Have you ever seen those trucks that they park in the middle of malls to raffle off sweepstakes? I have entered a few of those but never won a vehicle. On the upside, a few years ago I won a vacation to Cancun for two! I didn’t even know it was one of the prizes, but I put my name in for the car and ended up with a second place prize that was even better.
I had all but forgotten about having even entered the sweepstakes when I got a phone call a few months later. I was informed I had not won the truck that had been on display, but I did win a trip five day Mexican vacation. It turns out that flashy truck was just first prize and there were plenty of runner-up prizes, too.
The vacation package I won was for two people so I had to choose a friend to come with me. In the end, I decided to bring my sister along with me. My boyfriend was too busy with school to take time off and isn’t much of a traveler anyway. My sister loves to travel, though, and had her bags packed within hours of me telling her about the win.
My sister and I work together so well. We started a few months early deciding what dates worked best for both of us. We’re both busy people so fitting a vacation into our schedules had not been planned! Luckily, we were able to find a stretch of five days that worked for both of us.
She is a teacher so we waited for summertime. That way, she didn’t have to take any time off of work. For me, I went to my boss and he was thrilled that I had won a sweepstakes. I’m a good employee, too, so that is probably the main reason he allowed me five days of vacation time without the six months of notice.
Three months after winning the prize package to Cancun, my sister and I flew out of a nearby city with passports in hand. Cancun was, as expected, hotter than anything I had experienced before. Of course, the Gulf of Mexico stretched out before us willing and ready to relieve the heat.
The first thing we did after putting our bags at the hotel was head to the beach. The beautiful water was such a fresh relief. We ended up visiting the beach every single day we were there. We tied on our bikinis and put on suntan lotion ad hit the beach. We explored local sights during the day and hit the nightlife at night.
We were tan and rejuvenated when we got back on the plane five days later. With sand in our shoes, we knew we’d never forget out beach adventures. It’s amazing to think I would never have had this experience if not for winning that sweepstakes.
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