Damn that pacific!
August 29, 2001 10:08 AM   Subscribe

Damn that pacific! Can anyone help these lovebirds cross the pacific?
posted by adnan (23 comments total)
 
The romantic in me has a warmfuzzy on his face. I've kicked the cynic in the head and told him to get back to work.

Ain't love grand?

I wish Lane and Stu good luck.
posted by Marquis at 10:20 AM on August 29, 2001


Wow, I never realized that Australia was so close to the West Coast! And where did Mexico go? :)
posted by valerie at 10:26 AM on August 29, 2001


More specifically, we only want one of the "lovebirds" to cross the Pacific. Otherwise we'll find ourselves back in the same situation. :-)
posted by salmacis at 10:38 AM on August 29, 2001


Yeah, like this. Whoops.
posted by barkingmoose at 11:20 AM on August 29, 2001


Why don't we dam the Pacific?
posted by msacheson at 11:32 AM on August 29, 2001


There we go: here's the "lovesick couple" thread. Just one of the many pitfalls involved with long-distance relationships. Maybe this here internet thing can make it a little easier (and help avoid embarassing incidents like planes passing in the night).
posted by barkingmoose at 11:33 AM on August 29, 2001


My advice: move to Australia. Immigrating to the US is way too much hassle.
posted by benbrown at 2:49 PM on August 29, 2001


Surely you've seen this thread, benbrown? ;-)
posted by dagny at 3:08 PM on August 29, 2001


wait a minute... now, about love and joy and romance and warm fuzzys and finding one's true love on the internet*, and isn't it a jolly good story about human emotions and all that...

but, why in the world does anyone have to help these people? um, am i supposed to part the big blue sea so they can walk to one another? why do i have to donate money so they can be together? it's only about $1,300 per rt flight now to sydney from atlanta, surely a reachable sum that both parties can save up relatively easy... or are we to believe they're somehow unable to make their way like the rest of us in this worn and tattered road? hell, if they can substantiate their love, i bet they can justify to the INS or the oz counterpart a 'fiancé' visa (iirc it's an F-1 visa in the usa). i'm all for love and joy in everyone's life, but what's so hard for these two to get their own business done? they don't need to establish a website, they just have to start saving money... right?

or is this just not enough empathy on my part?

*having found my own boyfriend online, like a proper geek-wannabe.
posted by eatdonuts at 3:31 PM on August 29, 2001


You fall in love with people in the world more than once, I just hope that they're not sacrificing their domestic lives for an other-side-of-the-world fantasy that may or may not live up to their hopes when they finally meet. No matter how much you chat/talk/write someone, there's really no substitute for being there.
posted by jonah at 3:39 PM on August 29, 2001


Eatdonuts -- It's a K1 Visa, and trust me, it ain't easy to get one.

and Dagny -- Yeah, maybe Australia is the wrong place to be. New Zealand it is!
posted by benbrown at 4:01 PM on August 29, 2001


i say we seek guidance from WILL WHEATON, i'm sure he knows the answer to this.
posted by jcterminal at 8:06 PM on August 29, 2001


Very soon this will solve this pesky long distance problem.
posted by owillis at 8:13 PM on August 29, 2001


eatdonuts: My impression is that they don't actually think anyone has a duty to donate to them or anything, and that they are saving money for themselves, but that they figured it couldn't hurt to ask just on the off chance that someone wealthy would come across it and help them get together that much quicker. See in particular "What is this donation bullshit?", under the WTF? section of the site.

(Mind you, I've been trying desperately to be cynical about this whole thing ever since I read it this morning. It's just that the harder I try, the more I find out what a hopeless romantic I am. It's disgraceful.)
posted by moss at 1:03 AM on August 30, 2001


Doubters read this. Makes me go all warm and squishy-like.
posted by Optamystic at 1:45 AM on August 30, 2001


Being embroiled in a similar case myself, it's true that there is no substitute for being there. Only then will they find out whether there's anything permanent to it. I think that's the crux of it - the permanence.
Emails are great. Letters are precious. Time in each other's physical presence is more valuable though. And knowing that it might have to be a permanent agreement (marriage etc) for immigration purposes has thrown up roadspikes before.
It's one my relationship faltered at the first time. But we'll see if we can cobble something together that works.
In the meantime, I'm going to donate a couple of quid to them. Beautiful story.
posted by oddity at 2:02 AM on August 30, 2001


Why "damn the Pacific"? Their problems would be just as bad were it bone dry--if not worse.

More like, damn international airfares! Damn 16+ hour flights.

And if they actually lived together they'd be too busy damning each other to ever keep up with their blog.

But how cute anyways.
posted by crasspastor at 2:41 AM on August 30, 2001


Hrm. The dry Pacific idea is one I hadn't thought of.
If they both had an SUV, they could drive and meet in the middle for a picnic.
Absence makes the heart go blogger.
That sucks.
posted by oddity at 2:54 AM on August 30, 2001


http://www.abc.net.au/news/2001/08/item20010830004136_1.htm
Maybe we're not so accomodating anyway..

(hope that works I'm newish)
posted by johnny7 at 3:13 AM on August 30, 2001


Bugger
posted by johnny7 at 3:18 AM on August 30, 2001


The K1 visa isn't entirely difficult to get, but the process is tiresome and tedious when you can't afford an immigration lawyer and one of the biggest sources of information about it online gets pulled because of some uppity lawyers in Kentucky... but I'm one of the Aussies that made it through and got it, just this year. (I'm now in America semi-permanently, and god, you guys are weird. ;-)

I do hope that these two are able to get together soon... for most, all the hassle and frustration is quite worth it..!
posted by sammy at 9:34 AM on August 30, 2001


good luck, lane and stu!
posted by incubus at 1:54 AM on August 31, 2001


How about "damn the internet" that allowed these two souls to connect in the first place? Were it not for our interconnectivity, they never would have known that the other person existed. :-)

But like incubus, I wish them good luck, too.
posted by davidmsc at 8:02 AM on September 7, 2001


« Older Read what Newt does.   |   Entrapment? Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments