It was a quiet Thursday morning. I had just gotten out of the shower and was getting ready for work. I walked into the bedroom and Lyndsay was frantically dialing away on the phone. I asked what was up, and she said she "They are taking callers for the Brian Adams thing. Get the cell." So I went out into the kitchen and grabbed the cell phone and began dialing along with her.

They were looking for Caller #107. When the alarm went off she heard that they were at number 94, so she thought she'd give it a try. Several minutes had passed since we started dialing and we were sure they must have reached #107. I thought I would try it one more time then give up, as I heard the busy signal on my phone, Lyndsay's started ringing.

The phone must have rang at least 8-10 times, we were thinking about hanging up - after all, if it wasn't being answered, it must be because they had their caller. At the other end she heard someone say "Hello" with no indication that she had even dialed the right number. Confused, Lyndsay repeated, "hi." The man at the other end quickly anounced, "107.3" so Lyndsay knew she had the right number. "Am I too late?" Lyndsay asked. The man responded, "Hang on I'll check" and put her on hold.

We were both quite confused with what was going on. Then in the earpiece Lyndsay heard the phone click, and the radio start playing through. She heard the DJ say, "I've got caller 107 on the line." Lyndsay thought, "I'M ON THE LINE!!" He than asked, "Who's This?" Lyndsay, now shaking and excited said "Lyndsay Biggs, er, Van Achte" (forgetting that we were married -- almost a year ago!).

Chris Kalhoon, The Morning DJ at 107.3, Kool FM, asked her a series of questions, most of which were answered with screams of excitement. Before she was even off the phone, I think I had called everyone we know on the cell to tell them what had happened.

For the next hour at least, both of us were shaking with excitement - Lyndsay considerably more than I.

Sitting on the couch, I called work to let them know I would be late that morning. We had realized that neither of us had passports, and the trip was in less than a month! That morning we scrambled around town to get photos done, picked up the forms and sent them off to be processed. They arrived 10 days before our trip.

It was funny. About a week before the trip I had said to my boss that I would need some last minute time off work as I was going to win a trip to Barbados. (I say these sort of things to him whenever I plan on winning something). He laughed as usual, and said, sure you can have the time off. You can imagine the look on his face when he found out we actually won! Sure it wasn't me, but Lyndsay is close enough!

We had wanted to go to either Cuba or the Dominical Republic to celebrate Lyndsay's Graduation from UVIC, but realized that there was no way we could afford it. This win came at exactly the right time! A week after Lyndsay finished school, right during the window of time off - it couldn't have worked out better.

Work for me was busy, and needing the time off made the week prior to the trip a stressful and VERY busy one, but well worth it. (Thanks to all the guys at work for covering for me while I'm away!, and Thanks 107.3 Kool FM!!! for the trip!!)

See The Photos From Our Trip

Read About Our Experience at The Almond Village Resort