The Nitty-Gritty Behind Going Long Distance

We promised to keep secret the identities of these three people who allowed us a peek at their methods in maintaining long-distance romance.

How often did you call your partner?

Australia Boy: Three times a week...Fridays and weekends mostly. More often when a special occasion’s around the corner.

Manila Boy: I hardly called since local rates for long-distance calls are high and I'm the student so no income. My girlfriend, on the other hand, earns dollars and long-distance calls from US is cheaper. She called almost everyday, or at least every other day. She calls either at noon here (evening there being around 8 or 9 pm, she stays in the West Coast so minus three hours) or night here (morning there). We talk from as short as 10 minutes to as long as an hour depending on the amount of kwento we have or how much we’ve missed each other.

However, we also chat on the internet almost everyday. We have unlimited access to the net so we can afford to chat for at least an hour a day. On some occasions we talked over the net (using a friend’s computer who had this feature). The biggest problem is the time difference and schedule with one of us ending up talking or chatting to the other party early into the wee hours of the morning or very late into the night.

New York Girl: Long-distance phone calls were going to be too expensive so that was out of the question. Constant e-mail was the key. I tried to e-mail as often as I could although this became harder when my schedule became too busy with schoolwork, and the daily routine of solo-living took over. But if one really wanted to keep in touch, there will always be time no matter what.