. This way you’ll likely have a kitchen to prepare small meals.

You can take your time waking up with your love and even enjoy breakfast in bed together. Pack some fruit for daytime snacks so you can splurge on fancy dinners later without the guilt.

Check for travel deals on my resources page!

8. Be Overprepared

Have a busy day planned? Be prepared for that, especially if one of you has a tendency to get angry when they are hungry. (This would be ME! lol) Don’t let being “hangry” ruin your first trip as a couple. Pack plenty of snacks and a bottle of water for outings to make sure that you don’t get irritable.

Always make sure the camera is fully charged and ready to go. Pack a portable phone charger as well. This has saved me more than once.

Always pack your swimsuit just in case. You never know when you’ll stumble upon some gorgeous beach or refreshing pool that you need to take advantage of.

9. Disconnect

In a world of social media, disconnecting is tough. When you travel together for the first time, it can be fun to disconnect with the world and connect with your partner. Your first trip as a couple can be an opportunity to escape and truly get to know someone, so take advantage of it!

The world can wait to see your beautiful photos. Be present and stay in the moment. Being away together allows you to connect on a much deeper level than you would at home.

So have fun, make memories and cherish each other.

What tips would you add? Let me know in the comments!