Travel with Your Significant Other

Or why I was scared to go on a trip with my boyfriend

As I mentioned, I was just in New Orleans for a long weekend to enjoy Jazz Fest (as well as everything else that beautiful city has to over…namely: food).

The funny thing is, neither of us can remember exactly why we went to Jazz Fest. Other than someone must have mentioned it months ago, and then before we knew it we were booking a hotel and buying tickets and making plans to drive the seven hours together to spend a few days soaking up music and eating as many po boys as humanly possible.

(Aside: last time I was in NOLA, I only consumed po boys. As in, breakfast, lunch and dinner—all I ate were glorified sandwiches and loved every minute.)

Before I knew it, we were off to the Big Easy. Seven hours in the car and five glorious days together. As a long distance couple, five whole days is a novelty that made me excited and slightly apprehensive at once. The last extended period we spent together was around Christmas. But even then we had other people around at all times and it was never just “us”.

Which meant that a lot could go wrong. What if we hated each other by the end of it? What if he got on my nerves when we didn’t have any buffers? What if (God forbid) I got on his nerves? What if we ran out of things to talk about?

Luckily, that last one is almost impossible in a city like New Orleans. With so much going on and a plethora of interesting people, it’s hard to not constantly be talking. In fact, it’s hard to not stop laughing. At one point, we even witnessed an unfortunate and hilarious scene that entailed a pack of unsuspecting teenagers and a friendly Great Dane that just so happened to scare the shit out of them. I’m still laughing.

Long story short… I’m happy to report that not only did we not kill each other… I might like that boy even more. We were able to see each other in another light that traveling provides. He probably would have never guessed that I was the type to carry a folder containing every important trip document printed out (roll your eyes but my mother taught me well). I had a chance to confirm that he can in fact, talk to a brick wall (....strangers love him).

Getting away together gave me a chance to confirm that of all the people I know, he’s the one I’d most like to be stuck in a car with for seven hours after a lack of sleep and not enough po boys. (Seriously, I think I only ate three this trip—not okay.)