JT12 - Hangover in Hannover

On a train bound for a mystery city a man dressed as hulk has just come round selling snacks and a dildo, the weather outside is 30 plus degrees and we are hungover as fuck. . . You gotta love a summer jimbotours.

After a couple of tours in the depths of winter we have returned to our traditional early June tour and god it feels good to have the sun on our backs. To celebrate our return to summer touring we have landed in our favourite country - Germany.

So far it’s a 3 man tour, jimbo, Shaun and after receiving special dispensation from his accountant Stevie B. We met up in Hamburg and after a quick one opposite the train station we hit the road and left the multitude of English stag do’s behind and headed for Hannover. 

The main attraction for us in Hannover was a trip to the racetrack. This was based 20 mins outside town which we somehow negotiated on public transport after a change in the German version on Basildon (which we’ll return to later) . The horses was good craic. Nice beer, tasty German meat products, sweet fruit and plenty of grass spaces for stevie to have a well earned sleep. The only thing missing was a profit as we only backed one winner but were unlucky as we went all in on the last and narrowly lost as the jockey decided to go the long was round when he would’ve easily won - carve up!.

On the way back into the city we stopped off at Basildon for a couple of aperol spritzers as there was a festival on with a heavy metal band smashing out some tunes which stevie loved - so much so he got on the stage - why he did this nobody knows. 

We met a couple of Germans who brought us into the centre - we weren’t sure whether they wanted to party with us or mug us - but it all turned out good as we went to a load of bars including a scary biker bar and a beach bar with the floor covered in sand. Unfortunately the night got worse with the increase in beer intake - we got ripped off by a Turkish kebab man and the group got split up coming home - luckily Shaun saved us with the help of an Irish bar and a cab.

Our stay in Hannover has come to an end as the group have decided to take up the option of a mystery city - where we end up is in the lap of the gods (aka Jimbo & d bahn)

East

Sitting on yet another German train bound for a mystery city.... Jimbo has his head firmly into his German tour guide book (he's had his money's worth out of that) and Stevie B has his infamous don't talk to me face on.   With my travelling companions occupied I gaze out at the vast German countryside flying by and consider the number twelve for a moment.  Its quite the achievement that we have made it to 12 years of Jimbotours ironically the same as the number of stars which are printed on the EU flag - they must have known we'd make it to that number one day.  When we land in our mystery city it will also become our 12th German dot on the map!  Well 13th if you count Duisberg but let's not go there.  The number 12 seems to be jumping up everywhere and its also the same number as Stevie B's mental age and the average length in minutes of one of his stories. 

With Hannover now a distant memory we land in the picturesque German city of Bremen the home of Becks.  A short walk to the hostel and we set off in search of the Becks brewery which is located right on the river.  As we meander through the town I demand a pit stop and sure enough with the brewery in sight we stumble into the Mecca of cold beer, salty snacks by the river in 30 plus degree heat.  Needless to say the distant view of the brewery would be all we would see of it! 

Now that Stevie was talking to us again after consulting with his bank manager we agreed a plan and enlisted the aid of our good friend 20cent the rapper.  Ultimately 20 would be our guide through the remainder of the town and he did not disappoint.  Lashing of cold beer, plentiful fruit and hours of Stevies stories filled the remainder of our day on the river.  Having had enough sun to fill another 12 tours we headed back towards our hostel in the hipster district. Despite the lager being of the highest grade Shauny G convinces the team to go all Cotswolds and get on the gins.... slipped down a right treat however the early signs of gin side effects making certain individuals drowsy was apparent as Stevie began to fade.  Now this isn't all bad news as it represents the opportunity for a quick game of buckaroo..... I won and Steve retired back to hobbits lair in the roof of our hostel whilst Jimbo argued with yet another Turkish kebab merchant.

A big snore and we are back on the train for a brief stint in Hamburg ready to call time on yet another tour.  What we've learned this year is that Germans are as usual exceptionally good at making life easy and enjoyable for our jaunts in Europe.  We've also learned that strict financial budget plans will be needed if jimbotours is to make it to JT13 for some and there will be no refunds!

See you in June next year....

Shauny G.

What a 13 years we’ve had....we’ve added some stones and we’ve accumulated some roams....we’ve had some fallings out but we’ve always gone back to visit the groats....some of us have had families and multiplied and some have fell away and said goodbye. The only constant is that there’s a group of lads looking to spread the love and have the craic each year in a European destination.

The tour group so far consisted of the ever present Jimbo & Shaun plus Stevie B. There has already been a much appreciated mystery guest turn up in the firm of a non-agg Stevie complete with a top of the range camera phone to record all our peaceful memories this weekend as well as a handy freezer bag to chill any beers we should like to acquire for the journey. I don’t know much about this new non-agh, happy Steve ......but I like him.

Another tour started with a double early flight from Luton. We met, exchanged pleasantries and I informed the lads we’d be flying to Amsterdam to make our way to Rotterdam for the start of the tour. After purchasing books and doing a good deal of research into our intended destination I found out this was all for nothing as Shaun announced he’d already been to Rotterdam and didn’t fancy a return visit. 

As JT is a democracy and every man has a say in our destinations (apart from Steve who made us go to Bratislava in JT 2) we hatched a new itinerary during the 40 minute flight across the North Sea. Like a sign in the stars we had a drawing to travel north to the city of Groningen.....nobody knew why....it just felt right.....so as we sit on a train passing through the flat green lands of Holland we hope that our hunch is proved right...........

Ps.....is anyone interested in a couple of guide books to Rotterdam at a knock down price.