A holiday with your new partner can be exciting, but it can also be anxiety provoking.

–Travelling with you someone new in your life can reveal their true nature. The longer the holiday, the more you get to learn about each other and reveal your own true colours.

How much do you really know about your new mate?

Here are 5 tips to travelling with a new partner:

1.     Learn  how they handle stress

Chances are, if it’s a new relationship, you’ve seen the best and calmest side of them. You may be surprised to learn that they don’t handle stress well.

Things don’t always go according to plan. And holidays are no exception.

Stress can lead to conflict and if a holiday full of fighting is not your ideal, then be prepared by learning how they handle stress. Don’t fall into the trap of avoiding conflict. Because you’re sure to grow more distant if you don’t deal with differences.

Does your partner get angry or impatient, or do they make the best of a difficult situation?

Their stress reaction can be revealing and it can help you decide whether they’d be a good partner for the long haul. 

2.     Keep it small and test the waters.

If this is your first holiday, then taking baby steps is a good idea.

Perhaps a weekend getaway rather than, a week-long or an international trip will allow you to get used to each other’s travel style.

You may learn about how anxious they are when you disappear and all you want is to negotiate breathing space for yourself. Or they may be the person that seeks out opportunities to be alone while your idea of “togetherness” is smothering them.

Either way, you’ll learn about the relationship style of your new mate, so keep it small in case it’s not your ideal.

3.     Discuss your expectations in advance.

You’ll need to plan in advance and discuss the finer details of your trip.

• where do you want to stay?
• what things do you want to do?
• how much do you want to spend?

Your partner may have very different ideas about what constitutes downtime and even what constitutes fun time. So talk it out. Here’s a conflict talk tool to help you.

How you structure the perfect holiday and may be very different for your partner.

4.     Talk about downtime.

Your partner may welcome time for themselves and the chance to be in their own “space” even while on vacation.

Doing some things separately may be refreshing for an introvert. It may give you something interesting and new to talk about.

It also gives you a chance to miss each other and the bond may be better when you see each other again.

5.     Enjoy the adventure!