When I graduated from college, I immediately moved from Chicago to New York to begin my career in a global PR agency.  I left behind my boyfriend of a year, Stew.  Newly Corporate has a helpful post on surviving a long distance relationship that’s a result of relocation.  Here are four of Brandon’s best tips:

• Make friends as soon as you can in your new city. Use networking tools like Meetup.com, company happy hours and service events to reach out to new people and make your transition easier. It’s all too easy to spend too much time on the phone or the internet.  Avoid the comfortable and push yourself!

• Be responsive. When you are invited to social events by work friends or personal contacts back home don’t just decline, respond!  Tell them where you are and what you’re up to, and engage them with questions about their lives.  It will keep you in touch and prevent the impression that you just fell of the map.

• Plan a mini-vacation-visit with your friends or significant other. Depending on where you have been relocated to, it can be an exciting place for the rest of your friends and family to visit. Plan out a weekend around an event in your area and send out an itinerary early to your friends so they can get cheap tickets.

• Pay attention to your finances. There can be additional financial worries associated with relocating abroad, if you prepare correctly you can avoid the added strain that financial problems can put on relationships.

I’m happy to report that ten years ago, I used many of these techniques, and as a result, I made some friends for life in New York City and Stew is now my husband!