This Seat’s Taken interview series: Allan & Fanfan of Live Less Ordinary

Perhaps the best thing about travel is it can connect people who otherwise would never meet or have a relationship. This is absolutely the case with Live Less Ordinary‘s Allan and Fanfan, a lovely international travel couple whose relationship has only been strengthened by their globe hopping. Fortunately for us, they’re now sharing their thoughts on traveling as a couple, nostalgia around how they met, and some of their other hard-won advice.

 

What’s your story?

I (Allan) have always been obsessed with travel in Asia, and a while back (2008) I put my life on hold in the UK to save some money to buy property for a permanent move to Bangkok. This would inevitably become my base for travel in Asia. At this time Fanfan was studying a Degree in Applied Arts at a Bangkok university and after meeting online in 2011 we soon became ‘a thing’. We never did have much in common, as Fanfan is a high achieving middle class Thai, and I was a corner-cutting scallywag from Northern Ireland. But we were otherwise drawn to each other by our own fascination in other cultures, and this of course ties into our joint love for travel. So, to date, we have travelled to more than 30 countries together, which includes our engagement in Wicklow, Ireland and our wedding ceremony soon after in Bali, Indonesia.

 

 

Do you have the same travel style or different travel styles? How does this impact your adventures together?

We are very different as solo travellers, where Fanfan is more active and adventurous, and loves to plan rather spectacular sightseeing itineraries. Meanwhile, I am more driven by a relaxed style of travel, and street life, and food and drink. So I would normally just take the back seat with planning these days, and I more or less use her itineraries to create a route to follow while indulging in the more local stuff between the attractions. And this works well for both of us, as it pressures me into sightseeing which I would otherwise regret missing on my own.

 

What’s the biggest thing you’ve learned from traveling as partners? What makes your partnership work on the road?

Patience and cooperation. As things will pretty much always go wrong at some point in travel, which will likely lead to quick decision-making, and tension, and friction. So the ability to step back from heightened tensions, and to stay calm with rational thinking, just makes the journey a whole lot easier. Because the last thing you want is to be blaming each other on situations that were ultimately out of your control.

 

 

What’s the best part about traveling as partners? And the biggest challenge?

The best part is the teamwork, and symbiosis, I guess. As each person will have their own skills and understandings that the other does not. Or this would at least be the most beneficial in travel. Otherwise, the best part of travelling as partners is just sharing experiences with someone that you love being with, and can look back on the memories together in the years ahead.

Otherwise, challenge-wise, I really can’t think of any. There really are only benefits for us.

 

Based on your experience, what’s the best advice you have for couples who have just scheduled their first trip together?

Be prepared for tough and stressful situations, and accept that you may have differing and conflicting ideas down the line. And, most importantly, be prepared to make sacrifices and compromise to create the best outcome for the couple.

 

Any additional thoughts or words of wisdom?

Unfortunately I am a light sleeper, where I often find myself awake at around 05:00AM-ish, and with no real chance of returning to sleep. So, not to disturb Fanfan, I would either wait in the guest room bathroom until she wakes, which could be hours. Or I would just go out. So I often find myself on the streets of weird cities at silly hours of the morning, which just gives me an unlikely and unique perspective of destinations and surrounding local life. But I think this would be a good example of finding the positives in compromise, rather than grumbling about the sacrifices needed to be made when travelling as a couple.

 

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