Lorna Pestana and her husband, Jamie, were among the Islanders who took part in last year’s JET Jaunt challenge in support of Jersey Employment Trust. She spoke to TOM OGG about why the pair are looking forward to doing it all over again in September – and why Islanders ought to join them on the trip
LOCATING an Arago medallion in Paris? That was just one of the many tasks on last year’s inaugural JET Jaunt.
Held in September, the charity challenge – which was inspired by the hit TV show Race Across the World – saw Islanders racing from St Malo to Monaco over the course of a single weekend. As per the rules, participants were allowed only to use public transport, whether by land or sea, with the 17 teams of two eventually raising a whopping £24,000 between them in support of Jersey Employment Trust.
And now the JET Jaunt is set to return for its second year. Once again it will be held in September, with “Jaunters” this time having to journey from St Malo to Prague, and all while completing a series of educational tasks and challenges.
Among those who will be participating in the 2025 challenge is Lorna Pestana, who took part in last year’s fundraiser with her equally fun-loving husband, Jamie.
“Oh, we absolutely jumped at the chance to do the JET Jaunt again this year,” says Scotland-born Lorna, who is a group executive director at Jersey-based HR firm Law At Work and a long-time JET trustee.
“We’re both massive fans of Race Across the World. I remember when the JET Jaunt was first announced, I said to Jamie: ‘We like to have lots of holidays, we like travelling to different places – let’s do it’. I knew it would be right up our street.”
Nevertheless, Lorna admits that taking part in a JET Jaunt challenge is an altogether difference experience to, say, visiting Spain for a week of cocktails and sunbathing.
“It was the first time I’ve ever taken a backpack on holiday with me – normally it’s just a suitcase on wheels,” she laughs. “It is really interesting because it isn’t until you arrive at the harbour in St Helier that you find out what route you’re going to be taking. Prior to then you haven’t got a clue.
“We knew we were going to Monaco, the same as this year we know we’re going to Prague, but we had no idea of how we were actually going to get there. You can’t do any real pre-planning at all. All you know is that you’re going to need some euros, your passport and a change of clothes.
“It was, as you can imagine, quite nerve-racking – but it was also very exciting.”
As a result of tasks, time limits and the unconventional hours required to travel long distances in a short period of time, JET Jaunters often experience towns and cities in a very different manner to how they would were they on a conventional European break.
“It’s hard to put into words just how different it is,” says Lorna. “We were only in Paris for about three hours, if that, then we had to travel down to Dijon, which is somewhere we had never been before, and then it was an early start to get the bus to Turin. We had two challenges to do in Dijon and so we were out walking the streets first thing in the morning. Everywhere was completely deserted, there wasn’t another soul around, and the sun was just starting to come up – it was so lovely. It was just magical. It was an experience we wouldn’t have had if we’d been there as regular everyday tourists.”
The subsequent bus ride into Turin took almost seven hours, yet Lorna says even this provided many unique experiences: “It was absolutely amazing going by bus from France into Italy. It’s funny because you can tell that you’ve travelled from one country into another, even without there being any signs or borders signalling that you’ve done so. We just knew we were leaving France and entering Italy. The look of the buildings, the shops, the countryside – just the whole vibe. It just felt different. It was a fascinating feeling.”
Upon arriving in Turin, Lorna and Jamie decided to have a well-earned rest and, after completing the relevant challenges, the pair checked into a hotel for the night: “It was nice to just sit and have a few drinks and a pizza – the biggest pizza I’ve ever seen in my life, in fact. The thing was enormous.”
Elsewhere, there were frustrations: “We didn’t manage to complete the challenges in Paris, which was disappointing for us. One of the challenges was to find a medallion on the ground at Le Louvre, but by the time we got there it was pretty dark and wet. We must have spent at least an hour hunting for it, but we never found it. There are two challenges in each of the main cities you visit and it meant that, in this instance, we couldn’t complete the second challenge. We were a little frustrated about that, but it’s all part of the experience.”
The reason it is important for JET Jaunters to complete as many challenges as possible is because the eventual winners aren’t strictly those who cross the finish line first but rather those who do so having completed every challenge, or at least the highest number of challenges among the various teams. Hence why friends Lucy Gomes and Sarah Parker were crowned the ultimate winners.
“There were people who finished ahead of Lucy and Sarah but they didn’t win because, unlike Lucy and Sarah, they hadn’t done all of the challenges. I think [Lucy and Sarah] actually came in about fifth or sixth, something like that, but they completed all the tasks and so they won. They were both absolutely brilliant – they did a great job.
