When you are thinking about your relationship, you may be searching for ways to strengthen it. It can be difficult to be in a relationship, particularly when you face stress related to family, work, finances,and daily life. So many couples find that their relationship goes on the back burner while everything else in their daily lives is their focus.
This is understandable, but you do need to take time out for your spouse or your partner from time-to-time as well.
If you read relationship blogs like Black Love, you’ll find that a big recommendation is finding ways that work for you to reconnect with your spouse or partner.
One way to do this is making time for a couple’s trip annually, or every few years if that’s what your budget allows for. It doesn’t have to be a five-star, luxury vacation for it to be meaningful and have value for your relationship.
The following are some of the benefits of taking a couples trip when you have the opportunity.
Improve Intimacy
When a relationship starts, feeling that sense of connection and intimacy may not be difficult, but as it progresses, it can feel like intimacy goes out the window. A survey from the U.S. Travel Association in 2013 indicate traveling with your partner is more likely to put that spark back in your relationship than buying the other person a gift.
Additionally, the same survey showed 77 percent of respondents who traveled with their significant other reported having a happy and intimate sex life.
A study from the Wisconsin Medical Journal showed that women who took vacations more frequently were more satisfied in their marriages. On the other hand, women who didn’t take vacations very often reported negative effects when they spent time with their children and their spouse.
Strengthen Your Bond
When you travel with your partner, you’re facing different challenges and you’re stepping outside the confines of daily life. Even if you’re not adventurous travelers, just the idea of being somewhere new and different together can strengthen your bond. It can also provide you new chances to grow your relationship because of the challenges travel brings.
There’s also the sense of having a common goal that can happen when you travel with your partner. You’re both committed to taking this adventure together and that’s important to strengthen not only your bond but your sense of commitment to one another.
See Another Side of Your Partner
When you’re in your daily life,and you’re going to work and raising children, it can be easy to go on autopilot. If you’re in a long-term relationship, it’s very likely both of you have reached this point. When you travel and you’re both in new environments you can see a different side of one another—maybe the side you originally fell in love with.
It’s Good for Your Mental and Physical Health
Traveling, in general, is good for you, so if you’re thinking about planning a trip don’t feel guilty. It’s one of the best forms of self-care you can engage in.
For example, a research study published in the Journal of Applied Research in Quality of Life shows you get a happiness boost just from planning a vacation.
A study done by the State University of New York, Oswego, indicated that middle-aged men who took frequent vacations yearly had a lower risk of death overall, and particularly death attributed to coronary heart disease.
A study in the Wisconsin Medical Journal showed that women who take frequent vacations are less likely to experience negative mental health symptoms including being tense, fatigued or depressed. The benefits of traveling for women led to increased quality of life and better performance at work.
Finally,when you travel, it takes you away from everything else. There are no chores, there are no big-screen TVs filled with hours of sporting events, and you may not even have cell service. You can avoid answering work emails during dinner, or thinking about the work that needs to be done around the house. You don’t have to deal with the frustration of commuter traffic or shuffling kids to all their activities.
Travel takes you away from all of these things so that you’re actually able to have conversations with your partner without all of these distractions creeping in. It’s an important way to get to know one another again in a way that can be very difficult to do when you’re at home and in the thick of your daily life and responsibilities.
