Whether you live in separate parishes or separate countries, being in a long distance relationship is hard enough without the added pressure of Valentine's Day.

Put on top of not being able to see your beau regularly, you also get to witness all the romanticisms shared between your coupled friends. Here are a few tips to get you and your special someone through the day.

If you don't get to talk to each other regularly, that is whether through Instant Messenger or web-camming or phone calls, arrange to have a special date this Saturday night. Buy an international phone card and spend hours on the phone, or plan a special web cam session where you both dress up as if going on a date and just spend the night together via the internet.

If you do speak often, and think that spending the day together is just going to put more emphasis on how lonely you are without each other, then pretend as if the day doesn't exist at all. Make a pact to not speak to each other that night, but instead to go out and party with all your single friends, you know they need the company!

Send them E-cards. Since most E-cards are free, the best way to pull this off without looking tacky is to select roughly 24 E-cards days before, each with a special message stating how you feel. Then on Valentine's Day send a card every hour on the hour from 12 am Saturday to 12 am Sunday.

Mail them a real card. Yes, snail mail is outdated and not common among us TEENagers, but that is what makes it so special. Make this gesture even more special by putting a black and white picture of yourself with a little love note scribbled across the front (like lovers used to send to each other during the world wars) in the envelope.

Record a video of yourself reciting or singing a favourite or original love poem or love song, and then e-mail it to them to show them just how you feel about them, or upload it to Facebook or YouTube to show the world how you feel about them! (Be careful of the kind of videos you upload please, as this may haunt you for awhile.)

If it is possible to see them physically, make a concerted effort to do so. Surprise them with a visit on Valentine's Day, it's a present they will never forget. And since the best gift you can give is yourself, no candlelit dinner or bouquet of red roses is required!