Maintaining a long distance relationship as an expat in Puerto Rico

True Love can survive long distance and technology can help! I speak from a 4 year personal experience between New York and Puerto Rico. I met my wife while vacationing in Puerto Rico in January 1990. We became friends then eventually boyfriend/girlfriend in July 1991. We were both in college. I would work part time, cut lawns and snow blow houses to earn enough money for a $300 TWA roundtrip ticket then fly down every break or recess I had. We kept in touch by phone and old fashioned letters (my parents wanted to kill me with those $300 phone bills). Despite the craziness, our relationship survived and we have been happily married since 1997. We moved to PR in 2011. We did not have todays technology (email text facetime etc) that would have helped out a great deal. Hopefully today’s long distance couples are taking advantage! Best, RV

My partner is all the way in South Africa. We talk everyday, whenever we are both awake we make time. It's very expensive to see each other though and it can take anywhere between 24 and 40 hours to get there on a reasonably priced round trip. So we need a lot of time off (and a lot of money) to enjoy each other considering jet lag, fatigue and time limitations since we're both quite busy. So I would say time and money are the biggest challenge. We have since decided to meet "halfway" in New York. It's not exactly halfway but its one of a few places we can both take just one direct flight, cut out the waiting time at airports and share the fatigue (quite disproportionately but still). So I would advise anyone in a similar position to make time as well as save time rather than money. Time together is worth a lot more. You might even gain a few adventures and make amazing memories this way:) I wish everyone in this position all the very best. I hope that this experience only makes your love stronger:)

I just moved to Puerto Rico in May. My husband has come down to see me one weekend a month. He loves it here and we're lucky enough that he's only a 4 hour flight away in Boston. Meanwhile we text a lot and call when the texting won't do. Six more years and then he'll be retired and come whenever he wants.