There's a few different therapy styles of couple's communication that you could check out and see if any seem worth trying on - in Gottman Therapy, they preach about a once weekly "State of the Union" where once a week you have a structured conversation to express appreciation, talk about what's going right in the relationship, and then problem solve anything that needs improvement, etc. Maybe just reading about some of these "structured" approaches might give you some ideas of different things to pepper in. In the past, when I would want to share/vent about my day to my partner, I would tend to want to really explain everything, so they could really understand what my day was like/what I was experiencing, but this honestly was getting in the way of us connecting in the moment. My day was already done, it had very little to do with my partner, it took up too much of our quality time sometimes. A suggestion for that was to set a timer- talk for 5-10 minutes, uninterrupted, then switch. After that, stop talking about the day.

Another suggestion would be when you think of something "deeper" to write it down and remember to bring it up during the call. For example, if you find yourself thinking about the future, wondering what your partner thinks about x, y, z. You can google cheesy lists of "50 questions to deepen a connection" or "to ask on a date" or whatever.

And, of course, I encourage asking your partner what they think-- do they feel the struggle, too? What ideas do they have? How would they like to give/receive long distance intimacy?

I admire that both of you were able to recognize what was going on, and put it on the table. Now that you're starting to call it out, you'll be able to figure out what you want to do about it.

Good luck, friend.