Well, fella bilong missus flodnak and I met on BITnet (which was a lot like the Internet). He was in Norway, I was in Pennsylvania. We’ve been married nearly 13 years and have two kids.
Sure it can work. It doesn’t always, but hell, what kind of relationship does always work?
As a couple of people mentioned before, but I’ll say again since I think it’s the number one thing about a serious long distance relationship working. One or both of you has to be willing to move. If you’re willing to move to the states, or she to the UK and you’re serious about leaving your home then go wild. Otherwise call it friends and save much heartache.
It can work if you want to make it work. Luckily, Weirddave and I weren’t apart for very long after we decided to make it work. I moved to Maryland, and we were married in July 2002.
well, i’m currently at University doing an artificial intelligence course, and it seems to be fairly easy (go figure), so my dream has been for a long time (longer than i’ve known my md girl) to end up working in the states. it’ll prob be silicon valley, but that’s a hell of a lot closer to md than the uk is. you can actually drive it :). if that fails, then i know for a fact that the US is having massive probs with lack of IT support staff. i’m also working on some interesting stuff that might make me a small fortune sometime…
and to top it all, i’m in a local band that suddenly has interest from a record label.
if anyone of these things comes about, i’ll be able to emigrate. if not, then i’m sure i’ll find another way…
thanks for all ya support guys n gals!
Go for it! I met my SO in an online Buffy The Vampire Slayer forum. We were “introduced” by a mutual friend on the board, and hit it off. That was a year and a half ago. She lives on the East Coast, I live in Southern California. We make Southwest and Delta Airlines very happy. Planning on proposing sometime soon. So give it a shot. You really have nothing to lose.
Two friends of mine - he in Cambridge, she in California (I think) - met online and have been happily married for some years. He went out to see her, she ended up moving to Cambridge.
You have nothing to lose and each other to gain.
I dated a man from the UK for a couple of years and, even though it didn’t work out, it was a wonderful experience. We visited each other and tried to make the long distance thing work but I couldn’t move and his situation changed and he couldn’t anymore either.
Then I met my SO–online 
And he was a few states away. I made it clear, upfront, that I wouldn’t be able to move out of state but that was fine by him and he moved in with me about a year ago. We’re house shopping now and very happy to be together.
Go for it, Plankspanker, don’t let “what ifs” torture you for years to come!
I met a man in the states when I was in college back home in Australia. For practical reasons, we didn’t live together before we got married.
However, there was a fair amount of precedence for marrying people you’d only met in person briefly, in our families - WWII brides who’d moved continents, and my mother and father in law courted mostly by mail while he was stationed overseas in the Airforce.
We trusted that we could make it work after a year and a half of heavy internet correspondence and about a total of four months’ in person contact on visits (one month of which was during the time when he came to Australia to marry me.)
We just celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary. The first few years of our marriage were hard work, but we went into it with our eyes open, and came through even stronger than we might have otherwise.
I know just the situation you describe, except from the other side of the ocean. I met my SO online playing Everquest. He lived in the UK and I live in NC. I was very hesitant to get involved in a long distance relationship. It is a lot of work and a lot of missing one another. He flew here to meet me after we had known each other for 9 months and had been together for five. I flew there this summer to be with him. Now he is in NC with me on a student visa, and we are preparing to move into our apartment. We have been seeing each other for one year now.
I think that you should give it a try. I hope everything works out wonderfully when you meet, but even if it doesn’t I don’t think you will regret it. Good luck!
This is kind of…umm…weird, I guess. Not creepy, really, because you’ve all been very nice. But, it’s definitely strange to see so many people talking about me, and not know anything about it until I stumbled across it. I kind of feel like I walked into my own wake. But, thank you for being interested. And, no aplogy necessary, Plankspanker. I wish you all the luck in the world, and hope it works out.
FWIW, I met the woman I just broke up with, after ten years, online. It wasn’t long distance, as in your situation, but it worked out pretty well, I’d say. (No, it wasn’t forever, but it was my longest relationship.) I would strongly recommend swapping photos, if you haven’t already, so that there is no danger of unrealistic fantasies building up over time, if you’re really serious.
Will it work? I hope so, it’s been working now for eleven months and no clouds on the horizon
Nothing new to add except “life is short,” and I think it’s cool, and you should give it a shot. 
I met a widower on my computer before the internet came along. There were local bulletin board systems that were very similar to SDMB – just smaller.
We got to know each other very well through the written word. We had an enormous amount of things in common.
After two months of public posts and private emails, we began to talk on the phone. After a couple of months of calls, we agreed to meet each other within an hour. It was very spontaneous.
We spent more and more time together over the summer – going through all of the ups and downs that everyone goes through.
At one point I became uneasy about continuing the relationship. Changes were scarey for me. But he said the following:
We’ve been married 17 years.
Go for it!
yeah Davebear, we already have swapped photos, but actually not until after we got to really know each other and began to like each other that bit more. that’s how i know it aint lust as well. hearing everyone’s ‘tales of the unexpected’ (i really was expecting this thread to go totally the other way, but damn am i glad it didnt!), i feel even more positive about the whole thing. thankyou all…
Go for it. If the flight’s relatively affordable and so on, whaddaya got to lose? Everything to gain - and I’m speaking from experience here.
First meetings can be pretty scary - I know I was terrified while flying to the US to meet galen ubal the first time - but the payoff can be incredible.
(galen here - damn straight, it can be worth it. We’re sitting here together, after months of being apart, and I’m in heaven.
Cautionary note, though; make sure you have a backup plan in case thingsdon’t work out - tavalla did when she first met me; far from being hurt, I was rather pleased that she had that level of sense.)
well, Davebear and I have at least one thing in common.
{{{{{bittersweet}}}}} Wanna go get drunk together?
w00t! go Davebear!!
Love to. Fly me up to Boss-town and I am so there.
Hmmm. Tampa to Boston, $254 round-trip. That’s possible. Not exactly a cheap date, but…
Careful what you wish for! You might get it.