Dating Someone Who Travels for Work: Pros, Cons, and Tips

Pilots, flight attendants, businessmen and women, military members, truckers—the list of highly respected professionals who travel for work is pretty long. And while the long nights and thousands of miles can be strenuous for the person doing them, there’s also quite an impact on someone who is dating someone who travels for work.

In this guide, we want to look at all sides of how these temporarily long-distance relationships work. We’ll start by looking at the pros and cons of dating someone who travels for work and what you can expect from the relationship. From there, we’ll share some amazing tips on how both people (the traveler and the one at home) can work together for a more fruitful relationship. And lastly, we’ll talk about how to meet someone who travels for work if that’s something you’re looking for.

If you’re ready, grab your passport, frequent flyers number, and let’s get into it!

Table of Contents:

Pros and Cons of Dating Someone Who Travels for Work

To start our discussion today, we want to get into the pros and cons of dating someone who travels for work. There are quite a few things you’ll get access to that other singles won’t, but there are also some sacrifices you may need to endure. This information can be helpful if you’re already in a relationship or if you’re considering dating someone who is always on the road for their job.

Pros of Dating Someone Who Travels for Work

• You may get to come along sometimes. ­- While not always the case, there may be opportunities for you to tag along on a business trip every now and then. And what’s even better is that sometimes you may be able to do so for a lot cheaper because things like the hotel room and such may already be paid for by their company.
• Your partner will probably have elite travel status. – Even if the only times you get to travel together is not for work, there are still some perks. Most businesses allow their employees to put their travel on their own credit cards and get reimbursed which allows them to accrue travel points and perks. This could mean free or discounted travel, access to fancy airport lounges, free hotel room upgrades, or even the ability to get upgraded to first class on a flight.
• Your partner will be an expert traveler. – There is something relaxing about traveling with someone who knows their way around other cities, countries, and airports. If you are dating someone who travels for work a lot, the chances are high that they will be an expert that can make travel a breeze for you.
• You’ll get time alone. – No matter how in love you are with someone, some time apart is always healthy. When they travel for work, this separation will naturally be built into your schedules.

Cons of Dating Someone Who Travels for Work

• They might not want to travel for fun as often. – Sometimes the last thing people want to do on their time off is what they do for work. If your love interest travels all the time, the idea of doing it for leisure might not be there.
• Trust will need to be a lot higher. – There is no secret that trust needs to be significantly higher for singles who are apart for long periods of time. Additionally, if their travel takes them to beautiful cities with beautiful people, you’ll have to be able to trust that they’re going to stay on the straight and narrow. If this is something you’re not good at, you probably want to avoid dating someone who travels a lot for work.
• You’ll have to be apart for extended periods of time. – While some time apart is healthy, there is a limit. Once you get enough time to recharge your batteries, you’ll want to be together. Unfortunately, some jobs start to cut into that other time as well. How much it cuts into that will depend solely on the job itself.
• Their schedule may conflict with things you want to do. – When someone works close to home, they generally have a lot more flexibility when it comes to moving their schedule around. But when trips have to be planned, they’re planned far out and there are fixed costs associated with them. It’s not as easy as asking someone to cover your shift. What this means for you is that your significant other may have to miss important events that you want to attend.

What to Expect Dating Someone Who Travels for Work

Now that we’ve looked at the list of pros and cons, we wanted to try and tie them all together to give you a clear idea of what dating someone who travels for work really looks like. The answer to that question is going to come down to a few things:

• How frequently they travel
• How physically or emotionally drained they are when they get home
• How accessible they are when they’re away
• How much effort they put into the relationship
• How much effort you put into the relationship

Each of these factors can have a dramatic effect on the quality of your relationship. For example, if they are only gone a few days a month for work, your relationship will probably function similarly to anyone else out there. However, if they’re gone half the month or they’re in the military and get deployed for months at a time, that’s going to have a pretty big impact.

The most important of these things, though, is the effort that you both put into the relationship. As long as both of you are willing to endure the sacrifices and put in the extra effort needed, you can have an incredibly fruitful and healthy relationship. Yes, it will be different from other people who don’t travel for work, but different does not equal bad.

But if one or both of you aren’t willing to put in the extra effort to make the distance work, then it’s going to be a lot of pain, heartache, and tough goodbyes.

But that’s not what we want for you! For that reason, we’ve included the next two sections giving you all the tips you need to successfully date someone who travels frequently for work. The second section is more for your partner, so feel free to share this article with them so they can see what they can do to make things better for both of you.

