Ever heard a couple sing the praises of taking separate vacations? You can easily get Google to give you “experts” who say separate vacations build trust, or improve relationships. I say balderdash!
Most couples have many great couple memories from vacations. Relaxing together is good. Doing new things together is good. Vacation sex is good. You don’t get any of that if you take separate vacations.
I found a study on this. It indicated that shared experiences during vacations resulted in higher levels of couple flexibility and cohesion following vacations. Another study found that novel, interesting, or challenging vacation experiences predicted higher post-vacation romantic passion and relationship satisfaction for couples travelling with their partners, but not those that did the same kinds of things separately.
I suspect I’m preaching to the choir here. The more important point I want to make is that you should make vacations a high priority. I know that’s difficult when money is tight and children are young. Swap kid watching with another couple. Pack an ice chest to save money on food. Send the kids away and do a staycation.
On the other end of marriage, we may feel vacations are less important when we’re retired. But making good memories together keeps us feeling close, and no couple outgrows that.
BTW, I’m all for men’s and women’s retreats. But going away to have fun without your spouse for a week is an extremely bad plan.
~ This is Paul, saying that Doing Vacations Well looks different for every couple.
This is a Goat’s Beard plant.
The puff is a good four inches.
Image Credit: © Paul H Byerly created with ideogram.ai & Paul Byerly
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