This collaborative, reflective research paper delves into the doctoral socialization experiences of two international students navigating pre- and postrelocation realities amid COVID-19 complexities. The authors juxtapose our journeys in the Global South (pre-relocation) and the Global North (postrelocation), scrutinizing learning outcomes, access to resources and academic and professional opportunities. Through journaling and deep self-reflection, this research illuminates stark disparities in educational accessibility, mainly rooted in the undeniable global technological divide. In this collaborative, reflective paper, my colleague and I unveil the unique challenges of distance learning, highlighting the resulting academic isolation and inequitable doctoral socialization experiences. Furthermore, the study reflects on the disproportionate access to academic and professional growth opportunities accompanying geographical mobility, emphasizing educational success and capacity-building inequities. This collaborative, reflective research contributes to the ongoing debate on IHE's impact on equity, particularly regarding the potential exacerbation of global disparities through internationalization at a distance. In this collaborative research, the authors attempt to answer the question: 'How do experiences under internationalization at a distance compare to or diverge from the experiences of geographically mobile students?' By adopting counter-storytelling as the interpretive framework, this collaborative, reflective paper hopes to amplify and validate the stories of international students from the Global South and how they, the authors, experience internationalization at a distance in their doctoral education. The nuanced findings inform institutional policies promoting more equitable and inclusive practices in international higher education.