No. 3/4, December 2016

The Pieces are Falling into Place

There are a lot of things that need to be planned in order to organise a National Jamboree. Information is important, and we appreciate that you ask for whatever is missing! We are continuously working to make sure all the groups have everything needed to come to Bodø. In this newsletter you can read about preparation activities, travel information, registration, planning the overnight hike, guests and family and the construction camp. Do you have any questions? Please check our website, nord2017.com, and ask us if you can’t find the answer. Happy planning!

Preparation Activities

The preparation activities for the Jamboree are now available on the camp website. One of the most important aspects of these activities is that they make the camp more fun for everyone!

There are three different types of preparation tasks: one individual task for every single person attending Nord 2017, a two-part task to be completed in the patrol and two tasks for the whole troop. Among other things, the patrol should plan and complete an overnight hike – both at home and during the Jamboree. The troop should plan their own Totally Wild campsite and a Totally Wild activity for the camp’s market day. In addition to this, each participant should make their own sleeping mask.

Good luck with your preparations!

Planning the Patrol Hike

Northern Norwegian nature is exciting, and so will the overnight hike at Nord 2017 be! The hike will be carried out in patrols, and it is important to prepare well for it in advance. The patrols have two options for the hike: They can either create their own hiking route (‘Totally Yours’) or choose a level of difficulty and get assigned a pre-planned route. For ‘Totally Yours’, the hiking committee has provided various transport hubs as potential start and end points. Between these points there are endless possible route options for the patrol.

The pre-planned hiking routes at Nord 2017 will be divided into five different difficulty levels, from Totally Mild to Totally Wild, rated from 1 to 5. There is more information under ‘Programme/Activities’ at nord2017.com. There, you will also find the map tool that you will be using to plan your overnight hike.

Travel Information

In our previous newsletter, there was some information about different travel options to get to the National Jamboree. In this one we will go more into detail about travelling by air, as this is something that has been frequently requested. You can find details about other forms of transportation on the website, nord2017.com.

Domestic flights to and from Bodø
Flights to Bodø from Thursday afternoon (29 June) to Saturday (1 July) and departures on Saturday and Sunday (8–9 July) should be booked through the Jamboree. We have partnered with an air broker to ensure that we get enough tickets for everybody who is going to the camp. Therefore, we will both reserve tickets on scheduled flights and add extra flights.

On all other days before and after the ones mentioned above, we refer you to the free market. We also refer you to SAS for the Stockholm–Bodø route.

Scheduled Flights
Tickets on scheduled flights are acquired through our air broker, i.e. as many tickets we could get without adding names to them. This proved to be fewer tickets than we were promised earlier (the airlines changed their rules), but we have around 1000 tickets in each direction.

This means that there are a few tickets on the open market. Those who are ready to book tickets to the Jamboree and want to buy these may of course do so instead of organising your travel through us. If so, bear in mind the chance of overbooking and the fact that it costs approximately 500 NOK per ticket to change the name on tickets that have been purchased this way.

Chartered Flights
The Jamboree will charter flights to get the rest of the Guides and Scouts to the camp. We have access to around 40 aircraft from Widerøe and will set up flights from airports with a minimum of 78 travellers. We also have access to larger aircraft, but please note that there has to be a reasonable number of passengers at an airport for us to be able to pick you up there.

Some aircraft will have a stop or two to pick up passengers, but most of them will fly directly to Bodø. Either way, everybody will go straight to Bodø from a Norwegian airport without having to exit or change planes on the way. Stops without leaving the aircraft might be necessary, though, because the aircraft have to be full.

Prerequisites
Registration for Nord 2017 opens on 5 January, and there will be enough seats for everybody who would like to fly to Bodø! But to enable us to puzzle everything together and for you to be guaranteed a seat on an aircraft, you must be registered by 1 February. We can then guarantee that you will be there on 1 July when the camp opens, but it is not possible for everybody to arrive that day. This means that some will have to travel earlier, i.e. from Thursday afternoon (29 June). We will try to accommodate your wishes here! Everybody flying out of Bodø after the camp will have reached their Norwegian destination by Sunday evening (9 July), and of course nobody will have to leave before the Closing Ceremony on Friday 7 July.

What You Need for Registration

Registration and travel booking will open on 5 January 2017. The leaders should prepare all the necessary information before Christmas, so that the groups are ready to register in early January.

Those who are planning to book their flights through the Jamboree, must be registered for the camp and in the air broker’s system by 1 February!

When registering you will need to supply:

full names and details of all participants
your activity choices (per patrol)
your overnight hike choices (per patrol)
your booking of travel within Norway (transfer from Oslo and other main cities)
your food choices

Please find more detailed information under ‘Registration’ at nord2017.com.

Guests and Family

The Jamboree in Bodø is also an excellent opportunity to go on a family vacation to Northern Norway. The region has a lot to offer in terms of both nature, scenery and activities.

In the guest camp of the Jamboree, we have room for everything from tents to motorhomes and caravans. At a price per night, you will get access to toilets, water and electricity. It is not possible to have caravans or campers at the camp area for the Guides/Scouts. If you live in the Guide and Scout camp, it is possible to store such vehicles in the parking area while staying in the camp.

If travelling with children, you can also take advantage of the camp’s daycare service. This offer applies to children from about 4 years of age, and they will get a taste of fun Guiding/Scouting activities. This only costs NOK 200 per child for the entire camp week.

FAQ

‘What is the Construction Camp?’

If you are a rover or leader and think that one week in Bodø is too little time, you are welcome to join our Construction Camp! Someone has to build, operate and take down the camp, so the campsite (Rønvikjordene) will be occupied by Scouts for nearly a month in total. At the Construction Camp, we make sure every detail is in place before the Guides, the Scouts and their leaders arrive, and then we take it all down again when the fun is over. This is a lot of work, but also lots of fun and very social. We will be a closely tied together bunch of people, and we will be experts on how to put together a Guide and Scout camp!

The Construction Camp before Nord 2017 will begin two weeks before the camp, and after the camp, we will stay for one week. You choose when you want to come, but it is possible to arrive from 17 June, and participants must be in place no later than Monday morning 19 June to get the discount for the first week. To get the discount of the second week, you must be ready to work on Sunday 25 June the latest. Participation in the Construction Camp gives a 25% discount for each week before camp and a 50% discount for the week after camp. This means that if you spend four weeks in Bodø, you will have a free camp! We especially hope for many participants the week after the camp, because it is important that we leave the place in a good condition (a little better than we found it).

We welcome Guides and Scouts from 16 years and upwards who are motivated to work to create the World’s Northernmost Jamboree. A vocational background is nice, but not required – we welcome anyone who wants to learn something. We also welcome Guides and Scouts above 18 years who can be team leaders/patrol leaders for the teams of the Construction Camp. If you have attended similar events and/or have a vocational background, this might be something for you.

The registration for the Construction Camp will be done together with the rest of the camp registration in January 2017, but please contact us on mail@nord2017.com already now if you are interested!

Follow us!

You can follow updates about Nord at Facebook and Instagram! We have now found a solution to post in English as well, so you hopefully do not need to use the ‘Translate’ button too much anymore!

More details will follow in our newsletters, on our website www.nord2017.com and on our Facebook page.

If you have any questions, please send us an email at mail@nord2017.com.

Nord 2017 is the National Scout Jamboree hosted by The Norwegian Guide and Scout Association taking place from 1 to 8 July 2017 in Bodø, Norway. We welcome our Guide and Scout friends from around the world. During the summer weeks, the sun never sets and the Guides and Scouts can enjoy activities day and night.

You may update your e-mail information here or unsubscribe from this newsletter.