JT6- The Tour That Had No Name

Here we are in 2012. Its a BIG year......Stratford has the Olympics.........Its the Queens Jubille........Its Euro football championships..BUT most importantly its JT6!!!!!

So to get the ball rolling and so we can book flights/trains/roller skates please post your answers to the following on the message board. Closing date: Sunday 5th 
Feb

1. Are you up for JT6??

2. What of the following is your top choice week away: (mid week to mid week) 

a. 30/5/12 - 6/6/12 (includes the double bank holiday)

b. 6/6/12 - 13/6/12 (start of Euro's)

c. 13/6/12 - 20/6/12 (2 big games for Eire & Eng) 

3. name 2 cities Jimbotours hasn't rolled through which you think it needs to explore?

Please get answers over asap so we can all agree on the date and get the time off and flights booked.


Jimbo

We’re on the road again….this time is railway tracks. After the tradional pre-tour bbq in 50 HG’s we’re up early and heading from the bright lights and chicken shops of seven kings to Kings Cross St Pancras to get the Eurostar to Europe. This blog would have been up faster but Eurostar don’t have wi-fi – couldn’t believe it! Apart from that it was cool. We arrived in Brussels at around 11am and made our way through the station with John Snow the newsreader who was dragging a massive trolley of bags – it looked like G Budd when he was moving house. So we had 3 hours to see Brussels – what did we decide to do – we went for a Belgium beer of course! After a couple of beers sitting on a nice square it was time to board the train to Germany. German trains are the way forward – they have a bar that serves perfect German beer and restaurant quality food – so we got stuck into a few German beer on the train before arriving in Cologne. Cologne station is stevie b’s paradise. They had eating house everywhere. You can have sausage, pizza, baguette’s – whatever you want. Love it! So due to my normal dis-organisation we were in Cologne at 6 in the evening and didn’t have a room booked (was planning to do it on the Eurostar) So had to find wi-fi and book a hostel room – Stevie b had had a few beers and was tired which was a familiar lethal JT combination – what followed was a good old fashioned Jimbo/Steve argument about whether to get the tram or a taxi. We got a tram! The hostel is nice – its above Mcdonalds – just a shame Mcd’s is banned on JT! Lots of good beer halls that we’re gonna explore – I reckon Cologne is gonna be a good stop. East

'A Man Who's Been Around The World' - A evening in the life of Stevie B... Author - Shaun Galvin."Stevie B... Get out of bed and get up for it... We have to see what this towns beer halls have to offer..."The fateful words every Jimbotours traveller is looking to hear!  Cheeky lie down out of the way... It was needed after an early start (Seven Kings seems like a long time ago!) and Stevie was not a happy camper...  It seems that over the years Stevie B's mood swings have matured like a fine wine... we should have got a taxi Jim!Out of bed and time to get tarted up to see what Cologne has to offer on the beer front... Stevie B dusts off the fine artwork on his arm and bangs on his favourite pulling shirt (House of Frasers finest).After a bit of milling around the town and wrong turning or six we head on the tram to a recommended local hotspot which specialises in Meat, Potatos and freshly brewed local beer... Everything verteran travellers could wish for!  This place is unreal the beer merchant literally just keep bringing the beer whilst marking off your bill/evening accomplishments on a beer mat.  The only way to stop the beers coming is to stick a beer mat over your glass... Stevie B's having none of that tonight...  He's in for a long one!  We tuck into a blindin feed and fire as much local brew down us as we can... with the city calling us we settle up and head out to see what the rest of the town has to offer...We venture down to the river to mingle with the locals and sink a few bottles down on the riverside... Stevie B is propositioned by a crack head and offers him all of Amsterdams finest produce for a snout or two.  Few beers down the riverside complete we relocate to Cologne's student district...Things were looking bleak for Stevie B as most of the bars were packing up by the time we made it there... then with a swift right turn we find ourselves in the Colgne's liviest spot so far... a trendy Cuban bar... its got table service, Mojito's and a Jager machine!  Let's have it team!!!  Roll on finger spoof is all Stevie is thinking!!!Stevie is determined to get Shauny G back for his 'Brussels City Shuffle' beer shenanigans earlier in the day and is pulling out all the old finger spoof tactics... Unfortunately for Stevie the author of this blog saw him coming weeks ago and Fearon (a finger spoof virgin) ended up copping the brunt of Stevie's gamesmanship!After a very brief encounter with Australia's answer to Andy Gray (plastic Manc gobshite) Stevie sets about releaving the bar of its Jager galsses for future use in humble aboads!  By this point Stevie is flagging and the "Callum Best" in him is fading at a rapid rate... Its time to disappear back to the hostel (via McD's) and hit the bottom bunk!Its been a long day and Stevie has accomplished much... Conquered Brussels, told Jimbo off more times than his priest and let everyone know one thing... He's out for man of the tour this year... will he win it... lets wait and see!THE END!

After a long lie in we set out on our second days adventures through Cologne.

After a consultation with a man in McDonalds who points us in the right direction for stuff to do.

We head off to do a spot of sightseeing and a general wonder, after doing the bridge with all the locks (which i still feel is a bit weird especially the ones who put kids pictures on) we head back to the Cathederal to do the epic climb.

Now minus Shaunny G (who was consulting with BetFred) we head up!!! it was nearly the death of me!!!!! warm days, very tight spiral stairs are not a good combination for me.

To make up for the Cathederal we then push on to relax at the beer garden in the park as recommended by the McDonalds man. What can i say, the park is awesome and the talent levels are exceptional

A short stay in the park completed it was off home to get sorted for the evening and to ready for the first play of the infamous sticker book game.

