Are US-UK relationships common?

I met my husband after I got here.  Didn't 'know' him online before that.  But hey, works for us!

Been married for nearly 7 years and now have two daughters and one son.

Of course it's okay to meet someone online!

Tim and I started talking in an IRC channel based around the webcomic, College Roomies From Hell!!!  The IRC channel folk decided to have a "convention" in Seattle in 2005, and Tim and I both went. I was dating someone else at the time who also went, so Tim and I only really spoke one night I was able to get away from the boyfriend and we sat together a few times at meals.  We continued our online friendship, exchanging emails and IMs all the time, and if he was absent for a bit, I'd get worried....and our friendship grew and grew.  We flirted, we teased, we made plans for me to visit "someday" (as friends).  Long story short, I broke up with the boyfriend I had been dating and started seeing another guy Tim knew through the IRC channel.  Tim was always there for me and he became one of my best friends.  We tried chatting via Skype, but since he was on dial-up, it was hard.  He finally upgraded to broadband, and we tested out Skype and spent 8 hours chatting!  The guy I had been seeing chose to end things with me before I went on holiday with some friends, and Tim was there for me.  Making sure he was on for me to talk to, texting me while I was away, really just being the best friend I needed.

I decided instead of going on a cruise in 2009, I was going to visit Tim.  We discussed it and picked 2 weeks in the fall...which then grew to 2 months, all before we started dating. Tim was going to fix up his guest room for me, and while we talked about the possibility of something happening between us, we agreed that no matter what, this was a friendly visit and was about showing me the UK to see if I really wanted to live here or not.

Then one day in July, we realised we had real feelings for each other, and decided we wanted to date....and here we are.  I'm in the middle of my visit to him, and it's grand. 

I met my wife on an internal corporate chat room, so I'm not sure if that counts or not. Difficult to tell whether the intranet is any better or worse than the internet...

... It's something I refrain from telling my family, as well....

Whilst echoing everyone else's "it's fine!" comments, I'd be a bit wary about the family thing. Your family are going to much prefer "I've fallen in love with someone who I originally met on the internet" to "I've fallen in love with someone who I'm going to meet in real life soon". Personally I'd keep the whole thing under wraps until you have actually met 'em, just for simplicity's sake...

Whilst echoing everyone else's "it's fine!" comments, I'd be a bit wary about the family thing. Your family are going to much prefer "I've fallen in love with someone who I originally met on the internet" to "I've fallen in love with someone who I'm going to meet in real life soon". Personally I'd keep the whole thing under wraps until you have actually met 'em, just for simplicity's sake...

I agree.  It was difficult to explain to my friends and family that I already had feelings for someone I hadn't met in person.  But once I had met him, no one had a thing to say about it! 

I agree too- I kept my relationship with DH quiet until a couple of months after we met in person.  My little brother (20, same age DH was when he met me) is going to meet his online girlfriend in Tennessee in two weeks, and my mother is freaking out.  Seeing her reaction to that made me all the more thankful I didn't tell her I was spending a week with a man I had never met before I did it!

That said, I would always tell someone where you are going, even if it's not family.  In my situation all my friends knew where I was and what I was doing when I met DH, even though I chose not to tell my family for a bit.  It's just a safety thing, you never know.

I too met my American girlfriend online, through this very forum. 

there is certainly an element of strangeness about feeling so close to somebody I have yet to meet in person

Have you at least exchanged several current photos?  I've had several relationships that seemed very promising online and on the phone.  No guy was ugly, but I found that when we met, there was no chemistry, at least on my side.  Fortunately, I've been able to remain friends with a few of them for several years now.  You have to  keep your expectations in check until you meet, although I know how tempting it is to want that person to be "the one."  You know that already, I'm sure. 

My fingers are crossed for you!

The only person I told about DB ahead of time was my sister, and that was only so somebody knew I was driving 8 hours to meet him in case something went wrong. I told my parents when I got back.

i'm american, bf is english.

we talked for about 3 months online and since then we've gone back and forth between UK and US for visits. i, generally come to UK for summer .. 2-4 months at a time. and he comes to america 1-2 months.

we've been dating just over 2 years 

My UK fiance and I met online in a random chatroom about 7 years ago.  I was 16 and he was 18.  He came over to visit the states, as a friend, about a year after us talking online.  Then, he came to live in the US for 6 months as a visitor shortly after and our relationship bloomed.  We went our separate ways in 2003 (I was 18 and he was 20) because he HAD to go back to the UK and I HAD to go to college.  We all know that college is NOT the best place to have a long-distance relationship.  We tried to make it work, but in the end, our relationship failed miserably. We each dated other people and did not talk to one another for 5 years.  Then, in December of 2007 it just so happened that BOTH our long-term relationships ended at around the same time and he got in touch with me through e-mail.  We talked as friends for a while and I then planned to visit him for 7 weeks in the summer of 2008 (I am an English teacher and had lots of time off!).  We realised that our love for one another is more strong and better now that we are more mature and have been in relationships that didn't work out.  I visited the UK again in December of 2008 and he asked me to marry him! We are applying for our fiance visa and hopefully getting married this summer in July! So, what started out as a friendship on-line has actually blossomed into eternal happiness.

I met my husband in a Yahoo Over 30's Chat Room over 10yrs ago.

Met in the Chat Room July 4th 1998
Left the UK & arrived Baltimore, Maryland, USA September 29th 1998
Married March 26th 1999 (total whirlwind romance)
Moved to Montana 2003
Moved to Oregon 2004
Hoping to bring him home to the UK for good in the not too distant future.

We have been through many hardships, heartaches, trials and tribulations and plenty of adventures and good happy times.  We were destined for each other all along.  I think our marriage was arranged before we were even born. 

It was the first time I was ever on the Internet that I met DH and he wasn't even the person I originally connected with.  Some other dude told me how to go into a private room to chat and in walked my DH who was lost.  To this day we don't know how or why it happened.  Never did find the other guy I was chatting with.

We were destined for each other all along.  I think our marriage was arranged before we were even born. 

It was the first time I was ever on the Internet that I met DH and he wasn't even the person I originally connected with. To this day we don't know how or why it happened.  Never did find the other guy I was chatting with.

Awww... I feel the same way about my guy.  We knew so soon after we met online, it was crazy, but it was all in the cards!     I was also lost when I ran into DH online, my first time messing around with Second Life and he had only been on once or twice before that, as a dare, more or less!   

I met my boyfriend on a Facebook application in May of last year.  He's from Buffalo, NY and I'm from Sheffield, England.

We met for the first time on 26th Janaury this year, he went back on February 9th.  This Monday just gone, I am still pretty cut up about it.  It went well and I'm going over to see him in NY in June...

It's awful going back to talking online though, we're both heartbroken right now.

Oh yes.....you have PVD....post visit depression...

It'll get a bit better....once you get used to life apart once again. 

It's never easy saying good bye to your SO when a visit ends, butttt....adjusting to ldr life happens faster after each visit. 

And do what my fiance and I do....we don't say good bye, we say "see you later"

My British fiance and I met in real life (he came over through Camp America so we worked at a summer camp together), but a huge chunk of our relationship has taken place online. I knew I loved him when we were together in person at first, but it was the distance that actually strengthened our relationship... the physical side of things has always been very strong with us, but it wasn't until he went back to England and we converted to talking online that I realized we could also talk easily and really understand each other. That's when I knew it would last.