A Creative Way to Make Long-Distance Work
A traveler’s love story
How a Traveling Relationship Came to Be
Shortly after my now-husband and I met, he moved to Atlanta, GA for his first professional job. I stayed back in Cleveland, OH, and started my career. We wrote letters, played virtual games together, FaceTimed, and used the modern-era conveniences to stay together. But that was not enough, so we decided to see visit each other at least once a month.
Traveling to and from Ohio and Georgia has its privileges. For one, both states are on the eastern half of the Mississippi River. They are also only a ten-hour drive apart. But after taking the short one-hour and ten-minute flight to and from Atlanta a few times, we decided to mix it up and meet in other states for adventure and financial reasons.
The first meetup outside of our respective states was Mammoth Cave, Kentucky. On an autumn Saturday, I woke up at 4 am and drove six and a half hours to meet him there. We spent the weekend hiking and exploring the national park. We stayed in a park-owned cabin. Shortly after, our next trip we meet in Cumberland Gap, Tennessee. We had a similar experience with excursions and stayed in an Airbnb. Sometimes I would fly to Atlanta, and we would drive to states in that geographical area. From these experiences, the idea of a 50-state adventure was born.
Strategy
I started getting strategic with our trips. I looked at our support system, opportunities, and resources. I had limited vacation time and so did he. We also both worked Monday through Friday, business hours. At the time, my boss was generous in letting me flex my hours, so I could do half days on Fridays or start late on Mondays every so often. Every three-day or four-day holiday weekend was reserved for our longer trips -places that were harder and more expensive to get to or from either of our locations. Regular two-day weekends were reserved for trips that were a shorter distance.
I purchased a map and divided up the country, looking at different routes to take to make our adventures possible. For example, on Thanksgiving, I flew to Atlanta, GA and from there, we drove 7 hours to Little Rock, AR. When he had to travel to Albany, NY for his profession, he flew and I drove to meet him. From Albany, we booked a hotel and toured New England states. We saw farm animals, ate lots of cheese, and grew a deep appreciation of the New England accent. Starting from Ohio or Georgia made traveling more possible compared to people who start in spaced-out western states. East of the Mississippi River states are much smaller, and I can see more states in a shorter distance and period of time.
Housing Accommodations and Overall Financing
We had to be creative with our housing accommodations. We stayed in a mix of hostels, hotels, Airbnbs, bed in breakfasts, and the houses of extended relatives (thanks to our large extended families). We often met in national and state parks because we enjoy hiking and could get housing accommodations rather inexpensively. Breakfast and lunch were usually grocery store items such as granola bars and sandwiches, but for dinner, we would eat out to experience the local cuisine. (I still dream about my seafood tower that I devoured in New Orleans).
Of souvenir items, my only must-have was iron-on patches. I started collecting them for a small carry-on backpack and then the collection grew. As I started backcountry backpacking, I started adding patches on that backpack as well. I chose this souvenir because it is lightweight, will not take up a lot of space in my home, and can be an interesting way to decorate my backpacking gear. I also had a system of booking flights to make the trip's cost and time effective for both of us. For more on budget flights, check out my other article here.
Reunited After Long Distance
After two years, long-distance came to an end. I learned about myself emotionally, how diverse the US is both geographically and culturally, and how to overcome unique challenges with a partner. With all that I learned, I can say with confidence, that long-distance is not for every couple. I felt that it worked with us because we had a clear end date, and we made our adventures together with a priority. Our trips gave me something to look forward to, something new to experience with a handsome partner, and helped us better communicate with each other.
Suggestions for Other Couples
Maybe traveling to all 50 states is not your goal, and that is okay. Every couple is different with different resources, goals, and needs. Alternative ideas would include meeting in various towns or cities in between you and your loved one or setting a goal of visiting various amusement parks, monuments, breweries, or other bucket list places. There are endless possibilities for long-distance couples. A website that helped us be creative in our destinations is onlyinyourstate.com. This website provided known and unknown attractions in every US state, making each trip unique for both of us. With any long-distance couple, I believe that it is important to outline an end goal and develop a plan to stay connected, despite geographical barriers.
