Alongside travel, for us long distance couples, gift buying can be one of the hardest things to budget. Especially if you’re an international couple and you’re trying to save money for visits or closing the distance.

With gifts, you have to think about a range of things. Is the postage going to be expensive to send from one country to the other? Is it too big or too small to send in the mail? Is it going to arrive on time? Is it a restricted or prohibited item? Etc. That’s why in a long distance relationship, you generally have to plan gift buying weeks - maybe months - in advance.

I’ve come up with some pointers on how I go about gift buying when it comes to a special milestone in our relationship - whether it’s an anniversary, birthday or a special holiday like Christmas or Valentines Day.

Being in a slump when in a long distance relationship is not unusual. We all get into them. Being in one doesn’t mean you are unhappy, or that you shouldn’t be in your relationship. It’s common, as humans, for us to feel frustrated with some aspects of our lives. Distance usually is the forefront of these frustrations for us LDR couples, and expectantly so. But what can you do to get out of one of those slumps when the distance just feels like it’s all too much to bear? That you aren’t strong enough to keep going, that you don’t feel worth being with because of the distance? You know what you do? You keep kicking the distance right in the butt. That’s right! Kick it as hard as you can!

Okay . . . You’re probably thinking; ‘what does kicking thin air have to do with getting me out of a slump?’

Nothing, but just imagining kicking all the miles that separate you and your love is pretty satisfying. Especially when you imagine it to be this huge blobby, ugly monster that you repeatedly kick it in the nuts . . . That’s if the monster has nuts . . .ahem.

Okay, okay . . . So kicking it in it’s hypothetical genitals isn’t doing it for you? Fair enough. So that’s why we have some tips to help you get out of that feeling of distance fatigue, heartache and loneliness.

Recently, we were approached by a British journalist - Amanda Stringfellow - from Barcroft Media to get word out about a new case study on long distance relationships for an undisclosed national newspaper in Britain. This case study is targeted at British nationals who are in a long distance relationship (or if your SO is British, that should be fine too!) We don’t have too many details about it, but please be rest assured that this is a real opportunity for you to talk about your experience of being in a long distance relationship and to show the world that distance truly can be overcome! If you are interested in participating or finding out more information, please contact Amanda at the following, make sure you mention that we sent you her way:

Email: Amanda@barcroftmedia.com (Subject: British LDR Case Study)

Twitter: @amanda_l_s

And in case you’re feeling unsure about the authenticity of this opportunity, you can check out Barcroft’s two websites (1/2) to see just what they do!

Remember, this is for British LDRs! We’re just simply trying to help people get their LDR journeys heard by a real newspaper! Let’s show everyone that long distance relationships aren’t impossible! That we can defeat the miles, regardless of all the obstacles facing us! Good luck!

It’s no longer Summer and with that comes a new refined blog design. This is so that our blog is much more pleasant to browse, and hopefully it means that more people will stick around and follow our posts than before (fingers crossed). The only problem we’ve come across so far, is that you might have to do a cache refresh (ctrl and f5) to get the navigation bar’s font to show up as it seems to be a little temperamental for us, at least. If you have any other problems experiencing the blog’s new look, please do comment!

So you guys understand what changes have been made, we’ve decided to break it down for you. Below is an overview of the new blog design.

The overall look of the new design is fresh, but simple.

Last night was probably one of the most stressful and worrying nights I’ve ever experienced in our relationship.

Not because of a fight or plans going wrong but more because I was so worried about Davy. He had been feeling a bit under the weather these last few days. At first we didn’t think much of it because we assumed it was from him lifting boxes and just being generally busy at work. But then yesterday, Davy started coming down with other things. His throat was hurting, he couldn’t lift his left shoulder/arm without it hurting, he was starting to wheez and cough constantly. Then later that evening, he checked his temperature: 101.4 F / 38.6 C. This was just as we were saying goodnight because Davy had an appointment with his GP this morning at 8.30am.

