It was my sophmore year of college, and I had some roommates that were, lets just say.. Special. Halfway through the year they decided to move out (thank goodness) and enter Lauren. It was love at first sight. Immediately we clicked and found that we both shared a tremendous passion for travel. During our junior year we took internships during the same semester (her in NY city and I in Orlando, FL), and even the distance couldn’t tear us apart. Throughout the years we’ve grown to be sisters (Lauren even gets my “hand-me-downs”), going snowboard, to concerts, big cities (we LOVE big cities- so much that Lauren moved to Chicago, and left me in small town Michigan!) But all kidding aside, I am so greatful to have Lauren in my life and actually, I’ve asked her to be my maid of honor. My boyfriend of 5 years and I are finally going to tie the knot and I would love to take this trip to Australia with Lauren to say thank you for being the best friend, best sister anybody could ask for!

Zoe and I met while we were interning at Walt Disney World. We both worked front desk at The Polynesian Resort. Before we had even met people would mix us up. I would be walking into the office and someone would say, “Hi Zoe!” and I would ask, “Who is Zoe?” And they would reply, “Oh..nevermind, you don’t have an English accent.” When we finally met, it was hilarious.. I didn’t quite know how to take it.. I didn’t think we looked alike, she didn’t think we looked a like, we definitely didn’t sound anything close to alike. Zoe is from England, I am from California.. the more we hung out, the more it was like the movie, Parent Trap!
It wasn’t long before we were inseperable, going dancing at night, getting into loads of trouble. Every single oppurtunity we had, you would find us at the beach. In a 3 month period, we were alwasy requesting the same days off so that we could travel to as many of the beaches in Florida as possible, never going to the same one twice. My favorite adventure was our 1 day, that turned into 2 day get-away to South Beach Miami. It was Amazing!
When my internship ended in May.. Zoe and I were forced to say good-bye.During our trips we had always talked about living in Australia together. Zoe highly recommeded that I try living in another country.. “there is no experience like it,” she said. So I picked Australia, and she said we wanted to come with me. When we said good-bye.. with tons of hugs and even more tears, we agreed that the next time we would meet, we would be in Austrailia. At the time I was disappointed, knowing that it would be over a year before I saw Zoe again, then another friend of mine e-mailed me this oppurtunity, and I jumped at the chance to be able to see Zoe again. With the help of this contest, Zoe and I will be able reunite sooner than we could have ever hoped for.

Driving down the CA-HWY 1 is the most beautiful drive ever!!! This is my boyfriend and I when we stopped to watch the sunset. We had to climb down the cliff a little ways to get this perfect view, it was totally worth it!