(Image Source: MsSaraKelly)
When you’ve both agreed to make a go of it, change your Facebook status to “in a relationship”. It’s a small gesture but one that’s sure to be appreciated. Send a clear signal to your friends and family that although your relationship is long-distance you are still taking it seriously.
Log onto your online dating site and deactiviate your account, then take a screenshot and email it to your partner to brighten their day with this tiny gesture of love.
Use Skype to save money on long distance phone calls. Make sure you know in advance when a good time to call is, so one of you isn’t in a rush to get away. If you haven’t met in real-life yet, video chat is a necessity to check you haven’t snared yourself a catfish.
What’sApp is to texting what Skype is to phone calls. Download the app and you can send each other text messages, for free, all day long.
Or any other film subscription service, but whichever you choose, make sure you’re both using the same one. Once a week have a movie date night, when you snuggle up on the sofa, with Skype open on your laptop, and hit ‘play’ to start the same film simultaneously.
Track down an online cookery programme, like Jamie’s 30 minute meals, to watch while you cook. You can start the programme simultaneously, then when you’ve both finished cooking, compare the kitchen carnage and the final result.
Pick a current TV series that you both enjoy and make sure you both keep up to date with it, with the assistance of a digital recorder.
The mix tape may be dead, but its spirit lives on. Make up a playlist in Spotify, expressing your love through the musical lyrics of others.
Send an email. Yes it’s a simple as that. The best thing about email is that you don’t need to be available at the same time, which is especially useful if one of you is a shift worker, or there’s a time difference involved.
TapTap is a new tool for long distance lovers. Set to retail at $130 per pair, and due for release in April 2014, these unassuming wristbands are packed with technological love transmitters. When one user taps their wristband the message is sent via Bluetooth to an app on their smartphone, which communicates with the partner’s smartphone, which in turn pulses the companion wristband. Not quite as enjoyable as a hug, or communicative as an email, but certainly a quick and quirky way to let your loved one know you are thinking about them.
Pillow Talk, created by Joanna Montgomery, lets lovers stay in touch at bedtime. The couple each wear a ring, which detects their heartbeat, and sends the pulse to a companion pillow, in a similar way to the TapTap devices. The pillow glows and when the partner rests their head at night, they can hear the heartbeat of their long distance lover.
It’s not the physical miles that jeopardise long distance relationships, but the tendency for emotional disconnection to creep in, when the couple have few experiences together, and are unable to keep up with the day-to-day details of each other’s lives. With the help of technology and a little thoughtfulness it is possible to stay connected, even when miles apart.