I know what you’re thinking, are they crazy?! Let me also share that while my sister and I are close, we weren’t super close. We have a 3 ½ age gap between us and we grew distant when I went away to college. We thought that by taking this trip together, we’d become closer and it changed us in a way we never thought possible. I thought I’d share 5 ways why you should travel with your sister ( or sibling for that matter ).
1.You Can Pack Lighter – My sister and I are roughly the same height, maybe off by a few inches but we both are built slightly different. I’m a bit more tall and lengthy and my sister has broader shoulders. Never the less, we always share clothes and knew that we could pack lighter because we’d mix and match what the other had brought. Think fun accessories like bags and jewelry were a huge hit.
2.You Get to Spend Quality Time Together – Since we both were away at college and me at Graduate school, we didn’t stay in touch that much. Now, having countless hours on a bus, train or hotel room we were spending time actually talking and sharing stories.
3.You’ll Learn How To Compromise – Within each city, we had made a list of what we wanted to see within our time frame. My sister was extremely gracious to go into every public library with ( I’m a librarian after all ) and oooo and ahhh over the architecture and various structures of modern and ancient libraries. I also traveled with her to sights she wanted to view. By compromising what we wanted to do, we were enjoying the moments together because the other was happy.
4.You Learn More About One Another – Of course we had grown up together, but traveling with your sibling is a different experience. You see them in a different light, like when they get excited about the gelato shop you just had to get too, or eating bread and drinking wine under the Eiffel tower. We learned that we did need time apart as well so I’d get up early to get us breakfast and she’d stay up later to read.
5.They Bring Out The Best In You – My sister and I joke that we went to Europe as friends and came back best friends. Our experiences together taught us more about one another but best of all, we shared moments and milestones that can never be replaced. I learned more about my sister at 2am from maybe a few more drinks than needed at that Amsterdam bar, to shopping in Florence’s markets and bargaining for purses and finally, to our long flight home where we binge watched our favorite shows and remembered our time together. We wanted to honor that month together and even got similar tattoos a few months later.
Traveling with a sibling can be tough but it can also be one of the best things you’ve ever done, together. Of course you may have your moments where you want to strangle the other ( I think we only fought once on the trip ) but nobody fights better than your sibling ;) Kidding! I encourage you all to at least take some sort of your trip with a sibling in the future, not necessary to out of the country. It’ll change you both. For the better.