“We would often bump into other Jaunters along the way, often the same people over and over again,” adds Lorna with a laugh. “Sometimes we’d find ourselves on the same modes of transports. All Jaunters had a choice of two routes to take: either stay in France and make your way down to Monaco, or go through Italy and make your way to Turin. We chose the latter because we had actually been due to holiday in Turin a few years ago but then Covid lockdown happened and, well, that didn’t happen. So we knew right away we wanted to do the Turin route.
“We would occasionally see other Jaunters making their way here and there, and think: ‘Are they going to go the same route as us or veer off in another direction?’ And if they did disappear, you’d think: ‘Hmm, where are they going? What do they know that we don’t? Is there a shortcut?’”
Born in Glasgow and raised in the nearby town of Cumbernauld in the Scottish county of Dunbartonshire, Lorna moved to Jersey in 1990, arriving with a friend with the aim of working for a season and then continuing on their travels.
“But then I met Jamie three weeks after arriving in the Island,” she says of her Jersey-born husband. “We married in 1994 – in Jamaica!”
Today, the couple have two children, Dillon (26), who is a lawyer for the British Army, and Robyn (23), who is an HR officer with Jersey Post.
“Jamie and I have talked both of them into doing this year’s JET Jaunt,” says Lorna with a smile. “They and their partners – Dillon’s girlfriend and Robyn’s boyfriend – are all going to be taking part and so we’ll be racing against each other, which will liven things up even more.”
It was seven years ago that Lorna – a former HR manager at the JEP – first became a trustee for Jersey Employment Trust, having been associated with the charity for some time.
“When I was at the JEP, we used to support JET clients at the paper,” she recalls. “They would come in and help with packing magazines into the daily papers. I worked closely with JET in order to get the scheme up and running. It was a great way to offer their clients work experience and the opportunity to develop the ability to work and to earn money. It was really meaningful employment for them.
“I also used to conduct mock interviews for JET clients in order to help them prepare for going into the workplace. I’ve always been a big supporter of JET. And so when they were looking for some new board members, I naturally jumped at the opportunity to apply. And I love it. It’s such an amazing organisation. They just do such fantastic work. The whole of the JET team are brilliant people. I’m proud to be associated with it.”
Asked if she has any advice for any JEP readers who are contemplating taking part in the 2025 JET Jaunt challenge, Lorna says: “Oh, do it. Just do it. The concept of it, not knowing where you’re going to end up, not knowing how you’re going to get there – it’s just such an adventure. And the feeling when we eventually got into Monaco last year, it felt tremendous. There was a real sense of achievement. You think: ‘Oh my God, we’ve actually done it’. Three days with nothing but a backpack – and we did it.
“If I could give anybody tips it would be to definitely take an eye mask with you. Oh, and a neck pillow for the overnight buses. I’d not have slept a wink without them.
“And be sure to keep an open mind. Sure, you might occasionally get a little frustrated or flustered, especially if you can’t complete a challenge, but don’t get stressed about it. Ultimately, it’s supposed to be fun. And the challenges are both brilliant and surprisingly educational. They all relate to the history and origins of each location and we learned a lot.
“So, yes, the JET Jaunt 2025 – I cannot recommend it enough.”
*For more on the 2025 JET Jaunt, or to sign up, visit jet.co.je
2024 winners Lucy Gomes and her friend Sarah Parker – who finished in one day, seven hours and three minutes, with all challenges complete – discuss the joys of the JET Jaunt.
“We’ve both watched Race Across The World, so thought this was too good an opportunity to miss. It was so much fun. We really enjoyed the challenges and loved seeing each city along the way.
“We didn’t book the next form of transport until we arrived at each checkpoint, which meant that on one occasion we missed a train due to the last two tickets selling out. (It was one of the other teams who bought them.) The only tickets for the next train were first class, which we treated ourselves to, after getting soaked right through in Paris.
“We also had one train delay to Dijon, which caused us to race around the city at midnight to secure each challenge before jumping on our overnight bus to Milan at 1am. Milan was an unexpected stopover, which we made the most of by having pizza for breakfast.
“In Paris, the checkpoints were 20 minutes away from each other, so we had to think of other forms of transport to avoid missing our train, so we hired e-bikes and e-scooters to get through the city quicker. The most challenging thing was to find an Arago Medallion. This had us circling the Louvre in Paris for almost an hour, only to realise that it was considerably smaller than expected.
“Sarah is more of a relaxed traveller, and I prefer to organise our trips with a spreadsheet well in advance, so the time restrictions and the unknown put us both out of our comfort zones, which certainly kept the adrenaline going through the race.”
‘Completing the JET Jaunt? It was a magical experience’
