Hawaii Becomes the New Paris

Looking to whisk your partner away on a trip to Paris, the French capital where couples from across the globe are pictured in love, engaged, married and on every other romantic occasion you can think of?
Well, Americans may now not need to leave their own country to sweep their loved ones off their feet, as the Hawaiian island of Maui is “the most romantic destination to visit with a partner.”
That’s according to a July poll of 2,000 “general population Americans”—commissioned by Funjet Vacations and conducted by Talker Research—which found that 34 percent of those surveyed said Maui was the most romantic destination in the world, usurping Paris, which was named as the most romantic spot by 33 percent of Americans.
Maui and Paris were followed by the Italian capital of Rome (29 percent), as well as Venice, Italy (27 percent) and Cancún, Mexico (19 percent), to round out the top five most romantic places to visit.
Other American cities in the top 15 included Aspen, Colorado, which ranked 11th with 11 percent of the vote, and New York City, which came in 12th place with 9 percent.
The poll comes as Hawaii was also named as the top U.S. state that most Americans want to see in a survey from the same month.
While Americans love visiting well-trodden spots, most (69 percent) say that hidden or smaller destinations are more romantic.
Just under half (45 percent) believe that lesser-known destinations are better for setting the mood to be intimate with a partner, while the same portion say it’s better for bonding with their partner overall.
Nearly three-quarters (71 percent) agree that traveling with a partner is one of the most romantic things to do together and around 62 percent said they’re more romantic on vacation than during their regular life.
Traveling together as a couple comes with other positives beyond upping the romance in a relationship.
According to a December 2019 study of couples in the U.S., published in the Journal of Travel Research, “shared experiences during vacations” are positively associated with couples’ “day-to-day functioning at home.”
The study found that those who “engaged in higher levels of shared experiences during their vacations, such as effective communication, showing affection, or experiencing new things together, reported higher levels of couple flexibility and cohesion following their vacations, regardless of the number of vacations.”
The Talker Research poll found that 76 percent of Americans consider traveling with a partner to be a serious step in a relationship.
On average, those surveyed believe you should be together for around a year before traveling, but 42 percent say they would do so before that benchmark.
Traveling as a couple clearly has benefits, but doing so in a new relationship can be risky.
Mark Verber, a relationship expert and licensed professional counselor at EPIC Counseling Solutions, told Newsweek in June: “If you look at dating as a test drive, then going on a trip together is like hitting the highway. Travel is an accelerant. It involves more focused and extended time together, and as a result can both expedite a relationship’s progress or hasten its demise.”
Experts told Newsweek that new couples should wait at least a month before going away together and that the length of the trip also matters.
As a rule of thumb, Verber suggests having dated a month for every night away together. This means that “if you’ve been dating for a couple months, then a weekend is fine. But if you are looking to travel for a week, I would wait until closer to six months.”
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