Here’s one we’ve recently heard through the grapevine (well, through the Gumtree-vine, at least)… The Clink Hostel in London is looking for a Receptionist.
The Clink is one of the newest hostels in London, and is housed in a wonderful building that used to be a Magistrates’ Court. So if you fancy working in such illustrious surroundings while meeting backpackers from all over the world and honing your language skills, why not have a bash at applying?
A quick tip-off for this morning folks, as we’ve just come across this great idea for a blog.
By getting random people to write in his journal (a Moleskine, of course), the writer of this relatively new site just about turns travel writing on its head. Rather than heading away from home to meet new people and experience new cultures, Write in my Journal stays resolutely put (in Salt Lake City, to be precise) and simply approaches new people from all manner of backgrounds to scrawl a quick memento as they go about their lives.
The result? An unplanned and spontaneous insight into random lives and various backgrounds that is at times harrowing, haunting, uplifting… and just engagingly everyday. And that, when it comes down to it, is what good travel writing is all about.
Over at The Indie Travel Podcast, Craig Martin is looking for a handful of willing (and able) writers to contribute to his new book, Travelling Europe.
Since HostelBloggers have always been a big fan, we’re hoping that it’ll be just the first in a series of similar publications. But in the meantime, there’s the small matter of getting the words on the page in the first place…
Articles should be 500-800 words and full of practical advice about independent travel in Europe. The following sections are up for grabs:
- Solo male travel
- Solo female travel
- Disabled travel
- Family travel
- Travel for Over-50s
Now for the important part: in return for your efforts you can expect to have 15 shiny US Dollars pinged into your Paypal account. Then of course there’s the joy of being published (alongside a short bio and grinning mug shot to prove it) and maybe taking another step closer to becoming a travel writer.
If all that sounds like something you a) Could do and b) Could do well, you should send an email detailing your proposal (along with your perspective, experience and an article outline) to: mail@indietravelpodcast.com.
Good luck!
October sees the start of one of the most unusual festivals in Thailand - the Cheltenham Gold Cup for cows, the bovine Belmont Stakes, the heifer handicap - it’s the Chonburi Water Buffalo Races! As with all these events (the Pushkar Camel Fair is very similar) what started out as a humble animal trading fair and celebration of the annual rice harvest has become something different entirely.
These days, Chonburi is treated to an engaging hotchpotch of races - with jockeys sitting bareback astride their mighty steeds as they hurtle down the track - processions, and even (slightly bizarrely) a buffalo fancy-dress competition.
As an interesting aside, the animals are now bred solely for the purpose of the event, with a thoroughbred racing buffalo fetching the princely sum of 80,000 Baht ($1,800)!
The event comes lumbering into Chonburi (a mere 30 miles from Bangkok) a day before the full moon of the eleventh month of the Thai lunar calendar, to coincide with the end of Vassa, or Buddhist Lent. After much online sleuth work, HostelBloggers have managed to narrow this down to the 12th and 13th October (but you should probably double-check to be on the safe side!)
So if you’re backpacking in Thailand and that sounds like a good day out, it’s simply a case of charging - faster than a speeding bullock, perhaps? - over to Chonburi.
UFO sightings, HostelBloggers thought to ourselves this morning, are rather like London buses: you wait for ages for one and then a couple come along at the same time.
Cliched similes aside, UFO sightings are back. And in a big way, too. This week saw a spate of sightings from Cheshunt, England to the wilds of the Northern Territory, Australia.
The latter incident, which HostelBloggers read about in the Herald Sun, is the more interesting. Let’s break it down: “Ray Aylett, Normie Hooker and Alan “Doc” McIntosh were sitting on their pergola at Muckaty Station with three European backpackers when a bright light appeared.” (It’s a gripping start, we felt.)
The light, naturally, was unidentifiable (other than the fact it was a light, of course). But, reading on, HostelBloggers felt sure that the truth would be out there somewhere. And so it proved.
While elaborating a little on the mysterious events, our friend Mr Aylett explained how “there was no way their judgement could have been affected by alcohol“. He then, slightly mystifyingly, went on: “Me and Doc had had a couple of beers…”
Ah, beer. It’s almost inevitable that it had a part to play (doesn’t it always when UFOs are involved?) After all: European Backpackers. On a road trip down the Stuart Highway. Late at night. (On a pergola…?) Without a tinnie or two? Now that really would be unexplained.
Here at HostelBloggers, if there’s one thing we know it’s hostels (the clue’s in the name!) Which is why we thought we’d start pulling them all together in an ongoing series of cheap hostels of the world.
Anyway, to kick the series off in style we’ve chosen an old favorite amongst backpackers in India: the Akash Hotel in Pushkar. A hotel by name it may well be, but it’s a backpackers’ hostel through and through. Akash has its own rooftop cafe - where brothers John and Filter serve good cheap food - an attractive courtyard with a tree in the middle (like the rest of the place, painted a bright blue) and a downright chilled out vibe.
