Tips For Keeping Long Distance Relationships Shiny and New

Any relationship comes with it's own set of challenges, but none can be as tricky to manage as the long distance relationship. No matter if it's temporary or there's no geographical merging in sight, long distance relationships can try even the most star-crossed of lovers. Thanks to technology, there are more (and cheaper!) ways to stay connected to your distant loved one than ever, but that doesn't mean the heart grows fonder. Spending so much time away from your partner can be heartbreaking, frustrating, and downright lonely--which means that maximizing your time together is how you'll get through it, year after year.

Instead of letting the separation make you feel separate, why not embrace some new ways to come together and keep your love feeling like it's right next door. As we enter the New Year, why not make your couple's New Year's Resolution to be using some of our ways to stay even more connected when love is long distance? We asked some of our friends who are in successful long distance relationships to share the secrets of their success.

1. Meet On Uncommon Ground

In many long distance relationships, the couple travels between their respective cities--but why not shake it up by visiting an entirely new place? Nothing brings people closer quite like traveling, and it will create memories that will keep your fires burning when it's time to go back to your homes. Dior, who has been with her girlfriend Rosemary for six years, said: "My girlfriend and I live two states away, so we're pretty familiar with everything the West Coast has to offer. Once a year, we make it a point to go someplace neither of us has ever been--last year, it was Key West. It gets us out of our comfort zone, gets us to make decisions together, and pulls us out of the everyday lives we get sucked in to when we visit each other at home. Even with the best of intentions, our visits involve work, grocery shopping, and all that day to day stuff, which is great, but sometimes we need time to just be together without any distractions, except deciding where to go for dinner. I truly think it's been part of what has kept us together for so long."

2. Have More Virtual Date Nights

"My boyfriend and I Facetime, text, and Skype all the time, but last year we started having virtual date nights," said Djuna, who has been with her partner long distance for two years. "It started with my obsession with re-watching Twin Peaks. David had never seen it before, so we agreed that every Friday night we would order the same dinner, mushroom pizza, and watch a couple episodes and talk about it. It was perfect because since I'd seen it before, I could explain things as they happened and got to watch him take it all in. After we finished Twin Peaks, David got us watching The Wire, which I'd never seen--and we switched our dinners to chicken curry. I know it's cheesy, but I never felt like we were apart those nights. It was the two of us laughing, enjoying something together, and most importantly, prioritizing our relationship. Now we even sync up our grocery shopping and do that together via Facetime and have started cooking the same recipes together. It keeps us aware of what each other likes, what our neighborhoods look like, and what we're like in the kitchen. And it's funny, we do some of those things in person, too, but I think we always both miss doing our Facetime date nights just a little bit."

3. Send Love Letters

"Even though technology is cool, my girlfriend and I like to keep things a little old-fashioned. She's living in Washington for another year finishing school and I'm in our home state of Nevada, so it's not like we're that far apart...but still, we like sending love letters. And I don't mean email," explained Custer. "Once a month or so, we send each other little care packages. They include pictures, or little presents we've found, and I always send her cookies and bars I bake since I know she doesn't have a lot of time to cook. We also keep our more intimate feelings there, on paper, as reminders of how we missed each other. I think that kind of longing is what keeps couples fixated on one another, and keeps them together for a lifetime. I know that even when Kara and I are living together, we're both going to look back on this time and treasure it as what made us grow. Plus, getting a letter in her handwriting is so romantic and special, and I love us putting that kind of time into sharing our feelings with each other. Hopefully we can pass some of them down to our kids one day, as the story of how their mom and dad kept falling in love over and over again."