12/08/2025
Sam and Nicola met on their first day of secondary school and, since then, they've seen each other at their best and worst. But the moment that really cemented their friendship was the trip they took across America, the summer they turned 18.
This year, they both turned 40. The only way to mark the occasion? By recreating that trip. Only this time, they were going to do it in style.
'We decided the train was the perfect upgrade. Amtrak’s California Zephyr covers 2,438 miles in three days and two nights, starting in Chicago, weaving through the Rocky Mountains and the red rocks of Utah, before ending up in San Francisco, where we finished up our trip back in 2003,' writes.
You can read her full story on independent.ie/travel.
'We ate cheese toasties with Carla and Dave, Minnesotans on a cross-country trip with their friends, and had dinner with Bill and Barb, a couple who met 25 years ago at the very dawn of internet dating. Every person fell into a category I adore – those who share every detail about their lives instantly and without prompt.'
'We heard tales of sickness and tragedy, family fallouts and scandalous gossip. And everyone we spoke to loved our tale – though my favourite response came from Shera, our cabin attendant, who screamed that we couldn’t possibly be 40, that she assumed we were fresh out of college. The fact that you tip your attendants clearly had nothing to do with it.'
Reflecting on their friendship through the years when they reached the end of their trip, Nicola said 'San Francisco has changed, America has changed, and we have changed, too. But while all that can be true, a lot can stay the same.'
'We may be different people now. We may live in different countries, say ‘oof’ when we stand up (or sit down), and I may have frown lines so deep you could pitch a tent in them. But nearly 30 years in, this friendship still holds – effortlessly, joyfully and with the kind of closeness that not even 55 hours in a roomette can rattle...'
