Valentine’s Day is nearly here and we’re sure many of you haven’t planned a date yet. This is bad news if you want to book a reservation at the most popular restaurant in town. But you probably don’t want to do that; after all, you’re a free spirit, an innovator, a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of person who likes to go against the rules and do things last minute. Or, maybe more honestly, you’re reading this on February 13th and won’t for the life of you be able to do any of the more traditional things and that’s okay.
Just for you, dear romantic voyager, we’ve put together some of our favorite date ideas that aren’t the typical Valentine’s Day package. Some cater to those who “plan” last minute, some cater to those who like adventure, and all can be enjoyed by couples, singles, friends, and family alike. After all, Valentine’s Day is a day we think should celebrate love in all of its many amazing forms.
Long Distance Limbo, Pt. 1 – Your Relationship Isn’t Real! Myths and Misconceptions
– Sempronia Hobgood GiftBasketsOverseas.com
Long Distance Relationship – the “blind date” of the modern age: no other relationship “phrase” has the potential to make people react like you’ve recited the chant to summon Cthulu, except perhaps, “We need to talk.” If you can get past the funny cats and even more questionable content on the internet, you’ll find virtual oceans of questions about the legitimacy of long distance relationships. We’ve seen everything ranging from “It’s not a real relationship,” to “How do you make it work?” We’re wondering where all the confusion is coming from.
Has the media hyped up the idea that relationships must be tactile and clingy or they are nothing at all? Worse yet, have we bought in?
To help get some answers, here are 4 things you need to know about long distance relationships before you pass judgement:
1. You Can’t Handle The Truth!
You’ve heard this one: people have long distance relationships because they can’t handle “real ones.” We’re here to tell you that some towns are so abysmally out of candidates for real companionship, that looking elsewhere is actually the better option. We don’t have to name names, you know if you live in one of these.
Seriously, even if your town if is full of look-alikes of your idols, why limit yourself? In this day and age of instant connections, easily obtained webcams, free international communication, and even ridiculously fast international delivery services, chances are better than ever that you’ll find someone who fits you. Someone who piques your interests, shares your values, and expands your horizons if you increase your pool of potential friends and love interests to include connections you can make on the web – responsibly and safely.
The fact is, long distance relationships of any sort (and there are many) can be just as complex, fulfilling, rewarding, and even fun as the types of relationships society is more ready to accept.
2. You Can’t Possibly Know Each Other
Not living next to one another means you have tons more to talk about. You don’t have the same friends, you likely don’t run across the same things, maybe you’re countries apart and have different cultures. In this way, distance can be a perk. Distance gives couples the opportunity to explore every tiny detail of a partner’s life, and, in turn, to come up with fun ways to spill theirs.
While “normal” couples often spend time turning into vegetables watching their show of choice cuddled next to each other in silence, those who live apart learn to fill the distances with discussions, meaningful messages, heartfelt romantic gifts, creativity, and honesty. It can mean admitting the dark things you’d rather hide, learning to take the time to treasure each moment you can connect, and finding creative ways to remain a part of each other’s lives, even far away. If we’re brutally honest, cuddles would be great, but they aren’t everything, and living without them is doable.
3. It Can’t Be Real…(you’re not doing ‘it’) Another misconception is that long distance relationships are sexless, depressing things for those who can otherwise not “get any.” Wrong! Suffice it to say there are ways around such things, and, believe it or not, despite our severe lack of teleporters, it is not impossible to visit one’s far off love.
Plus, while love-making for many traditional couples can become routine, couples that are separated have to become inventive to keep the fires of romance burning. They get flirty, they learn the art of intellectual foreplay. If you didn’t know, pictures are fun, presents don’t have to be mundane, and phone calls don’t have to be about talking.
For the record, when separated loves do come together, they have drawn up ideas nearly as complex as battle plans for what they’ll do when they’re together. The moments apart make the ones together sweeter. And despite the myth, after months of only talking, long distance couples certainly have more tactile things to do.
4. Long Distance Relationships are all Romantic
Here is the grand-daddy of Long Distance Relationship myths. You don’t need Cupid to be involved in a long distance relationship. If you’re interacting with someone on a regular basis, you’re in a relationship with them. Whether it’s a business relationship, a family relationship, a friendship, or something else. Keeping up with your school buddies from home on Facebook? Or enjoying weekly raids with your WoW guild? These modern activities have sparked awesome, long-lasting, healthy, relationships that were at one point in time long distance only.
But it’s not just computer and video game enthusiasts, even businesses are jumping onto the long distance relationship bandwagon. Are you Skyping or emailing with team-members from departments in other states, or working on international issues with co-workers or customers across time zones? You’re in a long-distance relationship.
And don’t forget about the circumstances that can bring distance to families – both joyful and sad. Sending your overachiever for a semester overseas? You’ll be doing the long distance dance. Or maybe your family homes a hero who’s deployed overseas. Yep, that’s a long distance relationship too.
And of course, there’s one of the most common kinds of long distance relationship – the ones where family members or friends have simply moved to other cities, states, or countries. In fact, there are so many types of long distance relationships, we’d be surprised if you aren’t in at least one.
Long distance relationships are nothing new. Ever since civilization started people have developed ways to connect with each other from afar. Messengers on foot, packages and gifts in ships, carrier pigeons, smoke signals, telegraphs, telephone, even Twitter. Why? Because there have always been long distance relationships, and we’re just getting better at them.
