Whenever I travel with a partner, we stay in separate bedrooms

• I’ve found that I like booking accommodations with two bedrooms when I travel with a partner.
• This way, we can stick with our preferred sleep schedules and take space if we need it.
• I’ve also found two-bedroom rentals often cost the same (or just slightly more) than one bedrooms.

A few years ago, my then-partner and I were road-tripping through snowy Colorado. We were doing a good mix of exploring, laughing, talking, and getting on each other’s nerves.

We were staying in a hotel room at the sort of antiquated and charming roadside inn you really only see on postcards or in Schitt’s Creek — and we’d just gotten into a fight.

“I need some space,” I remember saying before walking out into the heavy snow. Immediately, I thought about how taking space would’ve been a lot easier (and warmer) if we’d just gotten a place with two rooms.

Cut to a year later — I was a few months into a new relationship and planning a three-week trip to Europe with them. Now was the time to make a request I’d always secretly wanted to make when traveling with a significant other.

I asked, “Can we get places with two bedrooms?” He was down.

Since that trip, I’ve never looked back. I always make sure to get a place with two bedrooms when traveling with a partner. Here’s why.

Two rooms can make it easier to sleep better

Sleep can be tricky when traveling. There’s the new place, new mattress, new weird middle-of-the-night route to the bathroom, new time zone.

On top of that, in my experience, my partners and I have also often had very different sleep habits. I’m a super early bird, which isn’t the case with many of my partners.

So getting two separate bedrooms when traveling has allowed us to go to sleep and wake up on our own schedules, uninterrupted. This is a huge perk, as being well-rested can improve an entire vacation.

Plus, for some, having a bed all to yourself might feel like a vacation of its own — no having to share sheets or deal with snoring.

As an introvert, I like being able to easily take space

Traveling with a partner can mean a whole lot of being all up in each other’s business.

This can be a fun bonding experience … for a while. However, I’m an introvert — I need space sometimes (OK, a lot of the time) and that doesn’t change when I’m on vacation.

Getting a place with two bedrooms is a great solution if you or the person you’re traveling with may eventually need or want some alone time. (This is far more appealing than having to take a walk in the middle of a snowstorm.)

Of course, having two bedrooms doesn’t mean that you have to spend time apart or even sleep separately. It just makes it a nice, plausible option if and when you want to.

It often doesn’t cost us much extra — even if it did, I think the price is worth paying

When I’ve traveled with partners, we usually use Airbnb to rent places with two bedrooms.

This has been more cost-effective than getting two separate hotel rooms — plus it stops the arrangement from feeling too divided, like we’re strangers co-attending a conference or something.

The truth is, in most cities I’ve visited, it doesn’t cost a whole lot more to get an Airbnb with an extra bedroom — in many places, the prices are about the same.

For example, at the time of writing, I found dozens of options to rent a one-bedroom or two-bedroom place in Chicago later this month for between $100 and $200 a night.

But even if we have to spend a bit extra for two bedrooms, what we’re paying for feels worth it to me: Better sleep, more space when we need it, and ultimately, a greater vacation.

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