I'm a bit of a romantic at heart, just like most girls I love being swept off my feet and can find something beautiful in the smallest gestures. When you're travelling, it's easy to be caught up in the romance of your very existence, the transient nature of your life brings romance to the simplest moments. With tropical temperatures, sandy beaches and stunning sunsets at every turn, Asia is the perfect setting for a travelling romance, while Australia provides the incredible landscape to get lost with your newfound love. Europe is just perfect for those warm summer evenings drinking wine together or exploring a city of culture, there's romance of years gone by haunting the streets you walk. When you travel it's easy to fall for people and to fall hard and fast, you get swept away by the romance, the freedom and the excitement of it all. Add in the ticking time limit of that plane ticket home and things can get pretty intense. The important thing for travelling girls to remember when things come to an end, is not to feel broken-hearted over the love you lost but to enjoy the memories of what you had. Every single perfect second of your time together whether it was just one night, a few weeks or months together. Those precious memories of your fleeting romance will stay with you in years to come and will shape your travelling stories.
When travelling I love meeting couples who met on the road, couples who have managed to make things work beyond travelling. I love seeing people in the grips of romance who cannot imagine a life without the person they just met two nights ago. It's beautiful and pure, it's love in it's own right and even if it doesn't last, it doesn't mean you didn't feel it at the time. I was lucky enough to meet an amazing couple who have become my very good friends, they met while volunteering together in South America and now several years later they have traveled the world together. In Thailand, I met an Australian girl who was crazy in love with an English guy and two years later they are still travelling the world together. It's amazing when you hear these stories and so lovely to know that travel doesn't have to stand in the way of finding love. But for every success story, there are a hundred stories of heartache and of lost loves – so for all of these, here is my list of the 10 romantic moments you need to experience when you are travelling:
- Watch a perfect sunset with the most amazing person, hold hands and watch the sun dip below the horizon. Don't speak a word, let the colours and the moment speak for itself.
- Get lost together – go off exploring somewhere new and don't be afraid to stray off the beaten path, getting lost can be fun it will give you more time to get to know each other.
- Camp out or lay in the back of a truck under the stars – some of the most romantic nights of my life were spent counting shooting stars with someone special.
- Go for a massage together – if you're in Asia, this is a must. Cheap massages are the perfect way to spend a relaxing evening together. Try a foot massage for a less naked option.
- Go on a road trip together for a day, a week or a month. Nothing will teach you more about a person than spending 24 hours a day with them in a car but if you come out the other side, it must be special.
- Try something new together – snorkeling or diving could be an exciting first date, or try a cooking class, surfing lesson, wine tour, white water rafting. Sharing a fun experience can be an amazing way to bond.
- Teach each other something whether it is a language, a card game or a party trick. It's amazing to have a beautiful memory of a person you met and to know that they taught you a new skill.
- Change your plans. When you're a solo traveler, you're always up for changing your plans if something - or someone - exciting comes along. So throw off your guard and give in to the moment.
- Have those really deep conversations where you share your soul with someone you barely know. The ones that leave you feeling like no-one has ever understood you like this before, or will again.
- Go skinny dipping, it's cheeky, it's silly and it's fun. Let your inhibitions go and do something a bit wild, something a twenty-something who is travelling the word shouldn't be afraid to do. It'll be a great story one day.
- Have a date night - it could be dinner out or something wacky, but make the effort for each other, dress up and enjoy a little luxury together.
- Write a love letter, or receive one. There's something so special about a hand-written note that you can keep forever. It can be a goodbye note you leave on his pillow on the way to the airport or a letter you send across the world.
- Make wild, crazy plans for the future. Lay in bed together talking about all the places you want to go and the things you want to do. Share the fantasy, even if you'll never do them together.
- Be naughty - break the rules together. Take that how you will but trust me - it's fun!
- Take cheesy cute tourist photos together as you explore a new city.
- Don't listen to reason - so what if you live on opposite sides of the world? So what if you only have two days? Declare your love, fall head-over-heels and make those two days something to remember.
- Spend a holiday together - Christmas or New Year, even Oktoberfest! Celebrate something together and share a kiss at midnight in a foreign country - it'll be one of those cute little stories that stay with you for life.
- Sit on the beach and watch the sun rise after an epic night out together, don't stop until you've danced and laughed your heart out, then find some calm as the sea laps against the shore and the skies go pink.
- Have that moment when you look at this person and realise men aren't all bad no matter how much you've been messed around, when you realise that you can love like this and you will again.
- Have an emotional goodbye at an airport. Every girl should walk through security with tears in her eyes at least once after a sad farewell to an amazing person.
Don't get caught up in why it didn't work, just make beautiful memories with that person and enjoy every moment of your time together. In twenty or thirty years would you rather remember bitter heartbreak from the guy you met on that beautiful Thai beach, or would you prefer to remember that night you held hands and watched the perfect sunset together?
Tell me about your most romantic travelling moments – what is your favourite memory? Which country holds the most romance for you?
