Going on a vacation with your traveler boyfriend – Sounds awesome?

By the sound of it, it all seems so exciting. I list the good experiences with the not so good ones; we cant have pros without the cons!

A traveler boyfriend will make sure you experience what real ‘TRAVEL’ is. This is exactly why :

1. You get to travel to all offbeat places in the best season (Read : Best season is when there are few tourists around), get to stay in the best places (that too, in budget), get to savour that local delicacy you wouldn’t have ever heard of, dance to the tunes of local music (not to forget the local alcohol).

2. You get to travel like locals – Local buses and trains as well as hitch-hiking (which we city dwellers have never done, especially when we are used to travelling in the warm comforts of a cab).

3. You can satisfy your desire to test your limits. You will have to be on your toes all throughout. Therefore, gear up to walk and trek and do all the physical rigour you are no longer used to, thanks to your city life.

4. You will learn to chit-chat with locals without any purpose/objective in mind. Stories will be wound around random conversations and perhaps an invitation to have food at their home will come by!

5. You can shop to your hearts content. That shawl/handicraft item you always wanted to buy from the mountains, but were not sure of its authenticity? Well, Mr traveler boyfriend finds out about the authenticity bit from the locals and makes sure to bargain well .

6. You always wanted to go on a hike just to see the roads and your friends weren’t really willing to walk that much (unless the walk took them to a view point)? Walking (aimless walking, at times) is never an issue with a traveler boyfriend.

7. Always dreamt of staying in that one and only hut on top of a hill and could never dare to do that? Traveler boyfriend can manage it all, he is more than glad to live in a homestay with a beautiful view rather than settling for a conventional hotel.

8. History, culture and heritage. Interested in learning about the history of a place you are visiting and don’t feel like googling? Not to worry, traveler boyfriend will have all the information on his fingertips and the source will be his tête-à-tête with locals, and not our dear google.

9. You wish to travel to a place nobody has ever been to (or even heard of)? Traveler boyfriend will know of multiple such options and he will happily do all the required research. You would just need to tag along and match his pace (of walking) as the last mile to such places always needs to be covered on foot.

But, wait, everything is not hunky-dory . A travel writer boyfriend comes with his own set of problems. And why do I say that? Well, this is why :

1. Lost, maybe? You would constantly get this feeling that you know nothing about the places.

2. Ignorance is bliss. You would not want to get involved in the planning bit as the other person will always have a better idea on the places to stay, places to see, things to eat etc.

3. You are constantly on the move, sitting and chilling doesn’t exist in his dictionary (even though he will always promise to spend time with you, but at the back of his mind he would always be thinking – I could have seen one more monastery, trekked to one more mountain, had another local delicacy in that much time).

4. Spoilt for choice – You will always have to share your space with his camera and at times you will feel jealous about the fact that the camera gets more attention than you.

5. He would always want to carry local products back home (even those that are readily available). It adds to the weight and you are left to lift your bags all by yourself (well, how much can you trouble the poor guy anyway?)

6. Love, what is that? Instead of spending his morning in bed, he would want to get up early morning to capture the sunrise (irrespective of how cold it is outside), while you would want to cuddle him and sleep till late. Sigh!

7. Multiple pictures of the same view/person/place/thing shall be captured with an explanation that you never get the best shot in just one click; and then you will have to bear with him crib about limited memory in his iPhone/camera.

8. Where is our me time! While he is habituated to chatting with the locals and you are not (well I was always warned by my parents to be wary of strangers); you are forced to sport a smile and make small talk while all you want to do is just be alone with him (and not random people).

To all traveler boyfriends and girlfriends out there, you are all awesome travel companions; as long as you don’t forget that you are not travelling solo, and there is somebody else with you whose entire objective of coming along is to spend time with you.

I shall consider that a warning and make amends next time around!

 

 

Have any funny travelling experiences to share?