There's no better travel partner than, well, your partner. Someone to take care of all the documents while you check out? A gossip buddy, an eternal plus one? Yes please.
But it doesn't always go smoothly, because a holiday can make or break you – just ask Harry Styles.
The The 30-year-old singer has reportedly split from Bones And All actress Taylor Russellafter a rental trip to Japan.
And although we are not A-listers, the feelings of a relationship that completely changes after a holiday are certainly recognizable.
For some, the feeling of being together 24/7, relying on each other and being confronted with challenging foreign situations can strengthen them as a couple.
For others, a baecation can cause problems because, as we say, you are so close to that person for an extended period of time.
In the case of Gemma Nice, who worked as a veterinary nurse before switching careers to yoga and relationship coach, a big trip in 2006 helped save her marriage, which was on the rocks due to work stress.
“One day I came home and told my partner we needed a long holiday,” the 41-year-old from Brighton told Metro.co.uk. 'After a little persuasion (it didn't take much) we booked a seven-month backpacking trip and left our lives behind to find some semblance of happiness.
'Those months were really great. The first three months we visited South Africa and China, which gave me the opportunity to go on safari and camp under the stars, and I remember looking up at the sky in the middle of the night during a storm for the first few days and a sense of peace washed over me – as if all the stress had completely lifted from my shoulders.”
It was in Thailand that Gemma discovered her love for yoga, which she still carries with her to this day. It made her realize that life as a veterinarian was too stressful to maintain.
She decided to leave that career to focus on her health, and credits the positive life changes that have happened since to that journey.
Gemma adds: 'Thanks to that journey, I now have a really solid relationship, which I honestly believe would not have been the case if I had not started putting my health first. Since then, I have also been blessed to welcome two wonderful children into the world and to be truly happy every day with everything I have.
'My husband and I got married on a beach in Turkey in 2010 and are still together 14 years later, celebrating 24 years together in June.'
For 24-year-old Iman Khan*, a spontaneous trip with her partner seemed like the ultimate opportunity to take their relationship to the next step. But unfortunately this was not the case.
She told Metro.co.uk: 'I went on holiday to Dubai to visit some friends. I had three more days there when a guy I was seeing [back in the UK] sent me a message saying he wanted to see me urgently.
'I told him it wasn't possible because I was abroad, but that I would be back in three days. The next day I woke up and saw a screenshot in my messages. He came to Dubai just to see me. I picked him up from the airport and we had the most amazing two days together – it was like we were in our own little world. I showed him around the city and we tried different foods. I loved it.
'We even considered moving there together. At the end of the trip he told me he loved me. It was an incredible feeling to have someone tell me he or she loved me through such a grand gesture. Then we flew back home to London together.'
However, when they returned to Britain, they both realized they wanted different things.
'We were together for – I would say – two months. He told his family about me, I met his siblings and things went well, but behind the scenes, but we had a lot of issues about how we envisioned our life together. We just wanted very different things,” she explains.
“He was more conservative; I am more liberal. I wanted different things in life and I think that's why we broke up. It was hard to keep fighting for something when it felt like every decision would be an obstacle,” Iman reflects.
Miriam KhatibHowever, *eventually found her husband on what was originally a solo trip to Dubai.
The London-based producer in his forties wanted a beach holiday to escape the shackles of the city. “I wasn't looking for anyone, nor did I expect to be,” she tells Metro.co.uk. “But do what you love, and you will find others who love it too.
'I was doing yoga, watching and photographing sunsets, and taking nice walks – and that's how we met. He was already doing and appreciating the things I did.”
She explains: 'The reason the holidays helped is because it allowed us to pause life for a moment and talk honestly to people, whereas at home, in our busy jobs, we often rush past people we know and say: 'Hi how are you? you?”, without waiting for an answer.
'It's so ironic because I was so close to canceling this trip because Covid was on the rise again. My friends and I had to change our destination… so I sometimes joke with my hubby; was it fate?'
*Names have been changed.
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