Our Contest Winner Will Enjoy First-Class Service at the Arenas del Mar Beach Resort.

In May of this year, Costa Rica Pages announced the start of its first annual Travel Writing Contest. The idea started small, with the intention of spreading the travel bug to our readers in a world of lulling economies, mortgages and responsibility. We hoped that reflecting on past travel experiences and reading those of others would reignite the spirite of travel and remind us all the importance travel plays in opening up our perspectives and serving as a catalyst for personal growth.

We received a total of 111 quality entries in three months, and struggled over the big decision ahead: which author deserves to be recognized above all others to receive our grand prize, a 6-night luxury vacation to Costa Rica. In the end, a group of judges and opinionated friends decided that Lauren McCabe`s “The Journey as Destination: 48 Train Trek Across America” stood out from the rest, and indeed deserved such an award!

The colorful, Jack Kerouac style tale describes Lauren´s seemingly aimless New Year’s Eve journey across America to discover life in its truest form, unscripted, chaotic and uncertain. As the title states, the author described this journey and life itself as valuing just as much, if not more, than the destination. She learned to keep her eyes open around every turn and keep a positive outlook despite not knowing what to expect!

Lauren McCabe is a writer who has worked as a public relations consultant, surf instructor, SAT tutor, and soul and funk radio show host. She graduated from Columbia University in New York City where she learned an essential life skill: how to surf. Since then, she has been surfing and writing her way around the world, from South Africa to Guatemala. When she’s in her native USA, she spends time on the beaches of Queens and in the music clubs of New Orleans. She is currently working on a novel about mermaids.

Lauren gracefully accepted the first place nomination, and after several weeks of planning, will be arriving in Costa Rica for the first time ever tomorrow, Sept. 14 with a guest to enjoy her free Costa Rica vacation. Upon arrival, they will be shuttled directly to the volcanic center of Costa Rica, La Fortuna, where they will stay for two nights at the grand La Mansion Arenal. From there, they will head down to the coastal town of Manuel Antonio to stay at Arenas del Mar Beach Resort, which was recently nominated one of the top new hotels in the world, in particular, for the high class and quality of its onsite restaurant.

We will be following up with Lauren after her trip to offer a detailed account of her vacation to Costa Rica and all the adventures along the way!

The entire vacation was organized and gifted by our travel affilliate, Costa Rican Vacations. After the success of this first writing contest, we do hope to make it an annual event. So make sure to keep detailed accounts of all your fun and travels so you can enter next time. As Lauren can tell you, somebody has to win, so why not you?

To read the winning entry along with a list of all our runner-ups, visit the competition website:

http://www.costaricapages.com/Competition

To get you in the spirit, here is an addendum to Lauren´s winning entry about what happened once she reached her destination:

Addendum to train ride

3 AM, thunder. 5 AM, lightening. I wake up at 8 AM to winds whipping the window shutters violently against the outside of the hostel. After arriving in Los Angeles the previous day, I hopped on a flight to San Francisco—a city I thought easier to explore without a car. Now, I was in the midst of what the news was professing as the strongest storm in over ten years, with 100 mph gusts of wind ripping trees from their very roots. Subway lines were closed, 1.2 million residents were without electricity, and Arnold Schwarzenegger had declared a state of emergency. In effect, the whole city had shut down.

I curl up by the fire in the foyer and spend the day reading, writing, and talking to the other hostel guests as we wait for the storm to pass. A group of disgruntled Swedes pace the halls endlessly, shaking their fists at the clouds like senile grandparents. An 18 year old from Ohio who arrived the previous day to take a job working for the San Francisco Zoo, books a plan ticket home. “Forever,” he adds. A little bit of bad weather has made everyone slightly insane.

And then I meet James from Australia. Short and squat like an antique pot, he bounces about the hostel with endless energy, laughing, telling jokes, doing handstands, trying to speak Japanese to a group of bewildered tourists. He becomes the comic relief, the day’s bowl of sunshine.

Once again, I feel as if I’m on another journey, one, like my 48 hour train trek, that also requires me to watch the intricacies of the moment and appreciate the spontaneity of what can happen at anytime. I sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.

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Filed under: Travel on September 13th, 2008