Tips to Succeed When Dating Someone Who Travels Frequently

As we mentioned, the biggest influence on the success of your relationship when your partner travels a lot is the effort you put in. But what does that mean? What can you do to make the relationship a success while holding down the home front? Let’s share some tips!

Be Understanding of Their Schedule

If you’re constantly giving them a hard time about having to leave, it’s going to cause problems. You need to be understanding of the aspects of their schedule that are outside of their control. If that’s too much to ask, you may want to consider if this relationship is a good idea.

One caveat to notice is that we said, ” aspects of their schedule that are outside of their control.” If they are constantly volunteering for trips and things that they don’t have to go on, that is worth a discussion if it’s bothering you. If you think it’s a good idea for them to get ahead, great. But when it is within their control, it is a bit of a different story.

Be Supportive

It’s easy to focus on how difficult things are for you while they’re away. However, it’s hard on them too! Even if they’re in some beautiful place going to a lot of events, they’re going to be struggling missing you too. This is where being supportive is going to go a long, long way toward the success and health of your relationship.

Be Socially Aware of Important Conversation Timing

This is a big one. Try your best to avoid having big conversations right before they’re about to leave on a trip. This puts everyone in an awkward spot. For example, if you, say, don’t want to go visit their family this year for Christmas, that’s okay. And we commend you for communicating this. However, a day or even a few hours before they leave on a big trip is not the time to talk about this!

Additionally, the second they get home is also not the time to talk about it. They’re probably going to be tired and need a little time to recharge before you dive into important conversations.

Be Understanding of Communication Limitations

As you’ll see in the next section, we ask that your partner never sugarcoat their availability when it comes to traveling for work. We ask that they share with you how often they’ll be able to respond, call, and reach out.

When they share this with you, be okay with it. If you start getting mad at them because you haven’t heard from them and they told you they’d be busy, that’s not healthy. Now, if they don’t communicate that they’ll be busy to you, that’s an issue they need to correct. But hopefully, this illustrates how this type of relationship is 100% a team effort.

Tips to Succeed When You Travel A Lot for Work

Looking for ways to keep the relationship healthy and happy while you’re traveling for work? Maybe you came to this article on your own, or maybe your significant other sent you here. Whatever the case, welcome! We want to share a few great tips to help you two really get the most out of your relationship and make your business trips as stress-free as possible.

Share Your Schedule ASAP, Including Changes

This is a must. As soon as you get your schedule, share it with your significant other. And if you want to go the extra mile, get them a printout of when you’ll be gone and where you’re going. The more informed and in the loop you can keep them, the more comfortable they can feel.

And if your schedule changes, let them know ASAP. Bad news does not get better with time. If things change, let them know right away.

Don’t Sugarcoat How Things Are Going to Be

There can be a tendency to try and sugarcoat things like your availability or how tough the distance might be. Don’t do this. You don’t have to be all doom and gloom, but at least be honest about how things are going to be.

For example, if you’re going to be somewhere without phone reception for days, tell them you aren’t going to be able to text or call for those days. If there’s a chance that you won’t be able to reach out for an extended or even unknown period of time, tell them that. That way when they don’t hear from you, they’re not worried and don’t let their mind start running in the wrong directions.

Be Proactive About Plans to Stay in Contact While You’re Away

In the same way that you’re letting them know when you won’t be able to reach out, have a plan to stay in contact—and share that with them! If you are going to call them every night at the end of the day when you get back to the hotel, great! Tell them that so they have something to look forward to! And for the sake of everything, follow through on that. If you say you’re going to do something while you’re away on a business trip, do it.

Build Distance Traditions If Possible

This is a fun one to consider! Try building some distance traditions to give them something to look forward to. Maybe you do something like send them a postcard from every new city you go to? Or maybe you get them a refrigerator magnet from every city you go to? Or maybe you take a picture of a particular stuffed animal they got you that you take with you on every trip?

These might seem cheesy, but they are amazing ways to make your significant other feel special when you’re traveling for work.

How to Meet Someone Who Travels for Work

Interested in meeting someone who travels for work? Maybe you also travel for work and think it might be neat to meet someone who does the same? Or maybe you love the idea of the travel perks and you enjoy alone time more than others? Whatever the case, we highly recommend checking out our recommended list of the best executive dating sites. While this doesn’t encompass all professions who travel for work, you’re going to find a lot more people here that do than at other dating sites.