I met my best friend Ben back in middle school. It all started by the tetherball pole when I beat him like a girl; although I’m sure he’d tell it differently. For the past 10 years we have been friends and through many good experiences and quite a few bad ones, I can confidently say he is like a brother to me. We have more memories together than I can recount, but my favorite would have to be a year ago on my birthday. Ben goes to school at Wheaton College in Chicago, so we usually only hang out on breaks and never on birthdays. So last year one of my close friends, Danielle, told me we were going out but first we had to pick up another friend at a hotel room, which is kind of suspicious, I know, but still I didn’t have a clue. Anyways I opened the door and this guy was standing there, telling us that “our friend” was waiting inside. The room was dark, so I made Danielle go in first, and much to my surprise the room was decorated with streamers and balloons and my brother was blowing one of those corny birthday horns. I loved it. However, that wasn’t it, just as I had soaked in the first surprise, Ben comes charging out of the bathroom and tackles me with a hug! It was by far the best surprise I could have ever asked for! I was in disbelief the entire night, because he had never visited me at school before! A few of the characteristics I love about Ben is that he is up for anything, he’s spontaneous, completely goofy, and loves to travel. He is never without a video camera on his many travels, because second to traveling is his affinity for creating video documentary of his trips. He has been to all over Germany, China, and El Salvador. While he may be more experienced in traveling, I think that will soon change because I have recently caught a travel bug. I absolutely cannot wait to see this world. I am passionate about traveling and encouraging others to do the same, which is why I was thrilled to find out about the community within STA Travel. Ben and I would be overwhelmed to have the opportunity to travel to Australia and the privilege to share our experience with others.

I met my best friend Ben back in middle school. It all started by the tetherball pole when I beat him like a girl; although I’m sure he’d tell it differently. For the past 10 years we have been friends and through many good experiences and quite a few bad ones, I can confidently say he is like a brother to me. We have more memories together than I can recount, but my favorite would have to be a year ago on my birthday. Ben goes to school at Wheaton College in Chicago, so we usually only hang out on breaks and never on birthdays. So last year one of my close friends, Danielle, told me we were going out but first we had to pick up another friend at a hotel room, which is kind of suspicious, I know, but still I didn’t have a clue. Anyways I opened the door and this guy was standing there, telling us that “our friend” was waiting inside. The room was dark, so I made Danielle go in first, and much to my surprise the room was decorated with streamers and balloons and my brother was blowing one of those corny birthday horns. I loved it. However, that wasn’t it, just as I had soaked in the first surprise, Ben comes charging out of the bathroom and tackles me with a hug! It was by far the best surprise I could have ever asked for! I was in disbelief the entire night, because he had never visited me at school before! A few of the characteristics I love about Ben is that he is up for anything, he’s spontaneous, completely goofy, and loves to travel. He is never without a video camera on his many travels, because second to traveling is his affinity for creating video documentary of his trips. He has been to all over Germany, China, and El Salvador. While he may be more experienced in traveling, I think that will soon change because I have recently caught a travel bug. I absolutely cannot wait to see this world. I am passionate about traveling and encouraging others to do the same, which is why I was thrilled to find out about the community within STA Travel. Ben and I would be overwhelmed to have the opportunity to travel to Australia and the privilege to share our experience with others.