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How Does Travel Affect Your Relationships?

April 15, 2009 at 4:09 PM | by egw | 6 Comments

Eve Brown-Waite already wanted to get away -- falling in love with her Peace Corps recruiter only sealed the deal. In her new memoir First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria: How a Peace Corps Poster Boy Won My Heart and a Third World Adventure Changed My Life, Brown-Waite describes her twin loves of travel and her husband John and how it took them all over the globe.

Brown-Waite's travelin' life was not without its bumps: Right after meeting John, she was sent to Ecuador for a two-year posting which she was later forced to end early when a traumatic event made it difficult for her to complete her assignment.

Once reunited in the States, John found a great job -- in post-Amin Uganda, a "hardship posting" where snakes infested her furniture and electricity was only available for three hours. Despite the lack of creature comforts, Brown-Waite tagged along and worked to put her experience teaching about HIV/AIDS into an entirely different cultural context.

As her subtitle suggests, Brown-Waite's story has a happy ending as even the most primitive living conditions could not spoil her love, and even when facing intense privations she's an engaging companion. But it got us thinking about our enthusiasm for travel, which is not always shared among our loved ones -- although they put up with it as one of our amusing quirks.

How do your travel plans affect your personal relationships? Is your life, like the author's, a little richer for your wanderlust?

Related Stories:
· Eve Brown-Waite's Website [evebrownwaite.com]
· Volunteer Travel: Peace Corps [Jaunted]
· Our Own Peace Corps Correspondent: Travel Blog Star Sand In My Shoes, Namibia [Jaunted]

[Photo of a LOVE sculpture in Singapore: kool_skatkat]

6 Comments

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  1. Jenna

    Jaunted Member

    Make it so that the travel IS your relaysh.

    Find a dude in an exotic destination and then travel to him all the time. Again, exotic destination is key here. Helps if he bankrolls the trips. I mean, two birds, one stone: he will encourage you to travel AND you have a good relationship! Note: this does not work for very long.
    April 15, 2009 at 6:57 PM
    #Permalink

  1. brooklynnomad

    Jaunted Member

    I obsess over travel...wife, not so much.

    As a travel writer, my life is consumed with deals, tips and news related to the travel industry. My wife doesn't hate travel, but she just haaaaates to fly and really does not get as excited as I do about a JetBlue sale or a new Southwest route announcement. But we have been together for 10 years this summer, married for 2 of them and it just works. We are even flying to Europe to celebrate our decade together with a month in her home country of Poland for a month. She keeps my travel obsession in check. Because without her, I would be booking myself on a new trip each week and eventually becoming a homeless nomad. www.TheBrooklynNomad.com
    April 16, 2009 at 12:11 AM
    #Permalink

  1. mayabaxter

    Jaunted Member

    traveling and the ecomony

    I used to love to travel exclusively by myself. Though since I met my South African husband I find traveling with him is my now preferred way of traveling. I'll always have fond memories of traveling alone but having my husband around allows us to share the travel experiences together. What one of us lacks or doesn't do, the other picks up the slack or does what the other can't do. It's a wonderful balance. I realize what we have is a gift as I know lots of other couples that can't stand each other when they travel. Presently, with the current economy the way it is we've found ourselves involuntarily separated because of unemployment. I'm in the USA and he's in South Africa. Hopefully I'll make my way back there when we both find decent jobs. Hopefully that's soon.
    April 16, 2009 at 2:42 AM
    #Permalink

  1. Larramie Fg

    Jaunted Reader

    Terrific Armchair Adventure

    This is such a great read, allowing you to experience the world without giving up any of your creature comforts. To learn more about author Eve Brown-Waite and First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria, please visit http://bit.ly/pAHs
    April 16, 2009 at 10:54 AM
    #Permalink

  1. juliana

    Jaunted Contributing Editor

    good and bad

    when my travel partner that i am currently married to gets time off from work, it's great. i love traveling with him esp. since i travel so much alone most of the time. but it stinks when i get the travel bug and want to jet off to paris or london just for the heck of it. and he can't go. and he doesn't want me to go. then resentment builds and i won't do the dishes for two days.
    April 16, 2009 at 1:40 PM
    #Permalink

  1. egw

    Jaunted Editor

    Had to add this

    I'm going to Rome next week. My significant other was kind of surprised when I bought a ticket (he's a grad student so he can't afford to travel much) but I'm trying to make him understand... as he just said today, "I'm trying to be supportive even though I still don't get it."
    April 23, 2009 at 5:30 PM
    #Permalink

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