If you travel with your boyfriend, wife, girlfriend, husband or even friends, you will no doubt face some of these common travel challenges, so learn how to deal with them now and know what to expect before they smack you in the face.

Having a travel companion means being together all the time. Unless one of you is an adventurer and the other one prefers massages at the beach, you are going to spend a lot of time together. You will get to know your significant other way more in depth than maybe you ever wanted – face without makeup, a 3 day beard, or the annoying habit you never know.

Travelling as a couple can be tricky and tough at times, here’s what is waiting for you.

1. Embarrassing Moments

Being together 24/7 means that sometimes there will be some awkward moments. You might get sick, or have eaten bad sushi, and you can’t really hide from your boyfriend can you? Learn not to be ashamed of just being human and don’t let any awkwardness happen between you two! 

Make the most of it by: laughing about it. Don’t take yourself too seriously and embarrassing moments are often the only ones you’ll remember about the trip! So take it easy and have a laugh about it. Don’t be too concerned about other people’s opinion, you may not be seeing them for the rest of your life. Focus on having a great time with the person you are travelling with, the person you might be spending the rest of your life.

You don’t know real love until you’ve had to clean your girlfriend’s vomit off the seats of a taxi… while you both laughed about it. That’s travelling couple heroine, embrace these moments.

2. Unexpected Last Minute Changes

Sometimes things won’t go as smoothly as you planned. Your plane may get delayed, your dinner cruise may be cancelled and your beach day may be ruined by bad weather. Your vacation may just not turned out to be how you imagined it.

Make the most of it by being a little creative: Why not relax and do something else? If it is raining on the beach, go have a massage! You woke up late and missed the free breakfast? Go explore and find where the locals eat! 

Remember, don’t be too focused on doing the things you have planned, focus on making every moment fun, whether or not you are on track with your planned itinerary.

3. Getting Lost

You will get lost while travelling, its just one of those things. I have seen so many couples quarrel just because they are lost.

Although you might have the latest GPS, getting lost have to be within your expectation while travelling in a foreign city. Embrace those moments because they might just turn out to be some of your most memorable stories.

Embrace the unknown, the thrill and the adventure if you get lost. 

Walk into that cute local restaurant, sit and relax by the street, explore that empty beach. Don’t see any more tourists with their cheesy t-shirts and visors? Awesome, you’ve travelled more than the average travellers there. 

4. Annoying Habits

You each have annoying habits. Admit it and get over it. Instead of getting upset about it, just make fun of them. Your partner may fart like a loud speaker, dig his nose in the public… you need to find a way to deal with it with a laugh, or at least a smile on your face.

Fake the laugh, force the smile, do whatever you need to do, so long you are not upset about it because that will ruin the rest of the vacation, or worse still, your relationship.

5. Disagreements

Being 24/7 together, you will bump into some disagreements from time to time.  The difference between a happy couple and an unhappy couple is the way in which they handle their disagreements.

For goodness sake you are having a VACATION, so don’t try to reason with your partner when you have a disagreement. Instead have a fun way to resolve it, flip a coin, ask a stupid riddle, play a childish game and get things decided in a fun way.

Traveling together isn’t always glamorous, predictable or even comfortable, but it is a fast way to test your relationship with your significant other. It will make you grow up quick to be a good boyfriend, husband, girl friend or wife you can be. 

So learn from each other, laugh, get lost, make memories and communicate at all times.

Relax and enjoy, that’s what travel is here for!