13 May, 2018

Traveling in Tandem

We are moving. 
I will tell you where to later this month, but it is a big move.

This trip is different from our previous travels together, however.  Typically, I make the travel arrangements along with any required stop points on the trip, and he handles other logistical details, like forwarding mail etc.

When we had been dating less than two months, I was in a wedding in New Hampshire and invited him as my guest. (I was living in Indiana, he in Illinois, at the time.) I handled tickets, hotel, all my bridesmaid stuff, and let him figure out how to get to me to fly out of Indy and what to do with himself while I was occupied with wedding stuff out east. It was an awesome trip.

The year we got married we had many road trips. In fact, truth be told, part of the logic behind wedding in May when we had talked about doing it in the fall was because we had so many places to go and wanted to go together! His daughter's graduation, my goddaughter's graduation, and about a billion weddings all took place between that May and October. It was a great summer.

We developed a system: If it was my family/friend, I planned the travel details. If it was his, he did. His planning tended to be along the lines of... let's see how far we get the first day, and contact Hotels.com while on the road. My planning was more detailed. I learned to incorporate some leeway because, when you marry someone who is at their best and most comfortable flying by the seat of their pants, you accommodate! 

October was the finale of the traveling and it was my friend's wedding in Moab, Utah. We both knew people in Colorado, so we chose to fly in and out of Denver and rented a car. I secured rooms in the hotel recommended by the bride - OUTSTANDING - but allowed whole days with no plans. There is so much to do out there, I had a vague idea of "we must visit this and that" but left timing to him. 

It was possibly the best trip of our lives so far. We were supposed to leave the hotel on Sunday but were having such an amazing time in Moab that we extended our stay by a day. 

That was a fun reminiscence for me! Circling back to my point...

For this move, HE got the tickets! Our last major trip was to return to the US after about a year in China, and he noticed that the arrangements seemed to stress me out. There are SO MANY details and potential pitfalls when traveling internationally, and going through a 3rd party, I found, added to the headaches. So this time HE did the travel arrangements and is handling logistics of moving like canceling the lease and dealing with banks and things. While I am home working few hours right now I am packing the house, putting out feelers for potential buyers of furnishings that will not travel with us, etc. 

I love our marriage. I don't know of any couple as thoughtful of each other.

10 comments:

  1. It seems as if you got a very good thing going there! Best wishes for the move ahead.

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  2. Wow, you've got that down to a system. It's good when you both can figure out how to get it all done with minimal fuss. And can play to your strengths.

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    1. Well, we had a system. This time we're shaking things up. I'll let you know how it goes!

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  3. I love how you are so happy about how well you guys manage the details that can bring others to battle. :-)
    Yay, you guys!

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    1. We do feel like we are an awesome couple! ;-)

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  4. The best marriages are where you compliment each other's strengths and you trust each other enough to allow the other person to go with what they're good at. It sounds like you two have it down to a fine art and it's working beautifully. I look forward to hearing more about your move as the weeks progress.

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    1. It helps that we married when we were old enough to recognize that the other person's way isn't necessarily wrong!

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  5. Good luck with the move and while I've heard of moving in a car, moving in a plane, and moving in ship I hope moving in tandem is the easiest and least stressful.
    Funny enough my method of traveling is a lot like his, but I married someone who plans out every detail of every trip well in advance. That's probably just as well. Any trip I made would have to include at least an extra week just for side distractions and getting lost.

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    1. We actually tried a tandem bike when we were in Vancouver. It was okay, but I wouldn't want to do that for a big trip!

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