Long-distance relationships have challenges that are too hard to overcome, and no one portrays them better than 90 Day Fiancé couples who travel for thousands of miles to be with their partners. Couples of the hit TLC show and its spin-offs connect over just a simple “hi” or “good morning” text on social media, or perhaps cross each other’s paths during a vacation without knowing they’d be spending a lifetime together. They end up going halfway across the world just to see their lover in person for the first time, with some who move their entire lives to a new country to marry “the one.”
Although most90 Day Fiancé couples don’t end up together, there’s no stopping those who are madly in love from taking that trip of a lifetime to meet their significant other. Some cast members have plucked the courage to take a 10-24 hour flight to meet someone they know nothing about or doesn’t even speak their language. They do this only because they trust in love and would do anything to make a beautiful relationship happen.
10 Loren & Alexei Brovarnik (11-Hour Flight – Israel To Florida)
Loren and Alexei Brovarnik might be together and happy now, but they had a lot of obstacles in their path when they started dating. Loren was on a Birthright trip to Israel in 2013 when she met the man of her dreams. Back then, Alexei was working as a medic. Little did Loren know that she would have to give up her home, career, and lifestyle for this relationship, which blessed her with three lovely kids who are currently under three years old. Loren traveled to Israel a total of five times in a single year before Alexei moved to the U.S. in 2015 to get married.
9 Elizabeth Potthast & Andrei Castravet (11-Hour Flight – Ireland To Florida)
While Andrei Castravet is from Moldova, he moved to Ireland from his home country, where he initially met Elizabeth Potthast. Andrei used to work as a detective, but found the police in his country to be very corrupt. Because he didn’t want to end up doing something illegal, Andrei left his country. Elizabeth had matched with Andrei on a dating app while she planned on traveling to Dublin. It was Elizabeth’s solo trip, and Andrei was working as a bouncer in Ireland in 2016. Andrei soon relocated to Florida on a K-1 visa, so they could marry.
8 Angela Deem & Michael Ilesanmi (12-Hour Flight – Georgia To Nigeria)
Angela Deem from Hazelhurst, Georgia used to live with her elderly mom, two daughters, and six grandchildren when she met Michael Ilesanmi from Lagos, Nigeria on a social networking site. Angela was skeptical of Michael’s intentions since she believed he was a scammer. Despite her daughters advising against it, Angela traveled more than 5,700 miles to meet Michael. Over time, Angela has been to Nigeria multiple times, even after she married Michael in January 2020. Michael has yet to receive his spousal visa due to unknown reasons. Until then, Angela is showing no signs of taking a break from traveling.
7 Big Ed Brown & Rose Vega (14-Hour Flight – California To The Philippines)
Big Ed Brown, a once-divorced photographer from San Diego, first starred in 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days season 4 to tell the world about his love story. He was 54 years old when he met 23-year-old single mom, Rosemarie Vega online. The Facebook friendship soon evolved into a romance, and Big Ed flew to the Philippines on a 14-hour-long flight to ask Rose to marry him. The fairytale romance, however, was much darker beneath the surface, since Big Ed had lied to Rose about things such as his height and getting a vasectomy. Rose broke up with Big Ed, who then found love locally.
6 Kim Menzies & Usman Umar (15-Hour Flight – California To Nigeria)
Kim Menzies was first a fan of Nigerian singer Usman Umar AKA Sojaboy’s music, and later wanted to become his girlfriend. But having married an American woman before for the marriage to have only lasted a few months, Usman was skeptical of pursuing a relationship with Kim. Still, Usman was in Zanzibar where he first invited Kim to meet him, as he filmed a music video about his other ex-girlfriend, Zara. Kim and Usman were officially boyfriend and girlfriend after the trip. She went to Nigeria twice from California to meet Usman, before breaking up with him knowing he didn’t respect the sacrifices she had made.
5 Tiffany Franco & Ronald Smith (16-Hour Flight – Maryland To South Africa)
Single mom Tiffany Franco was on vacation in South Africa when she was introduced to Ronald Smith by a friend named Bernadine Brown. Tiffany met Ronald in January 2017, and felt like they had crazy chemistry. She flew back to Maryland but found a way to stay in touch with Ronald, and about six months later, she was back in South Africa when Ronald proposed. Tiffany and Ronald married on 90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way season 1 during her third trip, and welcomed a baby girl together. However, after years of trying to get Ronald to the U.S., the couple has split and moved on with different partners.
4 Jenny Slaten & Sumit Singh (16-Hour Flight – California To India)
Jenny Slatten and Sumit Singh met on Facebook while playing online games, where Sumit pretended to be a man named Michael Jones. Sumit catfished Jenny for a year until he came clean about his identity, and she still continued loving him. In 2012, a year after meeting him online, Jenny flew to Delhi, India for the first time from Palm Springs, California. Their 30-year age difference wasn’t something Sumit’s family was okay with, and even now that Sumit and Jenny have been married for two years, his family still hasn’t accepted Jenny.
3 Stephanie Matto & Erika Owens (20-Hour Flight – New York To Australia)
Stephanie Matto, a YouTuber from New York, met photographer Erika Owens on Instagram after the latter showed an interest in her. The two started messaging online and soon decided to film Before the 90 Days season 4 as the franchise’s first same-sex female couple. Stephanie was dealing with a life-threatening illness when she decided to fly to Australia to meet Erika for the first time. The couple, however, broke up by the end of Stephanie’s trip. Erika felt Stephanie was taking too long to come out to her mom, and also because Erika herself had been in a long-term on-and-off relationship with someone else.
2 Jen Boecher & Rishi Singh (23-Hour Flight – Oklahoma To Jaipur)
Jen Boecher, a speech-language pathologist from Oklahoma, was on a solo trip in India when she bumped into Rishi Singh. She was in the same hotel as Rishi, who was there for a modeling gig. Rishi started to show Jen his modeling photos, but Jen wasn’t interested. It may not have been love at first sight, but the two started to hang out together, and a month later, Rishi proposed and Jen said yes. Jen and Rishi couldn’t meet each other for two years after that because of the pandemic, but as soon as the restrictions were lifted, Jen took a flight to India to marry the model.
1 David Tobrowsky & Annie Suwan (24-Hour Flight – Thailand to Louisville)
90 Day Fiancé couple David Tobrowsky and Annie Suwan have a 21-year age difference, and met for the first time in Thailand. David was on vacation and heard Annie singing in a club, and quickly fell for her. David would’ve never imagined he’d find love over 8,000 miles away from his home in Kentucky. But he was burdened with financial difficulties, and relied on his friend Chris Thienenman to help him with a place to stay in the U.S. when Annie moved there on a K-1 visa for their wedding. David and Annie now live in a posh home in Fountain Hills, Arizona, and often take trips to Thailand as well.