Today, we’ve been mostly reading the hostel stories posts to be found on HostelManagement and various other places elsewhere around the web… And it took HostelBloggers right back to our days when we managed a hostel in Spain.
One day, a guy called Rob turned up. Blonde, cocky and incredibly narcissistic, he stood at the hostel reception admiring his reflection, and booked a double room (because he’d picked up this ‘really hot German girl’ a few days earlier).
He checked in, and then went to his room to sleep for the rest of the afternoon. A little later on, the aforementioned ‘hot German girl’ turned up. She slipped into the room they’d booked together and proceeded to have very loud sex with the windows and shutters wide open.
Now, the hostel (as with most old Spanish houses) was set around a central patio - on a square, effectively - so everyone in the other rooms and social areas could hear, and, like one voyeuristic guest, watch them at it. It went on most of the afternoon.
The next day they left, and no more was thought about it… until a couple of weeks later. One of the guests came bounding up to reception, clearly a little agitated. “There’s porn on your computer - loads of porn!” she gabbled excitedly. Anyway, it turned out that our friend Rob was something of a sexual exhibitionist: he’d downloaded all of his ‘erotic hostel adventures’ on to a computer.
And it wasn’t just a few, either, but photo after photo of his conquests in revealing positions, punctuated only by artful shots of himself in the nude. Interestingly, he hadn’t just slapped them all over one computer, but EVERY guest computer. He must’ve really wanted people to see him.
What was interesing about it, was that it seemed far removed from your average drunken dorm room slap ‘n’ tickle (high on everybody’s list of backpacking bugbears/annoying hostel types), but a narcissim on a far grander, more calculated scale.
To this day HostelBloggers wonders if he pulled a similar stunt in every hostel he went to…
During a checkered traveling past, HostelBloggers have slept in some fairly unusual places: there have been castle hostels, treehouse hostels and even a couple of haunted hostels. When luck and planning have been against us, we’ve had to make do with a park bench on a few occasions…
Beaches have also, naturally, featured quite highly. But never, in all our days, have we slept in a giant sand castle.
And a giant sand castle is exactly what the ’sand hotel’ that’s been built on Weymouth Beach (in Dorset, England) is. It took four eager sculptors (and a JCB) over a week to build, and is made up of over 1,000 tonnes of sand. As for the price? A very reasonable £10 a night. But then, of course, it doesn’t have a roof!
For more details, check out the full story from the BBC here.
The night market: it’s hard to think of a more budget travel-friendly institution for the backpacker in Asia. And few are as rich in sights, sounds and smells as those you get in Beijing.
Turning to Hobotraveler.com (a glorious mess of a budget travel storehouse) to elaborate the point, we stumbled on this Beijing Night Markets post. There are some great images of what is, when you get down to it, a pretty unique sensory phenomenon.
The silkworm, the starfish, the scorpions - it brought it all back… And, just as when HostelBloggers were actually there, we tried to be interested and consider it a unique cultural experience and blah, blah, blah… we really did. After a while of gazing at these increasingly weird and wonderful foodstuffs, though, we were driven into fits of immature giggling by one thing: goat cock (see below).
But ’political correctness’ aside, when we thought about it, it struck us that perhaps the right response to anything you experience on your travels is normally always the natural response - even if it is a childish one!
After all, it’s essentially the differences between cultures that make travel so worthwhile. And if you stifle your response to something then, well, what’s the point? You can take it as a given that Chinese travelers in London have been bemused and amused in equal measure by elements of British cuisine. (Like, say, a tasteless, dry ‘traditional roast dinner’…)
Who’s to say that amusement isn’t a perfectly reasonable and healthy cultural response?
Any backpacker in Barcelona who’s ever wandered down las Ramblas will testify that it’s the world’s greatest stage for street performers. In fact, the ‘Living Statue’ is something of a local art form.
And that’s precisely what the above clip so cleverly pokes fun at.
If it’s rough and shaky (which some people will find annoying), the effect is undeniably pretty impressive. The clip slowly sets the scene, moving through a number of other performers, before settling on a kneeling, donkey-headed figure, with a small deposit of, ahem, manure, to its rear quarters.
It’s odd and, frankly, a bit dark. (There’s something a little unsettling about the children going up, peering into the hollow shell of a donkey’s head, and then giving it money…) But in HostelBloggers’ humble opinion, it’s definitely got something.
HostelBloggers are a (fairly) upstanding, law-abiding bunch. But we felt that it was almost our civic duty to put the cry out there that today, Friday 25th July, transport in London is free.
Not for any high-minded reason, we hasten to add. But rather because of the usual bungling. You see, there’s been a technical glitch and the system’s gone into meltdown - which means you won’t be needing an Oyster card (as helpfully pictured above!) or a ticket.
So if any cash-strapped backpacker wanted to really get value for money on transport in London, today’s the day to do it.
