Hang in there my friend.

I had a long distance relationship before mobile to mobile. My wife and I saw each other once per month. We were old enough to realize that we would make it work no matter what.

Had I been in my younger days it would have been very hard because of my ragin hormones. But being older and wiser (well not THAT much older but old enough) has its advantages.

In a way long distance relationships work much better because you focus on the spirit rather than the physical. It does improve many relationships to not have that person readily available.

Too often I've seen people take their partner for granted because they were always there physically.

Enjoy it, and don't worry, you're not alone.

Mine lasted a year.

Me in DFW, her in STL. Luckily, that's a short flight, and thanks to the AA/WN wars at the time, a cheap one. We saw each other for a weekend every 2-3 weeks for the first 9 months or so, then both the frequency of visits and the strength of the relationship started to slip.

The way I saw it, we spent as much time together as most local dating couples. But instead of an evening together a few times a week, we'd have 48 or 72 hours continuously every 2-3 weeks.

Mine lasted a year. I was in NYC and he was in London. We had been best friends for 2 years when we both lived in Chicago and only got together the day before I moved to NYC and he moved to London! It was tough but I was over there about once a month and he did get to spend 6 weeks in NYC. Ultimately it ended but it was worth the try.

I can't beat the Norway - Australia story, but it certainly was possible to maintain a long distance relationship before internet and cell phones.

I was in SNA, he was in DEN. We worked for the same government agency and both traveled throughout the U.S. So I would stop over for the weekend on my way to D.C. or Minneapolis, and he would stop here if he was working in SFO, etc.etc. After 2 years of this, he finally was able to transfer here. Next week, we will celebrate our 24th wedding anniversary!

You're right - it's now all about dedication and seems *almost* like a game of endurance and hard work. Whoever says that relationships aren't work I don't believe it. However, on the flip side, it is one of the most amazing parts of my life today that I'm not able (nor ready) to replace.

I just hope US, DL, and maybe WN give me a break this year and start some fare wars out to the southeast!

To Cassie: Congrats on your 24 years!

I lived in PA, she in TX. I would visit when I could but on a grad student's budget, it was tough making it down to see her. She, meantime, ws banking her vacation days for our trip to visit my family in Japan so she was only able to fly up twice.

It was hard but daily phone calls and email contact made it easier. We went that way for three years. We got married last May. I even posted a trip report about our honeymoon.

The key to making it work, IME, is a shared commitment to making it work in addition to the other things crucial to a successful relationship (shared values, mutual respect, etc.). Having a good idea when the "long distance" aspect will end helps, too.

Good luck with your relationship, Insiderdude. And thanks to the respondents for sharing such wonderful stories.^

Mine lasted a year. My gf lived in boi doing research and I travelled to see her every 6 weeks.

The worst trip? syd-sfo - the stay was amazing but her flight leaving was 10 am and my flight was the red eye back to syd so I sat in SFO all day, 14 hour flight back and say in SYD for 10 for my DJ flight to christchurch...)

The internet was a life saver - skype saved us a fortune in calls, we played games together on YIM and had web cam.

I also got to earn 100k in miles with trips like syd-sfo bfs-ewr man-ord and bfs-hnl.

Nice! Now I've to pay it all off

Mr. ACB and I dated long distance for a year. I was in Chicago, he was in NYC. We met at a business meeting in Albuquerque and over the course of a few weeks of e-mail, started dating at a business meeting in Tampa (as much as you can date at a business meeting).

We were lucky because fares were very low throughout the course of our long distance relationship (175.00 roundtrip, usually, from LGA to ORD and vice versa) and we were able to take long weekends and work out of each other's offices on Fridays or Mondays as we worked for the same company.

A year of this and I managed to get transferred to NY. I lived with a random roommate for six months and moved in with Mr. ACB six months later, and we were engaged about a year after that. I'm not going to lie, it was very rough in the beginning. Dating long distance has a thrill about it that is very different from day to day life with someone--every time we saw each other, it was like a vacation. The transition took me months, as I left all of my friends and a solid life in Chicago for the great unknown of NYC.

