spending every waking moment with someone requires a certain level of patience, love and flexibility. and what comes with a 24/7 schedule is becoming intimately familiar with your partner’s moods, wants and needs – without them ever having to say a thing.
regardless if you’re romantic parters, friends or family, longterm travel requires “team members” to recognize when to push and when to pull.
when in a foreign place, each day presents a new opportunity, challenge and a million little decisions to be made. itineraries and bus schedules to language barriers and unusual menu choices. it can be exhausting. the best travel partners know when the other person needs a little nudge – perhaps to try a strange food, dive into an activity they typically wouldn’t or consider a new city for the itinerary. but equally as important, a good partner recognizes when to pull back – even when the other person won’t admit to feeling way out of their comfort zone or needing to slow things down.
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it’s one week into india and during another 6 hour road trip today (we’re pretty much road-tripping through India), i could feel d starting to lose it. he was squirmy, edgy and by noon i knew that if we got out of the car and toured an ancient fort that afternoon he’d probably snap. so, it was my turn to pump the breaks for him just as he’s done to prevent my meltdowns. with one phone call, i wiped our afternoon itinerary clean and made the executive decision to spend the evening enjoying our lovely Mandore Guest House and watching Orange is the New Black all night. within an hour (and a KingFisher beer) he was already re-charging and back to himself. no monument is worth a meltdown – they’ve been here like 700 years and i’m pretty sure they’ll still be there tomorrow.
again, balance (especially in india).
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using this time and WiFi (hooray!) to get a few drafted blog posts up from Laos and more India updates later.
Jeff B
Well noted. I hear India is one of those countries where you are hit in the face with every level of emotion and sensation. The smells, the tastes, the colors, the sounds, and the myriad of people touching and calling your attention.
I imagined myself always running hard for a couple weeks in India then hiding away in an Ashram for a week to decompress. Your way might just be a much more sustainable way of tripping through India.
Well done! Keep the wisdom and shares coming.