JT16 - Scandilush

Prologue. Jimbo Tours.

A concept born in the casualty of youth, created in a world of control and routine it is designed to allow all that have the honour of being invited the purest sense of escapism, an exit from the stress and order of everyday life. You don’t know where you are going, who you are going with and what will happen when you get there. An exercise focussed on the purity of letting go and the wonderful things that can happen when you do.

Day 1 - Fjord eyes only.

For me it is a return after a fallow year, living in Cornwall adds a level of complexity but the draw of a JT is too hard to ignore, akin to the power of the moons draw on moths and a dirty floor to a buttered side of toast. So with the logistics out of the way I spend an evening with founder James O’Donnell before an early morning jaunt across the capital and out to Gatwick where I found out where we are going and who else will be joining us.

From the moment we wake there is an aura, a presence around the trip, every connection is timed to perfection, an upgrade to include extra legroom, small things that on their own are inconsequential but by building on top of each other deliver an energy that projects outwards and we know from experience that this excitable energy always delivers.

A call comes through just after I’ve cleared security it’s Patrick Allen our first companion has arrived, but so freeing is the JT philosophy that he is standing at security with no idea where he is going and no boarding pass to get there. JD sends a QR code with no destination information, we are through security, it is time to decipher the departure board, we cross off destinations that we know have been ticked off before, this narrows our search to a few, PA ponders and then with a sense of trepidation says “Oslo?”

Oslo it is, the aura lifts us and carries us from plane to train in fluid succession 1 minute 30 seconds between the two, but it wasn’t finished there, a short walk from the station and we find ourselves on a catamaran touring the Fjords on a picture perfect day in Oslo. A plane, train catamaran combo must be a JT first. After a drink or two sat by the side of the fjord it is time to explore the streets on the transport of choice for the city, the electric scooter. As is the case with JT you never sit still for long so we were off to find a place that would give us a warm Oslo hug, which we found the only problem was that hug was a little too warm some would say warmer than an RP beer, coupled with an early start we all started to sink slowly and deeply into the comfiest sofa in Oslo, would it be an early first day.

A local drink called fernet would give us our answer, there was more to be seen. So we wandered the streets a door down an alleyway beckoned, the coin of destiny was needed the aura was trying to tell us something and the coin confirmed, this door was not for us so onwards we walked, it wasn’t long until a small bar beckoned, we took up seats and started to settle in, it was mere moments until Maria Theresa approached us, we were expecting to be told to move or we had done something wrong, but instead we were given a music bingo sheet and a warm welcome, a short time later we had won our first quiz in a foreign language, much to our surprise, we now had a tab behind the bar and an evening of adventure ahead of us.

A few hours later we find ourselves in an underground karaoke bar with a group of locals singing our hearts out, Oslo you have been kind to us.

Day 2 - A very long walking tour

After 3 hours sleep we are up and out JD has us booked on a walking tour leaving from the central station. We arrive tired but ready to embrace the city, we follow our leader he takes a left then a right then we’re on a train, JD why are we on a train? “Oslo has been kind to us but it is time to leave” now this isn’t unusual for JT a mystery city is a familiar friend. But this felt different because on this occasion we were on a train to the airport. What is going on.

Epilogue

“That was the best day of JT I’ve had so far. “ Patrick Allen 20 September 2024

Fritzels dungeon in Vienna…..the horror show of staying in a favéla in Belgrade with its broken windows, loose dogs and construction of our beds whilst we waited……sweaty and smelly cross border sleeper trains in Prague……40 man dorms with all the noises that comes with that in Berlin…….a tent in Varna where there’s a 50/50 chance you leave with a tattoo of the hostel logo - these are the sorts of places where we have laid of weary heads after a long days touring and tried to get some precious beauty sleep - so when we arrived in Copenhagen and headed to our hostel our expectations weren’t high. Would we be sharing with any “businessmen”??? would we have to shower in the kitchen in front of each other??? Would the place be run by a ladybird?? These were all questions entering our minds as we walked in the beautiful September sunshine in Copenhagen.

All our fears vanished faster than the whip in an Irish bar when we saw the amazing place we would be staying. It was called Next hostel and if Charlie built his factory for the pleasure of children then Mr or Mrs Next has built the Valhalla for 40 something men! It had everything you’d want - well stocked bars at every turn….an indoor five aside pitch!! A pizza restaurant……dart boards….cinema rooms for sports….pin ball machines…..arcades…..a gym……and best of all - at 6 o’clock they wheel a mobile bar outside in the sun and give you free danish lager for an hour! Unbelievable!!

As we slipped on our free beers in the Copenhagen evening sunshine we wondered - could life get any better? The moment couldn’t even be ruined by a Welsh guy trying to but not succeeding in trying to persuade us he and his mates (aka chairmen) have there own Jimbotour on the go - I switched off when day spas were mentioned and Shaun got up and left as he was reminiscing about a hot air balloon ride.

This hostel is truly amazing and I will be looking to see if they open any in future tour destinations. It has set the bar very high for martins first night on tour…..luckily I have something special booked for our next night which should be more ‘on brand’!

The rooms are tight but the beds are super (thanks RP!) cosy plus you get a free performance of moulin rouge from the inhabitants in the building opposite. 

We did have a small mix up with the automated check in which meant that we had an unexpected guest in our room which meant me getting woken and dragged out of bed by stevie at 4 in the morning and having to check myself into another room.

Copenhagen is a big and bustling city. There are tourists everywhere but everyone seems super (there it is again) happy. The locals are beautiful- both men and women.

