Novel ways to keep in touch with your other half! :)

[Nik+Heather 121]

We have a few games that we can play online together - "virtual" togetherness!

We use hand signals to say goodbye at the airport, when either one of us is returning home (so we can say "I love you" even when the other person is fading from sight), and we have made it a type of habit/ritual to do the same thing before we finish chatting on the webcams.

Also, we love to spend a great deal of time sharing our newest Youtube finds with each other.

Us too! But we met on a game so...

Going home is always the worst part. Loitering in the airport, going through security at the last possible second, trying not to cry too much while getting metal detected....At the Phoenix airport, one of the parking garages overlooks the gates, so even after he went in, I could go watch the plane leave....the best part was that when he comes back, I could park and watch his plane taxi in, and watch the people file out and walk towards the terminal (waving frantically in case he happened to look out the window!)

We used to do something similar to the audio books, we would take turns picking books and reading each book to each other. We got through a few books and they seem to be that much more enjoyable. We also played games together, one of our favorites was Battlefield, He used to fly the planes and drop me off to sniper, I couldn't control the planes haha.

We always watched tv and movies together and were on webcam loads. We also watched football, and nfl games together. and listened to music through youtube together. We would cook dinner together on webcam and headset. We did everything on headset together except shower. We slept with headsets on and I was always his alarm clock.

Nik has read a few books to me. We didn't want to start any new ones as it takes more than a couple months to get through...Birthday presents and Christmas presents usually include books which one of us has enjoyed but the other hasn't yet read.

Nik is a Battlefield junkie. I'm not very good at that type of game, but I think he still harbors dreams of us driving tanks or helicopters or something together......

We used to sleep with the headsets more often, but he has several (loud) alarm clocks and sometimes I'm asleep when they go off in the middle of my night, and it just wasn't good. On the few weeks when Nik works the later shift he sometimes is up late enough to watch me cook dinner on the web cam, but frequently he's in bed before I leave work on week days.

[Gary_UK 17]

For Danielle and I we play an online RPG game which is great. Afterall we met thanks to that game. It's good fun to go on co-operative missions together.

The mighty skype with web cams and headsets are the daily norm. To add to that I have a teamspeak server set up on a machine that never gets turned off. Its great because either of us can hop on as and when and we can hear each other sleeping. it makes us feel a lot closer somehow.

We both sleep with headsets on but recently I seem to manage to get the cord entangled around my neck so if I remember ill place it right by the bed so it picks up whatever. ;o)

When either of us are away from our PC's I have to thank "3" here in the UK for a stunning phone service. I have a PAYG mobile phone that supports MSN and Skype. So we can call each other while out and about as well as keep in constant contact through MSN. for £5 a month I am NOT complaining.

As for other things we get up to. occasionally we will watch youtube video's together. and fun websites like "failblog" And also at times watch the same movie. on our "date " nights. If her work allows the time for it. whether that's a DVD or something we both have a copy of.

"Date" nights are soooo important. phones and blackberries get turned off.. doors locked and for a few hours we are more together than any other time. No interruptions and no distractions.

Cant wait to get my interview over and done with and can count the weeks so that all of the above is a distant memory. We will have the real deal

[Gemmie 142]

I have to agree with Nich. Vonage is amazing.

He would call the UK for free (included in his $40 p/m) and now that I've moved, we set up something amazing that has helped me out so much. For just an extra $5 p/m, you can have a virtual number set up in any town/city in the UK so that your loved ones can call you for local rate. Thanks for that advice, Nich - you were the one to tell me about it, I think. But we would talk every night using Vonage.

I also used to send him little things, like DVD's, games, teddy bears, cards, etc... we'd send texts during our day to talk about what was happening and also remind each other about the future.

One time I spent a few weeks of my free time drawing a huge picture of all of our inside jokes. He loved it so much he wanted to frame it! It always makes us laugh and remember our friendship as well as our romantic bond. I think that's important as the stress of the distance and immigration process can be devastating.

[thatbritishlass 2]

"Date" nights are soooo important. phones and blackberries get turned off.. doors locked and for a few hours we are more together than any other time. No interruptions and no distractions.

