I woke up to my alarm sounding, what seemed like, inside my ear. I rolled over and hit the snooze button. My eyes semi-focused on the clock display. 05.32. What on earth was my alarm doing going off at that time?

I sat up suddenly. Was it the 3rd already? I rubbed my eyes. It must be. I leapt out of bed, and ran into my sister’s room. She was sleepily putting her jeans on.

‘Why haven’t you got dressed yet?’ Her eyes were only half open.

‘I forgot it was today! Sorry. Won’t be long.’ Rachel sighed as I made my way to the bathroom, trying not to wake Mum and Dad up with all the noise.

Oops, sorry, I’ve just realised I haven’t introduced myself properly. I’m Hannah and I’m 19, and today, my sister Rachel and I are going on holiday together. To Ireland, or more precisely Sligo. The two of us have been saving for ages, and trying to keep the costs down. We’re driving across, via the ferry, obviously, and then staying with my friend Liz, who lives only a few miles from Sligo.

Liz and I have been great friends ever since we met up at the Westlife concert in Wembley. We stayed in touch via letters, and then when Dad finally conceded and bought a computer, by e-mail.

I washed my face, and threw my last minute bits and bobs into my sponge bag. It was murder getting up this early, but we wanted to get the early ferry, and we still had a three hour drive to Stranraer. And of course, I’ll be doing all the driving, since Rachel hasn’t yet passed her test, after FOUR attempts. Typical.

Twenty minutes later the two of us put our last bags into the boot of my little Renault Clio and headed for Sligo. Rachel had made a compilation tape of all our favourite Westlife songs, so within minutes, we were singing along. The motorway was almost empty, because it was too early even for rush hour. We wound our windows down and sang at the top of our voices.

As it turned out, the drive didn’t take as long as we’d anticipated, and we arrived in Stranraer just after 8.30. Our ferry wasn’t until 9.45, so we decided to wander around for a while. It was far too hot to stay in the car.

Yes, I did say hot, and yes, this is Scotland. The whole of the UK’s in the middle of some kind of heat wave and it’s regularly been hitting 35 degrees in the middle of the day, even in Edinburgh.

We quickly discovered that not much was open at 8.30 on a Sunday morning. But we managed to find a little cafe just opening up, and went in to get a drink.

‘So, Hanny,’ That’s my sister’s name for me. I used to hate it, but I’m used to it now, ‘does Liz actually know Shane’s brother?’

‘No, not really. Well, her older brother was in the year below him at school, and they went riding together sometimes. But, her oldest sister used to baby-sit Shane when he was little. They don’t know them that well now, but they know where their stables are and stuff like that.’

‘D’you think we’ll see them?’

‘Who? Shane? I dunno, they’re not supposed to be at home at the moment. We might see them in Dublin on the way back though. They might be around for a couple of days over the release of the new album.’ We’d booked two nights in a hotel in Dublin on the way home. ‘But we can go to the cafe and stuff, and see his family.’

‘Cool.’ Rachel was grinning. I was looking to the holiday too, but I think most of me was looking forward to getting away from home than the teeny chance of us meeting Westlife. This past year had been traumatic to say the least.

Y’see, I was engaged to this guy, Mike. We’d been going out since I was only just 15. We’d been engaged for 6 months, and were planning to get married this autumn. But he went away to university and started seeing someone else. Nice, isn’t he? So, I spent about 4 months crying into my pillow and listening to soppy love songs. But now, I’m totally over him. I think. And I’ve sworn myself off guys, at least for now. They’re not worth the hassle.

So, really, I was just looking forward to getting away. Mike’s coming back for his summer break in a couple of days, and I don’t feel up to facing him just yet. Liz has been a great friend through it all, and we’re looking forward to seeing each other again.

All of a sudden, my mobile rang and brought me back from my thoughts. I delved into my bag, and pulled out my phone. It was one of the ones where you could design your own cover - I put an Irish flag on mine!

‘Hello?’

‘Hannah, it’s your Dad.’

‘Hey Daddy, what’s up? I didn’t think you’d be up yet.’

‘I know, but we just wanted to say bye before you got on the ferry. And we have to tell you about your surprise too.’

‘What surprise?’

‘You’ll see. I’ll just get your mother, cos she knows where it is. Hang on.’

After a second, Mum came on the phone. ‘Hannah?’

‘Hi. What’s going on?’

‘Your Dad and I have got you and your sister and little surprise. We were really impressed by the way you saved up and everything, and we thought it was a bit unfair that we didn’t contribute too.’ She paused.

‘So....?’

‘So, we got you some tickets to the album launch party!’

‘You’re joking?’

‘Nope!’

‘How on earth.....?’

‘That’s for me to know. Anyway, it’s in Sligo apparently. There’s a big press one in Dublin next week, but the private one is on Wednesday evening in Sligo. Supposedly it’s just an excuse for them to have a party with their family and friends at the record company’s expense!’

‘Mum, I don’t know what to say....’

‘There’s three tickets. We got one for Liz too. They’re in the bottom of your rucksack. I put them there last night.’

‘Thank you soooo much. I promise, we’ll take lots of piccies!’ Mum’s almost as big a Westlife fan as Rachel and I are. ‘Look, we’d better go. We need to get back to the ferry terminal. Thanks again. You’re the best.’

‘Have fun, and say hi to Rachel for me. Send us a postcard!’ We laughed at our private joke and said goodbye.

‘Well?’ Rachel was looking at me expectantly.

‘We, are going to the Westlife album launch party!’

Her jaw dropped. ‘You’re joking?’

‘That’s what I said! I don’t know how on earth they did it, but Mum and Dad got passes for us, and for Liz too!’ Rachel squealed with happiness, and I was grinning from ear to ear too. This was going to be a good holiday.