Hey, in case you didn’t know, long distance relationships CAN work!
In this blog, I’m going to be taking you on a journey of a successful LDR couple… As it states in the title, they live over 4,000 miles away from each other and still make it work! (Insane, right!?)
So, without further ado, here is the story of a LDR couple named Olivia and Felix!
In fall of 2014, Olivia was part of her high school’s volleyball team in Minnesota…
A foreign exchange student named Felix had flown to the U.S. for the school year. Back in Germany, Felix was also a volleyball player. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a boy’s volleyball team at Olivia’s school, so instead, Felix became the manager of the girl’s team! Over the course of the volleyball season, Olivia and Felix became closer and closer.
Olivia’s teammates noticed, so they made a plan for her and Felix to go to prom together! (Now that’s what I call good friends!) Thankfully, the plan worked out, and they went together as a date. Sadly, Felix had to go back to Germany in June of 2015, so they tried to hang out as much as possible before then.
When Felix flew back home, him and Olivia were just friends – nothing more.
A year late in July of 2016, Olivia used her high school graduation present to buy a plane ticket to visit Felix in Germany for two weeks!
She described her trip as amazing, full of good food, and lots of sightseeing. They kept in contact, and on December 22nd of 2016, they took the plunge and started a long distance relationship! Crazily, they live 4,453 miles away from each other!
When asking them what their best advice for making a LDR work…
Felix said:
“Have fun date nights to keep your LDR interesting! Olivia and I usually have one night per week that we watch a movie together over Skype! We also have fun games on our phone that we can play together even when we are apart, such as Words With Friends or trivia games.”
Olivia said:
“Plan for the future! It helps the time that you are apart go much faster. Felix and I have set times each week that we plan our wedding and work on our visa. It also helps to spend time planning out your trips for the year and booking the flights for your next trip as soon as possible. Then you know for sure when you will see your partner and you can begin a countdown to when you will be together again!”
With Olivia in the U.S. and Felix in Germany, their time difference is 7 hours!
Because of their large time difference, they don’t have the luxury to talk to each other whenever they want. To work around that, they look at their schedules at the beginning of the week and actually plan times that they’ll talk! They also share their Google Calendars with each other, so they can see the times that the other person is free.
On top of that, they text each other updates about their day and include pictures of what they’re doing… (Even if the other person is sleeping!) This way, when they wake up, they know what happened during the other person’s day!
Even though their time difference is hard to work with, they both agree that the most difficult part of being in an LDR is not being able to physically be there for the other person when they’re feeling sad. Not being able to hug them is insanely tough…
When asking what makes their LDR so special, Olivia said:
“Felix was originally adopted from Brazil, so he already had to deal with leaving his home once before. The fact that he is willing to leave his home once again to come be with me in the U.S. shows that our love is truly special! I think that being apart from each other so much has actually brought us much closer. We appreciate the time we have together much more, because we only get to see each other once every couple of months. Also, I have seen so many parts of the world that I would have never gotten to see if I was not in an LDR.”
In August of 2019, Felix surprised Olivia with something amazing…
He got her a trip to Paris! During their trip, they went to visit the Eiffel Tower at night… While they were there, Felix got down on one knee and proposed! (How romantic!?!)
Olivia and Felix are still in school – Felix will be finishing in January of 2020 and Olivia will graduate from nursing school in May of 2020! After they graduate, Felix is planning on moving to Minnesota to live with Olivia. They hope to have their wedding either in the summer or fall of 2021!
Huge congratulations to the happy LDR couple, Olivia and Felix!
Thank you for sharing your story with us! They really are proof that you can break the distance! So, next time someone tells you that long distance relationships can’t work – tell them about this successful LDR couple!