6 Tips for Avid Travelers Whose Partners are Homebodies


You agree that nothing develops intelligence like travel, feel sorry for people who have never left their birthplace, and a year without traveling is a total loss for you? Maybe, you’d even like to live your life traveling with your significant one like Herman and Candelaria, or want to age on the road together like Don and Alison who sold their home and went on a round-the-world trip in their 70s. And it just so happens that you fall in love with a person that does not share your interest. For some reason your idea about camping in the woods make your partner’s hair stand on end, and you jump through hoops to make a vacation in a neighboring country look less like moving to another planet.

This situation when you tore between your significant one and your hobby may be frustrating, especially when you are sure you have met your one and only. However, there is a big chance you can change things for the better.  

1. Find Out Why Your Partner is Allergic to Traveling

Actually, there are two options: either your partner does not like traveling, or something has made him or her think so. A heart-to-heart talk can help to find the true reason.

It is possible that your significant one has bad experience related to traveling, and cannot associate it with something good. Obviously, he or she just avoids the repetition of an unpleasant situation.

Then, your partner’s helicopter parents could discourage their kid from seeing new places. Such toxic programs implemented during our childhood are not usually easy to deactivate, even if we are aware of the problem.  

It may seem unrelated, but those who have not developed an internal sense of safety are also reluctant to leave familiar places.

When asking, try not to force things: steer the conversation in the necessary direction in a gentle way and make sure your partner is comfortable with it.

In the process, you may find out that in fact, you beloved one is not afraid of traveling itself, but other things like interacting with new people, using an airplane, etc. If that is where the shoe pinches, you can easily solve the issue by taking a trip together where there will be no such triggers.  

Of course, you should not diagnose your partner with hodophobia or dig into her or is past right away.  It is possible that your beloved one never actually had an inspiring trip. If so, it is within your power to trigger his or her desire to see the world.

2. Consider Going Solo

Solo traveling is not a sign of a potential break up. People in relationships often do things they do not like and go on each other’s nerves just to follow some questionable unwritten rules. It is better to spend some time apart than to make it look like you are an exemplary inseparable couple. Thanks to technologies, you can regularly communicate with your partner without making him or her travel with you.

Traveling solo also gives you a possibility to learn new things your partner have no access to. And it is great, since this way you can avoid a common problem, when people have nothing to talk about after several months or years together. You will never run out of topics if you have something to share. Worth mentioning that people value each other more when they have a possibility to compare time together and time apart.

3. Travel With Friends

What if you cannot enjoy your trips without a companion? Feel lonely when there is no one around? Cannot stop thinking how you wish someone were there to see what you see? Travel with friends! It is a good option that gives you a possibility to kill two birds with one stone: your partner will be less worried about you and you will dedicate more time to people you probably do not see that often.

4. Take a Short Trip Together

The healthiest approach to solving the conflict of interest is always the one that involves compromising. Make a deal: for example, take a day trip, so your partner can get a glimpse into the world of travelers. If your beloved one is not satisfied with it at all, then you give up on your plans to make him or her your travel companion.

However, if everything goes well, you will open your partner’s eyes to a completely new way of living.

5. Organize a Perfect Trip

There are people who just need a jolt. You know, when Elvis has left the building for everyone else, the party is just beginning for them. And your partner might be just that type – a slow-starter who is unstoppable once he or she develops a taste for something.

To keep your partner on the hook during warming up, you need to do your best, so there are no reason to complain. Who knows, maybe your beloved one will turn out to be even more enthusiastic about traveling than you are.

6. Accept Your Partner the Way They Are

If you do not read each other’s thoughts and show interest in different things, it does not mean you are not right for each other. It is great that you can see things from a different angle because of your individual traits.

You should accept your partner’s personality, although it might seem that he or she just has no idea of what is wrong and what is right.  

You may wonder how it is even possible not to like traveling. The benefits are so obvious to you. It is a common mistake to think that similar things bring people joy. There are people who like olives and people who absolutely despise them, for no reason. They were not psychologically abused by this fruit, had no traumatic experiences related to it, and hardly spent their childhood on an olive farm to grow sick of it. It is the same with traveling.    

You should make an effort to be interested in each other’s hobbies, even if it is just talking about them. However, do not get your partner interested in traveling by force. There must be something else he or she enjoys doing as much as you enjoy traveling. And you are not obliged to like it either. Respect each other’s interests and there will be more room for mutual understanding in your relationships.

Author Bio:

Adam Wakoski is a freelance writer specializing in psychology, marketing, and eLearning, who writes for many sites including https://www.paperwritings.com/. To get closer to his dream of changing the traditional education system, Adam often offers his help to edtech startups.