R and I fly out to Southeast Asia together for 5 weeks tomorrow! We are super pumped and I am giving him packing techniques as I type :) . This is R’s first big backpacking trip (ourside of India for 2-3 months at a time). This is probbaly my third major trip (meaning over a month long abroad) and about my 10th minor one. Historically I have ventured out alone…but this time I have my man with me. Because we’ve been doing the long-distance thing for about a year and a half we are curious to see how we will get along together 24/7 (btw he just permanently moved to my city and we are so pumped!). We have already discussed a plan where we are totally cool with separating for a few days if we need space. As many people have said before, travel can test a relationship. As most of you know, I love a good challenge, so this should be interesting!!

Things I’ve noticed so far: R is the more laid back one. This is quite shocking for me because up until now I’ve thought I was the most Type B as they come. So far I’ve been doing most of the planning, thinking, and instructing. “R go get your Chinese passport!!!” “R you need a better day pack!!!” “R you are only bringing 6 pairs of underwear?!” I feel kind of like a nag…I’m never a nag (am I???).

When R’s just bopping through clouds of sunshine and singing, yes, literally singing, down the sidewalk I’m calculating our next move. When we feel a little tension we usually just laugh it off because at the end of the day I can’t totally pull off the Type A thing. But someone has to lead the ship right?! So as far as our planning and stuff has gone, I have sort of fell into this role.

So we hit the sky tomorrow. I am pretty pumped…it is different not going solo. I do feel a little more secure than usual–which is nice. We’ll see how we do…and what we think of eachother after 5 straight weeks together!

Countries planned:

Thailand
Cambodia
Vietnam

To be determined…
Malaysia
Bali
Laos

Stay tuned…typically I like to blog a lot about my travels!