When he told me it was 38.6c, he was like “oh it seems normal” which confused me, because I was sure that the average body temperature was at least a centigrade or two lower than that. So feeling confused and even more worried, I asked my parents if that temperature was considered normal. My parents knowing from experience of having six children (and at some point, we’ve all had high temperatures whether it’s from pneumonia or other illnesses) knew something was off. Dad told me that I HAD to wake Davy up to get him to cool his body temperature because it went from normal to just a sudden hot spike in a matter of an hour. So, I woke him up - as bad as I felt about it and I managed to get him to get some ice for his head and cool cloths for the rest of his body.

I felt horrible because I knew he needed sleep in order to wake up for his appointment in the morning but at the same time, making sure his body was cooler was hugely important too. It took about half an hour for his temperature to be in the 36-37c range without any ice or wet cloths on his body, which wasn’t too bad. But all night I couldn’t stop tossing and turning in bed. Now we are just waiting to hear back about his x-ray results.

Last night was a defining moment for me because it just made me appreciate him even more. It made me realise how badly and how much I really need him to be okay. How heartbreaking it is not being able to care for him, look after him and be by his side to help him recover from this. He’s had colds and flu’s in the past, don’t get me wrong, but nothing as worrying and scary as this.

It’s little moments like your other half being ill to the point that you’re scared of their condition worsening and feeling useless because you can’t physically prevent it that really make you see how deeply you feel inside about them. Of course, Davy knows I feel deeply about him, as do I know how deeply he feels about me. But when you’re faced with possibly your SO having to be admitted to hospital, it makes you want to give them even more TLC the next time you see them. It makes every little kiss, hug, glance and butterfly in your stomach even more special.

Inspired by this LDR Writing Prompt: Defining Moment

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Finding things to keep an LDR fresh and exciting can be frustrating and at times tedious. But I have come up with a few ideas and tips that Jane and I use when looking for things to do together whilst apart.

I'm here to let you know about a few things Jane and I do ourselves to keep us busy and entertained.

It's hard to always keep busy though. You might not be in the mood to do something. Or you might not have the time to something because of the time zone differences. And sometimes even talking is more than enough.

But what if you want to do more than talk? Here's some suggestions:

Watch a TV show or a film together.

This is something Jane and I do often. Not too long ago we started watching New Girl, which is hilarious. We've also watched a British comedy called Bad Education and I can't start about the amount of films we've seen together.

It's really easy to do. Just find a show or show to watch that both you and your significant other are interested in, buffer your file and do a little 3, 2, 1 countdown and start watching. It'll keep you busy for a good amount of time for an extended period. It might take you a week to watch a show or maybe 3 months, as long as it keeps you busy.

A few days ago, I received a really cute package from LeafCutter Designs; their deluxe tiny mail kit (also known as the world’s smallest post service). I was super excited to try this product out as it’s one of those products that is really unique and it brings a little bit of pizazz to packages and letters to your loved ones - in my case, Davy.

When I first opened the package, I was stunned at how compact everything was. Usually DIY kits are far larger than advertised, but it LITERALLY is a tiny mail kit. It made me giggle at how small the stationary sheets were. I was expecting to have to use tweezers to handle it but thankfully my fingers were careful (and small) enough handling everything. The kit comes with different coloured stationary sheets, very fun-size postage stickers, various mini envelopes (plus not-so-tiny translucent envelopes for your minuscule envelopes to go into), brown paper and string for craft boxes and last but not least: some very cute special delivery/air mail stamps and ink. You also get a special edition of ‘the small times’ especially made for the tiny mail kit, along with a LeafCutter Designs magnifying glass! I did notice there was a DIY cut out mailbox, which I’m planning to make with Davy when we have our next visit!

Every relationship has its own goals. Whether you’re in a long distance relationship or a close distance one, it’s important to have a goal or maybe an idea for your future hopes. A long term relationship isn’t worth having if neither of you are willing to put the effort or commitment into it.

So if you find yourself in a long distance relationship, there is a 95% chance that you’re in it for the long haul and it isn’t just something you’re experimenting with compared to close distance ones whereas people are more relaxed and just go with the flow. Many of us (I say many of us but I mean like all of us) who are actually in a long distance relationship want commitment and want something permanent out of it and that’s usually closing the distance and settling down into a life together. Davy and I are no different. We’ll be discussing our future plans and how we intend to go about them.

So where and how does a couple start thinking about their future together?

First of all, you need to make sure that you’re on the same page as a couple. Both of us discussed what we intended to get out of the relationship. We were both pretty young still, and uncertain with what we wanted to even do with our lives. But we knew that we wanted to be together and to make distance work - as tough as it would be. We had random conversations where small hints of our individual goals for the relationship were casually slipped out. Whether it was by Davy making cheeky comments regarding marriage and an idea of having all the big TV news stations at our wedding (thank goodness that idea could never come to fruition because we’d much rather a more intimate ceremony) just to show our love off to the world, or by me just bluntly asking him the direction our relationship was heading.

image created by ldrblogs.com

Love letters are a perfect way to make your significant other feel loved and appreciated. And there’s never a bad time to send or write one. You can have the most silliest reasons for writing a love letter - to tell an SO that you miss them or just a simple I love you. Regardless of what your reason is, it’s bound to make you and your significant other grin from ear to ear! After all, it’s the fact you’ve thought carefully about what you want to portray to your love that counts!

We have decided to participate in LDRBN’s Relationship Challenge for September. The idea of the challenge is to encourage and influence people in long distance relationships to write more love letters to each other. Ideally, it’s a short love letter (but how long it actually is, is down to you) and we have asked our followers through our instagram to give it a go! If you do want to participate in the challenge, you can post a picture of your love letter to your significant other or write it as a simple caption on Instagram. Just make sure you use the hashtag #LDRLOVELETTER and that you TAG DAVYANDJANE on your instagram picture. The most important aspect of this is getting as many people involved and inspired to write letters. If you aren’t on instagram, you can write or copy your love letters into the comments section below! We can’t wait to see what you’ve written!

Below is Davy and I’s love letters to each other. 

To my Davybaby,
It's been a few days since you've been back in the stinky Netherlands (poor you), but I just want you to know that I am so grateful for your support and understanding. Especially during my crazy, emotional and sobbing outbursts these last few days, you have been amazing and you must know that I appreciate and love you with all my heart and more. You are the love of my life, baby!
Lots and lots of love
from your one and only
Janeybum
<3

My baby, My Janey
I love you so much!
You're everything to me. It's been 4 days since our visit but it feels like forever :(
But before you know it, the distance will be closed!
From Davy <3
xxxxx
xxxxx
xxxxx
xx

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So, for today’s post we’re going to be discussing some monthly goals. It’s somewhat of a prompt started over at LDRBN, where you choose three goals for that month and then next month you see if you’ve completed them. Now, because I know this isn’t Davy’s kind of thing (add the fact that he is super busy working), these goals will be mainly my own personal ones or ones we’ve come up with as a couple. 

In the back of our minds, we promised to try post more often on here. And that’s what we have been able to achieve even when our creative tank has been running low, we’ve really stepped up our own personal bar and hit some blogging heights for ourselves. We’re roughly hitting between 800-1,000 views a month which is pretty amazing to be honest. The blog has grown so much since we started. Although we know our monthly views could be higher, there was a time when we only had 500 views for the first year or so. Now we’ve had 8,700! Crazy! Imagine what our views will look like by the end of the year!

1. Practising Conversational Dutch More (Together / Online)

For me, this is something I need to do. I’ve learnt a lot in the year and a half since my Dutch journey began. I’ve gone from a girl that cried at trying to pronounce ‘lachen’ for the first time, to someone who can just do it at ease. Pronunciation is the easy part for me, I can recognise vowel sounds with new words and hit them with the first time. My ‘ui’ is still awkward, but that’s to be expected. I’d also love to be able to hold a conversation without panicking, internally. I know I can string sentences together, but it’s a confidence issue as all language learners experience. Whether I practise conversations through typing or out loud, the most important thing is to practise. Personally I feel like I need to have conversations out loud to improve.