Fighting while traveling

I’m sure that it has happened to all of you. It’s virtually unavoidable. A very similar situation happens when you take your children to Disneyland. Their emotions are going crazy as they run from Mickey to Peter Pan and on to Cinderella. They are having the time of their lives. However, it is one small inconvenience and a complete meltdown occurs. The tears are bigger and the screaming is louder than ever before. You feel embarrassed as a parent until you take a look around and notice that all the children around you are having meltdowns. You child is crying because they don’t make Peter Pan green slushies, but they now only have blue and red. The child across the way is crying because he hasn’t seen Buzz Lightyear. It just seems like when you are traveling, either as an adult or a child your emotions are high, which can easily turn into madness.

It happened for my wife and I when we were in the jungles of Cambodia. Let me set the stage for you……We had arisen early to watch the sunrise over Angkor Wat.
Waking up early can put anyone on the edge and make anyone cranky as well. The national park outside of Siem Reap, Cambodia relies on tourists. Many tuk-tuk drivers awaited and offered their services. They committed to drive us around for the entire day starting early so we could watch an amazing sunrise over the Cambodian icon. The other issue that we were having was the fact that we had chosen to visit Southeast Asia during the hottest month of the year, April. It was blazing hot everyday with temperatures above 100F and sporting 100% humidity. We were virtually boiling in the humidity and the heat. Shae’s makeup was melting off of her face and my back was swacky. Shae’s contacts had been bothering her and so she was forced to wear her outdated glasses for the entire day of sightseeing. This was definitely frustrating for her, and put her even closer to the edge.

As we approached the temple we could already begin to see, but the sun had not come over the horizon. My excitement about seeing Angkor Wat was at an 11 on the scale of 10. I began snapping off pictures of the temples, the reflecting pools, and occasionally putting Shae or I in the picture. It was then that Shae snapped. She had been too hot, too glassesey, and had woken up too early and it was time to fight. Apparently I hadn’t been taking enough pictures of us, and too many of just scenery. She proclaimed, “You can buy that picture on a postcard, what good does it do you?” I reared back, “Look, I love taking pictures of you, but I’m not a big fan of being in too many pictures. I find it important to take pictures of the scenery too.” She was mad for many reasons, but the “not enough of us in the pictures,” was the proverbial straw on the camels back. I was hot, tired, and excited all at once. We were finally able to talk it over and we realized that the circumstances had caused us to be angry for reasons for which we normally wouldn’t be angry.

We could easily be compared to the children at Disneyland who were having meltdowns. I’m sure a few people walked by and were glad that they weren’t in the same fight we were. In the end it has made our relationship stronger and I know that I need to put more people in pictures. I tell her that she has to be in most of them now, so I’m a good husband. 🙂 I love you babe!

We invite you to share your fight stories with us. You can also read about fighting and traveling at 1000fights.com.  The website is dedicated to another couple who loves to travel and they talk about their fights as well.

All of this we say to share with you the importance of travel.  It allows us to get to know one another.  Spending two weeks straight with my wife in Southeast Asia was amazing for our relationship.  You can get to know them better and build your relationship even stronger.  We invite you to begin your travels.  Start by making it affordable and share our website on Facebook if you like our posts and our site.  We invite you to wanderlust with us.