Move over love languages. There is a new way couples are sizing each other up…and it involves booking a flight.
The latest travel trend sweeping social media is called ‘Turbulence Testing’.
It sees couples, often in the early stages of a relationship, deliberately choose challenging or unfamiliar travel experiences together as a way of fast-tracking compatibility.
The logic is simple: if you can navigate a foreign kitchen, a steep hiking trail or an open-water diving lesson without falling apart, you might just be on to something.
And the numbers suggest it is catching on in a big way.
Google searches for “couples travel experiences” have surged by 3,343 per cent in the past year alone, according to new data from Bókun, a Tripadvisor company and global leader in travel booking management.
Searches for “couples diving” are up 3,491 per cent, while “couples art class” has seen the single biggest jump of all, rising 5,484 per cent worldwide.
Samuel Jefferies, Bókun Senior Growth Marketing Manager, said the trend reflected a wider shift in how travellers were thinking about experiences.
“The rise of turbulence testing reflects a wider shift in consumer behaviour, with more travellers prioritising meaningful experiences over destinations alone. As demand for experiential travel continues to grow, often driven by a desire for emotional fulfilment and authentic connection, it’s no surprise that turbulence testing is encouraging people to turn to tours and experiences that bring them closer together,” Mr Jefferies said.
The data paints a picture of couples increasingly reaching for adventure over relaxation when they travel together.
Searches for couples skiing are up 1,364 per cent, food tours for couples up 1,187 per cent, couples kayaking up 599 per cent, couples surfing up 335 per cent, couples hiking up 398 per cent and couples stargazing up 265 per cent.
Even pottery, popularised by a certain famous scene in the film Ghost, has seen a 140 per cent jump in search interest.
What the data reveals is that turbulence testing is less about the destination and more about the dynamic.
Couples are deliberately choosing experiences that require communication, teamwork and a degree of vulnerability.
Getting lost trying to read a map in a foreign city, fumbling through a cooking class in a language neither of you speaks, or negotiating who gets to steer the kayak are, apparently, more revealing than a candlelit dinner.
New research from the Tripadvisor Summer Travel Index adds further context, finding that more than two thirds of travellers factor available activities into their destination decision-making, suggesting that for a growing number of people, the experience is the point of travel, not just a bonus.
For tour operators and experience providers, the implications are significant.
Demand for couples tours hit an all-time high earlier this year and the types of experiences rising fastest are not the spa packages or sunset cruises traditionally associated with romance, but the hands-on, active, slightly unpredictable ones where something could go wrong and probably will.
It turns out the best way to find out if someone is right for you might just be to hand them a paddle and see what happens.