Idly flicking through the internet this morning HostelBloggers stumbled across this very cool travel guide: cooltravelguide!
Along with some generally brilliant travel writing, HostelBloggers can testify that writer Lara is right on at least two counts in her latest Milan post: a) Navigli is very cool and b) It is the place to go for aperitivi.
The last time we were in Milan, we made a beeline for the canal district. It was a warm spring evening, and we were keen to get to the bottom of the far-fetched sounding tales of free buffets.
Sure enough, though, the tales were true. All the bars in the neighborhood (down to the southwest of the city center) allow you free (FREE!) access to aperitivi - essentially a series of delicious Italian dishes laid out in a lavish buffet - for as long as you keep getting the drinks in. On week nights, this budget travel gem of a custom runs from 18.00 to about 21.00. Over the weekend, on the other hand, it becomes more of a lunchtime thing.
Despite being a Milanese institution it seemed oddly out of sync with the rest of the city: all these super chic fashionista types elbowing their way in to get another helping of roast pepper…
That night in Navigli also introduced HostelBloggers to an exciting new drink: the Negroni.
One part campari, one part vermouth, one part gin, and a lot of parts drunkenness - suffice to say it all got pretty messy.
On the subject of the recent South America trip that one of our lot’s just got back from, here’s proof that anything National Geographic can do, HostelBloggers can do, well, almost as well…
If we’ve said it once before, we’ve said it a thousand times, but the Salt Plains of Uyuni in Bolivia are, without a doubt, one of the world’s strangest landscapes.
The approach to the plains is punctuated by a series of outlandish rock formations like the ‘Arbol de Piedra’ (or ‘Stone Tree’) below:
In every direction, meanwhile, a barren, dusty landscape runs away upwards towards snow-dusted peaks and the startling blue of the horizon… As you bounce along the track, you pass a fair few cacti, many of which of which are believed to be hundreds of years old:
But even with a bit of a lead-in (and plenty of forewarning), nothing can quite prepare you for your first glimpse of the plains. There’s something utterly unique about the dazzling light, and the big sky (it’s the only way of putting it!) that you get right the way across South America. Even by these standards, though, Salar de Uyuni, and its surrounding lakes and geyzers is something else altogether:
Sitting on the shore and looking out…
…you see the odd flock of flamingos - a burst of pink against the unerring white and blue of their salty habitat. (In HostelBloggers’ opinion, incidentally, flamingos are all fine and dandy until you get close up… and then they tend to be a bit stinky!):
But it’s the unique visual spectacle of the plains themselves that’s so mind-blowing…
…and, apart from anything else, so lends itself to photo opportunities!
Honestly, it really is like nowhere else on earth.
HostelBloggers are a footloose bunch. Although we’re theoretically based in London, it’s rare that one of us isn’t out there in the great wide world.
Anyway, here’s a handful of recent snaps from South America that have (rather thoughtfully) been brought back to the office to make us jealous. They’re pretty spectacular (if we do say so ourselves!)
It’s hard to think of anywhere that has more to offer a budget traveler than South America. There’s obviously awe-inspiring nature…
The Iguazu Falls on the border of Argentina and Brazil
London has a habit of throwing up odd spectacles. But the activity down on the Southbank of late has been of an altogether otherwordly nature.
HostelBloggers was strolling along, minding our own business, when we stumbled upon this rather intriguing art installation:
Since it’s not absolutely clear what it is, perhaps a description’s in order: It’s supposed to be the arse-end of an alien spaceship, cordoned off, and surrounded by shadowy ‘men in black’ style agents. And the fact that it’s crash-landed next to the London Mayoral HQ, and is buried in what appears to be steaming cow manure, seemed rather fitting…
There’s obviously something extraterrestrial in the air at the moment: Further along, by the National Theatre (it wasn’t actually on the same day, but, for the purposes of a good post, we’ll say it was!) we came upon these colorful characters:
They stood up on a concrete bench by the National Theatre, did this odd (but perfectly synchronized) dance, and then dispersed into the crowd, only to reform and continue the routine a few seconds later.
You’re setting off backpacking. And even if you’ve spent a fair bit of time on the road before, it’s almost always necessary to put together a packing list. Otherwise (as a hostel manager recently told HostelBloggers) you can end up lugging a George Foreman Grill around Europe with you, all the while wondering why the hell you decided to bring it along…
Along with digging out a crumpled list of travel gear essentials, it’s never a bad idea to jog your memory by thinking of ways you can make that backpack just a little bit lighter. A good place to start is Indietravelpodcast.com’s Ten Ways to Reduce Your Toiletries on Long Trips.
There are some travel staples in there, such as buying a mini-towel (or travel towel) and using two-in-one shampoo. But there are also a handful of other handy hints in an article, which (like the site in general) is a great source of on the road travel information.
