20 Top Tips for Long Distance Relationships

For many reasons, families are apart – in physical space, but that doesn’t mean the relationship has to suffer! Whether your partner is deployed to a country many time zones away, or you are in your final years of medical school a continent away, you CAN keep your relationship healthy in your long distance relationship. There are a few general things you can each do to better manage the distance between you: 

Get competent on the latest technology –
• laptop computers,
• VoIP (Voice over Internet Phone),
• web cam,
• MySpace,
• the various messenger services (ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, AOL, etc.),
• digital photography and uploading photographs,
• and even simple things such as knowing the time zone differences. 

Believe me, it really bites when you THINK you are calling at 7 am, when he is supposed to get to work, and it is really 1 am! You might think ‘he doesn’t even care about me, or he would answer the phone!” when really, he is sleeping soundly in his hotel, and doesn’t hear the even hear the phone. 

Now, for the 20 Top Tips I promised you. One suggestion is do NOT try to surprise your long distance love with every one of the 20 Top Tips in the first week! (It might scare them.)

Before You Go
1. Spend some time together just talking over your expectations (i.e., when you will talk, how often you will email each other, when you expect to be back together, etc.) This will keep you both on the same page, and not wondering about the essentials. 

2. Plan a special reunion day for when you are back in each other’s arms. Go online together and find a perfect hideaway nearby to celebrate your ‘re-union’. Then, while apart, you can go online together and dream of romantic destinations.

As “D” (Departure) Day Approaches
3. Be sure to organize things like insurance papers, phone call lists, email addresses, etc. for each of you, so that the worry about being out of touch is reduced. Get two identical little day planner books, and record all essential information in each one.