Cant wait to get my interview over and done with and can count the weeks so that all of the above is a distant memory. We will have the real deal

I really like the 'date night' idea. We have Skype dates but generally only for an hour or so at a time, but I like the idea of having a total evening/afternoon of 'just us' time. It can be difficult, though, as he works irregular shifts, so sometimes he starts work just as I finish We make it through, though

[BowieChick 0]

Though Skype chats with webcams are our main form of communication (normally lasting 3-6 hours, ha) we do use Twitter when I am away from the computer.

Just as you say with Facebook, Isaac updates his twitter and it sends to my phone and I @reply him. He doesn't have a cell phone so it only works when he's online but it's nice if I am running late for our daily chat and we can still tell each other what's going on. His Twitter is private and he uses it purely for that purpose.

We also play online games against each other. Normally just simple stuff like MySpace pool or darts.

We have a hard time finding 2 player games that don't involve downloading stuff to your computer, anyone got any for us? We love scrabble but the only good version I found only worked in America. Lame.

[MummyOf1 0]

Myself and Robb.. when we first started out a year ago (a whole year already!!).. I'd use my landline to call his cell.. and i was getting phone bills of £150+ a month.. it was ridiculous lol..

then I went onto the international plan.. which really wasn't any better, as I used it more and more, thinking it'd be cheaper lol.

Finally, I stumbled across Vonage.. i now pay £6.99 a month.. and am able to call him anytime i want, for as long as i want.. and i LOVE it.. it's saved me HUGE amounts of money!!

The other ways we use to communicate are quite cool..

Usually from about 3pm my time (10am his).. we're on the videocall on MSN (much like skype but better quality).. i can have him on the whole of my screen.. and the sound is perfect, neither of us have a headset so we can walk about and get on with our daily things whilst the other is there.. it's just like being in the same room .. this lasts until about 2 or 3am my time.. so a good 12 hrs!! (insane i knoww lol)

It's a great way to communicate as even my 3 year old has realised.. she'll run into the room and shout at him, or tell him things.. she loves it too!

Other than that.. we watch movies together, using the webcam and audio so that we're both on the exact same part of the movie and i love it when we both laugh at a certain part of the film. We also text.. he's on Virgin Mobile in the US and i'm on o2 here in the UK.. he has an unlimited plan.. and for some reason when I send him messages it bounces off a UK satellite.. sending my text to his cell FOR FREE!!.. i have no idea how i swindelled that!..

We go into chat rooms together.. find clips on youtube to watch together..

there's plenty of things we do together.. it's great.. it's wonderful to know he's in the background

[Jamaican JNR 2]

Well I last saw the boy in May, it's now July, and my next trip isn't until 3rd October.....and whilst I don't want to wish away a generally lovely British summer, I am going slightly crazy here!!

So it made me wonder, just for fun, how you guys stay in touch while apart? Not just literally but emotionally as well. We use the obvious methods of Skype, letters, etc...Facebook is single-handedly responsible for lowering my phone bill though. I set up Facebook mobile so every time he sends me a PM it is converted into a text message to my phone - I can reply by text too (standard UK rate i.e. free on my contract and then the message I send back is turned into a text at his end. So it's a convoluted but ultimately free way to text each other.

Plus I send him Disney pins from other Disney parks I've been lucky enough to visit around the world

Does anyone have any unusual things that they do for each other to keep the romance alive? (I do NOT mean that in a dirty way, btw )

J

Thanks for the info. The wait in-between can be so emotional, here in Jamaica there are several cell phone providers that are competing for the market so they offer "deals" on international calls which works out cheap for customers. Without it I would maybe try texting.

[thatbritishlass 2]

Finally, I stumbled across Vonage.. i now pay £6.99 a month.. and am able to call him anytime i want, for as long as i want.. and i LOVE it.. it's saved me HUGE amounts of money!!

