How a Couple’s Road Trip Can Strengthen Your Bond |ADDICTED

Whether you’re in a new relationship or have been with your partner for a while, strengthening your bond should be a top priority. A long-lasting, healthy relationship is the result when two people take it upon themselves to consistently nurture what they have.

Guest post by Katie Brenneman.

One of the best ways to strengthen your bond is to take a couple’s road trip. Just the two of you, taking in the sights and experiencing new things together. What’s a better setting for deepening your relationship?

Let’s dive into seven significant benefits of taking a couple’s road trip and some tips for ensuring the experience is as meaningful as you want it to be.

Have Deeper Conversations

Deep conversations are influential in a relationship. You learn so many meaningful things about each other in these discussions, like your fears, family backgrounds, future goals, and passions.

It’s easy to let the hustle and bustle of life get in the way of having deep conversations with your partner. But a road trip can get you away from your every day and put you in the perfect position to have meaningful discussions. Just the two of you, the open road, and no limits on what you can talk about.

Revive the Intimacy in Your Relationship

There will come times in your relationship when the physical and emotional connection are lacking. The responsibility of kids and demanding careers are common reasons for putting your relationship on the back burner and distancing yourself from your partner.

Do you want that closeness back? Go on a road trip together and revive the intimacy. Deep conversations can help ignite a missing emotional connection. You also have the chance to revive a physical connection thanks to the many instances of romance present on a couple’s road trip.

Create Shared Memories

Nothing strengthens a bond between two people better than shared experiences. You get to do some of the most exciting things on a road trip, from visiting popular roadside attractions to spontaneously visiting small towns.

The experiences you have on a couple’s road trip are exclusively between the two of you. You’ll always get to look back on the amazing time you had and rehash memories that made your relationship stronger.

Enhance Your Mental Health and Well-being Together

Road trips, generally, are good for your mental health and well-being. You get to relax and reset. You get to partake in adventures that boost your mood and reduce stress. You also get to connect with nature, promote creativity, and enhance your focus on positivity.

You and your partner get to experience new things as well as these mental health and well-being benefits when you hit the road together, helping you build a healthier relationship. Trying new things together is one of the best ways to grow your relationship. So is prioritizing healthy communication and showing each other appreciation.

It just so happens all of these things contribute to your and your partner’s mental health and well-being too.

Learn More About Yourselves Individually

If you want your relationship to last, both of you need to be healthy, happy, and whole. To be that way, you need to have a solid relationship with yourself. You need to know who you are and appreciate and love every part of you.

Although the point of a couple’s road trip is to strengthen your collective bond, you’ll learn a lot about yourselves individually, too, like how your needs have evolved, what your interests are, and how you’re perceived by your partner.

Talk About Issues in a Positive Setting

All relationships have issues. Sometimes, it can be hard to discuss and resolve them in the setting they were created in. You need a safe, positive space to talk through your relationship challenges, and road trips can provide that.

You head into a couple’s road trip optimistic, happy, and to improve your relationship. You have a better chance of having a productive conversation about your issues in this setting than, say, in a heated argument.

Take a New Energy Back Home

You’ve grown so much as a couple by the end of a road trip. You’ve set goals for the future of your relationship. You’ve resolved some issues. You’ve set the intention for your relationship moving forward.

Taking this new energy back home with you will only fuel a stronger bond.

Three Tips for Creating the Best Couple’s Road Trip Experience

The above benefits from a couple’s road trip don’t just happen. Both of you must go into the experience with the right attitude. You’ll also need to do a few other things to ensure this road trip is the best you’ve ever had as a couple.

Plan your route together

A road trip is much more fun when you’re both engaged with and excited about doing it. This is more likely to happen when both of you are involved in the planning process. You can fill the trip with things both of you like and bond over your collective effort to plan something meaningful.

Start with your route. Where do you want to go? You can’t go wrong with Route 66, Highway 12 in Utah, a trip through West Coast national parks, or one of the many road trips that are great for couples. Where you decide to go depends on how much time you have available and what you’re both interested in seeing.

You should also cover the following details:

What your budget is
Where you will sleep each night
What you need to pack
What activities you’ll do
How long you’ll be gone
What your backup plan is in case issues arise on the trip

Plan your trip together, and you’ll both be more inclined to commit to making it an incredible time.

Make sure your vehicle is ready

Your car giving out on you in the middle of your road trip can put a real damper on the experience. So, along with the details above, you must ensure your vehicle is ready for a journey, whether it’s a weekend getaway or a month-long adventure.

Go through this road trip vehicle maintenance checklist to ready your vehicle for what’s to come:

Make sure your brakes are working properly
Check your brake fluid, coolant, engine oil, power steering fluid, transmission fluid, and windshield washer fluid
Make sure your tires are at the right pressure, have enough tread and traction, and don’t have any exposed wires
Check your battery for leaking or signs of corrosion
Make sure your turn signals, headlights, brake lights, and backup lights are working properly
Make sure you have your spare tire, tools, repair kit, and other essential emergency items in the trunk

If you don’t want to check your vehicle yourself, take it to your mechanic. Let them know you’re going on a road trip, and they’ll check everything to ensure it’s a safe, enjoyable drive.

Finally, being in a car for long periods isn’t the most comfortable thing. So, amenities that support a comfortable ride, like car Wi-Fi, a travel laptop desk, and cushy seating, are worth checking into.

Be spontaneous

So much of the romance and bonding that happens on a couple’s road trip is the result of spontaneity.

You pull over and take an unplanned hike to a breathtaking viewpoint. You find yourselves in the middle of a rainstorm, sharing kisses. Or, you explore an old town that wasn’t on your itinerary. It’s these moments that become the most meaningful and memorable.

Plan some activities and events, but leave a lot of room to be spontaneous. For example, maybe you have a plan for each city you visit. But the drives to these cities are wide open for whatever captures your attention.

In addition, commit to planning a few surprises for one another on the trip.

Plan a romantic dinner date at a restaurant you think your partner will love. Take over driving and blindfold them until you arrive at a special event you prepared. Plan an activity you’ve both been wanting to do in a new city you’ll pass through on your road trip.

Neither of you will ever forget the wholesome spontaneous moments and surprises.

Quality time as a couple is so important to the longevity of your relationship. Taking a couple’s road trip is one of the best ways to spend time together and strengthen your bond. Plan it together and be spontaneous in your adventure to experience the incredibly positive impact a trip can have on your relationship.