- My fiancé travels for work, and I work remotely, so we are in a long-distance relationship.
- To prioritize our relationship, I travel wherever she is and work from there.
- Our flexible jobs make our relationship possible.
My fiancé and I met on Bumble in September 2021. She lived in Columbus, Ohio, and I lived in Pennsylvania.
When we met in person for the first time, she flew down to Atlanta from Columbus, where I was visiting family. I had been at my family’s home for a week and was working remotely.
She flew down on a Friday evening, and I picked her up at the hotel the next day. On our first date, we went to Helen, Ga, and had a wonderful time. The following day, she went back home.
The following weekend was Labor Day weekend. I planned to head back to Lancaster on Sunday, but she asked me if I could go to Columbus instead and spend Labor Day with her. Although I wasn’t off on the Tuesday after Labor Day, I only had meetings and could take those on the road back home.
That was the start of our unique long-distance relationship. My now-fiancé travels for work, so we had to get creative building something special.
We knew that if we wanted this to work, we would have to make our work arrangements work for us. Since I had the most flexibility as a remote worker, I decided to travel wherever she worked to spend time together and build our relationship.
Our relationship became a story written across many adventures
Since that decision, we have been to many places. One of the most memorable was a two-week stay in Miami in February 2023. I flew to Miami for the first time and stayed with her in the hotel. During the day, we both worked, but in the evenings and on weekends, we would explore. From beach trips to Miami Beach to enjoying local restaurants, we enjoyed every minute of South Florida.
In April 2023, we spent a week together in California. On one day, she had to drive to different client sites. I could attend my work conference calls while on the road.
One of our memorable stops was an overnight stay in Monterey. We went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and had lunch at the Fish Hopper, where it is the best Bloody Mary I have ever had.
That same year, in September, I joined her in Phoenix. I was able to visit the Grand Canyon for the first time. It was the most fantastic experience I’ve had to this day. As I looked across the canyon, I was in awe of its beauty and how fortunate I was to enjoy one of the world’s wonders with my now-fiancé — all because of our work arrangement.
In 2024, we spent the whole month of January in an Airbnb in Rincon, Puerto Rico. Since her job is seasonal, she was off, and I worked remotely during the day. We enjoyed everything that Rincon had to offer.
Entering the long-distance relationship was the best decision of my life
The coordination of our schedules wasn’t complicated. In the rare chance that I had to travel for work, I simply adjusted my travel to wherever she was at a time that worked for me but still gave us plenty of time together. It was a lesson in communication and coordination.
Typically, a long-distance relationship would be an obstacle. But my remote status and her work travel were reasons our relationship flourished.
In the end, if I wanted our relationship to work, I needed to see our work arrangement as an opportunity to enjoy each other’s company and spend time together doing fun things committed couples do.
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