I can't let the "win-free-tour" to LONDON slip away!

Maybe you should get acquainted with this gal: https://able2know.org/topic/467749-1

You haven't won the contest yet. Good grief. Did you bother to check the odds? What happens if you stay behind ... and still (very likely) lose the contest? Is that worth tearing your family apart?

Or is this more than just a contest? Are you harboring ill feelings/deep, passive aggressive bouts of jealousy/envy against your successful sister?

Full disclosure: I live in NYC. I consider NYC the best city in the galaxy. Moving is stressful (with all it's social and cultural changes and obligations). I get that. But this guaranteed opportunity is 1000 times better than a 2% chance in seeing a tourist's eye view of London.

I suspect you will still have time enough in your life to visit London at a later date. And with emotional and intellectual maturity gained at a later date? You might appreciate the majesty that is London as an older individual than you expect to in the now.

PS: Congrats to your sister. The Culinary Institute of America is a world renown cooking school. Damn! That's an impressive win for her!

Migrating to the US takes longer than a month.

There is no guarantee anyone in your family will get visas to visit/travel/move there.

Keep practicing for your swim meet.

Unless the parents had already been arranging all the necessary documents and have everything ready to go. They may have been preparing for this a long time, and it might not be just about the sister being accepted.

The OP can start saving now, or when she starts earning her own money, and go to London then. There’s no guarantee she’s going to win the competition.

She perhaps hasn’t thought of the expense of letting her stay where she is, and bringing her over separately at a later date. That alone could be enough to finance a trip. Where does she live now?

Sounds like an immediate gratification issue, as if she’ll never be able to travel again for the rest of her life.

Not failing to mention that college semesters start in mid(ish) September. So we have months until then.