My friend and I live thousands of miles apart. We take cruises together every year to maintain our relationship.

• My friend and I live in different countries, but we take cruises to meet up and spend time together.
• They're often fairly easy to plan, and we get to see a bunch of new places, too.
• Making new memories together helps us maintain our friendship across distances.

Maintaining friendships as an adult can be challenging, but my middle-school bestie and I found a solution that works for us — booking a cruise.

Samantha and I have been friends for nearly two decades, but when she moved from the US to the UK after college, we went years without seeing each other.

Our lives were becoming increasingly busy. Despite frequent phone calls to catch up, it took a lot of effort to stay connected. Without proper planning, the chances were slim we'd ever be in the same place at the same time.

So, when a travel writing assignment took me on a cruise, Samantha joined me on board. The trip proved to be an ideal way to reconnect, explore new places, and make new memories together.

We quickly realized that a cruise was the cheat code to maintaining our long-distance friendship in a fairly low-effort but exciting way, and we've been booking cruises together ever since.

Right away, I appreciated the ease of logistics when planning our cruise

Our first cruise together left from Southampton, England. Conveniently, the port was just a short train ride from Samantha's apartment in London.

It seemed like all the cards were in our favor, and we couldn't wait to board the ship for a weeklong cruise to Spain and France.

I felt confident that a cruise would be a stress-free way to travel together. Unlike many land-based trips, where you need to plan everything yourself, we simply had to get to the embarkation port.

After that, the cruise line would take care of the rest, from meals to itinerary. This meant the two of us didn't need to figure out a bunch of logistics and coordinate bookings while being thousands of miles apart in different time zones.

Although we still planned our port days, much of the legwork was done by the cruise line.

The cruise was the ultimate girls' trip, and it made us want to plan more

As soon as we got on board, Samantha and I checked out our windowless, closet-sized inside cabin. We couldn't help but laugh — our long-distance friendship was now in extremely close quarters.

One of the most challenging parts of maintaining old friendships is finding opportunities to make new memories together. All too often, hangouts become nothing more than a dinner to catch up rather than an experience you'll remember for years to come.

Cruising, though, was an excellent way to have new experiences. Whether sipping rosé in France or watching a sunset from the ship, every day led to something we'd look back on.

We also appreciated the structure of a cruise vacation. It gave us a lot of freedom to do things together or on our own. If I wanted to see a show but Samantha wanted to spend time reading, we simply planned a spot to meet up later.

Our first cruise let us slow down from our busy lives and focus on our friendship. It was a rare chance to make new memories together — something that's nearly impossible to do over a phone call.

We've been booking cruises together ever since, and it's the best way to maintain our friendship

After returning from our first cruise, we couldn't wait to book another.

So, the next year, we set sail once more, visiting ports in the Mediterranean like Naples, Italy, and Valletta, Malta. After that, we cruised from Sydney, Australia, to five islands in the South Pacific.

Currently, we're planning our next cruise, a short-and-sweet trip to The Bahamas.

Samantha and I still live in different countries, but cruising has become our tried-and-true method of seeing each other in person. If we realize it's been too long since a proper hangout, the solution is simple — book a cruise.

It may not be a conventional way to maintain a friendship, but it works for us. Spending uninterrupted quality time together while exploring new places is a great way to stay connected.

I can't wait to see where our future sailings take us.