I road-tripped in an RV with my partner for a year. These 5 relationship tips helped us keep the peace.

Sarah Silbiger and her partner Jason Bernert at the North Cascades National Park.

Courtesy of Sarah Silbiger Sarah Silbiger and her partner, Jason Bernert, took a yearlong sabbatical to road trip the US.

Living in a van with your significant other for a year can naturally get frustrating at times.

Here are her top five relationship tips to make life as smooth as possible.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Sarah Silbiger, a 30-year-old freelance video and photojournalist based in Philadelphia.

The following has been edited for length and clarity.

My partner and I are both journalists.

We worked straight through the pandemic, and it was unrelenting.

After covering such partisan politics, I really wanted to have a more holistic understanding of what it meant to live in the US .

We're really outdoorsy and wanted to see the country.

Simply put, I was seeking a creative refresh and whimsy.

The Winnebago EKKO that my partner and I lived in for a year.

Courtesy of Sarah Silbiger That led us to take a sabbatical , sell all our stuff, and move into a van.

Being in love was a nice way to keep things amicable.