A woman who has gone on seven holidays without her partner this year has insisted she doesn't 'feel guilty' for leaving him behind.
Christina Patel, 30, from Hertfordshire has been with her partner for four and a half years and says they have been on multiple holidays together. However he is a teacher and due to his job she leaves her partner at home while she jets off around the world, reports Hull Live.
Last year the couple had two trips together, while Christina had five on her own but she disagrees that her relationship is "unconventional."
Christina, a recruiter, said: "My partner is a school teacher so we can only go away together in school holidays.
"He knew what he was getting himself into - within our first four months of dating I had five trips booked and one of them was a month-long trip to South America. Sometimes people will say 'your poor boyfriend is home alone do you not feel guilty having fun without him?'.
"I mainly get those comments from the older generation or people who hold really traditional values. I am very lucky that my partner is very understanding about it and knows I love to travel."
Christina went on a trip to south east Asia when she was 22-years-old and hasn't stopped travelling since.
Already this year, she has visited seven countries without her partner.
She said: "I love travelling; it is that feeling of freedom and having different adventures every day. I love meeting new people and trying new foods - it is a combination of those things.
"It is very different from being at home, waking up, going to work, then sleeping. I like the spontaneous lifestyle."
Christina said her partner is "very understanding" because his jobs means he is only available at certain times a year.
She says her trips can be very spontaneous and she sometimes books a holiday a week before she is due to go.
Christina said: "We do have a holiday in August booked and a few weekends booked together. I think if I was with someone who couldn't travel with their job and was not understanding of my love of travelling it just wouldn't work - I am very lucky.
"Most of the stuff I do I book on a whim, when it is the school holidays I will make sure we plan together but apart from that I am a last-minute booker. When I tell him I am going away he is like 'ok fair enough' he will come back from work and I will tell him how I will be going away next week and he is used to it."
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