When Emma* set off on her first holiday with her boyfriend of six months, she was eager to arrive in the south of Spain neighbourhood that he loved. “I was so excited to see the area because he went there every summer and I’d heard it was a beautiful place,” she says. “We had some good moments. We had some bad moments – and when we got back to the UK... we broke up.”

A couple’s first holiday has long been considered a relationship hurdle that some glide over with ease, while others tumble and fall. On ITV’s bikini-clad dating show Love Island, you hear all the time about how the villa is “a test” for the contestants and their partners. Among ordinary civilians, a 4am airport wake-up call and a trip on an Airbus A320 will do.

“You obviously get annoyed and frustrated and think, ‘well s***, if I can’t spend this much time with them, then what kind of future do we have if we want to live together or travel together for weeks, months or the rest of our lives?’” says Emma of why her holiday led to a different kind of break.

When on the move, opportunities for icks (sudden, sometimes irreparable, feelings of disgust towards your partner) to emerge are rife. This month, a survey of 2,000 UK adults, conducted by Barcelona-based airline Vueling, found that 43 per cent of Brits have clocked something that somewhat repulses them about their partner while on their first holiday; Clapping when the plane lands tops the list of unforgivable behaviour, followed by photographing every meal for Instagram.

Other icks are subtler. Emma simply found it off-putting that her boyfriend refused to get out of bed until it reached the afternoon. “I like chilling on holiday,” she says. “But I want to be on the beach with a book not just in bed for the entire first half of the day. We were just incompatible in that way, and it gave me the complete ick.”

The issues didn’t stop there, with Emma’s ex also refusing to compromise on where they went for dinner, insisting on a restaurant that served solely a meat heavy menu, when she wanted something Mediterranean and light. “He didn’t want to listen to me, discuss it, or decide together.”

I wasn’t sure if I was going to break up with him, I’d really been debating it, but once we made it to Spain I realised this was it

A huge 89 per cent of people think that a first holiday can make or break a romance, according to Vueling. Among them, Gen Z are most brutal, with almost two-thirds (61 per cent) of 14 to 29-year-olds spotting an ick during their time away – and 10 per cent calling it quits while still on the trip.

Emma waited until she was back on UK soil to pull the plug, but the idea had been lurking for a while. “The holiday was the nail in the coffin,” she says. “I wasn’t sure if I was going to break up with him, I’d really been debating it, but once we made it to Spain I realised this was it.”

The thing about icks is that they are often just an excuse not to get close to someone and have the potential to trap us all in perpetual dating misery. To avoid the post – or mid – holiday break-up, love and relationship coach Lorin Krenn has five tips: Talk about expectations before you travel; don’t feel like you have to spend every minute together; be honest about your travel habits; expect a few bumps in the road, and focus on connection with your partner – rather than utter perfection.

“The pressure to have the perfect holiday has never been greater, and social media has a lot to answer for,” says Krenn. “But when couples are curating the trip, they’re missing the experience.

“Some of the most bonding travel moments I have heard couples describe were the things that went sideways. The restaurant that was closed, the wrong turn that led somewhere unexpected, the evening plan that fell apart and became something better. Put the phone down. Let it be imperfect,” she suggests. “Those are the moments that stay with you.”

Holidays, at their core, are an opportunity for increased intimacy. At their worst, they can be an inopportune time to realise that you don’t fancy someone who reserves a sun lounger at 6am. At their best, they can be the moment you know you’ve found the one; nearly half of Brits surveyed revealed they realised that their partner was the love of their life abroad.

Amid the travel stress and the sunburn, the much mythologised ick can’t put you off the person you’re actually meant to be with – even if they hold their nose when they jump in the pool and clap when the plane lands.