Traveling with a Significant Other

Traveling with a partner isn’t always easy. On the contrary it is hard. It exaggerates all of the little annoyances. It may be the stupidest thing, but couples will fight over it anyway if the situation is stressed.

Last night was stressed. Wade is doing god-knows-what to his website and has been working like a dog. The final week of my semester is coming up, and I am trying to finish all of my writing for school. We are both a little on edge and snappy.

In a culmination of an argument that had been building all week, Wade ran away. I had no idea where he went. This made me sad, but I did not want to sit in the room by myself and sulk. I left.

I left, just for the sake of leaving, and really had no idea what to do in the middle of the night in Antigua as a female all alone. Bars are expensive here. Restaurants are even more expensive.

After wandering around for a couple minutes, I decided I gotta get off the street, and sucked it up to pay over $2 USD for a beer. I went to the honkey bar, and watched baseball. My situation was looking a little sad still.

Fortunately, two angels walked in the door to scoop up my spirits. Well, not exactly angels, but they are such wonderful people that you might as well call them that.

They are two Vietnamese kids that immigrated to Germany with their family. Their family had been traveling on chicken buses through Central America for a few months. They were staying in the same hotel as us for a while, and their parents gave us lots of fruits and vegetables. They are really genuine, friendly, good-hearted people.

(Wade and I)

Anyway, they saw I was alone, gave me a huge hug and smile, and sat on either side of me. They were really great for conversation and jokes, and had me laughing in seconds. The night was brightening.

These kids were full of wisdom, and just knowledge on how to be a really good person, or at least be happy living life. A few days before, I had admired how well they got along for siblings and how much they seemed to dig being around each other. It had so struck me, that I even made a phone call to my own brother (this is an occasion so rare I had to dig through my bag to find where I might have his number written).

Tonight, these kids had more inspirational words for me. Talking about relationships, they told me an antidotal story of a fight they had had earlier. The girl had said to her brother, “I really love you, but I just don’t like you right now.”

These words rang out true. You may love someone unconditionally, but it doesn’t mean you like them all the time. Sometimes it is frustrating that you love someone so much. Sometimes it hurts. These kids are wise. I hope I see them again one day.

They escorted me home, to make sure I arrived safely, and walked off into the night with some more big smiles and heart-felt goodbyes.

I returned to my room to find Wade sleeping. He was extremely happy to see me. Our fighting was over, and we like each other again. My father says, “If you are hitting it too hard, sometimes you just need to lay off for a while.”