Hi Reader,

As long distance best friends, we have to be super intentional with our time when we're together and especially when we're apart.

We want to make the most of every chance we get to see each other in person. But we also have to make sure we're both putting in the effort to stay in touch and connected when we're separated by thousands of miles!

With Galentine's Day right around the corner, we wanted to share some ways you can keep your long distance relationships going strong, even if you're living in different time zones (and yes, there are of course some travel-themed ideas).

If you choose to do one of these things each month, that will give you 6 months of intentional meaningful connection with your bestie outside of your normal phone calls and texts.

🍳 Take a virtual cooking class together: Sur La Table offers virtual cooking classes starting at just $39! They provide you with the list of ingredients and tools needed to complete the meal, then walk you through how to make it in your class!

🎨 Do a virtual paint and sip: With Painting to Gough, you pick the design you'd like to paint, and they'll mail you the kit with all the supplies within 1-5 days! The artist-led tutorials will help make sure your painting is a masterpiece and not a hot mess.

💬 Get to know each other on a deeper level with a conversation game: We recently played We're Not Really Strangers and learned so much about each other! It's a game where you ask each other thoughtful questions that wouldn't come up in normal everyday conversation. You and your friend could each buy the deck and take turns asking questions over Facetime or the phone.

🧁 Treat delivery: Order your bestie their favorite treat and have it delivered to their house or workplace! They'll love getting a little surprise to remind them that you're thinking of them.

Not exciting enough? You could also both subscribe to Try the World, a monthly subscription where you get sent a box filled with goodies from a different country each month. Unbox your goodies together each month over Facetime or Zoom!

🤠 Themed video calls: Instead of your usual Facetime, have a themed video call once a month to keep things fun. Wear a silly hat or costume, make beachy drinks to sip on while you chat, or both of you make the same snack to try together during your call. We have a video call every single week at the same time, and it's the highlight of our week (and no exaggeration, it usually lasts around 3 hours).

🗺️ See the world together... virtually: Did you know you can virtually take tours of cities around the world in real time with a tour guide? Through Hop A Tour, you select the city you want to learn more about. Then, you + up to 11 other friends get to watch in real time as your professional tour guide takes you to the iconic landmarks in that area.

The livestreams include chat and voice chat so you can ask questions just like you would on a tour in real life! It's a full on immersion experience that will satisfy your wanderlust heart if you can't take a trip together in real life.

💛 Bonus - The Locket App: This is something small we started doing a few months ago that brings a little spark of joy to our lives. Locket is an app you download to your phone. It adds a photo frame to your home screen, and you can send pictures to your friends that will instantly appear in the frames. We love opening up our phones and seeing that we have a new snapshot of each other's lives on our home screen!

From our suitcase to yours,

Kayla & Amanda

​The Stickered Suitcase​

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