A recent survey by the U.S. Travel Association has found that couples who travel together see significant benefits to the quality of their relationship – including improvements to their sex life.
Traveling doesn’t have to mean that you go on an extravagant trip to Paris or a tropical island, it can also mean driving an hour away to a local bed and breakfast or camping at nearby national park.
In a survey of 1,100 U.S. adults, the majority (72%) responded that travel inspires romance, and 28% reported that taking a trip actually improved their sex life (of these respondents, 40% said the improvement was permanent).
This boost to romance, attraction, and a healthy sex life makes perfect sense. Traveling as a couple (especially traveling without the kids) creates an opportunity to spend quality time together without the distractions of daily life.
- Couples who travel together notice improvements to their sex life.
When you’re on a trip, you probably aren’t worrying about getting the laundry done or who’s going to cook dinner. You’re more relaxed, more “in the moment,” and are more likely to have your own enjoyment on your mind!
There are other factors at work here too, like the sense of adventure and excitement you get from making love in a new place (like a hotel or a bed and breakfast), the amount of time you’ll spend with your spouse, both traveling and at your destination. Another key factor is that your chances of being interrupted by any unexpected events are extremely reduced.
There are plenty of residual benefits to traveling together too!
First, spending a romantic weekend together will have a lasting effect on your connection to one another, even after you’ve returned from your trip. The intangible “warm fuzzies” you feel for your partner, built up through spending time together, focused on each other, won’t just disappear as soon as you get back to normal life.
Chances are, you’ll feel closer than you did before the trip – and those kinds of feelings have a way of perpetuating themselves. The closer you feel, the more affectionate you act. The more affectionate your actions, the closer you feel to your spouse, and so on.
You’ll also have a new set of experiences together, and this has more value than you might think. After a trip together, you’ll have new stories to tell, new inside jokes, and a whole new place/event/experience to talk about with each other. A single trip can resonate with a couple for years!
It should be mentioned that you also have to know how to travel together. To make the most of a trip, whether a full-blown vacation or a romantic night together in the next town over, make sure you have similar expectations. Have a conversation about what you want to do. If one of you wants to sightsee and the other wants to hole up in the hotel all weekend, you’ll be setting yourself up for a mid-trip disagreement if you don’t put those expectations on the table beforehand. Traveling together without being on the same page is a recipe for stress and arguments.
Traveling together, as long as you have shared expectations with your spouse, is a fantastic way to rekindle your connection to one another, give your sex life a boost, and give yourself a chance to feel closer for weeks, months, or even years to come.
It can be a quiet weekend alone or an event-filled week as a tourist – whatever works for you – but no matter what you choose to do, pack your bags, hit the road, and enjoy some quality time together outside of your normal routine!
What would be your ideal vacation with your spouse? Please comment below.
For more ideas on keeping the romance alive and having more fun and excitement, check out our StrongmarriageNow System.
[i4w_m_VSL_promo]
Dr. Dana Fillmore and Amy Barnhart, co-Founders, StrongMarriageNow.com
