The Importance of Traveling as a Couple (Before and After Marriage)

You probably share a lot of things with your significant other or spouse--chores, laughter, small stories of the day's triumphs or failures--but have you shared a vacation?

For a new couple, traveling together can shed light on your compatibility and reveal new sides of each person to the other. For an established or married couple, vacationing together can give you a chance to bond away from your daily stresses and renew your commitment to one another.

Read on for the importance of traveling together as a couple before and after marriage.

When you're first starting out as a couple, everything is exciting--even a trip to the grocery store after work can be a rose-tinted adventure. Eventually, you may slide into easy compatibility as you settle into your new roles in each other's lives.

You may even start wondering if this other person is "the one"--the partner you will spend the rest of your life will. It may sound strange, but traveling together can help you make this decision.

If you get married, you will likely be taking most of your vacations together--do you both enjoy the same things? Or is one of you only happy hiking in the mountains, while the other prefers the bustle of the big city?

It's fine to enjoy different types of vacation--but is one of you willing to be flexible to let the other one enjoy him- or herself? Can you reach a compromise on alternating vacations, or choosing ones where you are both happy?

Once you begin your vacation, you will be spending straight time with each other--can you truly enjoy yourselves, or do you begin to bicker after a short while? Does the trip bring you closer together, or does it become stressful and uncomfortable?

Some couples never travel, and travel certainly isn't integral to deciding whether you're a good match. However, it can help strengthen a bond or show you that you're not compatible--the way a person displays stress or unhappiness on a vacation will eventually show up in real life as well!

Traveling together as a married couple is an excellent way to renew your romance and re-establish some bonds that might have eroded in the day-to-day task of facing life together. When both parties are busy working and maintaining a home, or additionally with raising children, the relationship can get a little lost--it can take a backseat to the many other things you've got going on.

Travel is a way to focus only on each other for a period of time--days in each other's company, remembering and celebrating what brought you together in the first place. Just as it's important to have alone time to recharge your own energy, it's also important to have alone time as a couple to re-focus on your relationship.

Forging new experiences will strengthen your bond as you make memories together, and when you're away from the stress of everyday existence you will also be able to talk more openly and easily about hopes, dreams, and ambitions, instead of just about bills, chores, and who's picking up the kids from daycare.

When you decide to take a vacation as a couple, it doesn't have to be a glamorous island getaway or a trip to Europe--even a weekend trip to a nearby town will do. The focus should be on spending quality one-on-one time with one another and making memories, more so than on where you are going.

For low-key trips locally, try a bed-and-breakfast or a boutique hotel; if you're going farther afield for your travel, make sure your days aren't jam-packed with tourist activities. Leave some time for leisurely lunches, dinners, and conversation opportunities.

Travel can make, break, or strengthen a relationship.