How to nail Jailbreak, by those who’ve done it

Two girls, one dream: to leave the country.

Wouldn’t it have been awkward if team ‘Je suis anglaise’ hadn’t made it across the channel?

You hear about the teams who end up on a beach Cyprus or Turkey; but what about those of us freezing our arses off at some petrol station in the middle of nowhere?

It’s February. It’s not warm outside.

The first challenge- getting out of Exeter. It takes a certain type of person to not turn a blind eye to hitchhikers.

Finally a stroke of luck, and we’d bagged ourselves a lift to London in a swish Mercedes with a young couple and their labradoodle. Score!

That is, until the man locked the car keys in the bonnet.

Our luck started there, really.

Top tip #1: Don’t put your rucksack in the boot.

You will be hungry and bored, especially if it’s a long journey in a car with a sleeping baby.

Resorting to tic tac toe

Top tip #2: Don’t try and cross the Channel as a foot passenger.

It just doesn’t work. We got dropped by the entrance to the Eurotunnel Folkestone terminal. Twice. In the middle of the night.

Security called the police and we were escorted off the premises in police vans.But hey, at least we got classic snaps with the po po.

Iconic

Top Tip #3: If you have to be stranded, find somewhere indoors. And make friends.

At 1am team ‘je suis anglaise’ among other stranded Jailbreak teams reluctantly called it a night at Stop 24, aka our second home.

Chilling in our living room with fellow stranded jailbreakers

Top tip #3: If he doesn’t speak English and drives a Lorry, he may take you to the right place. But he probably won’t.

After an hour of driving round doing errands with Tomaś from Poland at 11pm thinking we were hitching a ride to Switzerland, we were dropped at the tunnel entrance again…He even tried to drop us on the motorway.

There was nevertheless top lorry banter- shoutout to our Belgium pal Kenneth!

Top tip #4: Never lose faith

There were low points. But we never gave up, and soon we were on our way across the channel to Dunkirk.

Top tip #5: Talk to everyone and anyone who will listen

Some people will avoid you. But most will at least let you tell them about your charities, and give you any change they have if they’re interested.

A colourful sign won’t go amiss

Jailbreak is as much a mental challenge as it is physical. Even if you didn’t get far, not giving up and pushing forward is an achievement in itself.

Top tip #6: DO IT. You won’t regret it. 

Massive shoutout to RAG for organising another top-notch event

There’s still time to donate to this year’s charities- Exeter Student Volunteers, St Loye’s Foundation and Exeter Leukaemia Fund.

http://everydayhero.co.uk/event/exeterjailbreak2016