Visiting whilst working?

[iSolitaire]

Hi everyone,

Me (UK) and my LDR partner from Canada have been together now since November and visited once so far, in January where I went to her. We both got 10 days off from work and it was perfect, I met her family and siblings and we spent a whole bunch of time together.

I'm now faced with a small dilemma however. She is coming to visit me on March 10th until 23rd and it will also be her first time in England, however, she'll be visiting as I'm working because I can't get any time off due to my new job being so... 'new'.

She will arrive on Friday 10th, and leave on Thursday 23rd. I work 9-5 Mon-Fri with 30 min commute times on each end so basically 8:30-5:30. We will get two full weekends together however every other day we will only have evenings and I'm really worried as to what we would be able to do?

I don't want to be a bad host where we just stay indoors constantly, despite the fact that all we both want is just to be able to spend time together and we both knew very long in advance before anything was booked that I would have been working, so we were prepared for it.

I just wondered if anyone had any ideas on what we could do? Maybe any of you have experienced this yourselves? She will obviously be at home every day with my family whilst I'm at work, so they'll probably take her out in the day times whilst I work (my parents / grandparents, I have no siblings)

Thanks in advance

[differentcountries]

I have often been studying when I have visited him, and he has almost always been working. Last time we were BOTH working, and it turned out surprisingly well (even if very little housework was done and I ate almost every meal at his restaurant). In my current job, I am setting up a firm that allows me to work from anywhere, I will just go to the capital maybe once a month, and the plan is to work while I visit him.

It is nice if your parents can take her out on stuff, perhaps you can ask her in advance if there is some sightseeing she wants to do, or hobbies or places to work out?

As for what to do in evenings, we like going for a stroll, we once went to a theatre play together (Turkish theatre is really cool and weird and all about how Erdogan steals money lol), going to the movies or out for coffee/tea/dinner/dessert is always nice. We have bikes, so we go bicycle riding together. We also plan to rent like a small motorbike. For weekends/daytime, a boat ride, going to the shopping mall, visiting friends etc. I enjoy most of all to just be outside with him, going somwhere along the ocean shore. We can spend hours doing this, maybe getting tea or wine before we go home. Cooking together is nice, watching tv or a movie together etc.

[iSolitaire]

Some fantastic ideas, thank you!

It's a shame that our distance is so large, however we are both working together very well and have some good strong plans to try and #CloseTheDistance (fingers crossed) late this year, so it's definitely going to be temporary. She doesn't study sadly, but she wants to learn a language and sight-see a lot, and she also enjoys reading so I'm confident she will have plenty to do during the day. During the evenings I think I'll take a lot of your advice there. I do actually have a motorcycle license so perhaps I could rent a bike for a day or two, we could go out for food or walking (even though it would be dark!), late night shopping etc. I think it would be a good experience too of how we would live together and communicate etc when one or both of us were working daily, to experience the realism, which is hopefully what will come later in the year.

Any more ideas are always appreciated though! Thank you!

[Moon]

This is pretty much the story of most of my visits. When I'm in Finland and my guy is at work, I get out on my own and do a lot of things. I've learned how to use public transportation, and wander everywhere, despite not speaking the language. I try to plan out beforehand some of the things I might like to see that I haven't before, and visit many places that have become favorites. I go to museums, the markets, I take sightseeing tours, I go get lunch, I shop, talk to people at the park, I explore. I am lucky in that he's near the capitol city and has great public transportation, you don't say if you're in or near a city, which helps with getting around. I think it's great that your family will show her around, that's helpful, but you can also decide together to maybe get her a pre-paid mobile and an Uber account, if needed, so she can get out and about and find her own favorite things in your hometown. Just because you have to work, doesn't mean a visit can't be a good time, she just has to be a little adventurous and flexible.

[Framboise]

We did this two times when he came to visit me. So he was just hanging around, walking my dog, and visiting the city all day, and sometimes we met during lunch time. He really enjoyed it actually.

[Rezie]

I kinda enjoy when my SO is at work. I get to go around and explore on my own and do the touristy things I want. Doing stuff in the evenings don't have to be too special. Go to movies, have dinner, go out for drinks, show yourfavourite spots, walk around, take a tour around your old neighbourhood and school. Then at home you can watch movies, cook etc. Between 5.30 and sleepy times there are quite a few hours

[80anthea]

My SO usually has to work some of the days I'm there as he can't get huge amounts of time off. It works out fine, I spend time with his Mom, explore the local towns and read a lot of books.