Come on, admit it! Sometimes we need to spice things up a bit in our marriage, right? The everyday humdrum of life can effect our relationship in a way that takes the excitement and romance out of it. And it usually creeps in when we're least expecting it. We don't want or mean for it to happen, it just happens. We get so caught up with life, our jobs, our kids, our commitments, we often allow our spouse to fall to the wayside not paying enough attention to their wants or needs. Not spending enough time alone, talking discussing, planning the future or sharing our thoughts, feelings and concerns can be harmful to our relationship and to the marriage itself. But I have the perfect solution, TRAVEL! Being American and having lived outside of the United States for over 14 years, I have come to realize that most Americans don't prioritize or even value travel like the Europeans do. I did live in the states until my early 30's and also had the same mindset as the majority of Americans. Work came first, then kids, then the marriage. And there was never time or money to take a vacation. The focus was on working, paying bills and buying stuff. A vacation was a rare luxury that I never gave too much thought to. But my thinking has changed drastically! Marriage NEEDS to be our main priority. And then all of the other things fall in line, with travel being included! Without a strong marriage, we cannot function as a family unit. And without vacations, our ordinary lives often remain, well, ordinary! Here's a few ways that travel can spice things up: New adventures- New is always good! David and I love to try out new places! We make it a point to travel to a destination once a year that we have never been to before. It is exciting to see new sights, experience new foods and new cultures together. And we always make it a point to talk to people within our surroundings. It is incredible the things you can learn about worldviews, culture and different lifestyles if you just open yourself up to others. Last year, we met a couple from England while in Langkawi, Malaysia that inspired us with their story of how they spontaneously decided to take a trip around the world for one year! To hear of their experiences and challenges motivated us to see travel in a new way and all the while developed a long lasting friendship! Problem solving- Solving a problem together adds to your relationship, even if it gets hot during the solving! Just a few weeks ago, we found ourselves stranded for 3 days during what should have been a simple and short trip. I have to admit, it was a very frustrating situation to begin with. And the problem-solving did have a short moment where things began to heat up. However, as David and I brainstormed, researched options and attempted to book other flights, we realized that our working together was what brought the results. We made the best out of the few choices that we had and in the end, we were thanking and applauding each other for the ideas that resulted in a great trip. Patience- Patience is a virtue. Meaning:To be able to wait for something without becoming frustrated is a valuable character trait. We all know that in marriage, this is not always easy. However, when we are in new surroundings, experiencing new things together as a couple, we are often faced with situations that require patience. Four years ago, we were on the island of Langkawi, Malaysia on vacation. And we decided to rent mopeds so that we could venture out around the island. I used to ride dirt bikes all the time as a kid in the deserts of Arizona with my cousins. So, jumping on a little moped and putting around was no big thing, I told David. I didn't take into consideration that it had been over 25 years since I had ridden motorbikes and assumed I would just hop on and take off! Well, I took off all right! I hit the gas after climbing on and sped across the small road almost crashing into a car parked on the other side! Things change as you get older! David was forced to exercise patience as I relearned how to drive and maneuver the moped. And in doing that we got some good laughs, at my expense of course! There's no flight in the fight- When you are home and you and your spouse get into a fight, there's always a place to retreat to. Whether that be another room in your house, going to a friend's or just driving around. These were always my choices, anyway! But when you are in a new, unfamiliar place, staying in a hotel or small apartment, usually without a vehicle and no friends or family nearby, making up takes on a whole new meaning! You really have no where to run! I recall a time where David and I had a quarrel when we were visiting Penang, Malaysia. In anger, I walked off and started heading down a street at night. It only took about 3 minutes for me to come to my senses, remembering there were wild monkeys roaming the streets! We were immediately then forced to communicate and sort out our differences. And really, think about it...who wants to waste the limited time that you have in what is most likely an incredible new place that you have been enjoying together, fighting? Romance- Alone time in a new destination can do a lot when it comes to romance! Whether you are vacationing in the mountains, near a beach or a lake, in Europe, Asia or another state in the U.S. There is always a chance for romance! I have found that just being in a new surrounding, relaxing, alone with my hubby, taking in all of the new sights, smells and sounds enlightens the senses! Just last month, David and I packed up many of belongings and headed out across Europe in our SUV. We intentionally left the kids home with our oldest daughter so that we could have alone time. It was much needed due to the busy and somewhat stressful year that was behind us. And what an amazing time we had discovering new countries and new sights! Just being alone in the newness of our surroundings brought spice back to our marriage! Is there a way that travel spiced up your marriage? Any experiences that you would like to share? We would love to hear from you! With Love and Blessings, Robin and Dave If you're not already following us, CLICK HERE And join in on our wild adventures of culture, personality and fervor! Accommodations: Hotel in Langkawi- Berjaya Langkawi Resort Hotel in Langkawi- Holiday Villa Beach Resort Hotel in Penang- Holiday Inn Penang Airlines: Lufthansa Air Asia Euro Wings For more great reads on how travel strengthens marriage,