But, it all worked out, and Mr. ACB and I welcomed our first child, a daughter, eight weeks ago. So we definitely had a happy ending to our long distance romance. And we often joke that that year of LDD was the best of our relationship, as we only had to "deal" with each other once or twice a month. :-)

For nearly three years, I've been seeing a man in Italy. He refers to me as his ragazza - girlfriend - but I can't consider someone I see 4-5 times a year my boyfriend.

He'd like it if I'd move there, but I won't. Because of his work, he travels around the country 95% of the time and his home is in a very small town. So I'm supposed to give up my life in New York City to move to his tiny town (I think more people live in my apartment building here in NY than live year-round in his town) and be alone in his empty apartment? I don't think so.

When we're together, it's great, but it's not real life. We're always staying in hotels, eating in restaurants, having a nightcap at the bar before bed... it's living the fantasy of the hot Italian lover without any of the work needed for a real relationship. And if I moved there, I probably wouldn't be happy, so it's best left as it is. But for however long it lasts, it sure is fun.

That is awesome. You are officially my hero(ine).

Haha, - interesting perspective!!

I've been in a long distance relationship for 9 months now. My fiance lives in Manchester (UK) and I live in London (UK).

We only get to see each other 1 day per month and the odd hour when I'm in Manchester for meetings. Luckily our company has an office in Manchester which means if I add on a visit to my fiance when in Manchester then I can expense the train tickets saving us quite a fair bit of money.

We talk every day and know that we want to be together. We are set to be engaged in December and marred in March before I move up to Manchester.

I have to say that it hasn't been easy and we've had our fair share of arguments caused by not being able to see each other as much as we both would like.

I tried twice:

1. Moved to Sarasota in 95 at the age of 36. Meet a gorl attentding New College (U

When my G/F (now wife) and I were living across the state from each other, the internet was our best way to keep in touch. It was before webcams, VOIP and unlimited calling plans were common, so we used AIM just about every night, with a phone call once or twice a week. She was still in graduate school and I had just left, so we were trying to do it on the cheap. Worked for us!

I tried twice:

1. Moved to Sarasota in 95 at the age of 36. Meet a girl(24) attending New College (USF) on a student visa. She is Trinidadian. It took a while,but she finally agreed to go out with me. For ~4-5 months we were inseparable. Then the graduation day came, and we both realized what is is necessary for us to be together. Her visa required her to go back to Trinidad after graduation. Marriage was one of the possibilities, moving to Trinidad was the other. I just lost my wife about a year earlier so I wasn't ready for marriage. Moving to Trinidad was out of a question for me. We e-mailed, called and she came back and stayed for about 2 weeks. She has family in Orlando and Ft. Myers so I got to meet everybody during the visit. We kept in touch for few more months but came to the realization that unless we marry or I move to Trinidad, we were fooling ourselves. She was/is one of the most wonderful girls I've ever met, but the timing was just not there.

2. Met a beautiful AA FA on a HNL-ORD flight. Not bragging, but she did introduce me to the mile high club.....
Her- Living on Pittsburgh with 2 teenage kids right next to her sisters house. Based out of ORD. Her favorite flights were HNL and LHR(which she gladly exchanged for HNL).
Me: Living in Sarasota, flying a great deal and not ready to move to Pittsburgh.
Result: We had some fun. I'll never forget when she e-mailed? couple of naked pictures from her Honolulu hotel through her mobile to my mobile, but at the end, it came down to the real world.
I wasn't about to move to Pittsburgh, and she did not want to uproot her teenage kids life to move to Florida, and besides ahe had her sister to depend on to take care of her kids when she was on a plane going somewhere every few days a week.

It didn't work for me. Both women were very beautiful, wonderful, funny, sexy, sensual and ...........