Friday, September 10, 2010

Travel Squabbles

We've been married for almost 3 years. We've traveled a lot. We did 3 big trips before we got married, and afterwards, well... a new place about every 4 months.

The thing is... it doesn't matter how much we travel. We have the same tiffs every time.
The arguments usually have something to do with these categories:

Category A: Mary is doing too much souvenir shopping

Category B: Sean has a one-track mind and the only important thing is reaching some destination (a museum, a park, a building, whatever). He cannot deviate from the plan even for something cool on the way.

Category C: Mary is haggling over price and it makes Sean uncomfortable.

Category D: Sean gets obsessed with schedule and rushes Mary when, in fact, there is plenty of time.

The arguments are never terrible. There's no yelling or causing a scene. But usually there's lots of eye rolling and dramatic sighs.
Anyway, this past weekend on our Macau/Hong Kong trip, we faced our first real major travel dilemma. One of us left a passport at the hotel and didn't realize until we reached the airport. One of us had to travel all the way back to the hotel, while the other stayed at the airport and arranged a new plan... luckily it all worked out and there were no penalties. We didn't even get mad at each other.

What do you argue about with friends or family when you travel? So, who do you guess forgot the passport? Mary or Sean?

8 comments:

Uncork and Unwined said...

We argue about driving usually. We inevitably get lost and then squabble over how to get un-lost. But it's always minor and we always figure our way out.

Hmm.....I'm thinking Mary forgot the passport!

shopgirl said...

Oh, what a neat post! It brings back memories of my travels with different family members, friends, boyfriends, husband, etc. I've got way too many experiences to mention.....

I'm so glad that you guys worked it all out and it didn't get all blown out of proportion.

Okay, so now I'm going to try and guess who left their passport...since Sean works in the military, I would predictably guess it would be Mary, however, in this case, I'm gonna say it was him - just because I get the feeling that this story is not that predictable.

I hope that makes sense.

xoxo

Claire said...

so tell us...who left the passport?
hilarious post!

va-jenna said...

haha. travelling with someone else is always interesting!

i read somewhere that if you really want to find out if you like someone, you should travel with them.

can't remember who it was though, but i think what they said was so true!

i haven't travelled with a boyfriend yet as such, but i do find that often i'm the one having to keep it all together when travelling with certain friends, making decisions and providing moral support.

some people are just more relaxed and not so determined to do exactly what they want, which i think makes things easier. or maybe it's just because i find it hard to compromise sometimes...

i think it all comes down to balance though, which is something you and sean seem to do well!

and being able to laugh about it helps too i'm sure :)

Becca said...

First of all, this post just makes the two of you more of a ridiculously cute couple than ever :)

The huffing and puffing ensues with my husband and I when I haven't eaten for 3 hours and/or he gets hotel ESPN syndrome and/or I make him get up at 0500 with me and don't have a coffee plan :) All totally important things, as you can tell.

I think, as far as who forgot the passport...it could go either way. Sean could have been so obsessed with keeping the schedule he forgot it, and you could have been thinking about that great deal you just haggled on some thing or other and forgot it...

Anonymous said...

Hilarious post! I guess Mary forgot the passport, a Marine never let anything behind :)

Anonymous said...

oops I meant "leave" behind

Anonymous said...

Oh, we have the same sort of predictable squabbles every time we travel as well! I'm a planner, and I want to know where we're going, how we're going to get there, and where we'll stay once we're there; he's more of a seat-of-the-pants, everything-will-work-out-if-you-just-relax traveler. We usually end up doing some things my way and some things his way, and we've hit 10 countries together and counting.

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