'I thought I knew my friend of 30 years. One holiday together proved me wrong.'

There was rarely a day that Bianca* didn't speak to Jenny*.

She was an unwavering "big sister figure" who stuck by her through thick and thin.

"She supported me through losing my mum and raising my younger siblings," Bianca told Mamamia. "She was someone I could turn to when I thought no one else understood."

When Bianca had children of her own, Jenny's place in her world only strengthened.

"As we got older, the relationship changed, but it was on a very deep level," Bianca explained. "We had the same values, the same outlook on life."

So, when Jenny asked Bianca to join her on an overseas trip, Bianca didn't hesitate to say yes.

As it was an academic trip for Jenny, she told Bianca their accommodation was covered, and Bianca would just have to cover her own flights, food, and extra sightseeing.

"I thought it was a trip of a lifetime," Bianca said. "She got me into this mindset of it's going to be like Thelma & Louise, us against the world."

Then came the first hitch…

Watch: Caitlin Emiko on splitting her salary with her best friend. Post continues after video.

Jenny wanted to travel for six weeks, but Bianca had her family and work to think about. When she suggested joining Jenny for just three weeks, then letting her finish the trip solo, Jenny wouldn't hear of it.

"I was like her security blanket and her safety net," Bianca said. "She said, 'What if we just did a month?'."

Bianca agreed.

The second hitch.

Then came the second hitch. Nothing had been planned.

"My husband said, 'I get everybody's busy, but you don't even know where you're going. If she's not going to bite the bullet and do it, then she's not taking the trip seriously. I don't think you should go'."

Bianca knew he was right.

"Work was giving me this time off very generously, and I didn't want to disrespect that. So I said to her, 'I really need to get my ducks in a row and if you can't even get to the travel agent and book this, then maybe I can't go'."

This kicked Jenny into gear. And, after a trip to the travel agent, Bianca received an itinerary. But after taking one look at the breakdown of costs, her jaw dropped.

"It was a lot of money. Like a lot of money," she recalled.

Then her husband spotted something else. While Bianca and Jenny had agreed on a month-long trip, the itinerary was for six weeks.

But when Bianca asked Jenny about the change, her friend said she "had to do it that way."

Bianca's husband, however, wasn't as convinced, telling his wife that Jenny was "taking her for a ride."

"She's my friend of 30 years. How dare you say that," Bianca told her husband.

"I take people at face value. I think, if you're a good person you would treat me the way I treat you."

So, it was decided. Bianca would take six weeks off work and join Jenny on a trip of a lifetime.

Before they knew it, the two friends were at the airport, ready for a trip of a lifetime.

As an anxious flyer, Bianca asked Jenny for two things: one, a window seat, and two, that she sits next to her on the flight. Jenny obliged.

At the last minute, however, their seats changed, and the best friends were separated. When Bianca asked the airline if they could move back together, the staff acquiesced. But Jenny wasn't happy.

"She turned around and shook her head and goes, 'No, no.' Then she walked away," Bianca recalled. "I chased her and I said, 'What's going on?' And she said to me, 'No, I'm not moving. I've got a better seat where I am."

Stunned, Bianca reminded her friend that she had promised to sit next to her, to which Jenny replied "that's a you problem."

Taken aback, Bianca put the comment down to the stress of travelling, hoping that things would improve once they landed.

"Don't risk your life."

For a short while, she got her wish… until Jenny insisted on visiting a rough part of town.

Bianca had her reservations. So did their cab driver.

"The taxi driver said, 'I don't think you should be going to this area, it's really dangerous. If I drop off here, no one's going to come pick you up.'"

With her passport and money on her, Bianca was ready to heed his advice.

"I look like a tourist. I'm a woman. I'm in a foreign country, and predominantly in that area it's men," she said.

But Jenny merely laughed and ran out of the cab.

"The taxi driver said, 'Leave her. Don't risk your life or your safety for her. Let her go'."

Bianca replied, "but she's my friend".

"A friend wouldn't do this to you," the driver said. "I'm telling you, don't get out of this cab."

But Bianca couldn't leave her friend alone in a foreign country, so she followed Jenny.

"The level of poverty and destruction. It was so sad. Men were fighting on the side of the road, defecating, urinating, bashing each other, using drugs. What I saw will stay with me forever," she said.

When Bianca finally caught up with Jenny, her friend was looking for a particular building. And Bianca saw her opportunity.

"I lied and said, 'I know where that is, we drove past it, it's this way.'

"Then I just took off as fast as I could, put my head down, tried to make myself inconspicuous and focused on getting out of that situation."

