I, too, am in a sometimes LDR relationship. I’m a Canadian and my husband is an American. Currently we are in the process of his immigration to Canada permanently, so he spends time in Canada and then returns to the US. He’s been back in Vegas now for 2 months, after an extended stay here.

My suggestions echo the ones already provided. Stay busy, reconnect with the things you used to love, and take time for yourself. Catch up with friends, rearrange your living space, start scrapbooking. Take a class you’ve always wanted to take but never had the time to.

With the current era of technology a LDR has never been easier. Trust me. My partner and I sometimes play scrabble on our ipods, share a bottle of wine over skype, write each other love letters that are sometimes sexy, and just hang out. We never go to bed without saying goodnight and I love you. We talk about the things we can’t wait to do when we’re together again and we make plans.

At the end of the day, it’s about finding the right balance between time for you and time for your partnership. And if you strike it right, it’s rewarding. Not to mention, talking in depth about what you want to do with each other when you reunite can be hot as hell!

This is also a perfect time to start a hobby that has a lot of intensive start-up costs in term of time and/or an annoying learning curve. Since it’s spring, this would be a great time to start a garden, for instance, even a balcony garden. I’d be thrilled to have three months to learn how to sew.

We met on twitter, he’s in Sydney, I’m in Brisbane (approx 1000km apart).

We’ve been together for over a year. Text messages, gmail chat, email, twitter and tumblr keep us in touch daily.

When we are together, we try to make it at least a week at a time. Over the Christmas period we spent a month together and it was wonderful.

I think we’ve developed a greater appreciation of the time we spend together.

When we are apart, there are days when we miss each other terribly, and it is difficult not being there when the other is having a bad day, but we manage to make it work.

Given the choice between an LDR and not having him in my life, I pick the LDR.

I’ve had several LDRs, all of which started as LDRs.

#1: Do all of the online stuff, but, as others have said, don’t underestimate the power of a hand-written letter with a dash of perfume or a doodle on the envelope.

There are two Internet things I love the most. The first are custom-made crossword puzzles. There are lots of sites for these; you just input your own words and your own clues, and it will make a crossword puzzle for you. You can link it to your significant other or print it out and mail it. The second are custom-made jigsaw puzzles; I like Jigsaw Planet, but there are lots. You can make any image into a puzzle, choosing the number and shape of the pieces.

#2: I’ll pretty much second what everyone else has said.

Wishing you good luck! ^^

You may find out that you completely change yourself when you are with him. And now you will have concrete “demands” – “I need to spend more time curled reading novels and less time out clubbing.” Be reasonable, of course – there is some give and take in any relationship and you might need to spend SOME time clubbing, as a member of a partnership. But you can make sure that your personality is not being completely changed in the process. And if you didn’t realize that that was happening, and he’s unwilling to accommodate the changes you want to make, well, you’ll have some thinking to do.

Alternately, you may find that you are doing all the same things you normally do. In which case, score! You are in a relationship where you get to completely be yourself. Now you’re talking really long-term potential.

I know that’s not really what you were asking about, but it’s still a great opportunity to “test” the long-term potential of your relationship. I know women that have NEVER not been with someone, much less been away from them for more than a week. It’s sad to see how much some of them change with each new partner.

Good luck to you!

PS, ditto all the other good advice that has been posted.

OK, Question #1:
Things that were hardest to get used to: having to explore by yourself; sleep by yourself; deal with problems by yourself; having to make friends and meet people by yourself; relearning to cook for one; time zones.

Things that make it better: texts- lots and lots and lots of texts; planning phone time; weekend skype dates (when I say ‘dates’ I mean more like- oh you’re eating dinner? I’m having lunch! Let’s skype!); visits, however brief and no matter the circumstances; actively seeking out things that you enjoy that he doesn’t (for instance, I love waking up with the sun in my face, he prefers to be cloaked in darkness until he has to leave, etc).

I also got a lot of help and support in the beginning from my facebook friends who are military wives. Don’t be afraid to broadcast your feelings when you’re sad- people understand and they will encourage you- it also gets better after the first few weeks.

Question #2- We’ve been enjoying the wide world of greeting cards- specifically, buying them with the intention of pointing out how ridiculous they are and closing them out with a heartfelt and sweet note- and hey, everyone loves mail from real humans, so much so the better when it’s the human you love!

Best of luck!!

As for living alone – I love it. I also think that it’s a really good experience for people before settling down with someone else. It means you know what needs doing for running a household, you know there’s no ‘housework fairy’ so it will make you a better person to live with in the long run.

As said above, as well, you can do what you like when you like, answer to nobody and it’s just lovely. Enjoy it!

Basically, I second what everyone above said. Internet is a godsend for LDRs. Chat every day, if you can. I’m actually out of the country right now, and my partner and I both stay logged into gchat as long as we can get away with, and just chat about this and that over the course of the day. Sharing fantasies, sexy pics, and, if you can, phone/video sex is both hot and important for maintaining the sexual desire (and avoiding having that desire redirected elsewhere).

Three months is really not bad at all – you’ll find after the first 2-3 weeks (the hardest time) it’ll (mostly) fly by. In fact, I have a 3-month visitation policy – if we’re apart longer than 3 months, then I plan a visit every 2-3 months. It works well for me, and several other friends of mine who’ve had successful LDRs have the same policy. There’s something about that 2.5-3 month mark – it’s about the time that the libido takes over and others start looking really good, no matter how committed you are to your relationship.

In the meantime, to second the Harpies’ excellent advice, just do what makes you happy and keeps you busy – and, bonus, it gives you more things to talk about with your bf.

The first practical suggestion I have for you is to make sure you have your own life activities lined up — get out of the house, or read a book you’ve always meant to read, or hang out with friends regularly, or learn to cook, or whatever. Find something to help you keep from pining. Strengthening your individual identity will make you better in the relationship, and this is an opportunity to develop independently.

You can also do something like I did in my one successful LDR: I made a box with little short love notes, one to be opened by him every day that we were to be apart. This helped at least as much as letters and phone calls to keep us feeling connected, and it didn’t make me fixate on his absence while in medias res.

Incidentally, @BeckySharper, I have found gmail vchat far more consistent and better-quality than Skype, so your mileage may vary.

Good luck, LW, and have fun with your first time living as an independent adult-type-person!