I firmly believe that before you commit to a partner, you should take a trip together. When you travel, there are exciting elements that add spark to your relationship. You are driven by a common goal and desire to explore new places, different cultures, and see the world together. The experience will either make or break you.
Can you handle lack of privacy? A 24/7 companion? You learn a lot about each other, in both your strengths and unique quirks. Eventually, the glamour will fade and insignificant things will bother you… Must you sit on the bed with a wet towel? Why can’t you pull up the sheet below the comforter? Why are your shoes on opposite sides of the room and your clothes strewn out of your suitcase?
If things are meant to be, your relationship will come out of this adventure stronger than ever before! I have rounded up a few more of my favorite travelling couples, that prove the possibility of traveling the world without wanting to kill each other. 
I am blushing (blog crushing) on so many traveling couples, check out part one!
1. The Globe Wanders
James and Gabby hope you are never cured; that the travel bug buried beneath your skin continues to bite and the infection spreads. Proving its possible to travel whilst holding down jobs, by making the most of that precious annual leave. They believe life is too short to spend your days conforming to societal norms and living to work rather than working to live.
Before these lovers crossed paths, Gabby travelled New Zealand and Australia solo for 18 months working as a quad-bike guide and cowgirl. Meanwhile, James was backpacking Thailand and made his way around 7 Countries in 85 Ways. Today they call England home base together.
Get solid advice on travel tips to ignore, the best twitter chats, and promises to a wanderlust-stricken soul. Their ultimate advice? BE AFRAID. DO IT ANYWAY.
At its core, travel is about breaking through any comfort, fear or mental barrier. We travel to challenge ourselves. We jump off ledges, push our limits and test our strengths every day. But what is the biggest challenge of all? Coming home.
2. Traveling 9 to 5
Looking for a break from the 9 – 5 drag? Caroline and Josh were once in your shoes. Josh worked long hours in consulting where his true passions were pushed aside as he focused on climbing the corporate ladder. Caroline said to him one day: “lets quit and travel the world.”
In one year, the pair hit 15 destinations on two around the world tickets for only $346. This experience provided the best education outside of a university: lessons in negotiating, logistic planning, decision making, international communications, dealing with constantly changing situations, and so much more.
To prepare for a career break or gap year, you need to follow that burning desire to take control and re-prioritize your life to reignite creativity, adding adventure and novelty back into your drab day-to-day. This duo teach you how to write the story of your own life by taking a leap into the unknown and quit slamming the door on golden opportunities, but seek and embrace them with arms wide open.
3. Nomadasaurus
Lesh and Jazza are an Australian couple travelling the world together since 2008. The two are big advocates for sustainable, long-term adventure travel and want to bring you along for the ride! Before meeting, Lesh was exploring New Zealand, UK, US and Canada solo, while Jazza was hanging in Canada as a ski bum and full time partier. Together, they are currently backpacking overland from Thailand to South Africa without any air transport.
Their polar personalities complement perfectly as Lesha brings a dose of sensibility to the partnership, adding direction and purpose to the adventure (and acting as master photog). Jazza, on the other hand, passion for snow, mountain and water sports, brings enthusiasm and courage to the table.
As much as they love this life they lead, there are lurking curses of long term travel. There is nothing set in concrete on this adventure. No confirmed itinerary, no definite mode of transport, no schedule to follow. They travel free and easy, open to all worthwhile distractions. They hope to reach people from all corners of the globe to inspire them to get out there and adventure on!
4. Bridges and Balloons
Victoria and Steve have hit over 50 countries and lived for months in Buenos Aires,San Pancho, Ubud, Barcelona and Berlin. How’s that for cultured? After three years of continuous travel they settled down in London as home base.
Lovers of whiskey cocktails; mountains; glamping; hipster coffee shops; vegetarian brunch; yoga; street food markets; cakes; festivals; beaches; independent bookshops and cosmic wonder. As vegetarians, they often shape their trips around food. They were close to buying land in Mexico to build a yoga retreat and once held hostage by monkeys.
Victoria still feels guilt pondering how life would be different if she’d never left her hometown. Was travelling a way of jumping off an inevitable merry-go-round – a way to run away from life’s responsibilities? Despite these doubts, it never felt like that. I wanted to travel to face and enjoy life, not to run from it.