check out the links below: twenty-somethingtravel.com theplanetd.com ytravelblog.com We were stranded. The situation looked bleak. We weren't sure what to do. Turn back and go home or forge ahead and take risks. As the four of us drove to the airport in a taxi, with our 14 pieces of luggage in tow, we were ecstatic to be soon boarding the plane that would take us to a new destination, a new future, our new home! Little did we know, what would normally be a a two hour flight turned into an exploit of 3 days! The flights looked good. There were over 30 seats available. Being that David works for the airlines, we are blessed with the benefit of standby flying. However, in this incident, the blessing quickly became a curse. Don't get me wrong, it does have it's advantages, “when” it works. We receive a substantial discount on flight tickets for our immediate family which is great if there are seats available. But if there's no seats, whatever airport you are at can quickly become your second home. And trust me, we've had many second homes in different cities and countries, this time being Munich. We boarded the first flight without a hitch, everything being trouble-free. But once we set foot in Munich our circumstances quickly turned. We came to find out upon check-in to our final destination that the flight with over thirty seats available was now overbooked! This rerouted our luggage to the baggage claim requiring the luggage to be collected by us. As we stood in anticipation at the baggage belt for over an hour, we watched the time dissolve... making the next flight (our back-up plan) unattainable! There we stood with heaps of luggage, flights gone, and only half-way to our destination. As David began checking more connecting flights, our hope grew dim. All the flights were overbooked and we quickly found ourselves in a state of confusion, do we go back home or continue onward? It was difficult to understand in that moment, what exactly went wrong. We had it all planned out. The flights were open, it should've been a breeze! And now we were desperate, it appeared that every flight to every city out of Munich was FULL! “Now what?”, we asked ourselves??? As David ran from counter to counter, checking each airline within his alliance, I checked hotel rooms in Munich and debated about driving with a rental car to another city to catch an open flight. When out of nowhere, we came up with the idea to fly to Vienna, Austria. After all it was the only flight open continuing in a forward direction instead of moving backwards. And there was a flight the following day from Vienna to Mallorca with over 50 seats open! Surely this was it! We would arrive to our new home only 1 day later...so we thought! We arrived in Vienna and took a taxi to our hotel Pension Neuer Markt Hotel that we booked over Hotels.com. We were amazed at the buildings as we arrived in the city center in the early night! So big and beautiful, so much detail and history surrounded us, we insisted that we explore if only for an hour or two. We found an authentic Austrian restaurant, Restaurant Ferdinand within a few minutes of our hotel where we enjoyed original Austrian cuisine and then ventured out for a quick walk around the city center, fabulous! Impressed with the beauty of Vienna, we made sure not to get back to our room too late, we needed to wake up early in order to catch our flight which would take us to our new home! The alarm went off at 6 a.m. David grabbed his mobile phone and checked the flight that we would be boarding, or so we thought! Low and behold, nearly 60 seats gone! How could it be? So many seats gone overnight, in fact within 8 hours? It just didn't make sense! So, in that very moment, he said, “That's it! I am buying full booked tickets! No more taking chances!” He purchased the very expensive tickets, we booked another night at the hotel and we decided to really take the day to enjoy Vienna! And it didn't matter that it was pouring down rain! Needless to say, the flight that we booked did fill up a bit more by the next day. However, there were still over 20 seats open. We found out later on that there were over 60 flights canceled from Munich to Mallorca for 2 days straight, hence our predicament. Therefore the passengers were rerouted on the flights that we had planned on taking. And even though, we ended up spending more money than we had budgeted and were extremely frustrated and felt stranded, we decided to take a different approach to our situation. We embraced the fact that we were “stuck” in a foreign place that wasn't on our program and made the best out of it. And instead of being angry and bitter about our circumstances, we took the time placed before us and enjoyed every second of what would have most likely been a place that we would not have visited otherwise or perhaps well into the future. And in the process, not only were we as adults challenged to think more positive and improve our patience, our kids were also being taught in those areas as well! Vienna was absolutely wonderful and we were so very thankful to have been sidetracked giving us the chance to indulge in the history and beauty of such a wonderful city! With Love and Blessings, David and Robin If you're not already following us, CLICK HERE And join in on our