Dated in Thailand while I was visiting.

I had a long distance relationship with a woman who lived in Asia.

We were friends on Facebook and we got chatting and I began to develop feelings for her and eventually, I asked her about having a relationship and she said yes.

All relationships are hard but a LDR is even harder. Not only do you have the long distance but also the cultural differences (if you are from a different culture). You can and should educate yourself about your SO's culture but there's a difference between learning, experiencing and being apart of it. Many women are likely to get very insecure during a LDR. I mean when I say really insecure I mean really insecure that might involve her telling you to come and see her right now, calling up and just crying down the phone, accusing you of cheating and even telling you to leave her and find a girl in your own country (this all happened to me). There is, of course, the financial cost as well and that was a real issue for me.

One of the problems with me was that I wasn't in a financial position to see her as soon as I would have liked to but eventually we met and it turned into a complete disaster. When I had gotten back to my country she had blocked me from calling her as well blocked me on WhatsApp and Facebook. After 3 or 4 months, she called me apologising but I was having none of it since it wasn't the first time she had blocked me and had promised to never do it again.

So after 2+ years the relationship came to an end. There were other issues besides the LDR like she was a workaholic and I was a PMO addict (not a great combination). We were both hurt people who should of been trying to heal from our pain instead of being in a relationship with each other. Maybe it would have worked if we both didn't have so much undealt baggage. Having said that LDR did play a part in the relationship coming to an end.

LDR can work but it takes a lot of work. You will invest a lot of time and money and it's possible it could come to an end and the question is how will you feel if that does happen? I don't regret investing the time and money on my ex. I view the relationship as a lesson learned but some people get angry and bitter when a LDR comes to an end.

Taking a look at the dating different nationalities thread might be helpful.

Here's some articles that might help too:

https://www.mappingmegan.com/international-love-maintaining-a-long-distance-relationship/
https://englishjapanxholic.wordpres...downsides-of-long-distance-relationships-ldr/
https://stefanieoconnell.com/cost-long-distance-relationship/

 

Hard to fit this in a box, but can relate to long distance relationships.

I am very happily married and almost 3 years into a marriage that started on an online dating site. I left the United States to be with her in South America and still live in South America today. However before marriage we did have to go through periods of 6 months or longer that we had to be apart due to the distance.

There was one point that I did reach that point where I wondered if it was worth it, and if the distance would be too much.

If any value to you, what I can share is this:

Long distance is tough but an awesome way to build a strong foundation to a relationship. My marriage is reaping the benefits from having to have been placed in a position where all we could do was email and video chat on skype or facebook for many months at a time. This means we talked to each other everyday for 50 weeks out of a year and knew we loved hanging out with one another. For this, our relationship is more than intimacy and generally we love to hang out and never run out of things to talk about. While some marriages fail after the physical attraction fades, money issues, or other reasons, I attribute our dedication to communicate as one of the reasons it is very successful. My point is, you are forced to communicate and not just hangout and makeout. Strong relationships need the communication to last. We did not realize this benefit of long distance dating until a year after we were married.

Another thing to mention is that one thing that helped in our relationship during our dating period was always having a plan to be together. After we met on skype and had a solid connection, from the first time we met we had airplane tickets purchased months in advance or worked out possibilities to spend more time with one another while we were together so we always had something to look forward to. This helped us a ton and gives direction to the relationship. There is a big difference between having plane tickets and a plan to see someone in 6 months verses not having any certainty of a when you will see someone again.

In my relationship for a span of a year and a half we managed to be together at a week at a time 2 to 3 times.

One awesome benefit you have is that you have been able to spend time with her verses meeting her online. Whole different game with that.

Long distance relationships can work if both of you reach that point where you want to get to know each other better. There is a lot to consider but wanted to share if it is meant to be it is possible and can be seen as an opportunity to strenghthen your relationship.

Best of everyhing to you.