Tag Archives | Travelogues

The Man’s Guide to Traveling with a Woman

By The Fighting Couple on March 15, 2012 in Best of the Fighting Couple, General, Slideshowable

5 Things Every Man Should Know About Women…While Traveling.

How do you travel with a Woman? Not long ago we did a post relating little know secrets about how to travel with men. We have now turned the tables and offer you hommes a few insights on how to travel with the fairer sex. While every person has their own travel style, and we certainly don’t want to paint every woman into a box, there are a few helpful general tips, that if understood, can help couples find greater harmony on the road. So here we go:

Miramare Castle, Triste, Italy

It’s all about the journey, not the destination.

Men, for whatever reason have a “let’s get there attitude” when traveling and doing other things. As women, we tend to focus a little more on the path. Men: build in a little extra time into your schedules. Be flexible. Here’s an example from our recent trip to Venice which turned into another 1000 fights. We were driving from Triste, Italy to Venice. We were looking through tourist books and spotted an amazing castle cradling the bay outside of Triste. It wasn’t in our plan. Mike had an Excel spreadsheet that kept a strict schedule with everything we were to see that day and the castle wasn’t on the list. He didn’t even know about the castle. Of course Mike was like, “Gotta get on the road, got to see Venice, got to obey the spreadsheet.” After a fight that resulted in zero pictures of Mike and I together at the castle (in fact, Mike wouldn’t even take pictures of me-our friends were the photographers), we went to the castle. We ended up seeing one of the most incredible sites of our entire trip. Mike admitted he was wrong three weeks after the trip, and I have a few pictures of a fairy tale castle in Italy. Guys take the hint. Be flexible. Slow down a little and enjoy the ride!

Cleanliness is next to Godess-ness

I don’t know how many times I have said…for men…the world is your urinal. Traveling, as we have in third world countries, the facilities are not always ideal. No problem. But there is a clear and bright line between rustic and disgusting. Third world or first world, some truck stops are dens of disgusting. Men take this little hint, when the facilities are sub par, DON’T ARGUE. Try saying things like…”Let’s find another place” or “There is a hotel just down the road, lets go over there.” My hero! One option we highly recommend is skipping the hotel and renting a vacation apartment instead.”

Pictures are the best souvenir

Its all about the social media and the Christmas card. Deep down, women are vain. We really are. Men could care less how their outfit looks or if their makeup is smudged. OK maybe most men don’t care about their make up. For us frau-lines, we truly want our vacation pics to look really good. Why do we take vacation pics? To show them off to all our friends on Facebook! Our photo shoots might take a little long. Guys, take it from me, you want us to look hot for these pics, it will make all of your old girl friends # jealous!

The whole flowers thing

This is likely the hardest concept for men to understand. Women like cute things. Cute things can come in the shape of purring cats, daffodils, teacups and cutie-bug kids. We are going to take pictures of them, we are going to cuddle them, we may put an entire tour on hold to take pictures of a bunny. I can’t tell you how many pictures we have of the dafodills in front of Jane Austen’s house! They were incredible! Guys, this is really going to test your patience. Take a deep breath. Count to 10. Trust me, if you make a big deal about this, you will be removed from our “cute” list. This will not bode well for you later. Girls can I have an “amen?!”

A little more talk and a little less action

Women need to talk. We need to communicate. We need to discuss. Guys: a couple of different options for you. Some of you are talkers as well, so no problem. Some of you are good listeners, no problem. If you are neither or your name is Mike, a few ideas for you. Let your spouse known that you need some time to talk. You finally have some time together, and for women it’s all about communication. If you don’t know what to talk about, we suggest “The Book of If: Questions for the Games of Life and Love” by Evelyn McFarlane and James Saywell. On a four hour drive through Croatia, we found out a lot about each other. Like, “If you could fire someone from work, who would it be,” or “If you could relive one romantic date from high school just as it was, which would it be.” Some answers we had to plead the “fifth.” But overall, it’s a great way to get a conversation going.

If communicating together isn’t your thing, join friends you meet on the tourist trail for drinks before/after/during dinner. Meeting fellow travelers is one of the most dynamic experiences that can create lifelong friendships and maybe a few Facebook friend requests!

Gentlemen, these are a few little hints for keeping us gals happy whilst on the road. Every women is different, but take these ideas into consideration and know your travel partner.

Gals, did we miss anything? If you could tell you guy just one thing that would make life a little easier out there, what would you tell him?

Why Do We Do This?

By The Fighting Couple on February 6, 2012 in General, Slideshowable

“Life throws so much at you: bills, pressure, work, stress, kids, “real” life, drama, mother-in-laws, mortgage payments. The day in and day out battle of life slowly drains the love out of our relationships.”