wild adventures of culture, personality and fervor! Early this year, we began to plan and scheme for what our hearts desired, Mallorca, Spain! CLICK HERE for Part 1. We had already been downsizing for quite some time, but our new decision amped things up even more. we sold many of our belongings, packed our car full some precious things and clothes and headed off across Europe! We were looking at 1700+ kilometers or 1100+ miles to reach the ferry we would board to our new haven and new ambition! Our drive was long but wonderful! It was just David and I. We left the kids with our oldest daughter so that we could focus on spending time alone together, something that is important for every married couple, especially when they are facing what could be a potentially stressful situation, like a move! Within just a few hours of our departure, we found ourselves lost in the southern farmlands of Germany. Our navigation tried to reroute us because of construction right into another area of construction. And due to the rolling hills and the scarcity of population, there was a shortage of roads to lead us out of where we found ourselves trapped. However, it was just another reason to take in the beautiful landscape of a place that we had never laid eyes on until that moment. After backtracking we worked our way back to the Autobahn and continued on our journey towards France. We wouldn't be seeing Paris on this road trip, but the French country-side had such a flair that sent our hearts leaping! Our first stop was just outside of Dijon, France where we arrived in the dark at our hotel Chateau de Saulon that we booked on Hotels.com. We could tell that it was on the country-side but had no idea that Chateau meant castle! So, to our surprise, the hotel possessed a certain ambiance to that of royalty! And the view when we arose early the next day just made our stay that much more amazing! After a good night's sleep we enjoyed a delightful French breakfast with boiled eggs, croissants and coffee and headed out for our next day of travel onto Montpellier, France. Montpellier was a larger city which alluded to a more busier atmosphere but definitely had a classic french appeal! Despite being big, the city was somewhat compact in it's design. The architecture was extraordinary! And the tall rows of buildings lined the streets running in all directions, some straight in character and others twisting around in different directions. And there were narrow passageways that added to the imagination of mystery and romance! Then there was the typical French streetlights made of black iron mounted sporadically throughout the walkways that furthered the charm even more! This time, unfortunately our stay wasn't at a Chateau but rather a Holiday Inn, which by the way was excellent when it came to cleanliness, free breakfast and location. There was a mall nearby and a street train that was only 10 minutes into the city. It was our last day and we would be arriving in Barcelona to catch the ferry to take us to our new home. But we made sure that we would reach Barcelona with plenty of time to spare for some sightseeing! As we entered into the massive metropolitan, we were amazed at the simplicity of the roadway structure. We found our way to the Port without a hitch, parked our car and headed into the ancient streets filled with visitors. This Spanish city had a charm all of it's own consisting of old cathedrals, statues and historically weathered buildings that lined the coast of the Mediterrian Sea. As we walked the streets discovering what we could in the limited time we had, we quickly fell in love with what we be the country of our new home. As the time drew closer to board the ferry, we found a Starbucks where we could rest our weary feet and catch up with some social media and messages. We sat on the balcony located on a dock in the port and watched as the dark clouds rolled in. Within minutes, we were surrounded by thunder, lightening and heavy rain, our adventure just got more adventurous! We were in hopes that the storm would pass because we did have 1 1/2 hours left before we needed to set sail towards our final destination. Needless to say, that did not happen! As the storm roared, we had a 15 minute walk across a bridge and through the city to reach our car, and I was the least to say, terrified! But I knew that God had brought us this far, so he would take us all the way! With shrills of terror, my concerned hubby bought umbrellas from an Indian guy in front of the shopping complex that would assist in protecting us from the rain but NOT lightening, we ran as fast as possible to our car and within minutes we entered the transportation to our destination! With smooth sailing, we arrived in Palma de Mallorca 7 1/2 hours later. It was a wonderful trip full of new discoveries, adventure and a little fear. But more than anything, it was a time that David and I could spend as a married couple; discussing, planning, sharing, living, loving and enjoying each other as we embarked onto our new journey together! We are of course, relocating to another region that is not home to either of us. But this time, it isn't out of necessity or obligation , it's out of desire, ambition and motivation! With Love and Blessings! David and Robin If you're not already following us, CLICK HERE And join in on our wild adventures of culture, personality and fervor! P.S. If you haven't read Part 1, "WE JUST DID THE UNTHINKABLE" CLICK HERE |
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We're Robin & David, husband & wife, entrepreneurs, explorers & adventurers. We each sprung out of separate parts of the world (Malaysia & Arizona), disembarked together & formed an unbreakable marriage & family out of what once was a complex blend of jumble, whilst living as foreigners in Europe. CURRENT LOCATION
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