Sharon grew up in Rathfarnham, and completed a degree in Tourism Marketing at DIT, Cathal Brugha Street. She currently lives in Rathfarnham, and has been with her boyfriend, Keith Nolan, for three years.

Louise grew up in Firhouse, and studied marketing at DIT and PR at UCD. She lives in Delgany, and is in a relationship with her boyfriend of six months, Philip Healy.

Sharon and Louise are both 28, and have been working together as product managers with Sunway Travel, Ireland's largest 100% Irish-owned tour operator, which operates to over 70 destinations worldwide. See www. sunway. ie and Sunway's online travel agency, www. holidaysonline. ie.

Louise on Sharon

People often get Sharon and I mixed up because we have the same surname, or they presume we're related, but it's just a coincidence, even though we literally grew up 10 minutes' from one another.

We started working together when I was working for a different tour operator, and told her about a position that had come up there. We ended up working together there for two years, and Sharon left first and went to work at Sunway Travel. She told me about a job that had come up there after a while, and I applied and got it three years ago.

Sharon and I have completely different personalities, but they seem to work well together. If an issue arose in work, for example, I'd probably spend more time considering what we could do, whereas Sharon is more decisive, and will be more like, "Okay, we're doing this now!"

When we started the Sunway's ski programme, we went to Andorra together, and had the exact same opinion on everything there. We do a lot of the marketing for the company together, and we always seem to think the same way. Sharon is a very good friend, and she's very intuitive and caring. She's always able to pick up when there's something wrong with me, and no matter when I phone her, she'd offer to come down to me. I'm quite a private person, but she is really honest, and I think it's a great quality to have. We both love eating out, and at weekends, we'd probably head into the Unicorn or Diep le Shaker, and then go on from there.

I was going out with someone for seven years, and I went through a very tough time when it finished last year, although I'm really happy again now with my new partner, Philip. Sharon was one of the first people I told when my relationship ended, and she was absolutely fantastic and very supportive. I didn't want anyone in work to know what was going on at first, so she'd bring me out for coffee or for lunch just to talk. And when I was looking for a new house, she was always e-mailing me property suggestions.

Everyone thinks what we do is very glamorous, because we get to stay in the best hotels and try out the best restaurants, but at the end of the day, you're usually sitting there by yourself.

Sharon and I are away from the office a fair bit, but we keep in contact the whole time. It's great to have someone who completely understands your job, and is there to sound off to, or to give you a boost when you need it.

If something happened in another resort that I was unable to deal with because I was away, Sharon is someone I completely trust to step in. I couldn't imagine what it would be like not to have that back-up, and it's fantastic to have someone you can totally rely on, both for friendship and in work.

Sharon on Louise
Louise and I first met 10 years ago at a college social night, through mutual friends. We lived near one another, and we both socialised in the Orchard Pub in Rathfarnham, so we'd often meet up down there too.

We're both product managers, and we do the exact same job, but in different areas. Louise and I both look after Europe, along with another product manager, but because it's such a big area, she looks after the Spanish, the Portuguese and the Italians, and I look after the Eastern European countries. It means that we're living a year in advance, because while Irish holidaymakers are planning their summer holidays for 2007, we're looking at expansion or new destinations for 2008.

We're both away a lot, and it's quite intensive because our job is to bring the best resorts and accommodation to the Irish market, and market them.

We do most of the trips on our own, so it can be quite lonely at times, even though our teams on the ground are fantastic, and take us around during the day. There was one time last year where Louise was in Majorca for a week, and I was in Crete, and we were both texting each other the whole time, because we were so bored by ourselves at night.

Louise is very different to me, in that she's very private, and you would never know anything about her, whereas I'd be there airing my dirty laundry at the water cooler or down having a coffee . . . everybody knows everything about me! She's a great friend, and you could tell her absolutely anything, and know that it would never go any further. We're very similar in many ways, and very close, and I'm also very close to my sister Jaime, as Louise is to her sister Ciara.

I was a little worried when Louise moved to Delgany six months ago, because I was afraid it would be too quiet for her, and she wouldn't have access to town if we wanted to go out on the spur of the moment. She really loves it so far though, and I think it's the best decision she's ever made.

She thinks she's a great chef, so I'm looking forward to her having me over for dinner soon!

Louise is great fun, and is always up dancing and singing after two glasses of wine. When we're out together, we always have a great laugh, and Eoghan Corry, the editor of Travel Extra, christened us 'The Shaz and Loulou Show' on our last press trip.