Monday, July 06, 2009

Marriage Monday--Traveling with your Spouse

I love this Marriage Monday topic because it combines two of my favourite things--my husband and traveling!

My husband and I, surprisingly, travel very well together. I say surprisingly because our personality differences could easily lead to incompatibility in the travel department. But somehow we make it work to our advantage.

From our early dating days a great day out was choosing a direction and making a road trip to "whereever we end up" in that direction. We would pop in one of the traveling cds, grab a bag of sour gummy candy and away we would go. The occassional mishap would occur since he absolutely refuses to believe that any direction I give could possibly be correct--I have been known to mix up left and right a dozen or a hundred times. SatNav has all but eliminated that problem, lol.

Seeing the part of the world in which we live has always been a priority to us. In Washington that meant seeing as much of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and southwest Canada as possible. In Alabama we saw most of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and the Florida panhandle. Now in England that means seeing not only England and Scotland but as much of Europe as possible.

We have traveling together down to a routine. I do the packing. He works into the wee hours of the morning we are leaving trying to ensure that we won't be interrupted by the office while away. We try to travel early in the day while the girls are still agreeable and that gives us time to orient when we arrive. German likes to know as much about a place we are traveling as possible so our days are already planned. Although I am more apt to think a holiday is seeing what appears next to do, I have found that doing the research and the planning definitely makes for a less-stressed, more-fun German, so I do the research!

We like to balance days of historical or cultural attractions with days of doing very little of anything except resting and visiting. I think that is what I love most about traveling together, especially in the car, is that we have the most uninterrupted time together to talk, to dream or to just be quiet in each other's presence. That re-charges our relationship. I can't imagine not our life without the travel.

What about you? Do you enjoy traveling with your spouse? What is good or even not so good about those times? If you wish to join in the Marriage Monday fun, write your own post about traveling with your spouse and then link up via Christine at Fruit in Season.

9 comments:

Michele said...

great post, well hubby and I dont get to travel much but we do have a great time when we do get to go some where.

Sue said...

I love that you two mesh in your travel even if your personalities are different. I'm sure you've shared tons of wonderful experiences over the years! Thanks for visiting! It's always great to come here and "see" you!

Christine said...

Oops! That was me, I'm on my sister's computer!

Tami said...

I love how you do what you can (research) to help your husband (and yourself) enjoy your vacations more. Good idea. My husband does the same thing for me, handling all the money while we're on vacation. I usually do it home, so him taking care of it when we're away truly makes it a vacation for me!

Good post, MiPa.

tonya said...

I like how you guys divide all the work. :) I am so glad you all enjoy traveling as a couple. We do too.

Susannah said...

I think that is what I love most about traveling together, especially in the car, is that we have the most uninterrupted time together to talk, to dream or to just be quiet in each other's presence. That re-charges our relationship. I can't imagine not our life without the travel.

I can echo every single word here. We really love our road trips because of the uninterrupted talk time, and the occasional comfortable silences inbetween. We spent the day at Mt. Rainier WA on Saturday... a long drive up and back. Have you been there? :~D

bp said...

Oh yeah, I forgot about that, we plan around our son's schedule too so we will be at a stopping point or still driving so he can take his nap!

Amydeanne said...

i love traveling with hubby! that one on one time is great!

Aunt Angie said...

I have "now" reached a time in my life...our girls are grown..gone w/their own broods...and I long to travel...in short spurt trips..but see more than just my surrounding states!

You have painted a great picture here! Makes me want to pack my bag today!