The Benefits of Traveling Together and Four Tips for a Successful Trip.
Feeling the urge for a getaway? Taking a week off could be the perfect escape from the daily grind. Just imagine: You could catch up on sleep, take a break from commuting, or skip cooking for a few days; you could try your hand at skiing, admire breathtaking views, indulge in gourmet meals, or soak up some sunshine. Whatever the destination, the goal is usually the same: Rejuvenation and renewal.
As expected, vacations can enhance your personal well-being and happiness. While we often think about the individual benefits of a vacation, there are also reasons to prioritize time away for your relationship. Researchers have identified the key ways in which travel can enhance your romantic bond.
Vacations Disrupt Relationship Routines
Routines help us navigate smoothly through our days. For couples, routines encompass how partners divide household chores (like cooking or cleaning), how they handle childcare or pet care, and how they structure their week. For couples living together, routines define the rhythm of a household. While routines are helpful in setting expectations for daily life, they can also become problematic. If left unchecked, routines can become so entrenched that they strip away the excitement from daily life. Couples who once thrived in each other's company may struggle to maintain that spark when routines dictate all their interactions. Monotony leads to dullness, and dullness tends to result in unhappy relationships.
One effective method to break these patterns is by traveling. Whether it's basking in the sun, exploring a new city, or sailing the open seas, time away from home is time spent outside the usual routine. Could this serve as a catalyst for relationship health?
Vacations Can Trigger Self-Expansion
It's novel! It's refreshing! A vacation is a departure from the ordinary. The novelty of such experiences may help rejuvenate our relationships.
This concept is rooted in self-expansion theory. Self-expansion theory suggests that individuals are inherently motivated to grow and that we can grow through our relationships, acquiring new skills, ideas, and perspectives. And it's not just individuals who can change; relationships can too. A robust body of evidence suggests that when couples engage in self-expanding activities together, it leads to various positive outcomes, including greater relationship satisfaction, passion, and sexual desire. Previous research has focused on non-vacation activities. The question then arises: how do vacations fit into this picture?
Vacations As a Pathway to Stronger Connections
Can traveling enhance relationships? Researchers explored this question across two studies, the first involving 234 individuals and the second involving 204 couples. Study 1 compared traveling alone versus with a partner, and in both studies, the extent to which individuals engaged in self-expanding activities while traveling was assessed. Traveling was associated with:
Boost Your Relationship Happiness: Couples who vacation together (instead of alone) enjoy increased satisfaction in their relationship.
Increased Romantic Energy: An excursion with a partner, involving self-expanding activities, predicted higher post-vacation romantic energy.
Greater Physical Intimacy: Stepping away from routines could encourage physical connection. Evidence from Study 2 showed that couples who engaged in more self-expanding activities while traveling together reported more post-vacation physical closeness.
Keys to a Relationship-Enhancing Vacation
Beyond individual benefits, traveling may offer avenues for improving your relationship. Consider these essential tips for planning a relationship-enhancing vacation, based on recent research:
1. Universality: The link between traveling and relationship quality held true regardless of participants' relationship duration. Whether partners have been together for two years or twenty, their relationship could benefit from traveling together.
2. Quality over Quantity: It's not about how many vacations you take, but rather the quality of the experience that is crucial for promoting relationship health. What you do during vacations—specifically, the extent of self-expansion—matters more than frequency.
3. Travel Together, Not Alone: While solo trips may foster personal growth, solo vacations are unlikely to benefit your relationship. The connection between self-expanding trips and relationship quality was limited to traveling with a partner.
4. Embrace Novelty and Excitement: With so many types of vacations to choose from, how do you decide what to do? Current research suggests prioritizing vacations that offer self-expanding activities. Try something new together. Fortunately, this implies that budget-friendly vacations can be just as rewarding for your relationship as lavish getaways; what matters is experiencing something interesting and new with your partner.
Relationship well-being doesn't happen on its own; it takes effort to maintain a strong and fulfilling bond. Current research suggests that relationship maintenance can include taking time away together.