This Is The Best (And Most Romantic) Way To Get To Know Your Partner While Traveling
I’m headed into the second year of my relationship, and I’m still getting to know my boyfriend. After more than five vacations together, I know we’re both up early, always down to explore, and very serious about trying new restaurants wherever we’re staying. But there are still stories from his past I haven’t heard and questions I haven’t thought to ask. That curiosity has been part of our relationship from the beginning. When we first started dating, I brought out conversation cards to help us get to know each other beyond the usual get-to-know-you icebreaker questions. Those questions gave us a place to start conversations that might not have come up on their own. They helped us get comfortable sharing more of ourselves, and the cards became something we both enjoyed. Now, sometimes he’s the one suggesting we pull out the cards. One thing I cherish about our relationship is how well we travel together. So, when The Skin Deep and Secrets Resorts & Spas invited us to Mexico to experience their partnership, it felt like a trip made for us. I was already familiar with The Skin Deep and its work exploring human connection, but I hadn’t realized the company also made conversation card games. The collaboration with Secrets is a limited-edition Away, Together Conversation Card Game that encourages couples to slow down and get to know each other more deeply, while on vacation. The resort had plenty of dining and activity options to keep us occupied, so laying on the beach and dinner became our opportunity to pull out The Skin Deep cards. We’d sit down to eat, start asking questions, and let the conversation go wherever it took us. One question stayed with me: “What is the pain in me you wish you could heal and why?” We’re still relatively early in our relationship, but we’ve already shared enough for that question to mean something. Answering it meant thinking back to the moments when we’d opened up to each other, the things we’d heard, and what had stayed with us. It made me reflect on how closely we were listening, and how much we understood about what the other person carries. Another question that made us think: “Ten years from now, how do you think our vacations are going to differ and what do you hope remains the same?” My answer came pretty quickly: a lot more kids. He already has a six-year-old daughter, and we’ve talked about having children together, so I can definitely see more family vacations in our future. Our trips might require a little more planning and a few more suitcases, but I hope our love for travel stays the same. Even with more responsibilities and life looking different, I hope we’re still excited to see the world, experience other cultures, and try something new together. I’d love for our kids to grow up sharing that curiosity, too. My boyfriend even admitted that The Skin Deep questions helped him be more communicative. That surprised me because, in our relationship, he’s always been willing to play along, answer, and sometimes initiate the game himself. I wouldn’t have known that opening up hadn’t always come naturally to him. Hearing that made me appreciate the habit we’d started early on even more. That’s what made this partnership feel so natural to our experience. The cards gave us a new direction to take the conversation in, and being away gave us the time to stay with the answers and really go deeper with each other. Going into our second year, I want us to keep making room for that curiosity at home, too. I love how well we know each other already, and I love that there’s still so much left to ask. For now, we’ll keep pulling out the cards. Sandy Pierre is the Branded Execution Manager at Refinery29 Unbothered and a contributing writer covering travel, lifestyle, and culture. When she’s not working on brand partnerships, she’s probably planning her next trip or curating a dinner for creatives in New York. Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?
Black News 
I’m headed into the second year of my relationship, and I’m still getting to know my boyfriend. After more than five vacations together, I know we’re both up early, always down to explore, and very serious about trying new restaurants wherever we’re staying. But there are still stories from his past I haven’t heard and questions I haven’t thought to ask.
That curiosity has been part of our relationship from the beginning. When we first started dating, I brought out conversation cards to help us get to know each other beyond the usual get-to-know-you icebreaker questions. Those questions gave us a place to start conversations that might not have come up on their own. They helped us get comfortable sharing more of ourselves, and the cards became something we both enjoyed. Now, sometimes he’s the one suggesting we pull out the cards.
One thing I cherish about our relationship is how well we travel together. So, when The Skin Deep and Secrets Resorts & Spas invited us to Mexico to experience their partnership, it felt like a trip made for us. I was already familiar with The Skin Deep and its work exploring human connection, but I hadn’t realized the company also made conversation card games. The collaboration with Secrets is a limited-edition Away, Together Conversation Card Game that encourages couples to slow down and get to know each other more deeply, while on vacation.
The resort had plenty of dining and activity options to keep us occupied, so laying on the beach and dinner became our opportunity to pull out The Skin Deep cards. We’d sit down to eat, start asking questions, and let the conversation go wherever it took us. One question stayed with me: “What is the pain in me you wish you could heal and why?” We’re still relatively early in our relationship, but we’ve already shared enough for that question to mean something. Answering it meant thinking back to the moments when we’d opened up to each other, the things we’d heard, and what had stayed with us. It made me reflect on how closely we were listening, and how much we understood about what the other person carries.
Another question that made us think: “Ten years from now, how do you think our vacations are going to differ and what do you hope remains the same?” My answer came pretty quickly: a lot more kids. He already has a six-year-old daughter, and we’ve talked about having children together, so I can definitely see more family vacations in our future. Our trips might require a little more planning and a few more suitcases, but I hope our love for travel stays the same. Even with more responsibilities and life looking different, I hope we’re still excited to see the world, experience other cultures, and try something new together. I’d love for our kids to grow up sharing that curiosity, too.
My boyfriend even admitted that The Skin Deep questions helped him be more communicative. That surprised me because, in our relationship, he’s always been willing to play along, answer, and sometimes initiate the game himself. I wouldn’t have known that opening up hadn’t always come naturally to him. Hearing that made me appreciate the habit we’d started early on even more. That’s what made this partnership feel so natural to our experience. The cards gave us a new direction to take the conversation in, and being away gave us the time to stay with the answers and really go deeper with each other.
Going into our second year, I want us to keep making room for that curiosity at home, too. I love how well we know each other already, and I love that there’s still so much left to ask. For now, we’ll keep pulling out the cards.
Sandy Pierre is the Branded Execution Manager at Refinery29 Unbothered and a contributing writer covering travel, lifestyle, and culture. When she’s not working on brand partnerships, she’s probably planning her next trip or curating a dinner for creatives in New York.
Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?