5. The Global Couple
Petra and Shaun are two 20-something Kiwis, thriving off road trips, street food, and wandering with no destination in mind. In 2014 they left stable jobs and loving families in New Zealand to travel around the world in two months, which turned out to be much longer!
Their budget-friendly adventures include bungee jumping backwards off a bridge in Canada, learning to SCUBA dive in Thailand, buying a campervan in New Zealand, and saving baby turtles in Mexico. They aim to embrace various cultures, foods, customs, histories, and landscapes every step of the way.
They get raw on an all too familiar dilemma: different life goals in a relationship. How could we both be happy if we wanted such different things? They’ve even interviewed 13 fellow bloggers on the highs and lows of couples travel. The good news? Travel often helps define what is most important in life.
6. Best World Yet
One is a dreamer, the other a planner. Andrea and Bryan are a match made in heaven. In 2010, their lurking desire to travel became a sweet, wanderlusting addiction. In five, quick years they have hit over 20 countries, seeking out thrilling adventures, unique events and unforgettable experiences around the world. This year, they packed everything in backpacks with a one way ticket to EVERYWHERE.
They are both lucky to have remote-capable careers where all they need is a laptop and wifi. Andrea has my dream job, owner of Elite Travel Arrangements, a luxury travel agency that designs a custom itinerary just for you!
Maybe we are crazy. Crazy motivated? Crazy determined? A wise man once said, “follow your dreams, or you’ll spend the rest of your life working for someone who did”. Perhaps we are going to be successful because we’re just crazy enough to think we can be. Perhaps we won’t be successful, and we’re just two backpackers who took a few years off. Either way, we’re happy.
7. Goats on the Road
Nick and Dariece are a Canadian couple wandering the globe in search of off-the-beaten-path destinations, authentic cultural experiences, exotic cuisines, beautiful beaches and wild adventures. After 13 months backpacking Southeast Asia, their mindsets shifted in not only the way they view the world, but their entire future. A future sure to revolve around travel.
The pair are passionate about photography, yoga, trekking over mountains, eating chocolate and drinking copious amounts of red wine. Their travel style is relaxed and stress-free as they enjoy a location-independent life of no nine-to-fives, no boss, no planning for retirement, no white picket fence, no mortgage and most importantly, no debt.
Together they have seen 46 countries and 5 Wonders Of The World. Join them on African Safaris, camel treks, snorkeling with sharks, diving with humpback whales and so many more adventures!
Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in an office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain.
8. Who Needs Maps
Similar to my situation, Jack is Australian and Jenn is American; two different people with very different views on life… but together, they make it work! After countless trips from Los Angeles and Australia, they thought why not meet in the middle? Explore somewhere new for them both in between!
Join the duo in misadventures, food experiments, lessons learned, interesting encounters and wild and crazy times. With a never-ending bucket list, they are sure to never get bored of a life together!
Who needs maps when you can get wonderfully lost?
9. Getting Stamped
Hannah and Adam are a Wisconsin couple who left behind the American dream for a Round-the-World trip and have hit 47 countries since June 2013! A trip to Belize is all it took for that travel bug to bite and all thoughts of living the comfortable way were thrown out the window.
My favorite feature of their site is a Cost by country page. No shock how high Australia ranks! They share how to use free airline miles to jump start a trip but on the flip side, how they managed to blow $100k chasing their dreams– but wouldn’t trade the 100,000 memories they made!
Let’s face it: travel isn’t always rainbows and butterflies. You will encounter disappointing destinations, feel a pull to return home and want to kill each other at times. But in the end, the brilliant, awe-inspiring moments are worth more than gold!
10. Two Monkeys Travel
Kach and Jonathan are a Filipina and British duo, gallivanting the globe since 2013. After deciding separately to quit their jobs and venture through South East Asia to start their new lives, neither imagined they would end up on the journey with a random catch from a backpacker’s bar in Laos!
They are both certified Yoga Teachers, Massage Therapists and TEFL Certified Teachers, and of course travel bloggers, working wherever and whenever they want! They have dreams to one day build a Yoga resort and sustainability education center in an island paradise in the Philippines.
I don’t want to be tied down by someone, I want to be set free with someone.
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In case you missed my previous Travel Blushes: Fearless Females / Expat Edition / Globetrotting Guys / Dynamic Duos. Next up, charming kiddos!