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First overseas trip with my girlfriend – Any tips to make It our best trip?

I’m going on my first overseas trip with my girlfriend since we started dating. I worked hard all last year to earn and save money for this trip. It will be our first international trip ever, and I want to make it perfect, memorable, and the best trip of our lives.

I’ve read countless articles online to ensure everything is perfect. It felt overwhelming to the point that my head started to hurt. Fortunately, I found an article that provided a detailed guideline, and it seemed like the perfect guide. My girlfriend and I have been following it, and it has been very helpful so far.

However, I decided to come to this community to seek additional guidance, advice, and tips from you all, just in case the article missed something important. My girlfriend and I would greatly appreciate any travel tips, advice, and guidance you have, as this is our first trip abroad together.

Varyk ,

Have fun, and when you get tired, chill out and relax.

Don’t make yourself “have fun” if you feel more like relaxing

Starbuck , (edited )

I think my wife and I have this down pretty well, so here’s our guidelines:

  1. Figure out some structure. We usually plan one “thing” per day. Whether that’s catching a train between cities, a particular museum, or a guided tour. This helps with pacing when you are there because you don’t have to think too much day to day, but you won’t feel like you wasted a whole day.
  2. Figure out food options. I usually make a Google Maps saved list of dozens of different kinds of restaurants in every city. The goal here isn’t a plan, but simply to have good options no matter where in the city you end up. You will have less than one dinner per day of travel after you consider traveling days, so don’t waste it on some tourist trap that you happen to be nearby when the time comes. I’ll usually make a dinner reservation for every other night to make sure we get some incredible meals.
  3. Naps. It’s vacation, just plan on taking a nap everyday. Our first trip was together was to southern Spain and we’ve just decided that siestas are for us. This also helps with jet lag, staying up late to do local stuff, and having something that you won’t feel bad about canceling if something comes up.
  4. Self-Guided tours on the first day. If you are Americans traveling to Europe, I’d recommend the Rick Steve’s app and then splitting a pair of AirPods together as you walk around. He does the whole look here, walk here, turn left tour thing, but it’s self paced. We try to do this the first day we’re in a city so we get an idea what the major areas are. Self paced is nice because he’ll say something like “this is a great coffee shop” and we can just pause it and grab coffee if we want. Split the AirPods so you can really hear your surroundings and the tour is something you share.
  5. Any plans you make are just so you know your options. If you plan on taking a train between cities, look at when the next train is in case you have to miss it. Same with dinner reservations or museums. If it doesn’t feel fun or convenient, you’ll want to know what your alternatives are so it’s never “something or we read in the hotel all day”. Think about “it’s raining, so we’ll go to a museum instead”. Rick Steve also does museum tours.
saayoutloud OP ,

Aww, this is so sweet that you and your wife have compiled this list for me and my girlfriend.

mysteriousquote ,

Others have already said to let go about everything being perfect, because there will be things outside of your control that you cannot account for, so I won’t harp on about that.

Instead, I recommend a little pre-trip prep at home to make the end of your trip a dream as well. Take some time to clean the house/apartment, do the dishes and laundry, make the bed.

There is nothing like coming home after a long trip, but coming home to a mess or chores after a (hopefully) amazing time is a terrible way to cap off your vacation, so do yourselves a favor and spend a couple hours on making home perfect before you leave.

saayoutloud OP ,

OMG! The article that I am following has mentioned these tips that you have mentioned. Are you the one who wrote this article?

mysteriousquote ,

Wish I could claim credit, but in the immortal words of Shaggy, “It wasn’t me.”

This is just something my mom drilled into us when I was younger, and I still do it to this day

solsangraal ,

you’re leaving out a lot of relevant info-- where are you going? do they speak english, or do one of you speak the destination’s language? will you have a guide? do you have your international cell phone plan squared away?

as others have said, if you think or expect everything to be perfect, you’re in for a disappointing trip. it won’t be “perfect” because nothing ever is. relax and try to enjoy it for the experience

saayoutloud OP ,

We’re from Singapore and are going to Japan.

tiredofsametab ,

Do you both already have passports? Visas? Travel insurance?

How are you getting there and back? How are you getting around in-country?

How will you spend money in that country? Is it one that requires cash? How do you get that cash if so?

Can you speak the language? You may want a phrasebook.

How will your phone work or will you turn it off completely to avoid roaming charges?

Will you be doing laundry? Do you know how to buy detergent and such?

Edit: also, how will you charge things? Are outlets and voltage the same? Do you need an adapter (fine if voltage same) or converter (such as when you're form a ~100v country going to a ~200v country that would fry your electronics with just an adapter).

CTDummy ,

Honestly, expect shit to go wrong. Sounds like you’ve gotten all the important shit done. You’ve got a plan, you’ve been working towards it for a while and seems like your partner is into it as well.

We had a similar trip a few years back, first time overseas for some of us. Lots of planning and preparation went into it. Then our trip planner fucked up one of our bookings in Paris. Meaning we almost missed out on doing some tour that ended on the Eiffel Tower. A couple of times trains were missed/delayed.

The only times the trip strayed away from being the fantastic trip it was is because people let small (and sometime not so small, to be fair) disappointments or missed expectations turn into high stress/anxiety events. You’re going overseas, shit may go wrong; be ready for it and be cool with it (while also making sure you have travel insurance). Also take time away to do shit yourselves that the other may not want to do and always have set meeting times and locations to check in if you do.

Observer1199 ,

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    Barbarian ,
    @Barbarian@sh.itjust.works avatar

    Exactly what I wanted to say. All that talk of “perfection” makes me imagine them snapping and going full psycho because a train was cancelled and they need to book a different one.

    To OP: just stop trying to plan that much. A general plan is good. Just be aware things will change and that’s ok. As long as you two are having a good time, the rest really doesn’t matter as much as you think it does.

    If you want a little psychological trick to make the trip more memorable than it otherwise would be, whatever you think is going to be the most impressive, save it for last. Our memories have a very strong recency bias.

    Worx ,

    Just want to highlight something you said because it’s something I see people tripping up over a lot in my own life.

    As long as you two are having a good time, the rest really doesn’t matter as much as you think it does.

    Keep in mind that your goal isn’t “experience grey and dismal weather”, “eat a very large burger”, “get killed by a venomous animal” (depending on which country you visit), but your goal is actually “my gf and I should have fun”. If things don’t go to plan but you still had fun, guess what? Things did actually go to plan!

    EDIT: but also, if following your itinerary is stressing you out, then feel free to skip a day and just unwind and relax so you’re energised and ready to enjoy the next day

    H1jAcK ,

    This is a bit dependant on the people. The real trick is communicating and being on the same page, like everything in a relationship.

    saayoutloud OP ,

    We both are perfectionists, but after reading the advice from everyone here, we are trying to be more flexible. Your advice is concise, but very helpful. Thank you very much.

    memfree ,
    @memfree@lemmy.ml avatar

    This probably isn’t helpful, but I like guided tours where a tour guide tells you about the castles and churches while everyone dutifully takes pictures to prove they were there. The guide/agency arranges the busses/boats and hotels so all you have to do is follow along with the program. The downside is that it always costs too much. The upside is that you spend less time waiting in lines because the planners will have all that worked out with the various sites. Some of those trips are almost exclusively senior citizens, but some have wider age ranges. Either way, you get to meet a set of fellow travelers who may become permanent online friends.

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