Backpacker reunited with lost snaps after internet hunt
A backpacker has been reunited with holiday snaps she thought had been lost forever after an amazing internet campaign to track her down.
Catriona Bowman, 22, of Suffolk in the United Kingdom, was on a three-month backpacking around Europe with her friend Emily Fazah, reports the Sun.
With the memory in her camera almost full, she swapped out SD cards while in a bar in Amsterdam.
However, during the switch the card was misplaced, resulting in Miss Bowman losing over 300 pictures.
The tiny memory card, though, was found at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport by Peter van Leeuwen on a baggage belt.
Initially, he forgot all about the card but when he put it into his laptop he became intrigued and examined the card to see if there were any clues as to who the owner of the camera was.
Just over three weeks ago he launched a social media campaign to return the camera to the owner and posted a video on Youtube entitle ‘Who’s that Girl?’
He wrote: “Help! We've found a SD-card with holiday-pics at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, which we'd love to return to its owner. Problem: we don't know who the owner is. Please help us find this girl to return the pictures of her traveling the world. Sharing is caring!”
The clip prompted a number of articles in the Dutch press, but Miss Bowman was only alerted to the card when a friend in Amsterdam saw the video.
“I am ecstatic, I am in shock. I can’t believe that this has happened. Me and my friend Emily were crying for days over losing it.
“Then I get a phone call from Emily saying not only has it been found but there is a Dutch radio station wanting to speak to me.
“It is absolutely bizarre. We were convinced they had gone for ever,” she said.
“We are truly grateful to Peter for going to so much effort to track us down. The pictures hold so many amazing memories for us.
“Words cannot describe, I am so thankful.
“Apparently someone I knew from 15 years ago shared the link on Facebook where the photos had been posted. We were so so upset when we lost it and have tried to get those pictures out of our minds ever since.”
