A way to really test your relationship...

People always say that when you either move in with someone or travel with them, that it's a good "test" for a relationship. But I think a really good "test" is driving in France with no GPS. LOL. When Arnold and I were booking our car rental he asked me if we should get GPS and once I found out how much it would cost - I told him no way (I am being really cheap). We both sort of looked at each other not sure if that was really a good idea, but we decided to test it out. Worst case - we could always get GPS if we really needed it. I told Arnold that I would be on map duties and that it would be fine. Famous last words ;)

So here we go. We made a pact to not get mad at each other and no yelling haha. I'm not going to lie, when we first left Toulouse, we were tense, Arnold was sweating and I was feeling ill. I am not typically very good with maps, but I can eventually find my way. Two minutes into our drive we made a wrong turn (well the map we had didn't call for this deviation), but luckily I got us back on track. We ended up going too far (not lost though) heading to Carcassonne, but that was because the turns off I had on my map weren't showing up. We also got a bit off course when we headed to visit these ruins in the Pyrenees. BUT you should have seen the maps I was working with. I'm surprised it didn't happen more often.

After I got the hang of things, we were rolling. I could get us anywhere - once you figure out the road signs and how they work you are golden. I have turned into a great map reader - we always play the "if we were on TAR" game. We ask each other who would do what and I think we have definitely decided that Arnold would drive (I drive too slow for him) and I would read the map. And whenever we are in certain situations we will talk as though we are on the Amazing Race and if that would have just cost us the race. Me getting us off course might have caused us the race. Anyway, I am definitely the map reader in the relationship and feel pretty good about getting us to places we need to go. I think Arnold was pretty impressed with my map skills - he didn't think I had it in me.

And no, we didn't fight once - so I guess we passed the "test". :) woot woot.

Love Melissa and Arnold