Of course the beach is a great destination for people celebrating special occasions and is always a family favorite for many, but it’s also great for a quick couple’s getaway. Your couple’s getaway can be as relaxing or active as you like. If your daily life is hustling and bustling so many of us, a chill relaxing weekend may be exactly what you’re looking for in a quick holiday. If you feel like you’re in a rut and tired of the same old same old at home, you can find fun new things to try with your partner when you’re on a beach getaway.
Couple’s Getaway Rules
There are a few rules we have set in place for couple‘s getaways in our house to be sure we make the most of our time together. After years of finding ourselves distracted and coming back just as tired and overwhelmed as we were when started, these few things have helped us to reconnect, relax and regenerate on our couple’s trips.
Rule #1: Be prepared personally
Prepare, check and double check plans. This means we have house and pet sitters in place, our reservations are made, the car is serviced, the house is clean, the home stuff is all taken care of (extra pet food purchased, sitter info packet filled out, laundry done, etc.) We double check with our sitters a couple days in advance, inform the people who need to know where we’re going to be, and make sure we have all the stuff we need to head out and enjoy a few days away.
Rule #2: No work allowed
No work allowed. This was a hard one because I’m in the travel industry. It’s easy for me to get caught up in wanting to write an article about something I saw or tried while I’m at a destination, but on these trips specifically, I don’t do that. We setup our out of office replies, let our colleagues know we are unreachable and hand off any urgent tasks to people at work before we leave so everyone can help and everything can be managed while we’re gone without fear of the world falling apart. We aren’t surgeons or world leaders so nothing is so important that it can’t wait 4-5 days to be addressed.
The world doesn’t stop because I’m not there and that’s how it should be. Again, being prepared helps with this and anything we know could be important is communicated to the people who would need to handle a work situation in our absence. Work cells are turned off, and only one point of contact is allowed to connect with either of us when we’re away. That’s strictly for actual emergencies like someone being hospitalized or if a colleague or client dies….seriously, those are the only reasons we can contacted for work on a couple’s getaway.
Rule #3: No kids allowed
This rule applies to our pets since we don’t have children, but the kids do not need to come along on a couple’s trip. Seriously, the entire point is to reconnect, relax and enjoy time with your spouse without the responsibilities of parenthood. Of course you are going to check in on your children in the morning and evening to say goodnight, but you shouldn’t be talking to your kids 10 times a day when they are staying at Nana’s house. They’ll survive without you for a few days…they may gain a few pounds from all the extra treats, but they’ll be fine. With our pets, our sitter sends us a couple pictures every day to show us the lazy bums are enjoying life in the lap of an animal lover. Do we get a little jealous when the satanic human-hating cat is chilling on the sitter’s lap….maybe, but it’s cool to know that they’re cared for properly.
Being confined to the required routines of dependents is part of the reason you need a break from the day to day. Don’t drag them along for the ride physically, emotionally or mentally. Be sure your children are in good, capable hands and let them enjoy the time away from you as well. I’m sure you’ll get the whole “I want you to come home” bit, but you can be sure they’ll be just fine as long as the folks keeping them are safe, smart and well prepared.
Rune #4: Talk to each other about yourselves
When you’re with your partner on a getaway, don’t spend this precious time talking about the mundane problems of home that you talk about all the time at home. You can’t do anything to fix squeaking step or find a new pine needle provider for the yard while you’re away, so just enjoy talking to your partner about yourselves. Ask questions about experiences they’ve had that you don’t know about, daydream about plans you have together for the future, reminisce about your dating life, and just talk to each in general. Discuss books, movies, places you’ve visited…anything that gives you insight into your partner’s life, likes, dislikes, hopes, and dreams that you may have missed during the years of doing daily life together.
Our top 5 things to do as a couple at the beach
Now that we’ve established some getaway ground rules, it’s time to hit the road and have a good time just being together. There are hundreds of things to do at the beach, but we have a few things we do every time we go together. These are our top 5 things to do as a couple at any beach.
