I have been in a long distance relationship for almost 5 years now. And I’m about to tell you what are my thoughts and experiences.
My other half is Bruneian. Same age as myself. Wait, I’m 2 months younger to be exact. Haha. We met 4 years ago during a family reunion in Brunei. That was the first time I went there, and I didn’t expect that I could find someone to be in a relationship with. A long distance relationship. When I returned home, we started contacting each other through social media platforms; facebook, msn, skype whatsapp, etc. And we became official days after! That’s how quick we got into the relationship. We barely knew each other but decided to carry on “dating” (online dating, lol) even though I, or the both of us, do not know how does it feel like to be in a long distance relationship.
All I can say was that it felt like a normal relationship at first. Getting to know more of each other, like the typical “What is her favourite color? What she likes to do? What her goals and ambitions?”. Luckily for modern technology, the smartphone, we were able to text each other through WhatsApp. An online media which allows us to communicate easily, unlike the good old days of letter writing and snail-mail. It’ll take ages for me to know her better!
This happens when both of us are still studying. She was just staring her university and I’m almost graduating from polytechnic. Truthfully speaking, it was kind of tough later on because we can’t see each other when we wanted to. We felt kind of jealous about couples that gets to meet each other when they want. A simple lunch date would be something that the both of us could only dream of, When we’re apart that is.
The toughest part, for me, has got to be the National Service period. As a Singaporean son, I am obliged to give 2 years of my life to serve the nation. During that period, especially the first few months of training, it was really hard for me constantly communicate with her. During the day, texting was impossible; Non-stop training. And at night, I would be too exhausted for anything. She would sometimes call me and ask how am I doing. I was only worried of the amount she has to pay for overseas call. Lol.
Advice?
Most of my friends were, and still are, curious about how I manage to get through this long distance relationship. Well, long distance relationships are similar to any other relationships. You need constant communication, trust, commitment and wanting to be with each other. Different relationships have a different way of making it to work. Well as for my relationship, constant texting and random video calling at night are very crucial to us. We text each other non-stop, telling about what were we doing at that point in time. Sometimes I do feel tired to pick up the phone to text her and wished that she’s here, but this is how our relationship works. Being constantly committed to tell each other of our activities. If either one of us are busy, we would inform each other that I/her would text when were done. It gives us that assurance, and makes us feel as though we’re physically “close” to each other.
The only difference that puts LDR apart is the constant planning. Planning of when to meet each other. well, we can’t randomly meet each other. If we wanted to, we would need lots of money to buy air tickets! Fortunately, Singapore and Brunei aren’t that far (or close either!). Can’t even drive as we’re separated by the sea! Flight tickets are that cheap too, between $300-$500++. Depending on the availability and the carrier. We would plan around 6 months or so before meeting each other. The fun thing is that we would choose who go where. And, thankfully, our parents are open to our relationship and we would stay at either one of our home, reducing the cost of accommodation!
The longest that we have not met was a year. And that was during my National Service. The next time I’m meeting her is this December, for our family reunion. My family will only be staying there for a week, but I’ll be extending my stay. And for the first time, she’ll be following back to Singapore and spend the New Year and our Anniversary together!
My other half is Bruneian. Same age as myself. Wait, I’m 2 months younger to be exact. Haha. We met 4 years ago during a family reunion in Brunei. That was the first time I went there, and I didn’t expect that I could find someone to be in a relationship with. A long distance relationship. When I returned home, we started contacting each other through social media platforms; facebook, msn, skype whatsapp, etc. And we became official days after! That’s how quick we got into the relationship. We barely knew each other but decided to carry on “dating” (online dating, lol) even though I, or the both of us, do not know how does it feel like to be in a long distance relationship.
All I can say was that it felt like a normal relationship at first. Getting to know more of each other, like the typical “What is her favourite color? What she likes to do? What her goals and ambitions?”. Luckily for modern technology, the smartphone, we were able to text each other through WhatsApp. An online media which allows us to communicate easily, unlike the good old days of letter writing and snail-mail. It’ll take ages for me to know her better!
This happens when both of us are still studying. She was just staring her university and I’m almost graduating from polytechnic. Truthfully speaking, it was kind of tough later on because we can’t see each other when we wanted to. We felt kind of jealous about couples that gets to meet each other when they want. A simple lunch date would be something that the both of us could only dream of, When we’re apart that is.
The toughest part, for me, has got to be the National Service period. As a Singaporean son, I am obliged to give 2 years of my life to serve the nation. During that period, especially the first few months of training, it was really hard for me constantly communicate with her. During the day, texting was impossible; Non-stop training. And at night, I would be too exhausted for anything. She would sometimes call me and ask how am I doing. I was only worried of the amount she has to pay for overseas call. Lol.
Advice?
Most of my friends were, and still are, curious about how I manage to get through this long distance relationship. Well, long distance relationships are similar to any other relationships. You need constant communication, trust, commitment and wanting to be with each other. Different relationships have a different way of making it to work. Well as for my relationship, constant texting and random video calling at night are very crucial to us. We text each other non-stop, telling about what were we doing at that point in time. Sometimes I do feel tired to pick up the phone to text her and wished that she’s here, but this is how our relationship works. Being constantly committed to tell each other of our activities. If either one of us are busy, we would inform each other that I/her would text when were done. It gives us that assurance, and makes us feel as though we’re physically “close” to each other.
The only difference that puts LDR apart is the constant planning. Planning of when to meet each other. well, we can’t randomly meet each other. If we wanted to, we would need lots of money to buy air tickets! Fortunately, Singapore and Brunei aren’t that far (or close either!). Can’t even drive as we’re separated by the sea! Flight tickets are that cheap too, between $300-$500++. Depending on the availability and the carrier. We would plan around 6 months or so before meeting each other. The fun thing is that we would choose who go where. And, thankfully, our parents are open to our relationship and we would stay at either one of our home, reducing the cost of accommodation!
The longest that we have not met was a year. And that was during my National Service. The next time I’m meeting her is this December, for our family reunion. My family will only be staying there for a week, but I’ll be extending my stay. And for the first time, she’ll be following back to Singapore and spend the New Year and our Anniversary together!
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