Other than that.. we watch movies together, using the webcam and audio so that we're both on the exact same part of the movie and i love it when we both laugh at a certain part of the film. We also text.. he's on Virgin Mobile in the US and i'm on o2 here in the UK.. he has an unlimited plan.. and for some reason when I send him messages it bounces off a UK satellite.. sending my text to his cell FOR FREE!!.. i have no idea how i swindelled that!..

I didn't know Vonage operated in the UK? I'll have to look into that.

I get off quite lightly on the landline side of things anyway. I work for BT so I get free broadband as a company perk, and the VoIP phone that is included with that lets me call his cellphone for 1p/min which is awesome - quality sometimes leaves something to be desired but you can't have everything

My latest discovery last night was intercontinental grand prix on Mario Kart Wii - I can see that getting quite competitive!! But his daughter can play too at the same time so it's something fun we can all do together.

[Jenn and Fuat 2]

I love the audio book idea!

We use facebook,MSN, text, etc.. but with our time difference we only get to "see" each other about 30 minutes a day. When he gets home from work, and gets on the computer, it's usually around 11:00pm for him.. and 4:00pm for me, so I am still in my office. Thankfully, my boss allows me some "free time" to be able to see him for a little while. I stay later at work to make up for the time I spent on the web cam.

At least one day a week, we are both off work, and can spend more time on the web cam.. so that's a good day to try the audio book idea. We also share music, and youtube videos when we have the chance.

I'm his alarm clock and he's mine.. it's easier for him, since he's at work when I need to wake up and I am usually fighting sleep when I am waiting for the time to give him his wake up call. We even have "snooze" alarms I call and let the phone ring until he rejects the call. Then he gets five more minutes to sleep and I call again.. he usually hits "snooze" about three times and once he's awake he'll make my phone ring to let me know he's up. I'm easier to wake up, so he generally only has to call me once!

The one thing we do to continuously stay in touch is to give each other missed calls. If you call and let the phone ring just once it costs nothing and it's a great way to just say "Hi, I love you.. I am thinking about you."

My phone will ring, just once, throughout day and it's a great way to just have a connection to each other when we can't see each other or can't talk just then.

Two missed calls, back to back, means "call me"... and if we let the phone ring at least 3 times it means "Answer the phone".

One day, Insallah, we won't have to do all this crazy stuff. I'm looking forward to the day I can just reach over and say "honey.. time to wake up."

[Christi and Ian 24]

Well I last saw the boy in May, it's now July, and my next trip isn't until 3rd October.....and whilst I don't want to wish away a generally lovely British summer, I am going slightly crazy here!!

So it made me wonder, just for fun, how you guys stay in touch while apart? Not just literally but emotionally as well. We use the obvious methods of Skype, letters, etc...Facebook is single-handedly responsible for lowering my phone bill though. I set up Facebook mobile so every time he sends me a PM it is converted into a text message to my phone - I can reply by text too (standard UK rate i.e. free on my contract and then the message I send back is turned into a text at his end. So it's a convoluted but ultimately free way to text each other.

Plus I send him Disney pins from other Disney parks I've been lucky enough to visit around the world

Does anyone have any unusual things that they do for each other to keep the romance alive? (I do NOT mean that in a dirty way, btw )

J

We use Skype, mainly because we can speak face to face which is much more gratifying than just hearing his voice. We also had Vonage - and for $5.00 a month, I was given a local number in the U.K. through Vonage so he can call from his mobile and not incur any charges other than the cost of a local call. Brilliant...

Also, Google Voice - another VOIP service that gives a local number - he has a California number on Google Voice so I can call his cell & it is considered a local call.

[pothergavel 0]

Nothing spectacularly original, but for us:

I had Sky tv and phone, so it was £5 a month for me to call any number in the US for up to an hour, but as often as we liked. The only problem of course is that it used the missus' minutes with the whole cell phone ridiculousness in the USA.

Then I got a mobile contract on 3 purely for the whole free Skype thing. Cheapest contract was £15 a month, 6 months, free phone. The phone was actually perfect. Means you can call people on skype for free, and they can call you for free. So I used to call Mrs PG as I commuted to work in the morning. Skype phone + bluetooth speaker, ftw.