Meeting new people is part of the travel experience. Sparking up new meaningful connections and then walking away from them with your head held high is all part of the nomadic journey. Yet every now and then, you might meet someone who you really don’t want to leave behind. What happens when you fall in love on the road?
Love and Traveling – A Blessing and A Curse
There’s no question that it’s possible to fall in love while travelling. Love doesn’t have barriers. It can happen at any time, and most often when you least expect it. The love of your life might not even speak the same language!
Life on the road is perfect for romance, but can make long term love difficult.
Travelling puts you in exciting, self expansive and novel situations. Not only that, but you also have the opportunity to meet hundreds of like-minded people who are on the same path. This is a recipe for romance.
You can fall in love many times on the road! These relationships are often fleeting passions, short and sweet, but still have undeniable impact. They could last only a matter of days or weeks, yet the experiences and memories that you create will last a lifetime.
This is the blessing of travel. You can form connections quickly, and with intensity that usually takes years to reach. The curse is the time limit. Usually one or both people have a departure point or travel plans to keep up with. You might find heartbreak as quickly as love.
The Special Someone
Saying goodbye is part of the culture on the road. It starts to feel natural to part ways with friends and lovers who you feel you could have spent a lifetime with. It hurts, but it comes with the territory.
But what happens when you find that special someone? You might have set out on a travel quest to find yourself as a solo traveller, but this is real life and it rarely happens how you planned. If life brings you face-to-face with a person who you treasure, should you really be so quick to throw it away?
You can find love in the unlikeliest places, especially if you are pursuing your own interests. And this love can last, particularly if you have genuine shared interests and passions. Take Celina Lin and Randy Lew, two travelling poker professionals who recently got married. They share enough, both on and off the tables, that they have made it last. As you spend more and more time with your new travel companion, you could find that your love for them grows. You don’t want to leave their side. You have become inseparable companions; a travelling couple, no less.
At this point, it can all feel very overwhelming! Travel = Uncertainty. You will have all of the usual thoughts about whether the other person feels the same, and whether you should declare your love and define the relationship. You will also be faced with the very real possibility that this isn’t going to last – that this budding love could end abruptly with a single flight home.
The key at this stage is not to worry. Thinking too much about what the future holds can take away from what is real right now. Walking down a mountain trail with this amazing person. Staying up late talking and laughing. Exploring new cultures and feeling the buzz of an unseen sight.
Decision Time
Okay, so you don’t have to decide on whether to get married yet, but changing travel plans or moving abroad is a big step.
When the departure time does come, whether it be due to visa deadlines, booked flights home or prior travel arrangements, it’s the moment to make a decision. There’s nothing wrong with ending it here. A big international move to be with this person might not be on the cards.
It’s a huge step to move abroad, or even to cancel individual plans to continue travelling as a couple. Doing so would move you firmly into the zone of ‘serious relationship’, with long term goals and commitments. Is that really what you want?
If the answer is yes, and the other person feels the same, then it’s time to cancel flights, make arrangements to meet up, or make a big move to stay together. It’s not easy, but love is worth it when it’s worth it.
Your decision could change the rest of your life – if you want to be together then you can find a way to make it happen. Go for it!