We have Spent 3 Years Touring to 25 Nations Collectively

Whereas some {couples} construct their lives round a home, Mario and I’ve constructed ours all over the world. We have made 25 international locations our residence within the final three years, one shared journey at a time.

I, an American, was already touring the world alone once I met him, an Italian, in Portugal, and I wasn’t going to let a person mess up my plans. After three months of figuring out one another, we had been dedicated to a way of life on the street — or, on this case, within the air.

We each work remotely; he builds apps, and I write. He stop his in-person job to journey the world proper earlier than we met and I have not labored in an workplace in over eight years. To economize, we do not purchase numerous materials issues, and we’ve got no must take a trip if we really feel we’re all the time on one. Touring forces us to have a greater work-life steadiness and make extra time for one another.

Communication is essential

The best way we stay signifies that we have needed to actually dial in our communication. We have lived all around the world, from Colombia to Korea to Morocco, spending days to months in every nation. As a result of we’re not staying lengthy, we have a tendency to remain in an Airbnb.

We’re trustworthy after we’re drained and we examine in with one another about how we’re feeling. Residing in tight quarters has solely helped our communication. We handle issues early to forestall them from escalating. It is OK to get uninterested in one another, however we’ve got to be very intentional about alone time after we depend on one another for a lot.

We additionally need to acknowledge that components of this life-style are exhausting and be prepared for the opposite particular person to wish to stop at any level. We’re away from all the things acquainted: our households, our consolation meals, and sometimes, our native languages.

In every nation, we’ve got to begin over by finding a grocery retailer, build up a health club routine, and delegating chores. We regularly get misplaced, and typically we go days with out speaking to anybody however one another. In some methods, every time we transfer, we really feel like we’re restarting our relationship, and a brand new routine offers us the possibility to method how we talk differently.

Supporting one another by means of these robust instances is essential. After we acquired in a automotive crash in a snowstorm in a tiny city in Switzerland, we cried in one another’s arms as I regarded on the most picturesque snow-capped mountain view I might ever seen. In a metropolis park in Bogota, we jumped right into a ditch as a safety guard shot somebody operating previous us. I’ve battled loneliness, bike falls, and meals poisoning, and Mario is there for no matter I would like. In each new metropolis, downside, or scary state of affairs, we come face-to-face with ourselves and one another, rising stronger with every problem.

We have skilled 25 totally different cultures collectively

We respect our cultural variations greater than if we did not depart our international locations. Touring means we’re typically in ‘impartial territory,’ and it is attention-grabbing to see which of our traditions we maintain onto and what they seem like by means of the lens of different cultures. It is compelled us to confront our biases and embrace the most effective of each worlds. I’ve questioned what components of American tradition I wish to preserve or shed and which Italian habits I can decide up. He now shares my love of Thanksgiving, and I respect bidets and a very good espresso.

We have liked 25 totally different variations of one another, and we renew our unstated contract with each new nation to like the subsequent model of one another. Touring goes to vary us day by day, and it is stunning to see somebody you like study and develop in methods you had by no means imagined.

We have talked about typical milestones like shopping for a home and having children. We’re glad with out these issues. As a substitute, we preserve a spreadsheet of issues we have carried out for the primary time — ax throwing, taekwondo, batik portray, and swimming within the rain. We would like a life that is versatile and one the place we will say ‘sure’ to something.

We watch how different {couples} work together and ask what we would like from one another and out of life. To this point, touring and studying from the world is it. After we settle into every location, he jokes that that is us transferring in collectively for the ‘first time,’ and this fixed novelty and exploration of our world and one another have stored us in love.