Your romantic partner may not be the best travel buddy for you.

Your best friend in the world may not be your best friend on a trip.

Life at home is very different from life on a trip, and you want to make sure you travel with someone who is similar to you in some ways, but maybe different in others. It depends on what kind of trip you’re going on and what you’re looking for.

Travel with someone who wants to do the same things as you.

Or someone who is okay splitting up to you can both get the best out of your vacation.

You and your travel buddy are both going on vacation. This doesn’t mean you have to do everything together. It’s best that you both get the most out of the trip as you can. If that means hanging out the whole time and seeing all the sights you want to see, great.

If you don’t have matching itineraries, that’s okay too!

On our trip to LA, my friend and I spent most of the time exploring places and seeing things we both wanted to see together. But at least once a day we would separate and do our own thing.

I went to Universal and she went to the zoo; I wanted to spend a night out at a comedy show and she wanted to spend the night in, so we did. It’s much better to be okay with splitting up than having to sacrifice your vacation for your travel buddy, or feel guilty about making your buddy sacrifice something for you.

Travel with someone who is just as eager to try new things as you are.

Or someone who pushes you to try new things when you want to be pushed.

On a similar note as the one above, you’re on vacation! Most of the time people travel to try new things, and you want to travel with someone who is just as excited to try new things as you are. There’s no point travelling with someone if they don’t spend any time with you.

On the other, and just as relevant, hand – you don’t want to travel with someone who pushes you to do things you’re not comfortable doing.

Ideally you’ll push each other the amount you’re both comfortable with being pushed – whether that’s taking a long hike, or trying a new type of food. You want to find a happy medium where you’re both trying new things, but no one is anxious or uncomfortable on their vacation.

Travel with someone who has the same energy as you.

One of the best vacations I went on was with a travel buddy who had the same energy as me. Whether you’re both super energetic and ready to spend all day walking around, or you’re both lowkey and not wanting to take things too fast, you want to make sure you’re on a similar page as your buddy.

When this travel buddy and I went to Montreal for a week, we spent half the day exploring the city and the other half cooking dinner in our Airbnb and watching Netflix. It was an awesome, relaxed vacation.

Or the time my partner and I were in New York together, we were both prepared to spend all day on our feet and had a more fast-paced trip. Being on the same rhythm is important.

Travel with someone who is patient.

Regardless of everything else I mentioned in this blog post – make sure your travel buddy has patience. I’m grateful that my partner is actually the most patient person I know, because that’s the most important things you need in a travel buddy.

When you’re travelling, things are bound to go wrong.

Your plane might get delayed. A reservation gets lost. You don’t end up making it to that one restaurant you wanted to try.

There are a number of things that could get frustrating. The last thing you want is someone who gets upset every time something small goes wrong, or worse – someone who gets angry when you really need them to keep their head on their shoulders and help you come up to a solution to a road block. If you’re travelling with a buddy, it’s much better to be with someone who helps in those situations.

We’ve never run into any big issues on the road, but Brandon has always been the level-headed one of the two of us, and travelling with him always leads to a really relaxed and positive experience no matter what happens on our trips.

Everyone needs to travel with someone they trust to have their back when things get rough.