Accidental tourist rebooted: covid cancels reunion trip

Monday 08 June 2020

A local hotelier, who welcomed a confused American to the island after he mistakenly joined a Jersey Facebook group thinking it was about New Jersey, says he is “absolutely gutted” that covid has cancelled his trip to the US to reconnect with the 'accidental tourist'.

Two years after a crowdfunding campaign brought Joe Hill and his girlfriend Amanda Rose over to Jersey after an amusing mix-up on Facebook, the misadventure continues as the islander who put the couple up at the Golden Sands Hotel, Alex Dolan, has had his return visit to America cancelled by the pandemic.

Joe and Amanda were convinced to come to the island after he came clean about being a member of ‘Good or Bad Jersey Businesses’ on Facebook for four years because he originally thought it was an information group for New Jersey. 

After years of absorbing food reviews, praise for removals companies and questions about whether B&Q is open on a Sunday, the non-Jersey member decided to finally break his silence. His post prompted an overwhelming response from islanders who convinced the confused American to come over and experience the island for himself.

Pictured: Islanders crowdfunded for Joe and Amanda to experience Jersey for himself. 

They visited in 2018 and stayed in Alex’s hotel in St. Brelade’s Bay.

Alex and his girlfriend Sophie had planned to return the favour and go to stay with Joe and Amanda in Boston before rounding off the trip in New York – but the corona virus outbreak had other plans.

Express caught up with the hotelier about the cancelled trip...

Alex said that "the trip had been in the making since more or less the minute Joe and Amanda left” Jersey and that they had finally nailed date before the virus outbreak spoiled their plans.

Speaking about the trip, Alex said that “the plan was to fly to Boston and spend half the trip in Joe & Amanda’s hometown then finish off the trip together in New York. Neither Sophie nor I have ever been to the States so to have a local to show us around sounded like the best idea!”

When asked how he feels about the trip being cancelled, Alex said: “Absolutely gutted. We were so excited to be going over but fortunately as we showed Joe and Amanda, Jersey in the sunshine is a pretty spectacular place to be. It’s not quite as exotic as the US but we’ve planned a day trip to Long Beach with the BBQ and paddle boards to compensate!”

But Alex vowed that he will reschedule the trip no matter the cost, saying: “I will make it my life’s work to visit them!” 

Pictured: Alex Dolan (top right) with Joe and Amanda and the American couple meeting Giles Le Feuvre (bottom left) at Faulkner Fisheries.

Alex isn’t the only one who is disappointed about the trip being called off. Joe told Express he was “looking forward” to taking the Jersey couple to see one of his and Amanda’s favourite bands, ‘Coheed and Cambria’. 

Overall, he said: “I have mixed feelings about it being cancelled. Everything else in the States is cancelled anyways so it would have been a pretty dull trip. We're going to have to figure out a better time, maybe Halloween 2021?”

Reminiscing about his time in Jersey, Joe said his favourite memory of the island was the food. He also admitted that he hasn’t kicked his guilty pleasure of scrolling through the local Facebook groups.

“I still look through the Jersey good or bad business page and the dog spotting group!” He also said that he keeps in touch with "maybe 20 people from Jersey”, who “mostly share memes and argue about politics.”