"When it comes to romantic trips, shorter is better... Doing what you desire increases satisfaction of the vacation as well."

"Don’t mope around a maritime museum or embark on a punishing hike in hopes of pleasing your partner if you’d rather thumb through a magazine by the hotel pool. Be upfront about what each person needs from the trip — relaxation, adventure, culture, excitement — and do your best to make sure everyone’s requirements are met.... Resentment over how time and money was spent is the biggest issue [one marriage counselor] sees with couples when they return from a trip.... 'In order to ensure the trip is the best it can be, couples should recognize that traveling in each other’s company requires compromise' [said another counselor].... People who have their hearts set on a romantic, whirlwind vacation full of rose petals and moonlight beach walks might be in for disappointment when the trip doesn’t deliver an Instagram-perfect love-a-thon.... Lucie Josma, 32, a social media manager and travel photographer based in New York... was fixated on the idea of taking a gondola ride down the canals [on a trip to Venice]; it was supposed to be the ultimate picture-esque couple’s moment. Unfortunately, because of a lack of funds and a throng of tourists who edged her out, the boat ride didn’t happen. 'It wasn’t enjoyable, and I was so upset,' she recalled...."

From "How to Plan the Perfect Trip With Your Significant Other This Summer/Make sure your bae-cation is one to remember — without the logistical headaches" (NYT).

Interesting illustration at the link. It shows 2 kissing couples. All 4 individuals are female (I think!). And that's even though the problems anticipated in the article seem to be stereotypical male/female problems, where the woman needs to back off from expecting too much romance and the man, well, the man just isn't reading the article. I guess he wants the hike which, because the reader of the article is presumed not to be the one who wants the hike, is a "punishing hike."

By the way, everything I quoted from the article sounds to me like a screamed warning: Don't go on vacation!

ADDED: I love the phrase "a throng of tourists." It should be "a throng of other tourists," but Lucie Josma, the character the reader is supposed to identify with, is not to be seen as another one of the tourists, all crowding up the place and ruining it for each other, messing up each other's photographs by being there. No, she's special. She's a "travel photographer based in New York," not another snapshotting plebe with an Instagram account. How is it a professional photographer didn't know that a gondola ride in Venice is tourist bullshit that could not possibly yield a good photograph, unless you were doing a photo essay satirizing tourism?