Planning Your First Lifestyle Getaway

For many couples, a lifestyle getaway is a big milestone. A few days away from work and home, warm weather, open-minded people and nobody who knows you. It can be wonderful. With a little planning, it is far more likely to be.

Choose the right kind of trip

There are a few main types of lifestyle travel, and each one feels very different.

Adults-only resorts that welcome the lifestyle. Some are fully lifestyle resorts. Others are adults-only hotels that are simply open-minded. Read the rules and reviews carefully so you know which kind you are booking.

Takeover events. A group or travel company books a whole hotel, a resort or a cruise ship for a few days. Everyone on the trip is in the lifestyle, which makes it relaxed and very social.

City trips built around a club or a party. A good choice for a first trip: a normal hotel, a fun city, and one or two nights out at a well-reviewed club.

Read the house rules before you book

Every resort and event has its own rules: dress codes, which areas are clothing-optional, where play is allowed and where it is not, and rules about photos. Read them all before you pay. If the rules make one of you uncomfortable, choose somewhere else. There are many options.

Check the reviews — and the dates

The same resort can feel completely different from one week to the next. Theme weeks, takeovers and holidays change the crowd. Look at recent reviews, and ask in the CouplesBlend Feed which weeks other members liked best.

Talk about expectations before you pack

A trip raises the stakes. You have spent money, taken time off and maybe told the babysitter a story. That can create pressure to make something happen. Agree before you leave: the goal is to have a great holiday together. Anything else is a bonus.

Go through your boundaries again. Plan a stop signal. Agree that either of you can skip a party, leave a pool or call it a night at any time.

Plan some time just for the two of you

Book a dinner for two. Take a walk on the beach. Sleep in. Couples who come home happiest are often the ones who spent a lot of the trip enjoying each other, not only the people they met.

Pack smart

Bring outfits for any theme nights, comfortable shoes, sunscreen and anything you need for your health and protection — supplies can be expensive or hard to find in a resort shop. Pack a small bag for the evening so you are not carrying your whole life around the pool.

Protect your privacy

Many people on these trips value their privacy as much as you do. Never take photos of other guests. Think twice before you post your own pictures online, and keep location tags off until you are home.

Meet people before you go

One of the best parts of a lifestyle trip is arriving with friends already waiting. Many takeovers and resort weeks have group chats or forums. On CouplesBlend you can see who is attending an event, chat before you travel and plan to meet for a drink on the first night.

Come home and talk

On the flight home, talk about it. What was the best moment? What would you do differently? Most couples find that a good lifestyle trip brings them closer — and that they are already planning the next one before they unpack.