Valley travel agent helps long distance couple reunite

COVID-19 kept the now married couple, Jeff and Victoria Asher, away from each other for almost a year at one point.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Long distance relationships can be hard but imagine living almost 6,000 miles away, across several countries and an ocean from your fiance.

That was the reality for couple, Jeff and Victoria Asher, who were away from each for almost a year and was only able to reunite thanks to one Scottsdale travel agent.

“It was like a 90 Day Fiancé type deal,” said Jeff Asher.

But instead of petty drama for reality TV, there was a global pandemic that threw a wrench in their romance.

“It was frustrating, very frustrating,” Jeff Asher said.

Jeff Asher said he met Victoria Asher on a dating website. She lived in Ukraine and he lived in Oklahoma.

They met in-person for the first time in Barcelona in March 2020.

“We had a week in Barcelona and then I was supposed to go back to Kiev with her for a few days and get to know her son,” he explained.

“That didn’t happen because after about a week in Barcelona, we didn’t know what was going on, the city started shutting down. We hadn’t heard much about COVID at that point.”

They took one more trip in September and then didn’t see each other again for almost a year.

“We were only able to meet twice so we met in September and then we were trying to plan another trip but there were so many restrictions and I couldn’t go to Europe and it just wasn’t going to happen,” Jeff Asher said. “So we went about nine months without even seeing each other.”

Determined to see each other, Jeff Asher searched on Google for a travel agent and Tammy Fisher in Scottsdale popped up with “glowing reviews.” Fisher coordinated a trip for the couple to Mexico and helped them reunite.

“There’s a lot of long distance relationships that I’ve had to figure out how to navigate these people seeing each other,” said Fisher. “It was really hard to navigate over COVID because every country had a different rule.”

On top of COVID restrictions, things were a bit more difficult for the couple because of Victoria Asher’s international status.

“Tammy went above and beyond… because [Victoria’s] not an American citizen, she couldn’t even change planes in the U.S. so Tammy had to figure out how do we get her to Mexico.”

However, nothing could derail Jeff and Victoria’s nuptials. The couple got married in August 2021 and now live in Oklahoma together.

“It really tried our patience for sure, a Skype call once a week because of the time difference doesn’t quite cut it,” Jeff responded.

Fisher is still working to make sure all of her long-distance, couple clients get their happy ending.

“I have five couples and three of them are married since I started working with them,” Fisher said. “I’ve become very invested in my clients I’m constantly checking in. I’m like 90 Day Fiancé.”