How to Convince Your Partner to Travel With You

What happens when you have insatiable wanderlust while your partner doesn’t even want to travel? There’s some truth to the saying “opposites attract”. But, managing a relationship when one person is always on the road and their partner stays home can be tough. If you are the one who dreams about traveling with your partner, there’s still hope. There’s no need to give up on your travel hobby or your relationship. It’s possible to convince your partner to travel with you a few times a year, even if he or she isn’t necessarily in love with the idea.

Thankfully, Justin and I love to go traveling together most of the time. There are times where he isn’t crazy about visiting certain destinations or activities. After all, relationships are about compromise, working with one another, but also recognizing that you’re individual people that might have different interests. Here are some ways to not only convince your partner to travel, but incorporate travel into your lives so it works for you both.

Knowing the Reasons Why

Before you can convince your partner to travel with you and actually enjoy it, you must learn why they are currently opposed to the idea of traveling. Their concern may be genuine. It might be a fear of the unknown or a general disinterest. Nonetheless, most of the excuses people give for not traveling can be easily refuted. If you are going to ask your partner to give you the reasons why they don’t like to travel, don’t be quick to judge. Keep an open mind and work through these reasons together with common sense.

Overcoming Excuses

After you realize why they might not want to travel, you can find out ways to overcome their objections in a way that does not negatively affect their pride or current lifestyle.  If money is the problem, you can enlighten them of the many affordable travel options they can take and help them put together a savings plan for such trips. Since you will likely join them on these trips, you can open a joint account to save for the trips. Whatever the reason they give for not traveling, you can always find an effective workaround. Here are some smart suggestions with regards to how I afford to travel so much.

Getting Their Curiosity Up

People who have never traveled before may not understand how fulfilling traveling can be. If your partner falls under this category, you can tell them more about your awesome past adventures. Show them some amazing photos from your trips and tell them your stories. Share incredible travel videos with them. Find a way that they can pursue their own interests in new settings. For instance, Justin loves baseball. I’ve suggested that we see a baseball game in Japan where there is a huge love for the sport.

Start with a Staycation

For your first trip together, you can convince your partner to travel with you somewhere close by. You can go on a weekend getaway so your normal lives aren’t disrupted by the trip. Your partner won’t be strongly opposed to taking a weekend off for a romantic getaway. This first time traveling together won’t be very disruptive to daily life, and your partner won’t need to be worried about taking off from work for a long period of time. Choose a fun activity or destination that you’ll both enjoy within driving distance from home to create wonderful memories together.

Get Comfortable

For your first major vacation together, propose a beach vacation in a relaxed locale. There will be very little pressure on you and there are fewer chances of things going wrong. Vacationing at a private all-inclusive beach resort is one of the ways to ensure that you have a trip that is almost guaranteed to go well. All-inclusives organize pretty much everything for their guests. You will hand over your travel planning to the professionals who know what it takes to put together a great vacation for a couple like you. With a vast knowledge of the destination, they will be in an excellent position to recommend the best activities for the two of you.

Eliminate the Tension

You might feel the burden of making a trip a success during your first few trips with your “travel reluctant” partner. I hear you! If you’ve successfully persuaded them to join you on your trips, the least you can do is make the experience as stress free for them as possible. Since you are the experienced traveler, you should handle most of the planning. The idea is to remove most of the friction associated with traveling so they actually enjoy the experience.

Wait it Out

If you give it some time, your partner might come around to the idea of travel. Traveling is always a romantic experience and it can be such a fulfilling experience to share together. If you take the right course of action, maybe your partner will start suggesting places for you to go together. For them to fully enjoy traveling with you, they must feel that they made the decision to come out of their own volition.

Don’t Be Afraid To Travel Alone

If you can’t always convince your partner to travel with you, there’s no problem with going it alone. Five years ago, I never even dreamed of traveling without Justin by my side. We have realized that we enjoy different styles of travel. There are some trips that I really want to take that aren’t his style. I have visited several destinations without Justin as a solo female traveler or with other friends who appreciate the trip more than him. While we do most of our traveling together, don’t be afraid to see some of the world on your own. You need to follow your dreams, which might not always perfectly match those of your partner.

Do you travel with your partner? Have you had any obstacles to overcome and how did you do it?