big time difference- how do you cope/communicate?

[Caitlin2009]

there is only a 5 hour time differance between us, so when im just getting up she has been out and about doing her thing. im very used to the time differance so theres really no issues with that, it is very sceduled because i have to be up at 6 something in order to talk to her in the morning, if i go out anywhere i make sure im back by 12 because a few hours later she'll go to bed and we have to talk for a few hours then and say goodnight. its a sceduled ritual but it works

[mcnab]

She is 6 hours behind me.
Luckily with modern technology there is a lot of time we can be on chat programs while at work. So that helps, though obviously its expected that it might not always possible. We usually end up talking in the night here (UK) when it is late afternoon/evening for my SO

Its worked so far, and hopefully will keep working

[Nbaby]

woah i didnt know that 15 hours of time diffrence excists and i thought i had a hard time with 6 hours diffrence. I usually stay op late because i am 6 hours ahead, its easy now since im on my summerbreak. The communication is often via texts.

[ilovemysquishybaby]

I'm 19 (If i did my math right) hours ahead of her. So normally when I get home from work at 4pm it's 9pm the previous day X3 She stays up late but it's her holidays and she hardly sleeps. I feel guilty but she says even if I wasn't here she would do it anyway...

I'm terrified of what it's going to be like when she goes back to school. D: Then it's just gonna be... really sucky.

[Alemap]

I'm fifteen hours ahead. He stays up late to chat to me, while I'm at work during the day.

P.

[OvertheSea]

8 hours...It gets difficult when he's at work on 8-12 hour shifts, that sometimes end after I go to work, and then I don't finish til after he's gone to bed. But we skype before he goes to bed, when I'm home. Or leave little text messages and fb messages. And send letter sometimes! It's ok, but we always make sure we know when we'll see each other next (visit wise) because that makes it much easier!

[ForeverUs]

My SO and I have a 6 hour difference. It's not too bad, but sometimes things can get a little tricky. I'll get up early, and he'll stay up late to give us more time to talk. I'm thankful our time difference isn't any bigger than 6 hours.

[Karlijn92]

We have a 7 hour time difference. That is the hardest part of a LDR in my opinion. We text when he's getting ready for work and during his lunch. When he's off it's midnight here. Sometimes I go to bed early and wake up around midnight so we can talk on FB. Sometimes I stay up when I'm not that sleepy. Then we talk for like 3-4 hours. During school we only get to talk for an hour or 2. We Skype in the weekends.

In the beginning it was very hard for me to stay awake and talk all night. After those months I guess my body adjusted itself to our time difference lol. I'm pretty used to my lack of sleep, but he understands when I go to bed and we won't get to talk.

[EnglishMan]

Im 8 hours ahead of my girl, and for the time being we're doing alright since we both have a lot of free time. It's a lot more difficult when she's at college and ill be working at some point soon, so it will be tough. But for the time being we talk basically all the time we're both awake lol, and when we both have study/work commitments, we've already worked it out that I can go to sleep a little earlier and then wake up very early morning to talk to her before work (a commitment I said about, she wouldn't ask me to put myself out).

[Bbth]

We have a difference of 7 hours too. It wasn't much of a problem when we met because we both were on vacation

Then college started and we used to talk as soon as we got home. My classes were mostly in the morning last semester and his would last morning and afternoon. But since he is always one shift ahead of me, we managed to talk everyday. It was only complicated for me to study at home because I used to do this during afternoon, but I couldn't anymore because it was the only time we had to be together.

Well, now he is on vacation from college again, but he got a summer job to save up money for us to meet. My college is in strike, so I have a lot of free time. We are currently talking from 10, 10:30 am to 3:30, 4pm in my time.

I wake up and my first thought is of him and it sucks that I have to wait until 10 am to see him again! But I usually try to keep myself busy going to the gym or something. When he finally comes online it is the best feeling ever. We eat, talk, take a nap together, watch movies ... It is wonderful! Of course that now we are saving the movies for the weekend when we have more time together. Anyway, when it is time for him to go to bed, I get really sad, but I get it and I can't make him tired the other day... I'd feel so guilty! So, after a long goodbye I stay surfing on the net or I talk to my friends on fb. I feel that as hour gets closer of my bed time I miss him more and more. I usually send him a lot of e-mails this time of the day and when I am going to sleep, I text him good morning and wish he has a nice day.
When for some reason we can't talk as much as we usually do, we tell each other in advanced or text if something unexpected happens.
He is so understanding and supportive He never gets upset about it!

Well, I agree with most of the people here. Planning is really important. With that, some patience and tons of love, anything is possible

[Nurse]

We have a difference of 13, sometimes 14 hours.

We are usually on Skype all day everyday. Video calls, voice calls and messaging throughout the day.
It is fortunate that his work isn't so strict (night shift) and I work from home.
We always have " work dates" where we leave Skype video on while he does his thing and I do mine.
I've even met some of his co-workers. One time a man appeared and thinking that it was one of his co-workers
I waved. The man waved back. Turns out it was one of his bosses. LOL
When either of us can't be on skype we use WhatsApp for my blackberry and his android phone.
These two tools have made communicating easier.

[Justalexi]

I'm 9 hours ahead of my SO. It can be hard to juggle as I seem to be lacking in the energy to stay awake recently, but we make it work

[hrp2007]

We don't have a time difference lucky for us, we text throughout the day, unless he is in class or I am too busy at work. Other wise we text most of the day, then around 8-10 pm we chat on the phone for about an hour or so.

[Bbth]

One time a man appeared and thinking that it was one of his co-workers
I waved. The man waved back. Turns out it was one of his bosses. LOL.

hahahaha omg!!
Good thing he didn't get into trouble!
I'd be so embarrashed if this happened to me!

[Gecko]

My girlfriend lives in the Philippines and I live in the USA. During daylight savings time in the spring and summer we are 15 hours apart, and in the fall through winter, there is a 16 hour difference between us (the Philippines doesn't have daylight savings time, while the USA does). This often makes it difficult for us to work out communications between us, especially because we both working full time, and I will soon start college up again this fall (I'm 19 and soon starting my second year of college, while she is 21 and has already graduated from her university in the Philippines).

Our primary contact is through Facebook, and we talk very constantly through our Facebook messages. During our first three months or so of dating, we averaged about 200-300 short messages throughout the day. Even though we are both busy people, this was made possible because of Facebook Mobile. If you are unfamiliar with it, let me describe Facebook Mobile to you. It is a free service through Facebook, all you have to do is enter your cell phone number into Facebook and then Facebook texts you whenever you receive a message, someone posts or comments on your wall, or whenever someone sends you a friend request. This means that whenever my girlfriend sends a message through Facebook, I receive her message through text, and I can reply to it via text. It is a cheap alternative to getting an international phone plan, and it is very convenient to be able to text throughout the day. We don't text so much during work hours (she's asleep most of the time when I am working anyway), but when I am attending college we communicate very frequently.

We also try to Skype as often as we can, though we can only Skype on weekends and even then there is often a lot of problems with the internet connection, on both sides. While this presents a large frustration in our ability to communicate, we are both very patient in our relationship and willing to endure these things, despite having never met each other in person.