Saturday was our ninth wedding anniversary.

 

That is, in and of itself a very big deal and worth a moment of reflection.  Nine years is no small thing.

People look at us differently than they did when we said we’d been together, for example, 3 years.  They look at us like we achieved something beyond hanging out with a best friend (who also happens to be really physically attractive) for years at a time.  Evidently at some point we passed a marker.  It’d be nice if they put signs on those things or something.  They don’t look at us like the cute old couple who’d been married for 50 years yet, so we’re led to believe there are additional, similarly unmarked, waypoints out there.  Stay tuned for updates as we stumble over them.

The next point here is (yeah, we’re kinda free thought writing here, just roll with it 😉 that we’re actually upon the cusp of opening a bottle of Italian wine that we have been cellaring for a decade!  A DECADE!  Come on, that’s got be a big deal!  Exactly 354 days from now we’ll be able to intelligently speak of Tuscan Crociani reds and the variances of their tastes when consumed immediately, at 5 years and at 10 years.

We’ve cellared wine.  Kept it even.  Purchased it but not opened it.  For years.  Many of them (years, not wines.  At least yet).  In a sequential order.

That’s a sign of maturity right?

We need to pick out a new wine for our little family tradition but don’t worry, we have a few candidates in mind…all from New Zealand oddly enough…

Finally it occurred to us that, by the numbers, we have spent a full third of our married life on this little adventure.  That, also, is no small thing and it’s given us some insight so we thought we would put on the “couple” hat and answer a question we sometimes get –

What does travel do to a marriage?

 

The short answer is that travel is a magnifier.  What does that mean?  Well, an adage we learned while working in our businesses was that “small problems in marriage + lots of money = big problems in marriage.”  Then same holds true for travel.  Imagine, if you will, spending 1095 days straight with one person, all day every day.

All the good, all the bad, all the time.

Oh and for about 6 months of it you’ve confined yourselves to a 200 sq foot apartment from which you cannot depart except by drowning.

The point is either Tiffany’s going to get over the fact that Greg squeezes the toothpaste tube in the middle or Greg’s going to wind up shark bait around day 512.  (that kinda almost happened, actually.)

Or, alternately, Greg’s going to get his own toothpaste tube.  Which he now, of his own volition, squeezes from the back.

But Greg still ended up dead…

That’s irony for you.

 

The other side of the coin is also true – the good is magnified as well.  Tiffany is a champ when it comes to finding interesting jobs online but if you need someone to get past the mostly French speaking Polynesian immigration officers  – well, Greg’s your guy.

And let’s not forget the ukulele duets.

The short of it is this – traveling together is not going to change your marriage.  It’s just going to make it more of what it already is.  For us it’s been a fantastic adventure, and we’re looking forward to exploring even more!

When you’re looking to take a great thing and make it even better, spending a few years in the company of the love of your life might be just the thing for you.

We don’t talk about it often but from time to time we drop thoughts on what it’s like to be married vagabonds.

About the authors

Greg and Tiffany are traveling around the world on sailing yachts and keep a video blog of their (mis)adventures.  If sailing to Tahiti on a 44 ft sailboat, 3-day delays for wine tastings, getting pooped on by seagulls, opening coconuts with dull machetes, sailing past tornadoes and ukulele Christmas carols are for you, then check them out at www.CoastGuardCouple.com!