Travel: Who to travel with

Whenever you plan a trip, one question might pop up sooner or later: Who (if anyone) do I take with me? There are, as so often, advantages and disadvantages when it comes to travel companions and the weights depend on a couple of factors: Personality, relationship dynamic, common interests, travel destination etc. Obviously there is not one size fits all or one rule that always applies. Each new trip requires a new evaluation. And personally, I never take this question lightly. At the end of the day, you want to have a good time and make the most of your travel time as do the people traveling with you. So you don’t want to regret taking somebody with you who might be miserable with your idea of travel or burden somebody because you are frustrated with their choices on the road.

Solo travel

Ever since my first solo trip through Europe, when I was 21, I have taken at least one trip per year by myself. This is my time to be totally self sufficient… and a little selfish. I get to take care of only my needs and wants and don’t have to worry or take care of anyone else. This way I get to focus on a full itinerary of things that I like to do and see. It is also a great way to reconnect with myself and reflect on where I currently stand in life. Nothing gets to me like a couple of days all by myself with little to no interactions with other people.

In that regard, I have been asked before, if that does not get lonely. But “lonely” and “alone” are not necessarily synonymous. I value my alone time and know that my loved ones will be right where I left them when I return. Also, in the days of smartphones, I feel like no one every truly is alone. And the few times that I do feel like company, it is easy to make connections with fellow travelers, e.g. on a walking tour or at a hostel, even when you are an extroverted introvert like me 😉

Life partner

I personally love to travel with my life partner. We are usually a good balance when it comes to interests and pace. The biggest struggle that we usually run into is timing, since his job doesn’t allow him to take long periods off from work. But whenever we do manage to get away, I love our dynamic, sharing my passion of travel with him and seeing him light up when he discovers something that fascinates him. Some of my favorite memories are his reaction upon entering St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome (Italy) for the first time or discovering the martial arts symbols in the Royal Pavilion in Brighton (UK).

Friends

As much as I love my friends, I know that not all of them would be good travel matches for me. They are all wonderful but the dynamic and communication with some of them might run into issues if we spend too much time on end with each other. And I think, that is okay and does not dampen our friendship as a whole.

Whoever you travel with should have similar interests to yours and be your equal and your partner in crime instead of your “tour guide” or your “child”. Also, you need to have good level of trust established between yourselves. It can be beneficial, to have a heart to heart before you set out to let each other in on who you are when you travel and what stumbling blocks you might run into. Me for example, I need to eat on a regular basis or I get grumpy and quiet. I will make sure to plan for meals and snacks, but sometimes you run into shortages along the way. If your travel partner and you know things like this ahead of time about each other, it will help you make sense of your behavior and make it easier to navigate.

I have one specific girl friend that I have known since high school who is my (close to) perfect and always cherished travel companion. She is my age, we have similar interests and are very willing and able to compromise and go with the flow. So far we have traveled to Thailand, India, Vietnam and Italy together and I loved experiencing these countries with her. We have had wonderful adventures along the way and tackled all the stumbling blocks along our path. Amongst other things, we still joke about the singular instance when we got on each others nerves and needed to walk one block apart from each other when we were both “hangry” in Jaipur (India) and got over it as soon as we found something to put into our stomachs. Humor sometimes goes a long way.

Family

To be honest with you, it has been a while since I properly traveled with any of my family members. I would be curious to try again though, specifically with my siblings since we are now all adults and have new dynamic to our relationships (less teasing and squabbling and more on equal footing). We’ll see what the future holds in that regard 🥰

How about you?
Who is your favorite person to travel with (if any)?

Cover picture was taken in Seville (Spain) in Mar 2016