The Hostel Experience
“Dan… We have five minutes for breakfast!”
Breakfast — included with a stay in our London hostel (St. Paul’s YHA Hostel) — was served from 7:30 – 9:30. I had just woke up and looked at my watch, and it read 9:25!! We threw on some clothes and stumbled upstairs to the dining room to grab our breakfast just before it closed…whew! I hadn’t set the alarm on my watch because we woke up fine the first morning, but we also had taken a four-hour nap the day before that first morning. We went out last night for a couple drinks, but didn’t stay out very late; I think we were in bed by midnight. The hostel had a great breakfast buffet, and missing breakfast would also mean missing what was essentially a free lunch because we would save the muffin or croissant, packaged bit of cheese and apple for — or to go with — our lunch. Then, we would just eat the cereal, toast, hard-boiled egg, drinkable yogurt and juice for breakfast.
Hostels take a bit of getting used to, and each one is different from the next. Actually, Dan and I have never traveled using traditional hotels (we’ve always camped), so — except for the lack of privacy — hostels are really a step-up from camping. You get a clean and generally comfortable bed, a toilet, sink and shower in or near the bedroom, and a kitchen with stove, sink, refrigerator and kitchen utensils for making quick meals. Sometimes, breakfast is provided.
Apart from the farms where we have stayed and worked, we’ve stayed in hostels and one “guest house,” (in Glasgow) which was more like a budget hotel with a full Scotish breakfast. Three of the hostels have been run through the Hostelling International organization, and the rest have been privately run. In all cases, one pays upon arrival and, therefore, checkout consists simply of turning in your room key and saying “goodbye.” No extra charges; you get exactly what you’ve paid for.
Dorm rooms vary greatly from hostel to hostel. The rooms at Brodies Hostel in Edinburg, Scotland had the most character, with A-frame bunkbeds with blue and green tartan, flannel sheets crowded into a room with white-plastered/painted stone walls. THis hostel was also the most fun, with other guests hanging out in the common areas, waiting to use the computer for free internet access, making meals in the kitchen, reading or listening to music. We met a guy there who had been a WWOOFer (worked on an organic farm, like we soon would) in Spain. He gave us the contact information for the farm in case we wanted to work there. We haven’t made plans to WWOOF after our two planned farms (in Scotland and Wales), but we also haven’t ruled it out. We also met a young woman who was going to do some WWOOFing in Europe and was asking us questions about our WWOOF experiences (in Canada). Oh…back to the rooms… The nice rooms have some kind of shelf or cabinet to put your things. If not, you just put your backpack under or near the bed. Some rooms have a sink and mirror. Some have an adjoining bathroom/shower. Others have separate bathroom/showers off the hallway.
Breakfast has been provided at about half of the hostels we’ve stayed in and vary greatly from cereal, toast, juice, tea, coffee and fruit to a full English/Scotish breakfast, which generally includes breakfast meats, fried/scambled egg, fried tomato, some type of baked beans, toast, juice, tea, coffee and fruit. Yes, it is a lot and, thus, the reason for saving what we can for lunch or to add to our lunch. And, actually, we often eat our mid-day meal out because of better deals with lunch menus and, then, eat food we have saved or bought from markets/stores for our later meal.
Eyeshades and earplugs have been our friends, especially in hostels with a lot of younger folks who stay out much later than we do and go to bed at 2 or 3 in the morning. Or, for the loud snorer in the bunk right across from you. Most hostellers are very respectful of others when they come “home” late or get up early, but there are the occasional few who, for example, set their “talking alarm” to go off at 6:00 and, then, hit the snooze several times until they get up a half-hour later. “Time to get up. Time to get up. The time is six-fourteen,” coaxes the digital, but gentle, female voice.
We have alread met quite a few very nice travelleres at the hostels we’ve stayed at — including folks from Australia, Japan, U.S., Canada, Ireland and France. We will, undoubtedly, meet many more.
Tags: Europe, hostels
timdan2
Leave a Reply