This is a snippet from one our Mind Over Miles Column, as seen Monday.

“I’m Swiss, my boyfriend is Australian. That means we’re 8 hours (in winter 10 hours, which is actually easier) apart. It’s really difficult to phone as I go to bed when he gets up and basically vice versa. I don’t know how to deal with that.
We skype every Sunday though, but I miss hearing his voice the other 6 days of the week. How can I deal with so much time difference? -Swiss Australian”

Timezone differences got you down? Don’t worry, we’ve been there. It is estimated that over 60% of all long distance couples face the complications of timezones.

Whether it’s 2 hours apart or 10 (like this reader,) timezones can be way difficult to navigate for two people who are madly in love. The great news is that it’s not impossible to manage!

Here are our tips on how to make the most of a relationship confined by the dreaded timezones:


1. Forgetting how many hours apart you are? Or what time it is for them? Try this app.

mirandaThe Miranda App is a convenient little tool that lets you keep track of as many timezones as you like in a sleek little spot on your phone.

It’s simple and easy: just set the timezones you need to keep track of and if you are ever in doubt, a flick of your wrist reveals all you need to know about when your S/O is in current time. Sure beats trying to remember everything!


2. Having Trouble finding a good time to talk? Let this tool figure it out for you!

So thanks to the Miranda App, you know that right now its’ 3 pm for you and 12pm for your S/O. But how does that translate into times you can actually talk together?

The worst part of being timezones apart is all the planning that goes into being able to skype or have a phone call together. What time is the best time for you both? and how much time will you have before one of you passes out from exhaustion or has to run off to work?

Never fear, the World Chat Clock is here! This handy website does all the figuring out for you. It takes both timezones into account and then shows you the best times to talk: when you’re both awake, alert and free!


3. Cant Skype? Send Video Messages!

glideAlright, so even with all the easy scheduling that the World Chat Clock gives you, this fact still remains: Being timezones apart means you just don’t have the luxury of Skyping everyday. Bummer. Fortunately, the Glide app provides a wonderful solution by making video chat very fluid and easy!

Instead of scheduling out a skype date on a specific day and time, you can send video messages to each other throughout the day like text messages! You can even have full conversations over the course of a few days. No more missing your S/O’s face or voice. Now you DO have the luxury of seeing each other as often as you’d like.


4. Sending gifts just isn’t cutting it? Add some flare with these cool stickers!

In our previous article covering How to Deal with Timezone Differences, we interviewed 6 LDR couples who were currently living in different time zones from their partners. We received lots of awesome tips, one of which was this:

I send my s/o random gifts in the mail without telling him that I’m sending them. I like to send things that I know he can use and will make him feel closer to me. -Anonymous

tineWe still think that sending gifts to your S/O is a great idea to help distract yourself from the fact that you’re missing them. But if gifts just can’t compare to see your baby’s face in full screen, TINE Tags might be the perfect thing for you to add on to your gift giving regiment.

TINE (featured in one of our weekend faves columns) is a totally cool phone app/sticker combo that lets you stick a video or voice message from yourself on virtually anything. To use TINE, you order a set of stickers, scan the stickers and then use the accompanying app to record a video or voice message.

The video message is then associated with the sticker you scanned and when you place it on a gift and send it off -you’re sending an amazing little message along with your gift! Perfect for those “I miss your face” days.


5. Can’t wake up early to send a text message? This site will do it for free!

Another suggestion from one of our LDR couples was to wake up early and send a text message off to your loved one so they can have something bright to wake up to. But, not all of us can just wake up at 3 am to send a text message -we just don’t have it in us.

If you’re one of those people that likes to sleep in, but you’re battling timezones, you’ll LOVE Ohdontforget. Ohdontforget is a website that will let you schedule text messages for any time of day and send them for you automatically, for free without any ads or other sketchy elements. There’s even a neat little dashboard, when you create an account, that lines up all your scheduled text messages so you can see what you’re sending and when.

You may not be able to wake up early to send a text, but the sentiment still counts because every message that’s texted to you S/O and 5 am is still a messaged that was written by you.


6. And Just for fun, this charades game lets you play together at your own pace, through video!

Last, but not least, we wanted to include something fun! Being separated by 10+ times zones can mean that you don’t even have the luxury of playing games or having fun together. So ,we scoured the web and found this amazing little iphone app game that we think you’ll love: Acting Out.

Acting Out is a game of charades that you can play through video. However unlike the real game of charades, or video charades that you can play online, this app doesn’t require live video to play. It lets you play at your own pace sending short video clips of you and your S/O acting out the given word back and forth whenever you like. Pretty neat!

We hope these 6 tools help you out in managing your timezones!

Did we miss anything? What other tools should we include on this list? Talk to us in the comments below.