An enlightening question from a friend this week….”So, why do you blog?” My first automatic response was something like, “To share our travel ideas, to be a part of the travel blogging community, give encouragement to others, to get out and see the world.” Yada, yada, yada. Blah, blah, blah.

But the real reason we travel blog, is YOU. Boil it all down, we want others to find happiness in their relationships. Luci and I have our struggles that’s for sure and as our “catchy” blog name reflects…our relationship is far from perfect. We fight. A lot. But it’s ok.

We count ourselves blessed to have visited some incredible places together during our 15 years of marriage. But when it comes down to it, these places don’t really matter. (We are totally serious!) What matters most to us was that we did it together as a couple. The number of stamps in our passport doesn’t matter. What matters is what is stamped on our souls.

We set out our blogging journey with a simple mission: Encourage other couples to leave the kids with the grandparents for a week and go somewhere together. If you don’t have the $$$ to do it today, set a goal. Don’t be stupid and put it all on a credit card. BAD MISTAKE! You will make things worse. Trust us, a vacation that you saved and scrimped for will be sweeter. Work together. Save. Sacrifice. Then do it. Most importantly don’t let the time together be wasted. Savor every second. Talk to each other. Renew.

Life throws so much at you: bills, pressure, work, stress, kids, “real” life, drama, mother-in-laws, mortgage payments. The day in and day out battle of life slowly drains the love out of our relationships. It happens to us. It continues to happen. A loveless relationship loses hope. You become roommates. Then bad things happen.

So why do we blog? What keeps us going? It is you. You on the other end of this Internet. We hope that there is something that we write that inspires you to make a change. If you could find one thing to work together on. Just one thing…maybe something as simple as planning a trip together.

Change is hard. Life is hard. You need a friend by your side to face it. We hope you have/find/love that special someone.

Bon voyage!

Mike and Luci

We won! (well… kinda)

By The Fighting Couple on October 5, 2011 in General, Slideshowable

The couple travel bloggers at 1000Fights.com were recently invited to participate in the Accor Hotels City Blogging Tour. Travel bloggers compete for a grand prize of a round the world trip. FUN! In additon to collecting votes (Please VOTE for us), bloggers must write four articles on different featured destination cities. Every other week, the posts are judged and awarded bonus votes.

Our post titled: “A love letter to Rio” won first place! You can read the “award” winning post here. One down three to go. The next city is Rome! What should we write about?

Ok 1000-Fighters, can you imagine how many fights Luci and I would have if we had to spend weeks together going around the globe? That would make for some great fights! Please VOTE for us! You can VOTE once a day per computer. Dont make us beg.

Are you looking for cheap flights to Rio? Look no futher.

Book your hotel in Rio
with Accor

10 Things to Know for Your First International Trip

By The Fighting Couple on September 5, 2011 in General

We put together a little cheat sheet for you folks who are attempting your first international trip. These little hints are the sum of all our knowledge from visiting a couple dozen different counties on 5 continents. These are the things that we wish we would have known, but were painful lessons learned out on the road.

1)Roll with it

Ok, this is your first trip abroad. You happen to be the type A, planner type. Take a chill pill! Regardless of how planned you are, things are going to be different than you expect. Roads don’t exist that are clearly on the map! This is a really good thing. Experiencing another culture, another language, and another environment makes you a better person. You can understand and cope with differences better after your return. You become more deep as a human being. Just to recap, things are going to be crazy. A lot of things are going to come at you fast. Savor every moment!

2)Speak the Language

If you are a loyal 1000 Fighter, you know that we always harp on this. It is so critical in order to really get to know a new country, you must, must, must know some of the language. You by no means need to be fluent. Its better if you are not. You do need to know enough to engage in a small conversation without relying on your native tongue. Our goal is always to know enough to chat up a taxi driver for 10 mins. Know how to talk about the weather. You don’t need to conjugate every verb, you need to know how to ask a kid their name, and how old they are.

Turkish Breakfast

3)Just Try It

This little nugget of advice applies on so many levels. Lets start with the food. As you departing on your first international trip, you are going to see menus that look Greek even if you are in China! When you walk into the food establishment, glance around, pick out something that looks interesting and give it a try. Why not? (If your are in Cusco, Peru- give the guineu pig a try!) You have never been on balloon flights UK? Follow rule number 3. Just try it! The beauty of experience days is stepping outside your comfort zone.