But we digress. It wouldn’t be much of a ‘cheap hostels roundup’ if we didn’t mention the price at some point. So… amongst a range of cheap rooms on offer, their most basic option comes in at - cue drum roll - just over one euro a night!!!
Away from the hostel, the town, which clings to Pushkar lake in a ring of five hundred dazzling white temples, is most famous for the Pushkar Camel Fair. With 25,000 camels raced, traded and gawped at by over 10,000 visitors in late October/early November, the Pushkar Camel Fair is one of the biggest events in India. (And it’s fair to say that for those dates, prices at Akash Hotel, along with all the other Pushkar hostels, tend to be a little higher than usual!)
After this surge of interest, though, things go back to normal and travelers can explore this sleepy little town on the edge of the desert, before returning to a place that - even for a hostel in India - is pretty damn cheap.
We’re willing to admit that Venice, so steeped in history and intrigue, has always been a bit of a favorite of ours. And this week it’s managed to grab our attention yet again!
The city has been cropping up in the travel news thanks to a recent (and significant) nearby archeological discovery. As is so often the case in Italy, it seems that the city we see today is just part of a much larger settlement on the Venetian Lagoon that dates back to Roman times.
By using satellite imaging, archeologists have been able to find the extensive remains of a wealthy town (complete with temples, theaters and palaces) about three feet beneath the ground in the countryside at Altino, near to Venice’s Marco Polo Airport.
Full excavations are expected to begin on this fascinating discovery in the near future. And when they’re uncovered, the ruins are sure to be yet another reason - if more reasons could possibly be needed! - to go to Venice.
Ever on the lookout for interesting offers, travel deals and ways to save a bit of money traveling, HostelBloggers got wind of this rather interesting travel writing competition over at British newspaper, The Independent.
Basically, they’re offering some lucky wordsmith the chance to travel round Europe for free, honing their travel writing skills by blogging for a national newspaper as they do so.
Destinations on the itinerary include the Netherlands, Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania, and all you’ve got to do to be in the running is say in a measly 200 words which city in Europe tickles your fancy and why. (You can either read more about the competition details here or just email competitions@independent.co.uk with ‘SABMiller’ in the email subject line.)
This is the only slight hitch, really - that you might have to sell just a little of your dignity rights to the brewers, SABMiller, who are sponsoring the initiative… But when the prize is a minimum of four weeks’ free travel in Europe, we’re sure that whoever wins will be a more than enthusiastic beer ambassador!
It seems that the folk over at Road Junky have found themselves in a spot of bother lately.
We recently mentioned their post on cultural idiosyncrasies around the world (such as Albania’s pyramid scheme government woes) but we weren’t the only ones to stumble upon it - and a large number of readers are decidedly unhappy with their findings.
Having ourselves thought the article entertaining (and from our own experiences, containing at least the odd grain of truth in amongst the obvious inaccuracies) we couldn’t help but wonder why it had provoked such violent reactions. For HostelBloggers’ money it was as much a post about the line between stereotype and national characteristic, hearsay and fact… It was hardly portraying itself as investigative reportage, after all!
Admittedly, the subject matter was a little controversial even for a site that tends to be heavy on the frankness, light on the platitudes and rollocks along on a diet of sex, drugs and offbeat writing. But all the writing has the same amused, slightly cynical tone - and that was what caught (and continues to catch) the eye.
Maybe not every one of the ‘culture shocks’ they described was strictly accurate, but where else have we been informed recently that the high-five was invented in Arabia as the best way to greet people from atop a camel?
All we’re saying is, yes, travel writing should be informative and factual. But should it always have to take itself seriously, too?
With the days getting steadily chillier here in London, autumn has crept up on HostelBloggers once again. As if to confirm the fact, this Monday (September 22nd) is the autumn equinox. And there’s nowhere more spectacular to celebrate this event than at Chichen Itza, on Mexico’s Yucatan penisula.
Among the impressive Mayan remains at this site is the Grand Pyramid, which reveals some rather astounding ancient knowledge of astronomy at each equinox. The structure is aligned so that in the middle of spring and autumn the sun’s rays are reflected in such a way as to form the shape of a diamond-backed rattlesnake along the steps.
It’s believed that the Mayans intended this remarkable event to mark essential cycles in the agricultural season, and the biannual gatherings at Chichen Itza became a significant ritual. Today, thousands of pilgrims and travelers are attracted to the site by its heady brew of mysterious celestial alignment and awe-inspiring ancient structures.
The actual moment when the sun hangs directly over the Earth’s equator will fall at 15.44. And HostelBloggers would definitely recommend that anyone lucky enough to be in this part of the world sets their watch!
