The true cost of long-distance love, from a couple who made it work

James and Kelsi met while they were living in different countries but have proved long distance relationships can work.

Kelsi and James met each other while they were both on holiday in the United States. They instantly knew they'd tumbled on to a good thing — the only problem was, James was from Brisbane and Kelsi was from Canada.

Theirs was a difficult scenario, and one plenty of young travellers, including Australians, face all the time.

About a quarter of Australians have had a partner that lived abroad, according to a recent survey by KAYAK.com.au, with the majority younger Aussies aged from 23 to 35.

The good news is about 59 per cent said they were still in relationships. One in five said they ended up breaking up due to the difficulty of living apart.

But for James and Kelsi, who are going stronger than ever since they met in 2013, it's all been worth it.

"We parted ways after that but stayed in touch and we decided we will start dating despite the distance, and did back and forth visits for a while," Kelsi, who works in public relations, told news.com.au.

"I think in the initial stages it was that we liked each other, and we were kind of interested in how it would go, but when I visited Australia (in November 2013) it was love from there."

But the course of true love didn't run smoothly for the couple — in terms of living in the same city.

Kelsi moved to Brisbane to be with James, who works in property, but after eight months a family emergency sent her back home to Toronto.

Then there was the difficulty of Kelsi's 309 partner visa to come through, creating a nervous, five-month wait the Canadian described as like being in "limbo".

The couple spent another year and a half living in different hemispheres.

In the meantime, they tried to visit each other as often as they could with cross-Pacific journeys they estimated to have cost up to A$15,000 in total.

"While we were apart we probably flew back and forth to see each other five times," Kelsi said.

"We got in a routine of mapping out, 'When I wake up, you're driving home from work' and scheduling for that and saving FaceTime for the weekends."

Now happily living together in Sydney — where they both moved in February last year — and planning for their wedding, Kelsi said while their long-distance romance was a challenge, it was more than worth it.

"It's not easy but it's certainly a reward," she said.

"The easiest thing is to have an end point in mind, or schedule trips to look forward to. I had something every six months to look forward to.

"It's a challenge but when things are meant they really work out."

KAYAK.com.au's long-distance romance data comes as it launches a new Rendezvous tool that helps couples living apart find cost-effecting rendezvous points to meet up.

Essentially, each partner enters their home airport into the tool at KAYAK.com.au/rendezvous, and it calculates the best meeting spot between both locations that suits their budget.