How To Survive Three Months Abroad Travel With Your Partner.

We are coming to the end of day 8 of our worldly travels and already the very sound of his breathing makes me want to put the pillow over his face as he sleeps. We have spent the majority of our summer apart due to my job which allowed me to explore the north running multi sport camps for youth. 

I understand I am very lucky to be abroad with someone I love and someone whom I have the intentions of spending the rest of my life with but it is not always sunshine and rainbows and taking cutesy pictures in front of European landmarks displayed below. 

It goes without saying that I love my travel partner dearly but it also important to keep in mind that not only is this his first trip abroad but he also a very high maintenance man. We have come to the agreement that I am a little high strung and he is a little inconsiderate. I do not travel flawless and beautiful, my need for getting my way all the time often clouds my judgement and I can often be found to react "dangerously" (quoting my mother). This trip for us is a lot about give and take and learning A LOT of patience. 

I give into the fact that he will want to eat subway daily (if not twice) and he gives into the fact that part of that subway is not judgement free. I take his blind trust for allowing me to orchestrate this entire trip planning to the last detail and I take his indifference and often disinterest to the world around us. 

I am lucky I know even though in moments of blind stubbornness (a trait from my father) to have the man I have with me. He takes my dangerous moments in stride and often with laughter and I know him well enough to know exactly what he is thinking often before he thinks it himself. We have learned to comprise: me learning to accept that he will want to eat subway whenever he wants and him taking the heavier of the two backpacks. We fit together not just because of our love but because we have learned to tolerate one another at our most ugly. There are moments when my pleas for new experiences fall on deaf ears and my sometimes erratic behaviour is seen as amusing and not taken seriously. There are moments when not bringing him would have been the better option and then there are times when I am sure being here without him would have been impossible. 

It is a given fact that we will have moments where the very sight of each other will annoy us but for right now only I have experienced bouts of anger and annoyance and that ladies and gentlemen falls right in step to the dynamics of our relationship in canada. So needless to say we are doing good. 

What my travel partner has learned about me: apparently nothing. "She is crazier than I thought" 

What I leaned about my travel partner: throwing him in head first accomplishes nothing apparently the best way to get him to open his eyes is in baby steps. Patience and baby steps....or lots of yelling and threats of violence. (Jokes, kind of)