Chill on a pier
No matter what oceanfront you’re on, you’ll find a great pier with options to fish, nature watch or simply sit under the stars and listen to the waves tumble along the shoreline. This is a very calming activity to do with your significant other. We love to walk out onto a pier early in the morning to watch people fish. Watching the sunrise over the ocean from this vantage point when we’re on the East Coast is amazing. Some piers have great double decker seating ares which are perfect for stargazing after a great meal and good glass of wine. The cool ocean breeze makes for comfortable cuddling and handholding in the evenings. It’s truly a romantic‘s activity.
Catch a show
There are always entertainment shows at beach destinations. Concerts, festivals, plays, and theatrical performances are rampant at the beach and we love to find a good one to enjoy at least once during a beach trip. My favorite are acrobatic shows because it’s nearly impossible to not be impressed by the insane stunts they do, but we like a good local live music scene as well. It doesn’t have to be a big production to be good, there are often local theaters with plays almost every week in many beach destinations. Those are always fun and usually significantly less expensive than the large theatrical productions at places like The Alabama Theater or a Dolly Parton Stampede show. But we still love those big shows as well!
Dance the night away
Many beaches are famous for the nightlife scene and great dance clubs are definitely part of that. When Dhub’s and I were planning our wedding, we took dance lessons which was epic. Even more awesome was being able to move around the dance floor comfortably together when we went to a beach music dance club a year later. Dancing is such a fun way to connect physically and have a good time. We spend the night laughing and talking and moving and that excited energy is just a fantastic way to engage with each other while we’re on vacation. It doesn’t have to be at dark loud thumping club either. Most beaches have at least one local hangout that has beach music and shag dancing (beach music dancing) and that is such a blast to watch or do if you’re willing to let some older folks show you the basics. We LOVE shag dancing when we get the chance especially at beaches on the southeast seaboard.
Try something different
Every time we go to a beach, we like to try something new. Whether that’s an activity like snorkeling, riding a banana boat or jet skiing, we do something that isn’t part of our normal list of activities at home. We’ve taken haunted town tours, gone to weird museums and even tried our hand at boating. We love to try out local restaurants that we don’t have around home as well. These shared new experiences often give us something to talk about with others and bring us closer together as well. It’s not always something huge, but we always try something new at the beach.
Stay in and relax
In our day to day life, Dhubs and I are busy. We both work a lot, spend time with family and friends, are constantly in the middle of some home upgrading project (things you get to do when you take on an 80 year old house) and are in general just doing something all the time. It’s not a bad thing, we stay active and have great relationships with our friends and family and are fairly successful in our chosen fields of work. It is, however, exhausting sometimes. So when we get a break and we head out for a getaway, sometimes we just want to chill. A good book, a glass of wine (or beer) and an oceanfront balcony is the perfect way to spend the day together. Just being with each other is enough. We’re puzzle and board game people so we often spend a few hours completing a puzzle or playing a few board games while listening to the ocean and munching on snacky foods. We cuddle up and watch a movie and in general just lounge around for the day.
Wrapping up a couple’s beach getaway
Whenever you’re ready to plan your couple’s getaway, I’m here to help! Whether you’re looking to spend a few days in the Outer Banks, Malibu or on a tropical island somewhere along a cruise route, I’m ready to help you plan and book that trip and provide you suggestions for great activities, lodging and restaurants to try. We’re always here to help you have the most Triptastic adventures together.
The most important thing to remember when you’re going on a couple’s beach getaway is to choose a destination you think you’ll both like and to choose activities you like to do together. If you don’t know what those things are, that’s okay too. You can discover commonalities together along the way. You may find that you both really like escape rooms, beach music or carnival rides. You may discover that you both really like fried calamari or that you both HATE boiled peanuts and salt water taffy. The shared experiences are what matter. They make for great memories and stories to share later. Whatever you do, be present with each other and enjoy the time together.
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