I have a friend with family in China, Skype is her salvation. Yes, the travel costs are a problem no matter where you live. We have times when we have to think twice because of petrol costs, as does DD to come up to us. Her OH wanted us to come down to her surprise 30th party last weekend, and we did, but it meant that she won't get her birthday money until next week because being January and us being somewhat broke, and having to pay out for patrol and somewhere to stay, we couldn't afford to give her the money we know she needs to put towards a new laptop.
But yes, we are very close, I feel very lucky when I read some of the stories on here about estranged families. I guard my tongue around the DCs more as a result. And remember how I didn't want to see MiL for about two years because she criticised my housekeeping.