Like chicken soup is good for the soul, Plan B is good for the unprepared and Windex is good for the Greeks, a little vacation time is good for relationships. Whether you’re deep in love, falling in love, looking for love or avoiding love, a little peace and relaxation or a lot of techno and tequila can be magical.

Taking a breather from reality, schoolwork, responsibilities, pledging and Kalzonies can be cleansing and can change you more in just one week than in 12 sessions with your psychiatrist.

It’s mostly about being out of your comfort zone. Isn’t it always easier to have the home-court advantage? Winning on the road is much more of a challenge. You’re not used to the court, you’ve got fans cheering for the other players, you have to adjust to new lighting and sleep in anonymously worn-in beds. Plus, traveling creates constipation, so it’s not always a pretty picture.

So making it work with your previous lover or relying on the support of a prospective loved one is much more likely to happen on the road than at home.

Watching your man navigate an airport with poise and then grant you the window seat while squishing himself next to a mildly obese stranger who carried on lo mien and sleeps with the light on during your red-eye flight beats most acts of chivalry you might have encountered pre-vacation. At home, you’re lucky if your seat at Bleu Monkey gets pulled out for you or you get to watch the movie you voted for, but on vacation, you’re treated like a princess.

Of course you’ll get the royal treatment from men at resorts. With unlimited drinks and food, all the guys turn into waiters for hot girls in teeny-weenie bikinis. Forget waiting in line for another round, guys simply bombard you with bottles and even generously offer to pour them in your mouth so you don’t get parched. Flash back to Chucks Café on a Friday night and you’re lucky to push your way to the bar through all the guys ordering refills of pitchers.

If a relationship can survive or thrive on a vacation, you’ve got a pretty solid thing going on. We’re always talking about how difficult long-distance relationships are and how taxing and tolling it is to be separated from our significant others. But what happens with the opposite?

On vacation, you and your beau are practically attached at the hip. You sleep together, wake together and dine at least seven meals a day together. There are no classes or group projects or intramural basketball games to interrupt your one-on-one time. No responsibilities other than to sunbathe next to one another, reapply sunscreen, say cheese for this picture and that picture, and then retake this picture and that picture because your smile in this and that looked forced. Heck, if you can survive a week together while taking pictures without forcing smiles, you’re a mench.

Experiencing a change of scenery with your loved one is always nice, too. There’s just something about doing it in a hotel bed or gazing out over a beautiful sunset that can make you appreciate your companion so much more. Everyone looks sexier by the ocean than by their MacBook, right?

And then there’s the temptation that vacations bring. There is the weeklong mingling of hundreds of other college students stumbling around in minimal clothing, all burnt and peeling, ready to make some memories. It might be a shock and a treat to see so many girls without black leggings or so many guys without greek letters, but if you can stay true to the one with which you came, you two have got something really special.

But hey, we can’t forget that sometimes, new relationships bloom during Spring Break. Not much can trump a romantic evening on the beach with the winner of the booty-dancing contest. On vacation, because we are free from stress, we unleash our truest selves. And when we are ourselves, our hearts (or our lady and man parts) seem to relax and yearn to be utilized a bit more. But now, it’s back to the books.

Talia Pollock is a junior television, radio and film major and the assistant feature editor. She recommends a camping excursion for the ultimate relationship builder. There’s just nothing quite like peeing in the bushes together. Her column appears weekly and she can be contacted at tpollock@syr.edu.

Published on March 22, 2010 at 12:00 pm