“Once in awhile, right in the middle of ordinary life, love gives us a fairy tale.” J. B. Jeffrey
Summertime means beautiful weather, sunny skies and, the most popular wedding season of the year. With elegant sunsets, and tantalizing views bursting with stunning plants it’s no wonder so many couples want to tie the knot this time of year. With love in the air, we just had to share one of our favorite romantic stories with you. Take a moment and let it inspire you to be more romantic, a little spontaneous, and encourage you to show your nearest and dearest (and maybe far away) sweetheart how much you love and cherish them!
Picture a couple: 5 years ago and oceans apart. He was from the US, She was from St. Petersburg, and their love just didn’t care. He was desperate to make the 6-month anniversary of their first meeting special, and wanted to send gifts to Russia, but the distance was proving to be something made to ruin surprises. Long nights of browsing the internet for the perfect way to show his love and devotion ended in nothing but frustration. He was constantly warned away: gifts would be shipped internationally, and the delivery date something that could only be guessed at. As you know, for anniversaries the day after just doesn’t cut it.
But his persistence paid off, though he couldn’t have known at the time. Uncertain and frustrated he placed a call to the GBO customer service team. Touched by his determination and love, this order quickly became personal not only for him, but our employees. His first order was simple: a delicate long-stemmed red rose with mouthwatering chocolates, something sweet and elegant for the woman who captured his heart. By the time he called it was already Sunday morning for his love, and the surprise had to arrive Monday, or not at all. With a little luck, a lot of hard work, and a devoted GBO team, his gift made it to his love on time and absolutely overwhelmed her with joy.
Barely a month passed before he decided he had to surprise her again, and then again, and again. Each and every time he came back to the company that had made the impossible not only possible, but easy. The gifts he chose were personal and thoughtful. Sometimes he sent sweet fruit baskets to Russia, just to make her smile. Another time, a handmade shawl to keep her warm while she was away from his arms. He spared no effort working with GBO to track down custom and unique gifts that were near (but not quite) impossible to find in Russia. Truly their love was a fairy tale. He showered her with designer clothes, rare books, a Blackberry, and even an iPhone 5 to help them keep in touch.
Other times the gifts were more interactive. He treated her to days at the spa, her favorite restaurants, even the opera, and even made sure a limousine was there to pick her up and drop her off each and every time. Each gift came with his unique signature, a bouquet of red roses with a stunning white rose in the middle, a symbol of hope that theirs was a love that could stand up to any test.
He didn’t stop there! He knew that if he was to be lucky enough to marry this woman, he had to win over not only her, but also her family. Her mother (in Armavir) and her grandmother (in Tolyatti) were also spoiled by his generosity. Like a true gentleman, he spared no expense sending them both flowers for all occasions, and sometimes simply as a reminder of his affection. Finally, years later, the time was right, and he was ready to ask them if he could marry the wonderful woman they had both raised. He set the mood by treating them to a fancy dinner at the best local restaurant, again complete with a limousine to take the women to and from. He also wrote a beautiful letter to ask them both if they would give their permission to let him make the woman of his dreams his wife.
Of course, they said yes!
Five years of a fairy tale romance, the distance almost forgotten, and hundreds of gifts later, his one-time sweetheart became his fiancé, and then finally his happy wife who made a home with him in the US. Even though he no longer needs GBO to send his wife surprises across the ocean (now he gets to do that in person), he still keeps surprising his mother-in-law in Russia with beautiful gifts and bouquets on all major occasions.
We’re happy to say, they truly have their happily ever after. Thank you for inspiring us to give a little more often, to love a little harder, and to never forget that even the smallest of gifts can go the distance and bring us all just a little bit closer.
For most of us upcoming Valentine’s Day is associated with roses, chocolates, cards and fancy dinners with our loved ones. We are most probably familiar with some basic traditions and history facts but is there anything more to the holiday? There definitely is and you’re about to discover Valentine’s Day from a new perspective.
Chocolate
In the 19th century doctors advised their patients with broken heart to eat chocolate in order to sooth the pain from the lost love. To this day, many women find comfort in a box of chocolates when dealing with heartbreak.
Casanova, well known as “The World’s Greatest Lover,” ate chocolate to make him virile.
There’s no secret that chocolate and Valentine’s Day go together like Peanut Butter and Jelly. Richard Cadbury from the Cadbury chocolates company is responsible for popularizing Valentine’s Day chocolates. It was him who first presented his beloved one chocolates in a heart-shaped box.
Now over 35 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolate are sold every year on Valentine’s Day.
In U.S alone people spend over $1 billion worth of chocolate for Valentine’s Day.
15% of U.S. women send flowers on Valentine’s Day to… themselves.
The most popular Valentine’s Day flower is a single red rose surrounded with baby’s breath.
A red rose is considered the flower of love because of their color that stands for strong romantic feelings.
Red roses were favorite flowers of Venus, the Roman goddess of love.
Over 189 million stems of roses are sold in the U.S. on Valentine’s Day.
While California produces over 60% of American roses, the most flowers sold on Valentine’s Day in the U.S. are imported from South America.
Valentine’s Day Cards
About 85% of all Valentine’s Day cards are bought by women.
Over half of all cards are purchased less than a week prior to the holiday, making Valentine’s Day a procrastinator’s delight.
Teachers will receive the most Valentine’s Day cards, followed by kids, mothers, wives, sweethearts and pets.
Random Facts
Many believe the X symbol became synonymous with the kiss in medieval times. People who couldn’t write their names signed in front of a witness with an X. The X was then kissed to show their sincerity.
About 3% of pet owners will be spending over $700 million on Valentine’s gifts for their pets.
220,000 is the average number of wedding proposals made on Valentine’s Day each year.
Saint Valentine is the patron saint of lovers and engaged couples. But did you know he is also the patron saint of epilepsy (which St.Valentine is said to have suffered), plague, greetings, travelers, young people, and bee keepers.
