When we said goodbye to our friends and family to move to Thailand two years ago, we knew our relationships would be affected by the distance. Even with the seemingly endless number of ways in which we can stay connected to just about anyone at any given place in the world, things change when you go from seeing people daily to being in completely different timezones. An hour long video call with your best friend is just not the same as a night on the couch watching reruns of Sex and the City with a bottle of wine. Although everyone said they would stay in touch, we knew we would eventually settle into our new lifestyle and in time this would fade. Everyone has their own things going on in life. People move on, their lives going in different directions. And that’s okay. We knew that our family and our closest friends would always be a part of our lives and that no distance would ever come between that.

Only that wasn’t the case. Moving abroad had a greater strain on my friendships than I expected. I didn’t notice it at first as I clung tightly to my best friends at home when I first Left not wanting to miss a beat, but it seems the longer I stay away and the more comfortable I become with this lifestyle, the more difficult it is to maintain these friendships. However, one thing I have learned over the course of these past two years is that there are Friendships Worth Fighting for.

While some of my friendships are stronger than ever, I’ve watched others slip away over the past two years. Some of the people that I called my best friends when we left on this journey, I rarely speak to anymore. Living abroad teaches you a lot of life lessons and I guess a lesson on friendship is one that I didn’t expect. See, when we made the life altering decision to move to Thailand, I guess I foolishly believed that I would still play a big role in their lives even from the other side of the world. I thought they would still call me to fill me in on their day but also check in to see how I was adjusting to life in a foreign city. But those calls were few and far in between. Even with the abundance of free communication options at our fingertips, our conversations quickly turned into brief text messages here and there and somewhere along the line I realized it had been too long since we had a meaningful conversation about anything. And to be honest, it hurt quite a bit to feel like some of the most important people in my life at the time didn’t care. I no longer had a place in their world.

But then there were those that did. Those few that were tearfully waving goodbye when I left, and that have been there every day since then. The ones that repeatedly checked in when I first arrived in Thailand to make sure I wasn’t lonely or homesick. These were the ones that would schedule me in for calls around the crazy time zone to hear every detail about what I’ve been up to. They go out of their way to make time to see me every time I come home, even when I have limited time. Some have even braved the 28-hour journey to visit me in Thailand. Living abroad has made me so grateful for these friendships and I can’t even imagine getting through the past two years without their calls and texts. They were there before I left, they’ve been there all along and I know they will be around for a lifetime. Travel has taught me that these are the friendships Worth Fighting for.

There is also a lot to be said for the great friends we’ve made in Thailand and throughout our travels. There are certain people that you just connect with and know you will continue to stay in touch with whether you are in different countries, continents, time zones. When you make the decision to travel or move abroad, you may lose some people along the way but really you are just opening the doors for new people in your life. Besides, the ones that weren’t there to check in at your worst times or offer their congrats at your best times probably were never the best of friends to begin with.