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.

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.

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.

Travelling isn’t always the easiest thing to do. Especially with money being so tight thanks to the economy among other situations. Whether you are on the minimum wage (or just over it) or earning a decent salary you can still get some really good deals. Due to our financial situation as a couple and as individuals not being stable, we’ve had to adapt and find other solutions to be able to have those visits.

The most complicated thing about finding affordable travel in Europe (this can apply for other continents too) is finding one that fits within a price range of under £100. You can get many good deals with flights and trains, but sometimes even the most simplest form of travel is overlooked: coaches. Sure, they’re not always the most comfiest and people are usually turned off by sitting in one place for numerous amount of hours but isn’t that what most international couples have to do regardless? I know many couples who live further than across mainland Europe and those couples have had to go via routes that don’t allow them to even stretch their legs other than up and down the plane aisles. This problem gives coach travelling some leverage. Depending on the coach company and the schedule, a coach driver will and be happy to allow you to stretch your legs outside of the coach for a few minutes during a scheduled stop - that’s if the coach is running on schedule. There are also other opportunities for you to stretch your legs during a coach trip. For example, say if you are travelling from Antwerp (or any other European destination) to London and you have to go via ferry/tunnel. You can take advantage of this as when you are on the ferry, all passengers are required to go the main deck. This allows you to wrinkle out all the tightness in your legs, you can get warm food and beverages. You can even get in some extra phone/gadget charging or grab a sofa and snooze for the duration that it takes to get from Calais to Dover!