Marriage is the ultimate commitment. How do you ensure that the person you are marrying is the right guy for you? You may be dating him for a while now and you must have gone on a million dates, but is that enough? Travelling together is the ultimate test and I have always believed in this theory since travelling brings out your real personality. From bathroom hygiene to keeping calm in the most difficult situations, each quality is important specially if you plan to spend your lives together. Listing down ten reasons why I strongly believe that you should travel with your partner before marrying him:
1. When you travel you are no longer in your comfort zone
A romantic movie followed by dinner at your favourite restaurant, a glass of your favourite wine indulging in deep talks, when he puts up his best self and you wear your most exquisite dress, tadaaa! its a perfect date and what can go wrong in an ideal environment.
You guys may have been dating since long but that was an ideal world and trust me you will not always have such perfect situations in life. On a trip you no longer sleep in your own bed, you may not get your bed tea, maybe no hot shower etc. Lots of things are different. Your and your partner's ability to adapt to these changes and make the most of it is what this trip might teach you and prepare you for unexpected situations in life. It’s all about being flexible with your needs and ability to cherish what you have that would help you guys attain your happily ever after.
3. Adventurous
I love trekking and hiking. I could not have imagined my life with someone who doesn’t. You want to build memories together and travel the world together, you wouldn’t want to miss out on those things or do those things alone because then your partner would not have lived those moments with you. So, it is important that you find someone with whom your hobbies match. Take it from me, while most of the honeymooners opt for shopping, chilling out by the pool or treating themselves with luxurious deep tissue massages, we went for a midnight trek to Mt. Batur (Bali) to catch the sunrise, and believe me, it was surreal.
4. Patience
A perfect trip is a myth! I have been on numerous trips until now and never ever has it happened that everything went as planned. Either you might be running late to catch your flight /bus, maybe the flight got delayed or even cancelled, you may have booked a resort but due to some reason the booking got cancelled, ANY THING CAN GO WRONG. If you are not the patient types then make sure your partner is because someone will have to handle the mess and at the same time keep you from going insane.
5. Memories
Every trip is special and has a unique string attached to it. The trip that you take before getting hitched is even more special because this is when you get to know your partner better. You get to know all his strengths and weaknesses and you accept him as is. Plus you get so many beautiful pictures to add to your wedding montage.
6. Ability to handle difficult situations
When you travel, you come across situations where ability of negotiating, budget management, on the spot decision making etc, basically all the crisis management skills come into play. It would be a good exposure to understand how well both of you can handle such situations and rise above them. It can be a trailer for the final movie.
2. Hygiene
This is an extremely significant point and you will learn about this when you are travelling together, from bathroom habits to keeping the room clean, everything is very important because we girls can be extra finicky about it. We can go all nuts and it is very important to expose your evil side to your partner before you enter into that commitment. So sisters, find a man who understands your craziness about keeping the bathroom clean and is equally psycho about it. I found one, and trust me life is good 😉
7. Food habits
It is one thing to have a meal or two together and a totally different thing to be living together for a few days and enjoying all your meals and beverages in each others company. I needed a chai person in my life because who likes to have chai alone, specially on a hill while overlooking a picturesque view. I also wished for someone who is big time foodie because then he would appreciate all my cooking efforts and also at times, treat me with his own. Every foodie knows how to cook is a fact (Jan hit mei jaari). I remember this one trip we took to Mcleodganj where we did not leave even a single cafe untouched.
8. Snores or not!
I know, sounds funny, but makes sense because some people just cannot sleep in any kind of noise. When you are travelling, you tend to get really tired to an extent that you end up sleeping like a baby. You have the most peaceful and natural sleep and this is when you know if the person snores or not. So if your man makes all those noises when he sleeps or if you do, then both of you can be prepared to say good bye to sound sleep forever. *No Suprises*
9. Planner /organised
Going on a trip together can definitely expose your planning skills to each other because someone’s gotta do all the bookings and prepare that itinerary. Now who takes responsibility for that is an important question, because when you actually plan your wedding and honeymoon, it's going to be a thousand times more difficult.*No pressure*
10. Love for Flora & Fauna
I am a huge zoophilist and I love to be around nature. I would pick a cottage surrounded by greens thousand times over a big fancy hotel. On each of my treks I have had a dog following me to the peak. I thought may be it just happens to me but when we were on this trek together, a dog as usual followed me. Only this time he was adoring my partner more than me. You really need to know if your partner loves all this because I don’t know about you, but one day I would love to adopt a dog.
I married my travel partner and I couldn't have been happier. We have travelled to so many beautiful places and believe you me it is a great feeling to have shared so much and to know each other so well before getting hitched. It is all important if you want to build a beautiful home and an even more beautiful life together.
Please do let me know in the comment section if this article was helpful. All the best guys for finding your Mr. or Ms. right.
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