From broken toe to Mexico

Sandra Goodwin can remember exactly where she was when she entered the NZ Herald Online Travel Press Escape competition.

She was lying at home in her bed with her foot elevated.

She had broken her toe at a Guy Fawkes party and, to while away the hours during her recovery, her fiance had placed a computer beside her bed so she could use the internet.

She entered the competition at the Herald travel site and now, along with the other two winners Lance Clarke and Paul Glaister, is delighted to have been drawn from 5000 entries to win one of three Carnival cruises for two.

Goodwin intends to take her fiance on the four-day cruise from Los Angeles to Catalina Island and Ensenada, Mexico, and friends have suggested they use the trip as a honeymoon.

The other two winners will jet to Miami with their companions where they will board a Carnival Caribbean cruise to Cozumel, Mexico and back.

Paul will be taking his "very happy" girlfriend, (who he jokingly says would "kill him" if he didn't) and Lance will be accompanied by a friend, after the sister he wanted to take along was unavailable due to work commitments.

The competition was sponsored by Travel.co.nz, United Airlines, and Carnival Cruise Lines.