This past week I had the pleasure of traveling to New Orleans for a little pre-holiday madness vacation. My boyfriend and I planned this trip together after watching Anthony Bourdain explore the Crescent City and talk about all the amazing places to eat and drink there. So we booked the AirBnb, bought the plane tickets, and got ready to sample all of the deliciousness the city had to offer.

Before we left we realized something though, this would be our first major trip with a significant other. We had both only traveled with our families or solo, never with the person we were dating. So this was shaping up to be quite an adventure. Here are a few things I learned on my trip:

1. Walking to the Cleveland rapid stop from your apartment is way easier when you have a boyfriend who is willing to carry your duffle bag when it gets too heavy for you.

2. Waiting in line for security is exponentially more fun when you have someone to make sassy comments about TSA and their weird rules with.

3. Being shoulder to shoulder with someone on the flight is way more comfortable when that person is your significant other.

4. Waiting for everyone to deplane at the gate is exceedingly more tolerable when you can give knowing looks of exasperation to your travel buddy.

5. Mad dashes to changed gates for connecting flights are more fun than frantic.

6.Having the person who can keep pace with you while walking and knows when you need a snack makes layovers and plane rides better.

7. Someone else taking control of the Uber situation so you can get to your hotel is always nice.

8. Having that same someone willing to make small talk with the Uber driver while you reorganize your purse and look through missed emails decreases your stress level by 5 points.

9. Being able to go straight from your hotel to a bar you were both super excited about when you started planning your trip helps everything start out on a good note.

10. And finally, being able to share travel memories with someone you love is priceless.