Will Messer

I would say that it's very important for both partners to be in the conversations about the trip and to actually express what they want, how they're feeling going into the trip, getting real clear on, like, what do you need from this trip?

Here's what I need from this trip.

Nobody wants to go on a trip with their partner and feel like, deep down, this is really just the trip I wanted.

Nobody really wants that.

They want to feel like my partner is wanting to be here and is excited about this, too.

It was a tremendous experience for both of us.

We kind of realized this may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity as far as time.

The best things were happening spontaneously or things you couldn't predict.

And even the things that weren't so pleasant turned out to be the best stories.

Early in our relationship was like a lot of challenging conversations.

Because if I needed a little pullback time, space, you know, my wife would be like, why didn't you want to share?

It would feel very personal.

18 years later, now this is just baked into our understanding of each other and it's not personalized anymore.

And we can talk about it and she gets it if I need to step back and I can just get overstimulated.

So hopefully couples go into trips with a sense of that for each other.

It's like there's still quality in we're in the same room together.

That's still meaningful.

And there are definitely times where I feel that way.

We're

I like just being in each other's presence, even if we're not doing the same thing.