Stay Young!

There's this fantastic little town about half an hour from London called Luton. I probably would never have known about this place were it not for my friends Kathy & Doug. Doug is a filmmaker and several years ago he directed a short and entered it in a film festival in Luton called Filmstock. I can remember Kathy telling me all about Luton and about the two "amazing" guys who run the festival. A few years after that I was making my first trip to London so Doug contacted those "amazing" guys to see if they had some free time to meet up with me. They did :) 

I had come to England on spring break and had just spent several days in Paris with about twenty 15-year-olds, a parent chaperone who kept trying to group me in with the teenagers even though I had told her I was 27, and a tour guide who I now lovingly refer to as 'Travel Tramp' because she hooked up with one of the other chaperones. But I digress...

I was feeling a little out of place and really needed to connect with people my age who I could actually have a conversation with. Enter the 2 "amazing" guys from Luton. Neil & Justin. 

They're very busy guys but they still took time out to spend the afternoon showing me around London. I don't think I ever told them how comforting it was (especially that day) to meet up with them. For starters, they're very chill guys. They put you at ease within moments of meeting them. Also, they enjoy art, movies, music, life...all things I hold near and dear. It may have only been a few hours to them but it meant the world to this shy Texas girl who had never been out of the US. 

Over the past few years I've kept in touch with Neil & Justin and when Mary Anne & I  found out we would be in the UK for a week before we could move into housing Neil (and his fiancee Roma) were kind enough to open up their home. Again, something that meant so much to us. 

Tonight Mary Anne & I went back to Luton. Neil dj's at a pub on Thursday nights. We missed Roma and Neil and Luton and we needed a break from school work. If you can make it to Luton...GO! Go for Filmstock. Go for Stay Young (Neil's dj-ing gig). Go because (despite what other Brits have told me) Luton IS a great town and the people are some of the friendliest I've met anywhere, not just the UK. 

(Hey Neil, when we're back in a couple weeks for Filmstock we promise we won't bring y'all anything...and we won't sell any of your stuff. haha)