We spend a lovely day wandering through the streets taking in the history and stopping every so often for ice cold beers to relieve our weariness.

As we were queuing to climb the 1881 steps to the top of the round tower I posed a question to my fellow travelers……shall we climb the tower or go to another country - I wander what the answer was??!!……..

Climb 1,881 stairs or set sail for another country…. 

There’s only one winner in that debate and to my delight (mainly because it got me out of the steps) our leader announces we are about to set sail for Malmo, Sweden.

The only thing more impressive than the fact that Jimbotours has made it to its “Sweet 16” is the bridge that connects Denmark and Sweden.  The Oresund Bridge is truly something to behold as it sweeps across the 5 miles of water and given the weather we have been blessed with on this trip all you can see for miles is the sun reflecting off the water.  It is so impressive that it is has its passengers stunned into silence, that is except Stevie B and Martin who can be heard up and down the carriage debating the latest Gaelic Football season.

The 5 miles goes by in a flash and we are soon ready to set foot in what is Jimbotours 22^nd country, I’ve been to 21 of them and no I don’t want to talk about fecking Norway.  Moving swiftly on we exit Malmo Central station (unaware at this point there are two bastard train Malmo stations which would have come in handy the next day) and make our way immediately to yet another magical, sun kissed market square for light refreshments.  The usual order is submitted; 5 normal beers and one weird beer for Patch and I look up to the cloudless sky and exhale a casual relaxing breath… 

Everything has been majestic so far this trip (minus the Olso debacle) our surroundings have been phenomenal, the beer has been amazing, the people we’ve met have been so friendly and even the hostel as per JOD’s previous blog was the best we’ve ever stayed in – I mean, we’ve finally got this travelling thing down to a perfect science right?  Wrong.

Definition: Circus noun

a travelling company of acrobats, clowns, and other entertainers which gives performances, typically in a large tent, in a series of different places.

Okay, so I’m not sure about the acrobat bit but the rest of it sounds like it could be mistaken for me and my fellow companions on a Jimbotour right?  We’re an entertaining bunch who relish the opportunity to perform our unique skillset of quaffing gallons of lager in a series of different places.  I guess we kind of like a circus in some ways….

Fitting then that this evenings digs is The Grand Circus Hotel.  I assure you that the words Grand and Hotel should not belong in their title.  It is genuinely a bloody Circus that Jimbo has booked us to stay in for the evening and the dwellings are a series of different old traveller wagons.  Suddenly I wish I’d chosen the 1,881 steps…..

After a brief terrifying few moments where it dawned on Martin and I that we would be sharing the worlds smallest double bed together, I can only presume that Jimbo wanted me to also know what its like to be intimate with someone’s cousin, we settled on an upgraded room.  I use the term upgrade loosely, but I shouldn’t complain too much as poor RP would end up in that very bed later with a poorly Patch after one too many IPA’s.

It turns out that a mere few hundred metres up the road from the circus a heavy metal music festival was taking place.  Thousands of hairy, leather clad, sweaty, smelly rockers were having the time of their lives and ironically all of these fine locals turned their nose up at the thought of sleeping in the Circus…  There is another irony here, later that evening the police would be summoned to that very site, not enforce the law on some enormous Viking  Hells Angel Rocker but our very own miscreant who I shall not go to type on their name for fear of repatriation.  Lets just say that as bad as weird beers are to drink, they taste even worse coming back up.  That’s a Jimbotours first.

Malmo is a cool town.  We embarked on yet another amazing evening in Europe and as has become custom these days there was many a game of finger spoof with the locals.  It never ceases to amaze me how quickly people pick up that game (other than Danny in Bulgaria) and embrace what it is about – convening around the centre of a table to share laughs and do your best to avoid consuming some god awful schnapps.

As the night came to a close Martin completed the trifecta of Jimbotours diet with a kebab having previously consumer a hotdog and a burger earlier in the day and we headed back to the circus for one of Jimbotours less comfortable nights sleep.

So there we have it, another tour in the bag, more dots on the map, one of which now I haven’t visited (not happy) and memories for life.  Its my favourite thing to do and I encourage you all to jump on plane, train or catamaran, find a table, put an empty glass in the middle of it and invite some strangers to play.

Till next time.

Shauny G.

As with tradition, I was not told the destination beforehand, arriving at Gatwick with just a QR code to work with, I trundled my way through security to the departure lounge. Still no word from Jimbo, still no idea where I’m going. It was 9.15, flight leaving at 10. Multiple flights leaving at 10! Aaaargh....Finally I got the confirmation text, the destination is the land of fairytales, Copenhagen.After a 90 minute delay sitting on the runway due to thunderstorms at Gatwick, I finally arrived to my first jimbotours to be greeted at the airport by the legend that is Shaun (lets not mention Oslo) Galvin.

We made our way into the city to meet the rest of the crew (well what we thought was the rest of the crew). As we settled into another beer in the sun while watching a paddle board race along the river, a figure emerged from behind the beer tent, it was Stevie B. The motley crue of 6 troops was all set.  We spent the evening wandering around the various alcoholic establishments Copenhagen had to offer, and there are many. A cracking city.

The one thing I have learned is that you never know what’s around the corner with a jimbo tour. After a night/morning in the worlds greatest hostel and a quick walking tour of the city, there was no rest for the wicked, the troops were off to Malmo and without doubt the craziest place I have ever stayed, the Grand Circus Hotel. A place that can only be described as post-apocalyptic! Sharing a bunk bed in a converted circus wagon with an escape room was certainly not on the expected list but here we were.

But with jimbotours you have to expect the unexpected.I will be returning for JT17!