When Bianca spotted a car, she turned to Jenny and said, 'I'm getting in this cab. I'm going back to the hotel because after what you just did to me, and the danger you put me in, I'm horrified. I'm not coping. If you don't you choose to not get in this cab, that's your choice." 

Just like she did in the cab, Jenny laughed and said, "Oh, it's not that bad. We're fine!".

Abandoned for a second time.

This wouldn't be the only time Bianca felt abandoned by her friend. Another instance came on a tour.

"My international roaming hadn't been activated properly before I left the country, so I couldn't use my phone. [Jenny] knew that," Bianca explained.

"We were walking, and she turned around and said 'I'm going this way'. And then she ran away from me and left me."

Swallowed by a crowd, Bianca "went into flight mode".

"I'm freaking out thinking, where was the bus? I ended up walking back the way I remembered and sat in the park next to the bus because I didn't feel comfortable at all."

By the time the bus was meant to leave the tour, her friend was nowhere to be seen. The tour guide told Bianca that if Jenny didn't show up in 60 seconds, the bus was leaving without her.

A minute later, as the bus was pulling away from the curb, Jenny appeared in a blur of laughter, hopping onto the vehicle at the very last second, and sat next to Bianca as if nothing was wrong.

Later into the drive, the tour guide said they couldn't drop Bianca and Jenny directly to their hotel as they had certain stops on the way.

While Jenny was happy to walk, Bianca was hesitant.

"It was dark, and I didn't feel comfortable or safe in that city at all. There was a game on, the streets were pumping, people were drunk," she said.

So the driver agreed to drop the women near a taxi rank. But Jenny waved off the suggestion and promptly jumped off the bus. Bianca hastened to follow her friend, but couldn't keep up.

"She starts power walking through these crowds of people, and I'm losing sight of where she is. I'm running behind her. We get into the hotel and she doesn't even look back. She goes, 'I'm going for dinner.' And then marches off to the restaurant."

Overwhelmed, Bianca found a private space in the lobby where she "burst into tears" and called her husband. He told her to come home.

The next morning, Bianca tried to reason with Jenny.

The women were supposed to visit a place that had been hit by a storm and was in a state of emergency. When Bianca suggested they change their plans, Jenny scoffed.

"You just carry on so much," Jenny said.

Heading home.

At that point, Bianca told her friend she was going home. She was met with silence.

"Did you hear what I just said to you?" Bianca asked her friend. "I need you to acknowledge that you've heard what I've said."

After a curt nod, Jenny rose from her chair and walked away. Bianca didn't hear from her until she returned to the hotel that night.

"She has a shower, gets in bed, doesn't speak to me, goes to sleep," Bianca recalled.

"The next morning, she wakes up, turns all the lights on, opens all the blinds, turns the TV on, has a shower, blowdries her hair, packs all the bags, and then stands over my bed. She says, 'Well, I'm going'."

"Okay," replied Bianca.

A beat of silence.

"Do you think you could take some stuff home for me? My luggage is overweight," Jenny asked Bianca.

Bianca was flummoxed.

"I said, 'You ignore me, you run away from me, I text you to try to talk about the situation, and now you want to wake me up and ask me to take stuff in my suitcase home for you?"

Jenny waved her off, saying, "forget it don't make this into something it's not" before heading for the door.

"Have a great trip," Bianca said.

"She just looked at me, shook her head, walked out and slammed the door."

After many hours on the phone to the airline, and a big chunk out of her savings, Bianca was finally on a plane back home. 

"I was a mess, my nervous system was so disregulated," Bianca said.

The last message.

Halfway through the journey, she received a message from Jenny. It would be the last message exchange they shared. She was checking in on Bianca, but refused to take any accountability for her actions.

Usually a self-described "even-tempered person", Bianca was fuming.

"I deleted her off Facebook. I deleted a number out of my phone because I thought, I can't be near this person. She has no care or thought for me. That is not a friend.

"I tell my daughter all the time, 'People show you who they really are, you just have to see it'. Here I am sprouting this advice, and I can't even live it myself."

Since then, Bianca has seen Jenny around a few times. But they haven't spoken.

"I look her straight in the eye because I've got nothing to feel bad for. She just looks away and runs away. Scurries away like a cockroach."

And while she has mourned the friendship, Bianca has "made no efforts to repair it."

"She was a huge part of my life, but I didn't realise how much of my emotional energy she took up. It just became routine and almost acceptable for her to take that space up. I feel like my life's actually better because I've got rid of the debris."

Feature Image: Getty (Stock image for illustrative purposes only).

*Names have been changed for privacy reasons.