London Calling (if I had a phone)

After leaving Lottie's on May 15th, I headed to London so that I could catch my flight back to France on the 16th. You may or may not remember (probably more like not because it's been 2+ years since I posted this), but the week before I stayed with Em and Lottie, I had left my little old faithful red phone in my bed. In a hostel. In Scotland. (I still remember: room 7, bed 7, Budget Backpackers hostel.)

Luckily, my new Australian friend Caroline was staying in the same hostel and headed to London next, so I asked her if she could do me a HUGE favor and bring it to me in London. She graciously agreed (seriously, meeting awesome people when traveling is the best!), and so we were set to meet in London on the 15th. After I met up with Caroline to get my phone and go for tea, I was supposed to head to my friend Nicole's apartment on the other side of London.

Speaking of meeting fantastic people when traveling, I met Nicole in the summer of 2007 when we were both in a French immersion program at l'Université Laval in Quebec City. We were part of a group of four girls who were inseparable during those 6 weeks. She's hilarious and has one of the best fashion senses I've ever seen. She's Colombian but was living in London, Ontario when we met, and has been jet setting ever since. (I think she's possibly lived in my more countries than I've even been to.) Anyway, she was living and teaching in London at the time, and when I told her I was coming through and would love to meet up, she graciously offered to host me for the night!

So, back to me in London on May 15th. First I strolled around a (very short) while. Basically just getting out of the train stations. See?

the Gherkin, actually called 30 St Mary Axe

Anyway, I wanted to have WiFi access when waiting for Caroline to arrive at Liverpool Station, in case she needed to contact me (since I didn't have my phone). So, I parked myself at this exact KFC on Liverool Street across from the station to sit in that chair on the left, eat some fries, connect to WiFi, and wait.

This is actually important because it became an important/funny moment/memory. Full story some other time.

Then, I saw her! I ran out of KFC with my laptop open in my hands. 

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It was not her.

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I went back to KFC. This time I bought a soda. Soda for WiFi. I sat down again. 

It was at this point that I started getting a LOT of email. Email regarding some business at home. Email that was kind of urgent, was stressing me out, and was coming in fast and loose. I was trying to respond to these emails, figuring out how I felt about the pertinent situation (which would affect my future), trying to watch for Caroline, and trying to communicate with Nicole to a) figure out where to go to get to her place later and b) explain my weird limbo phone state (and how I would communicate with her once I got my phone, which would of course be dead after a week).

Finally, I see Caroline! 

I rush out to meet the real her this time, and we start talking, and she breaks the news: 

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She's forgotten my phone. 

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BUT! Don't fear the worst! She didn't forget it in Edinburgh. 

She left it at her friend's house... boat.

That's right, a houseboat. I'm thinking... Huh? I spent three weeks in London (in 2007) and never once saw a houseboat. There are houseboats in London? How far away are these houseboats? Are they even in London?! Houseboats. I tried to rack my brain to think if I'd ever seen a place where I thought one could possibly even park a houseboat. I came up short. Houseboats, y'all. Of course.

So, we headed off to meet her friend (of living on a houseboat fame) and have tea. We did, and had a nice little chat (occasionally punctuated by me (not at all) surreptitiously checking my laptop for signs of communication from Nicole and to explain to her that I would be later than originally planned).

Anyway, after our tea, we headed off to [I honestly have no idea where we went; we took the Tube and a bus and ended up somewhere] so we could arrive at...

THE HOUSEBOATS.

Okay, so, I'm actually pretty excited that she left my phone and we went to the houseboat, because it was pretty sweet. Perhaps that will be my next adventure?! Katy: The Houseboat Years? The Houseboat Blog? (real name tbd) (If I ever have a houseboat, that is.)

Anyway, I was reunited with my precious little red phone,* then I headed off to the other side of London to meet Nicole. Unfortunately it was super late by the time I got there, but we had wine and made falafel and it was so amazing to get to talk and laugh after a casual six years without seeing each other. She was teaching in outer London at the time and had some very interesting stories, to say the least.

Honestly, one of the coolest things about traveling is meeting great people. It's even better when you cross paths again somewhere down the line. It feels like time travel. I hope I see both Caroline and Nicole again at some point in life.

Next morning, I was headed back to France home, so that I could get get my stuff and go to Texas home. That's right, y'all. The final posts are coming. 

(But get ready for some general sappy retrospective musings in tribute to that beautiful year, first. Sorry. Also coming up (less sappy, more exciting): The Lost Stories... funny or sweet stories that I never shared but deserve to be heard. I'm looking forward to that one.)

I should conclude by saying that when I was rereading this for edits, I kept thinking "MAN, traveling is so much easier now that I have an iPhone that I can use to check things quickly instead of opening my laptop up every time I need the Internet. It's too bad I didn't have an iPhone then!" And then I realized that HELLO that would have helped zero percent because almost the ENTIRE point of this story is that I am stupid enough to leave my phone in my bed and then promptly LEAVE A COUNTRY.

*Honestly, I really loved that little phone, even though it was a dumb phone. It had so many adventures in its 3 1/2 years with me, truly. It could have had its own action & adventure movie, bless it. RIP.

I love you and I miss you, lil' red. ♥