As single members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, it is preferable to date fellow active members that will hopefully, ideally, lead to an eventual temple marriage. However, unless you live in an area where there are many fellow local single members—Utah, Idaho, Arizona for example—it may be difficult to find, date, and marry an active member. Therefore, unless you are able to move to such an area, many single members have become willing to expand their dating zone beyond driving distance to plane distance.
1) Budget: Plan your trips early. Figure out the most affordable plane tickets or driving options. If needed, you might need to limit or cut out other expenditures to support the monetary commitment of long-distance dating. However, in case plans change or there is a break up, you may consider buying insurance on the plane tickets so you can get refunds if needed.
2) Have regular communication when apart: As long as both partners are feeling strongly into the relationship, try to maintain some form of communication with each other daily to compensate for not physically being able to see each other. Text, email, Facetime or Skype, even old-fashioned snail mail letters are all options. Regular communication will help keep bonds strong and growing, as well as help lessen the natural insecurities and even paranoia that can happen when apart. Technology today allows for a far greater ability to stay connected long distance than ever before. Take advantage of your options.
3) Regular Visits: If you are able to visit each other one weekend a month at least, that would be ideal. However, budget issues and other time issues/responsibilities (kids, work, etc) may make this difficult to achieve. So, if you can’t visit each other at least once a month, please at least try to visit every other month. If you are not able to physically meet every other month, it is my opinion that that is not enough face-to-face time together to really nourish and nurture a long-distance relationship. In such cases I recommend finding someone else to date. However, of course, this is not a hard and fast rule, and individual situations may vary.
5) Be Honest: Some people in long distance relationships are “open”, meaning, it is understood that either side can date other local singles while dating each other as well. Other long-distance relationships are “committed”, meaning, both sides agree to only date each other. The important thing here is that whatever your arrangement is, be open and clear about it. Communicate and decide together. Even more important here is to be honest about what you are doing. If you agree to date others, there is no need to discuss dating specifics with others unless at any point you decide to be committed to the local partner—at which time there is a need to break up. Conversely, if you agree you are a committed couple, stay faithful and do not date others. Broken trust in a long-distance relationship is difficult to recover from and may upend the entire thing.