Seperate holidaysToday’s “Dear David” is all about relationships, and how to keep them alive and passionate. It came from a lady who didn’t leave her name, but I’ll call her Helen. Don’t ask why, it just popped into my head. So Helen asks…

“Dear David,

I’ve been with my man for about 3 years now, and while things are good I worry we’re going to lose the passion for each other one day. How can you keep a relationship fresh and exciting without resorting to weird sexual fetishes?”

David Says…

Today I’m going to introduce you to a new concept in relationship maintenance. In fact, it’s a great way to keep your relationship fresh and the spark alive. It’s summer time, and that means it’s vacation time. But have you ever thought about taking a separate vacation?

That’s right…

I’m talking about going on a totally separate vacation to your partner. Separate vacations are healthy for a relationship. I’ve done this a ton of times, and it always works great. Granted, I love travelling with my partner too, but I really like travelling myself. Do I travel with friends? Sometimes, but I probably enjoy it least of the three types of vacation.

I enjoy vacations with my partner. It’s great to be able to kick back, talk, get out of the day to day world, and just to really connect and relax with that person. I enjoy it a lot. But what I really like s time alone. I love my separate vacations. I like going to New York for four or five days spending time with friends. I like going to London and walking around just being myself. It’s always a fantastic experience and healthy too.

Whether you’re in a relationship now, or you’re by yourself, you need that alone time. You need that time to regenerate. You need that time to kick back and appreciate the person you’re with. It’s so easy to take someone for granted when you’re with them every single second of every single day. You can’t appreciate someone if you never have that alone time.

How Do You Keep Love Exciting?

The next time you’re in a relationship, take the time you do the things you love. Make sure you have that time alone. Make sure you spend quality time with friends and family. You don’t need to include your partner in everything, and it’s healthy to separate. You end up appreciating each other so much more when you get back together. You get clarification and you can deal with any issues between you.

Oh and in case any of you are wondering why I don’t enjoy traveling with friends that much, I’ll explain…

I love my friends to death, but I can only cope with spending a couple of days away with them. When I go away with friends for a week or more, I find them more co-dependent than any other woman I’ve ever dated in my life.

I don’t feel the need to entertain the whole time, and normally friends like to do different things. Lovers tend to connect on a deeper level and can spend longer periods together. Friends connect at friend level and spend shorter bursts together before moving on with life again. Maybe that’s just me, but either way if you want to keep your relationship fresh and sparky, I strongly suggest you try taking separate vacations!

Have any of you ever tried taking separate vacations? How about travelling with friends? Did you get on well or find you wanted to kill each other after a while?