Long Distance Relationship Activities Beyond Video Calls
Video calls are the backbone of any long-distance relationship, but if every interaction is a face-to-face conversation on a screen, things can start to feel formulaic. The calls blend together. The "how was your day?" exchange becomes routine. You start running out of things to say, not because you don't care, but because you're doing the same activity every time.
The solution isn't to stop calling — it's to diversify what you do together. Here are activities that let you spend time with your partner without the pressure of direct conversation, creating shared experiences that give your relationship texture and variety.
Watch Films and Series in Sync
This is the obvious one (we did build a watch party platform, after all), but it deserves the top spot because it genuinely works. Watching something together — truly in sync, same frame, same moment — creates the closest approximation of sitting on the sofa together that technology currently offers. You can react in real time via chat, share GIFs, and discuss the film afterwards. It's low-effort, high-reward, and endlessly repeatable because there will always be another film to watch.
Play Games Together
Gaming is one of the best long-distance activities because it puts you in a shared environment with shared goals (or friendly competition). The variety is enormous:
- Cooperative video games. Games where you work together toward a common goal. These build teamwork and give you shared victories to celebrate.
- Board games online. Many classic board games are available as browser-based or app versions. Great if neither of you is a "gamer" in the traditional sense.
- Word games and trivia. Quick rounds of word puzzles or trivia quizzes are perfect for short bursts of connection during the day.
- Sandbox and creative games. Building something together in a shared creative space is surprisingly intimate. You're making decisions together, compromising on aesthetics, and creating something that didn't exist before.
Cook the Same Meal Simultaneously
Pick a recipe, synchronise your grocery shopping, and cook together over a call. The beauty of this activity is that it's practical (you both need to eat), it requires focus and coordination (reducing the "awkward silence" problem), and it ends with both of you eating the same food at the same time. It feels remarkably like a real dinner date, especially if you set the table properly and eat together on camera.
Work on a Collaborative Project
Having a shared project gives your relationship purpose and direction beyond just maintaining the connection. The project can be anything:
- A shared journal or scrapbook where you both contribute entries about your day, memories, or things you want to do together.
- Planning a trip for your next visit — researching hotels, restaurants, activities, and building a shared itinerary.
- Learning a language together using the same app or course, testing each other, and practising in conversation.
- Writing something together — a story, a blog, a list of places you want to visit, a recipe collection of meals you've cooked together.
- Building a playlist that evolves over time, with both of you adding songs that feel relevant to your relationship or your mood.
Exercise Together
Follow the same workout routine, do yoga together, or go for a walk in your respective neighbourhoods while talking on the phone. Shared physical activity creates a sense of routine and mutual accountability. It's also a good way to feel connected to your partner's daily life — you start to picture their running route, their local park, the street they walk down every morning.
Read the Same Book
Start a two-person book club. Choose a book together, set a reading pace (a chapter a day, a section a week), and discuss it as you go. The conversations that come from shared reading are different from anything else — you'll discover what your partner notices, what they relate to, what they disagree with. It's revealing in a quiet, intimate way.
Send Each Other Physical Things
In a digital-first relationship, physical objects carry outsized emotional weight. Send each other:
- Handwritten letters (the tactile experience of holding something your partner touched is powerful).
- Care packages with snacks from your local area, a book you loved, or something that reminded you of them.
- Postcards from places you visit, even mundane local spots.
- A hoodie or T-shirt that smells like you (yes, really — scent is one of the strongest emotional triggers).
Take Online Classes Together
Learning something new together is bonding because it puts you both in the same position — beginners, figuring it out, making mistakes, improving. Take an art class, a cooking class, a coding tutorial, a photography workshop. The subject matters less than the shared experience of learning side by side.
Have "Ambient" Hangouts
Not everything needs to be an activity. Sometimes the most meaningful thing is just being present with each other while doing your own thing. Open a video call or voice channel while you each work, study, read, or clean your flat. It's the digital equivalent of being in the same room, and it fills the silence of living alone with the quiet comfort of someone else's presence.
Explore Each Other's Cities Virtually
Use street view to "walk around" your partner's neighbourhood. Have them guide you through their daily route — where they get coffee, the park they walk through, the view from their office window. Understanding the physical spaces your partner inhabits makes their daily stories more vivid and helps you feel more connected to their life.
The Key: Variety and Intention
The specific activities matter less than two principles: variety (don't do the same thing every time) and intention (put genuine effort into your shared time, even if the activity is low-key). A long-distance relationship thrives when both people actively create shared experiences rather than just checking in with status updates.
The distance is real, and no activity can fully replace being together. But the right activities can make the distance feel shorter, the connection feel deeper, and the time apart feel more bearable.
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