Quote:
My last relationship, ~2.5 years long, was almost a full year of LDR at the beginning of it, she was from another country. It was a long time to go - I don't recommend it and I wouldn't do it again. However, that was almost a full year of no physical contact at all - if we had been able to visit every couple months, every several months, it would be a different story. The relationship certainly didn't suffer from it - it fell apart from other reasons, but it was nothing that could have been predicted.
Tips: Always have something to look forward to in it. Don't make serious plans and over-hype it (it can be easy to project, and to start expecting way more than is reasonable), but always have a date to visit in mind. If you are legitimately serious about the girl, make sure you have a plan to end the distance within a reasonable time frame. It's already been mentioned, but I'll reinforce that - it's important.
This should be a general rule of every guy's. It's known as time bridging in psychology, it tells the other person subconsciously that the connection between you remains in tact. Good mothers actually do this with their children upon dropping them off to school for example, "ok, so after school remember, ice cream!". In the end, most relationship difficulties happen due to a threat/loss of attachment (to varying degrees depending on the individual's attachment styles, of course). But having something you both can look forward to together is an awesome way to sooth attachment fears.