It’s a tale as old as time: girl travels to Iceland, girl loses stuffed animal, girl is reunited with stuffed animal again thanks to kindhearted strangers. Such is the tale of young Hattie, as told by her father, Richard Sains, in a Facebook post that has gone viral.
As the story details, last August Hattie had accidentally left behind her beloved stuffed animal—an appropriately named stuffed cow, “Cowie”—at a campsite in Vík, South Iceland. As the family was traveling the Ring Road at a series of booked stops, they were unable to circle back and retrieve Cowie themselves.
Efforts to get Cowie back to Hattie were frustrated by a series of snags. “We tried to get him sent to Reykjavik for the end of the trip and when that didn’t happen I booked couriers to go and pick him up, but they didn’t collect,” Richard recounted. “I couldn’t get the campsite to send him either.”
Months went by to no avail, but Richard continued his quest, eventually turning to the Facebook group Travel Iceland for help.
That, reportedly, is when things took a turn for the better.
Comments poured in from people offering to help. In the end, a series of hand-offs brought Cowie back to the UK.
“Óðinn offered to collect from Vik and take to Reykjavik where Halldór collected for the second leg back to London,” Richard writes. “Updates were posted along the way – Cowie had a proper trip home and made lots of friends. There are some great pics – including Cowie chilling with the crew on the plane home!”
The post is indeed replete with photos showing virtually every stop in Cowie’s journey, from the drive to the airport, the flight, and even some incredible photos taken from the cockpit of the plane. The final hand-off, which reportedly happened at a pub in Bloomsbury, finally brought Cowie back to its family home, a fast three days since Richard’s initial post in the group.
“We often focus on the negative aspects of social media – but it does let you reach out to fantastic people all across the world in seconds who are happy to help you out,” Richard closes, with warm thanks to all who reunited Hattie with Cowie.
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