4)Ask a Lot of Questions

Luci is a real pro at this. It is her reporter background. Regardless if we are on a plane, in a museum, taking a nature tour, or just in a cab, she is always pumping anyone that will listen for information. Why? Frankly, you don’t know what you don’t know. There may be another bigger unknown waterfall just around the corner. There may be a cheaper place to buy your souvenirs just down the road. The taxi driver might have a brother that runs a better tour. All of these things have happened to us. Only because we asked.

5) Follow your instincts

Traveling internationally, trust your gut. One of our fave couple travel bloggers: Y Travel Blog recently did a post on safety tips for single female travelers, in this article Caz says: “Trust your intuition. It always knows best. If something doesn’t feel right, then don’t do it. There is a reason why you get that unsettled feeling in your stomach when you meet that strange person on the beach. Don’t freak yourself out by imaginary monsters, but definitely pay attention to those little messages our animal instincts give us.”

If you are in a place that doesn’t fell right, leave. Common sense kinda stuff. We must say, be careful of situations where your instincts are dulled: “see drinking too much barley pop.”

6)Smile

We give you permission to forget every other one of our hints in this post, please don’t forget this one. This is the most powerful hint to traveling abroad. The smile is the universal language. Attempt to speak Turkish, compliment them on their beautiful country and then grin ear to ear. Your feeble attempts at communication will be supplanted with the power of the smile. If you are struggling figuring out the exchange rate and what all of the multi-colored monopoly money means…flash a big toothy grin. No problems. Smile at everyone. Give the little children you pass on the street a warm smile, the old man in the chair in front of his flat a big one as well. The returns from this small gesture will pay huge dividends.

7)Be Prepared

The old boy scout motto applies to international travel. If you are going to the Amazon, buy some medical evacuation coverage. If you are going to Tahiti and you only wear a certain sun tan lotion, bring it. Think through things on a couple of levels. Put your money in a couple different places. Another couple of our travel friends, Cam and Nicole have a great story about this! “How I got robbed by a Thai prostitute on the streets of Bangkok.” Cam shared this story with us when we were up in Vancouver, BC this summer. We are still laughing. The moral of the story is always be prepared!

8) Don’t Follow the Other Tourists

It is soooo tempting when traveling abroad to do what everyone else is doing. But didn’t your mom warn you about doing this? If not, we are! Don’t go on a tourist bender. If you are prepared, and follow the other tips above, wander out of the norm. See the undiscovered sites. Are they still out there you ask? YOU BET THEY ARE. Will you get lost? We sure hope so. Some of our best moments traveling are when we get lost. Be a leader, not a follower.

9) Show me the Money

Every place you go, you are going to need rupees, pounds, yens, or coconuts…Be prepared. Exchange some cash at the airport. Have a couple different flavors of credit cards: Visa, MasterCard, and something else. Anywhere you go, money will flow. Have some. The law of travel we have found that is that ATMs are never close, and they are finicky. Having cards from different banks is literally a lifesaver.

10)Pack Light

We really hate to put this one in. How can we preach something we don’t practice? Mike is the all time worst packer. He packs a ton. He is a child of the 1980s so he has to match the seasons, with clothes for every event, restaurant, and setting. Don’t follow his example! Here’s why it is so critical that you follow this suggestion. Luggage is heavy. On every single international trip we have taken, we have ended up walking long, long distances with luggage. It WILL happen to you. If you pack heavy, you will be tired. Good decisions are rarely made when tired. Especially if you are traveling as a couple. You can always buy more clothes when you get there. In fact, this is a really good idea.

So that’s it! Our 10 ideas that will make your life a little easier making your first trip abroad. Now go and book those tickets. After you come back, please share with us the lessons you learned! We would love to hear your ideas and suggestions. Just leave us a comment below. Bon Voyage!

10 Round the World Travel Myths Debunked (bootsnall.com)
Stay at the Airport? (1000fights.com)

The Winners of our Hot Travel Hubby and Travel Diva!

By The Fighting Couple on December 1, 2010 in General

Congrats!

The votes have been counted! Congrats to out 2010 Travel Diva

Katrina of Patick & Katrina Do the Globe

Patrick and Katrina feature trip reports and touring tips from two travel obsessed newlyweds. They have Check out their great adventures!

A huge thanks to all of our Travel Diva nominees!

Nicole—www.travelingcanucks.com

Lucie—www.thevagabondadventures.com

Mary—maryandseansadventuresabroad.blogspot.com

And our 2010 Hottest Travel Hubby is Greg from Follow our Footsteps.

Greg and Ash have traveled the globe and share their unique perspective of the sights and sounds of far reached locales. Their blog is chock full of fun Youtube videos with interesting facts on locations. Visit their blog at Follow our Footsteps.