I would like to preface this post by saying that I had a really great day today. But some crazy things happened that would probably make any normal first time solo traveler book a ticket back home and call it a day.  

Today started out quite nicely.  I made coffee and eggs for breakfast and put on one of my favorite shirts for what I thought would be a fun first day of research and afternoon of sightseeing in the central city.  I downloaded directions from CityMapper, put on a sweater (it feels like late September here!), and set out for my first solo public transportation experience (don't laugh at me, I don't get out much). 

The first leg of the journey went incredibly well, except for me trying to get off of the bus at what the bus driver assured me was definitely not a stop.  At the tube station I flawlessly mimicked the people around me and followed my app's directions, arriving at Kew Gardens in no time at all.  I was so proud! I had done it! I even posted a celebratory snapchat bragging about how well I had done.  Oh, how pride goeth before the fall.  But I'll come back to that. 

I walked the remaining way to the UK National Archives, where I went through a small orientation, toured the small curator's museum, and picked up this semesters first round of souvenirs (I found a hog pin okay, I HAD TO BUY IT).  Absolutely famished, I decided it would be a good idea to grab a small latte from the cafe at the archives and then begin my day of sightseeing. I drank the coffee in a posh pink chair that overlooked a poster of the Declaration of Independence (a copy of which is actually stored in the Archives).  I downloaded my next set of directions and set off, sure that London could not beat me.  

I was wrong.  

My first mistake was not paying attention to which train I got on.  Rookie mistake.  I just followed everyone else, thinking that it had worked so well before.  If I had paid a bit more attention in that one moment this post would be a few well placed photos of me pointing at Tower Bridge or Westminster Abbey and some obscure quote or lyric.  Instead, this post is a warning.  I was three stops in, headed north bound rather than east when I really figured out that I had made a mistake, and honestly what tipped me off the most is when the houses went from precious Victorian cottages to warehouses with broken windows.  I got off immediately and hopped on what I thought was the south bound leg of the same line.  Wrong again.  This time I ask an employee how to get where I need to go, they tell me a series of three station changes, I repeat them, and then forget them immediately.  Thanks to Jesus alone I end up on the right line, and make the right couple of switches so that I am finally just one train away from my final destination.  

Two things are important to mention at this point.  One is that it has been three hours since I departed from the Archives.  The second, is that my feet have giant blisters all over them.  ALL over them.  Giant.  It's getting hard to walk.  But nevertheless, I persisted. Anyway, riding all over London and trying desperately to understand the maps was actually a little fun. 

As I board my final train I notice that the clip on my bag is undone, and I begin to get a bad feeling.  Sitting there, on the Piccadilly Line towards Hammersmith station, I realize that I've lost my wallet.  That's right.  Credit card, debit card, driver's license, and about $70 in cash are stone cold missing.  I feared the worst, but the whole time I had a feeling that everything would turn out alright.  The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I had most likely left my wallet sitting in that pink chair, too overcome by the coffee and the words of Thomas Jefferson to remember to put my wallet back in my purse.  

You can say it.  I'm saying it too.  I'm an Idiot.  

So once I get back to where I started this morning, I get right back on the very first tube I had ever taken, headed back to Kew Gardens for the second time today.  Luckily, I get off where I need to. I walk hobble back to the National Archives, my path blocked by a mother swan and three little baby swans. It would have been a lot cuter if I had money. 

Inside the Archives I make my way to the security station, and there it is. My wallet.  Still stuffed.  Academics, am I right? Anyone else would have treated them selves to a nice shopping spree on me.  But some sweet professor from who-knows-where turned in my wallet so that I could live another day.  

This story, however, is far from over.  

It has now been about four hours since I first decided to leave the Archives, and there I was leaving again.  I make my way back to the station, load a bit more money on my oyster card (as my escapades earlier ate up all 15 pounds that I had preloaded) and got back to Hammersmith with minimal challenges.  Needless to say I got on the right train this time.  

At this point, my feet are succumbing to what may be a case of WWI era trench foot, so I decide to drop by the good ole TK Maxx to see if I could find a loafers or something to relieve the pressure on the backs of my heels.  I was successful.  Finally, ready to be done with the day and just pick up some food to eat back at my flat, I head to the bus station and hop on the route that stops exactly in front of where I am staying.  There is no possible way that I can screw this up right? It's an 8 minute bus ride.  

Wrong.  

I forget to request the stop and the bus rolls right through.  Now, a reasonable person would have just gotten off at the next stop and walked back, but I decided that since my feet hurt a little I would just ride the loop and get off when it came back around.  This was a mistake.  The bus continues heading south east for a whole hour before it comes to it's final stop and the bus driver tells me "You have to get off now." Turns out, the bus takes a bit of a break before it circles back a round.  Who would have known.  

So, a bit lost and all on my own, I walk a bit back up the street to a coffee shop that I had remembered passing on the bus and seeing a "free wifi" sign.  I buy a diet coke and an almond biscotti.  For anyone who truly knows me, a genuine sign of my mental state shows here, as I'm not sure if I've ever been to a coffee shop and not walked out with coffee before.  I log on the wifi and look at two options: 1. Uber (20 minutes, 20 dollars) 2. Bus (60 minutes, 1.50).  I took the bus. 

Finally, at about 6:30, I arrive back to where I'm staying, a full 6 hours and 5 walking miles later.  I finish the day with take away pizza and the promise to myself that tomorrow I will actually do something other that ride the tube.  

Like I said at the beginning, today was actually really fun, and a real learning experience. Unfortunately I have found throughout my life that I only learn through learning experiences. Before something tragic happens, like losing my wallet in one of the largest cities in the world, that I have just been all over, I'm just some poor idiot abroad.