Meet halfway. Meet w/out kids.

Never. Probably for a way in advanced planned birthday dinner but other than that “thinking of you” textss work fine

Never. I’m not driving an hour.

Combine your visit with a sleepover and have concentrated catch up sessions.

Once every year or two, and almost always because we invite them into the city. We are super busy, have a tough kid to haul to unknown quarters (a whole lot of adhd crazy), and i've always been on the mindset that, if we had many years of being friends in the city, and you move to the burbs, that's on you to make the yearly trip into the city to see us, and not vice versa. Most of the people who moved super far out weren't my best friends anyhow, and life goes on without seeing them regularly.

Anonymous wrote:A few times a year. If we’re lucky.

My friends, this. But I’m an introvert.

Extrovert DH makes sure to see his hour-away friends more often.

3-4 times a year

2-3 if I'm making all the effort

Different life places and phases. If you are truly good friends, you will figure out how to make time for each other. Now that my kids are both in HS, I have more time to do stuff with DH and friends again, because our kids are more independant. And/but, come soccer season, basketball season, forget-about-it, because we are always at the games
In a few more years both kids will be off to college and we will become even more available...

Anonymous wrote:Sadly, maybe once a year if that.

+1. I actually see a friend who lives 4 hours away more because when she comes to town (family in the area) we make a concerted effort to get together.

Sadly, maybe once a year if that.

Anonymous wrote:A few times a year. If we’re lucky.

Same.

About 3 times a year

Never. You move out of my neighborhood and you are dead to me

A few times a year. If we’re lucky.

More and more of my friends are fleeing to the deep suburbs in pursuit of big houses. Visiting them on a typical weekend means sitting in traffic for more than an hour, each way. And of course no relaxing over wine, because driving. I miss the ease of socializing with them in the city, and I frequently find myself declining invitations to their barbecues and other events. It's just too much hassle. It's also too much hassle for them to visit me -- they decline most invitations because getting into DC is a pain, there's no place to park, they have to work on some home improvement project, kids have soccer practice, etc etc. I know the correct answer is to just dial back on these friendships until our life circumstances better align, and see visits with them the same way I see visits with friends who live on the West Coast -- rare and special. But that just seems so drastic when we technically still live in the same metropolitan area. I wish it were easier to get around the wider DC region. I looked into taking the train to visit a friend today. VRE doesn't run on weekends, and Amtrak wanted almost $50 for a 30-minute ride (with no return option available same day). Whomp whomp. Literally the only way to get there was to sit in the solid red line of 95.

How often do you visit friends who live on the other side of the region, and how often do they visit you?