What's Your Worst Experience With A Travel Companion?

This is a very interesting topic!

I went to Europe with a girlfriend in 1989. I think we both new that the relationship was coming to an end, but I was up for having a good time with her and seeing what the future held.

Well, from the moment we boarded the plane she went nuts at me. I was too fidgety and was waking her, I ordered food that she didn't want, blah, blah, blah, and my heart was sinking.

Our few days in London were a disaster. She was broody and sulky and no amount of trying to cheer her up or talk through the issues that were upsetting her seemd to help.

We joined a bus tour of Europe, and things got worse. She locked me out of our hotel room in Amsterdam, and generally proceeded to make a fool out of me whenever possible in front of our traveling companions.

A few days into our tour, I became quite chatty to this girl from Brazil, and to cut a long story short, ended up not only having the time of my life, but visiting Brazil about 6 months later!

I caught up with my ex-girlfriend just recently. We talked about old times and she apologised for her behaviour towards me all those years ago.

My advice? When you are young, it's best to travel either by yourself of travel loosely with a friend. As for travelling with girlfriends, well, even if there are no dramas you certainly won't be making the most of any romantic opportunities with foreigners. It's these opportunities that will provide you with memories for a long time to come!

My Chinese girlfriend will fly down and meet me in Bangkok in about three weeks. In between though I'm travelling alone in Thailand and The Philippines. You can use your own imagination

i haven't personally had any really bad experiences to date ( fingers crossed that doesn't change), i've always traveled with friends or my boyfriend.... people always ask me does he not get on my nerves being with him all the time but they seem to forget that we work in the same company, live together and have very similar sets of friends so i'm used to him being there..... he's also so used to me that if i feel like i don't want to talk he lets me get on with it....... i don't have to explain myself all the time like i had to with my only badish more annoying experience, i like hiking and exploring and my friends just wanted to sunbathe and get pissed 24 hours a day.......

The first half of my previous trip was a NIGHTMARE!

Two of my good friends and i had planned for the trip, and in the last min, her boyfriend then decided to come along... Sharing the same room with a hot-blooded (very very passionate) couple is something i refuse to do in the future... and travelling with this particular couple? Over my dead body.

Apart from the unpleasant sounds from the bed next to mine, I also witnessed their very erotic-over-dining-table act. Having enough of that, I decided to venture off alone to another area.

New found freedom? Not really. Another friend of mine was clinging on (on the hindsight, he claimed to want to go solo too). I mean, i wouldn't mean travelling with him if he hadn't been rude and thinks he's the great pilot flying on auto-pilot. He wanted to tag along, yet he insisted on calling the shots. Anyway, i took off alone.

It's tough to travel with a couple esp. when you're sharing the same room and agonised by some guy whom i thought better of, behaved as if he has lots to prove. Plus, our agendas were so different.

They say that travelling with friends may make or break friendships. I'm still talking to the girlfriend of mine but not Mr. Pilot. It's sad but it is also through times like this you get to know better of the other party...

Oh, I don't get those noisy couples at all. Really, it's a complete mystery to me. I've never experienced that personally, but have heard quite a few stories. It seems to me the last thing I'd want to do in front of friends is...

I don't have a "horror" story, but travel can certainly make or break a relationship. This last trip with my boyfriend came complete with frustrations, a little pouting, some snapping - but it all worked itself out, in the end. I think we turned each situation into something to figure out, and concluded we were neither of us perfect, and we'll just have to accept one another's difficult bits. We were smiling the whole plane ride home, so that's a good sign.

The only difficult trip I've had was visiting my sister in NZ. I love her, and we get along much of the time, but we're so different. She's get up at noon and I'd been reading since nine, itching to get out. She'd want to shop and I wanted to see the sights. I'd swim in the ocean and she'd sit fully dressed under a tree reading, looking at her watch. And it was hard living three people in a small place for a month. I'd think twice about doing that again. Although, she just moved back home so I don't think the issue would come up...

I reckon it all depends on who you are and who they are.
laid back relaxed it's all cool as long as you're independant minded enough to say we really don't neeeeed to be joined at the hip 24 hrs a day or even 7 days a week go off come back I've done both, travelled alone, with friends and family and they're all different and good in their own way eh? It can get lonely if you can;t be arsed with small talk for a couple of days sometimes it's good to have someone around,
whatever floats your boat
Don't think I could be with someone relationship wise if I couldn't travel with them though
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I met up with an American last night in a fancy ex-pat part of Bangkok last night. He had previously offered to put me up for a few nights in his apartment. I only stayed one night. Let's just say. it is to understand why he lives alone !!! I'm now staying with an English friend and his Thai wife etc, in a more surburban area. This is sweeeeet. I slept really well for a few hours this afternoon. Probably won't see my mate much, but that's fine. He has his own interests.

So you knocked him back did you Wocca?

Not exactly ... as we were taking a short cut through the Ambassador Hotel, he told me his first house rule was "No Street Girls" Damn !!! I didn't even see any until after he said it. If only I was holidays for a couple of weeks, and bringing Aussis holiday pay (with leave loading of course)

Have travelled alone, with friend singular/plural, in a bigish group, partner, family, random strangers from online/met on the way, friends of friends, with a dog, with a sheep, and with kids (not the goat sort).
All have their pluses and minuses, although as a general idea i prefer to be alone or only loosely with people - where you can either stay together or go off and do you own thing, even if you plan to meet up every evening/few days/for journeys or whatever. I need my freedom, and also being able to randomly decide to do things/go places on the spur of the moment.
People that meticulously plan everying i try and avoid, although for a couple of days it can be ok, especially if they are already good friends and you know it's only for a couple of days.

Never done a really long trip with a constant partner though, but that's circumstance as much as anything. I'm probably harder to travel with than most though, simply because i'm probably too laid back and unplanned, and it tends to really infuriate people, espcially people who aren't frequent/well travelled - Particularly as i tend to see it's getting to them, and play it even worse just to wind them up...