Our intrepid travels Grace and Emma have both written to tell us about their recent amazing experiences at the jamboree in the USA and Canada and to thank everyone for their support.
Grace says:
This is an enormous thank you to everyone who helped me fundraising for the jamboree. It was the most amazing adventure I could have imagined and I am so grateful to all the support I have been given with it. It was an incredible experience which I will never forget, shared with lots of amazing people from all over the world and it just showed how major scouting has become and how it brings people together. I am so glad I have had this opportunity to try so many new things like scuba and using pistols and learn about how other people my age live and go scouting. Every second of it was wonderful and helped me become stronger and more aware of things all over the world.
New York was magical seeing all the incredible architecture and Times Square was a highlight. I loved how busy it was with so many people from different places gathered together and seeing all the famous points around the city. We went up World Trade 1 which is the highest point in Manhattan and we saw the entire city and we could see how overwhelmingly huge it was. It was 40 degrees when we arrived and it felt like being in an oven which was so nice.
The actual jamboree site in West Virginia was definitely my favourite part and I made so many friends there from countries from Columbia to Kenya, trying new activities everyday or just relaxing in the sun with people of all nationalities, if it it got too hot we would just go paddle boarding. The opening and closing ceremonies were incredible with Bear Grylls attending, SAS parachutists, Broadway singers, a world famous acapella band and the original person who sung the Lion Kings circle of life singing (not Elton John) and closing with an incredible drone show and fireworks. The site was so huge, it took an hour to walk from our base camp to get to the summit center. The evenings were amazing where there were base camp bashes with bands and disco lights. I don’t think anyone could come home with any complaints about any of it, it was truly a once in a lifetime experience.
Washington was my favourite city, it was clean and tidy, the people were really friendly and the buildings all looked very new and classy. I loved seeing the White House and the Washington monument, even better I was exploring the city with some of my closest friends who I have made on the jamboree journey.
In Toronto we went swimming in one of the Great Lakes which I thought was the sea it was so huge. It was really warm in there just like a bath and we spent so long on the beach. We also went to a Canadian families house for dinner for hosted hospitality which I really enjoyed as we could see how scouting is run in Canada but also because they had a pool.
The entire 3 weeks has just been magical surrounded by the things I love and exploring different parts of the world and this is why I am so grateful to everyone for helping me have the best, most eye opening and incredible experience I could ever think possible.
Many thanks for all the support,
Grace
Emma says:
I would just like to thank everyone who helped me in my journey to getting to the 24th World Scout Jamboree. It was AMAZING!
I am thankful to my group and my county for all their help. I made great friendships, saw New York, West Virginia, Washington, Niagara falls and Toronto. Made amazing memories! Experienced white water rafting, zip lining, paddle boarding to name a few activities. Experienced different cultures spoke with scouts from many countries, there was 45,000 scout participants attending, we camped next to scouts from Taiwan and Brazil. We met our buddy unit from Pennsylvania and had dinner with them. The jamboree’s opening ceremony was spectacular with a light drone show Recycled Percussion performed and Bear Grylls abseiled in and gave a great speech. The closing show had the Pentatonix perform and ended with an amazing firework and laser show.
After jamboree the UK contingent all went to Washington DC. We watched a baseball game in Baltimore. Then we moved on to Canada, we stayed with the 2nd Bramlea scout group who made us very welcome. We went to Niagara falls and Canada’s Wonderland, a big theme and water park. Before flying back from Toronto.
If anyone maybe thinking of attending the 25th World Scout Jamboree in 2023 in South Korea then all I can say is go for it!
I would be happy to speak with anyone who would like to know more about my experience.
Many thanks,
Emma
You must be logged in to post a comment.