How a relationship survives the first holiday
How to survive your first holiday as a couple
“Your place or mine” is usually asked early on in a relationship and lovers stay at each other’s places regularly. However, these are short glimpses of the reality of living together and boyfriend and girlfriend are on their best behaviour during short visits. The first chance to see what really living together is like, is a holiday as a couple. Your first holiday together is like a test drive of your relationship. Here’s how to read the signs and what they predict for your future together.
Compromise: Are you able to agree on your holiday plan or do you have completely different ideas of what you want to do? If the girlfriend wants to lie on the beach all day and visit a museum or two, while the boyfriend wants to go surfing, scuba diving and hiking, you obviously have different priorities. Can you really be happy in a relationship?
Scrub up: If your partner is a complete slob and you are a clean freak, or vice versa, there may be trouble in paradise. Even if you can tolerate each other’s standards of cleanliness for a week, can you live with dirty socks and unwashed dishes forever? If you are already bickering about the dirty bathroom after a week in a hotel, rethink the relationship.
Money, honey: Not very romantic, but money plays a role in every serious relationship. A holiday is the first time you really need to pool your resources. If your attitudes to spending are different, you will notice it. Ideally, you should both willingly spend similar sums. If one of you is too tight, there will be sqabbles. However, overspending and too much generosity by the one who has more money is not good for the relationship, either.
If you met your boyfriend or girlfriend at be2, you will already know which of these areas are no problem and which issues could cause trouble. Discuss possible risks for your relationship beforehand to minimise the risk of fights.
