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Traveling wasn’t a new thing for me. As a child, my parents loved to go on vacations. New food, kind foreign people, and beautiful landmarks were a few of the many things that they loved about traveling. Of course, they would always take me along; what’s a vacation without their baby girl? Together, we explored the world, from the oriental cities of China, to the urban cities of California.  

But, there was one city my mother wanted to visit ever since she was a child. London. Yes, the city of Kings and Queens, Princes and Princesses, and One Direction was the city my mother wished to visit.

Unfortunately, my mother never received her wish.

I was almost eighteen when Mom ran into my bedroom with three plane tickets. She waved them around in the air while she looked at me with sparkling eyes. She had those stars in her eyes, the same ones she got the last time I saw her. It’s sad that Mom never got to go to London…

Three years later, I’m heading to Europe. I’m twenty-one years old now, filled with ambition to fulfill my mother’s last wish. With my backpack stuffed to the brim with only a few pairs of clothes, my passport, my ticket, and the cash my father gave me for the trip, I’m ready to see Europe.

London, we have three weeks together, I’m ready for you.

I slept peacefully; a little bit too peacefully for this plane.

Throughout the plane children cried, people chatted, and my seat “neighbor” was snoring directly into my ear. Okay, I lie. I was wide-awake. Usually, I would have hated this situation, but for now, I didn’t mind. Bigger and better things were on my mind: Europe, and more importantly London.

I pulled my phone out of sweater pocket. The home screen flickered on showing a photo of Koko and I. Koko was my black, Jindo puppy. Above our picture the time was 10:30am. It would only be half an hour more till we landed.

I closed my eyes for what seemed like a second.

But, the pleasant ding from the speakers and the voice of the captain that echoed through the cabin woke me up, “Passengers, please fasten your seatbelts and put your trays and seats in their upright positions. We are beginning our descent upon London, England from Seoul, Korea. The time presently is 10:32AM. The weather is sixty-seven degrees and sunny. Thank you!”

I glanced out the window and there it was. The clouds began to move and the lovely city of London was coming into view. The tips of building scratched the edges of the low-lying clouds. This was “sunny”? The sun’s rays could barely break through the clouds. But again, I didn’t let it phase me.

“London,” I whispered to myself with a smile, “Mom, I’m almost there.”

I pulled my camera out and took a quick picture of London from the air. “Picture number one.”

“Okay, well I’m here, and the hostel is over here. Now how am I supposed to get there?” I mumbled to myself in Korean. I was wandering around the luggage pickup, map in hand, making myself ready to leave the airport into the unknown European world.

People passed by quickly. They held their possessions in their hands as they ran out of the airport. No one seemed to notice the tiny, lost, Korean girl.

“Do you need a taxi?” asked an older man. He looked a bit older than sixty and his nametag had the airport’s logo on it, so I decided to trust him. I blinked at him. “Do you need a taxi?” he asked again, a bit slower.

I shook my head. I wanted to backpack this trip and if it was to be a backpacking trip it meant no expensive luxuries. “No, I am gonna need a bit of help though,” I said putting my English to use and forgetting all Korean I once had.

“Anything for a pretty lady like yourself,” he said with a surprised laugh, “What do you need?”

I put my backpack on the ground and rummaged through the pockets to find my itinerary. A few pages into the itinerary, I finally found the hotel name: Clink78 Hostel. “Do you know where the Clink78 Hostel is? And how I can get there?”

The man’s eyes widened, “OH YES! It’s on King’s Cross Road. “

I blinked at him again. “Where?”

He laughed at me, “King’s Cross Road. You can reach there from here by bus. The bus stop is just outside the airport.” He took my map and showed me the route to the hostel.

I clasped my hands together and smiled, “Thank you! I really appreciate it! Thank you!” I picked up my things and ran out of the airport; just in time to catch the bus to Kings Cross Road.

*Click, “Memory number one.” 

and this is where we begin. 

when I left off last time, we were in the future, thirty years into the future. Now, we're in the past. We're watching Hana go through her vacation. 

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