Needless to say, copious Jager was consumed and lots of craic was had, until I reached the state that i had to call it a night and head home.

What the others got up to i dont know and i'm not sure i want to.

So here we are - Colnogne has been ripped apart and we're on the road/rail again. Colnoge has been a great city - once again Germany hasn't let us down as it always follows the rules of providing plenty of good beer and tasty meat snacks on every corner plus plenty to see and do - Germany we salute you.

So we dragged ourselves out of bed late as the german cleaning lady walked with jimbo hanging out all over the place - her look of disgust was soon wiped out when the smell from the room hit her. She's good now as we dropped her 3euro's on our way out.

So we said a tearful goodbye to the Dom and headed for the train station to get to Eindhoven. In true JT fashion it was not a straightforward trip to Eindhoven as we had to change 4 times with only 2 min layovers in some places - if this wasn't germany it could go horribly wrong. Everything went as planned until jimbo got the wrong platform for our final leg so we missed the train - this meant we were stuck in a small dutch town until the next train - this meant we could hit the town for a few beers and a stickerbook game in the sun. We got the train about an hour later after our stop at the mystery city - although no one can remember the name of the town although there is photographic evidence.

So we arrived in Eindhoven in the evening and checked into our hostel. The bloke behind the ramp had 2 speeds - slow and stop - he was more interested in sitting outside smoking and drinking beer - great job!!

The hostel was empty apart from us. so we headed into eindhoven to see what was on offer. Eindhoven is a small town but when you cross the bridge over the small river you hit a 1 mile stretch of bar after bar. The dutch love a night out and some eurotrash with a little bit of karaoeke and a sausage vending machine stuck in there for good measure.

The guy at the hostel told us that the town doesn't get going till 12 so we headed out at round 10 for a dutch night out. On our way out we met a group of round 20 dutch lads on the piss who were moving into our hostel - so much for a quiet hostel!

We headed to the strip and couldn't decide which one of the 50 plus bars to go into so we decided to have a beer in each of them! we also had a game of finger spoof and a photo in each one - don't know why - just did.

The night ended with Stevie going home early and the other lads going up the spinning wheel. No one lost anything serious and jimbo nearly paid for the trip on the way out when he was 1 click from landing the big prize on the wheel of fortune!

So todays our last day. We got up and got dressed (stevie b didn't need to as he was already dressed from last night - boots and all) headed into to town to take in the sites and head for the airport.

Its been a great trip helped by great weather. The questionaire and fearon's first blog are still to come.

As a final note if anyone wants a piece of JT action get in now - as next year JT is going to be on everyone's lips around the world. why i here you ask - because Shaun has in his possession a video which if it is allowed to be uploaded to youtube is gonna be bigger than the 1 pound fish man in queens market!!

JT7 - its gonna be epic!

east

Dazzler are u up for abit of jimbo tours ? We need a fresh face to lead from the front and as your famous for attacking the ramp your just whats needed ! That was the text jimbo sent me at the start of April and it was at that very moment my first jimbo tours invite had landed ! That was all i needed to hear.  Bang I'm in !

That's how it started for me and JT6 started on a fine summers morning at seven kings station getting the train heading to kings cross via Liverpool street.. The euro star journey was where the plans were getting laid out for the next few days or should i say lack of plans. There was no WI fi on the train and to say jimbo was disgusted would be a understatement but  jimbo rallied the troops regardless and told me the rules and what was expected of me over the next few days.

I was never in Germany before JT6 and it was never really a place i considered going unless the famous Celtic had drawn a German team in Europe but to say i had been missing out was a understatement,  Jimbo had been preaching about Germany for ages and now i know why. The food & drink is superb and the way of live is very laid back and when the sun is out everyone seemed to just go to the park and have a proper blow. Cologne was great craic and its where Shaun introduced me to a game of finger spoof ! I'm now a proper judge at it and rarely lose.  Give credit to Shaun he was always up for it the whole trip and that was still the case after Stevie b nearly broke his toes by slamming the door to the hostel across his bare feet, even though he did squeal like a pig he stood firm and carried on with another shot of jager  !

Eindhoven............This is where the party really started. Doing a monster pub crawl around this town is the way forward and had to be done. Jimbo marched the team over the small bridge that leads into the main drag and it was there in and amongst the 55 bars games of finger spoof was won and lost with many a jager downed by the loser which was mainly jimbo followed in closely by Stevie b. After a heavy session Stevie b had hit the wall just like he used to do back in the old days around the pubs of ilford and so he was sent back to the hostel to look after the bags and make sure no one half inched our clobber. That left me, jimbo and Shaun with no other option but to attack the spinning wheel in the early hours and try return home as hero's with our pockets full of fifty euro notes ! It didn't quite work out like that and at one stage it looked like 1 or 2 of the boys ( no names mentioned ) were gonna have to get air ambulanced out of there.......it was carnage, a Tommy nug, a train wreck, a nightmare, call it what u like but it wasn't pretty, but after all 3 of us holding our nerve we got out alive and to be fair jimbo nearly pulled off the biggest gambled landed since the famous flame of hope graced the golden sand track of Romford !

My first jimbotours may of only been afew days but it had value in abundance and that's what matters in these testing economic times. Stevie b as always was good craic and has stood the test of time when it comes to jimbotours. Shaun is like myself, he knows his way to the ramp and ain't afraid to drop onto the odd cheeky cocktail at the end of the night but to be fair i wouldn't mind being his bookmaker coz hes a terrible judge. And then Jimbo.....take a bow kid, he pulled the strings the whole trip and to my astonishment even found his way to the ramp on afew occasions !

Overall score 8/10