The Traveling Barkeep and His Partner in Crime

In 35 years of my life, I had never traveled overseas with a girlfriend.

Though I’ve had the reputation of avoiding relationships like a fourteenth century European avoided the Black Death, the idea of it never bothered me.

I just never had anyone who interested me enough when any of my previous trips came about.

So when word spread I was soon to go overseas with my new girlfriend, the typical comments came flooding in as expected.

Everyone was amazed we got along, had fun, made up quickly when we disagreed, and want to travel more together.

Frankly, it’s pretty annoying.

As a single traveler I always aimed to get by as cheap, easy, and lightweight as possible. Drinking as much as the liver can process, muscling through my hangovers, and suffering sleep deprivation long enough for the process to begin itself again. All the while absorbing the culture and force feeding myself with the local cuisine.

Having my girlfriend as a travel companion in France grounded me a bit. Her capacity to consume wine and cheese is not fully on the same level as mine, so I didn’t party as hard and slowed down a little from my normal pace when abroad.

Our diets differ a good bit so it took a few days for us to get on the same page food wise.

The major reoccurring struggle we faced because of this through the trip was indecision. Both of us tend to go with the flow and enjoy spontaneous activities, so at times agreeing on somethings proved to be a bit difficult.

Despite this, having somebody to appreciate the sights, smells, and tastes of another country was overall really enjoyable.

We learned a lot about each other through the ten days and I would say the time away really improved our budding relationship for the better. We understand each other’s pet peeves more, bite our tongues less, and have developed better communication.

We’ve also learn she doesn’t like big crowds, and that while I will bungee jump the Nevis without hesitation, I have an irrational fear or Ferris wheels and will hold onto the rail like a little girl.

Who would have thought?

Now that we have been abroad together, I would say the travel bug has struck my girlfriend. We have to attend a wedding in the Dominican Republic as well as Las Vegas in the near future and she has now expressed a desire to go to Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Turkey and just about everywhere else in the world.

I may have created a monster…