1. Work out together
When you exercise, your body releases happy hormones known as endorphins. These benefits are shared when couples work out together. Studies have shown that when a couple does a higher intensity task, like working out, they report being more attracted to their partners.
There are some ways you can do this while apart. One, you could screen a YouTube workout together on a shared screen and work out with both your videos switched on. You can find some free, quality at-home workouts from Pop Sugar Fitness and Yoga with Adriene.
Another way would be to attend a live virtual workout class, through platforms like Classpass and Blok TV. Better still if you two find a weekly class timing that works for you, and you both attend class at the same time, but in your own locations. It gives you two a common activity and routine in your relationship while apart, you also get a good sweat in. Have a video chat after to talk about your workout while riding on that post-workout high.
2. Surprise them with dinner
With so many food delivery apps around, you can still deliver a hot dinner to your loved one, with the click of a few buttons and your credit card.
To make it more fun, agree upon one or two evenings when the both of you would not cook. Instead of getting your own, order your partner’s meal for them.
Injecting a little surprise and fun into your meal gives both of you something to look forward to after a long day at work. Better yet, call each other while the both of you are eating and share why you each chose the dish for the other person.
It might surprise you how much your partner remembers. For example, they may have ordered chocolate mousse from a cafe you went to for your first date because they remembered how happy you looked when you ate it.
3. Exploring countries virtually
If you two have a shared love for traveling and exploring, you can introduce the excitement of travel by going on a virtual city tour while on a video date together.
A quick search on YouTube for ‘virtual city tours’ brings up more than enough content for your date nights. But if you’d like a curated list, here’s one we enjoyed. You can also opt for personalized tours for the both of you if there’s a city or country you’ve been wanting to visit. Airbnb has many travel-themed virtual experiences to try, such as sheep-watching in New Zealand or a mindfulness tea session in Japan.
If you want something more thrilling, there’s even a channel that brings you on interactive 360-degree tours of actual Disney rides. Just make sure neither of you has motion sickness!
You could also look for a location where you traveled to before, so you two can reminisce on the good memories you had, and make future plans for travel.
4. Cook a meal together
If you want to spice up your virtual dates, cooking a meal together could help you two connect, communicate more and create new memories.
As this can be a tad more time-consuming, we recommend doing this on a weekend when you have time to shop for supplies, cook and clean up. Else it might just add more stress to your current dynamics.
Agree on a recipe that you both would like to try and shop for ingredients where you both are. Set a time and turn on your video cams while you both prep and cook. You don’t have to be actively speaking to each other as you cook, but the passive presence of your other half and the shared experience will help the both of you feel a lot closer.
If you prefer having a guide, Airbnb also has online cooking classes with hosts from around the world, like this Salsa class with a Mexican chef.
5. Answer a series of thought-provoking questions
Without physical contact and proximity, another way of rekindling love would be to build on your emotional intimacy. The New York Times published a series of 36 questions that promised love between two strangers at the end of the whole set of questions.
Even though the questions are meant for strangers, couples can use these questions to learn more about each other. Some questions are light-hearted, such as “Share with your partner an embarrassing moment in your life” while others are more somber like “Of all the people in your family, whose death would you find most disturbing and why?”.
These questions would take less than an hour, but we like that the stories and experiences shared out of these thirty-six questions would help you better understand your partner, their lives, and their past.
