So was woken up last night by the sound of one man snoring like in a cartoon and a couple having sex in the bottom bunk adjacent to my own bunk (luckily I was on the top bunk delicate reader and spared anything too scarring!). As I rested there trying my hardest to fall back asleep as the couple barely concealed their groans of ecstasy and the bed squealed like an excitable teenage girl with every thrust I was inspired to comment on the hostels that we have stayed at.
They have been relatively diverse in the little amount of time we have actually been out here and varied from the professional YHAs and Base to the more 'hippy' and boho hostels. My preference is probably somewhere in between. The professional ones are often very nice - usually cleaner and with more facilities, but are often more expensive and often have stupid rules. On the whole the YHAs are good (Base tend to be party hostels for 18/19yr olds with whom I have very little energy to engage with and can be a bit of a pain if you've got to leave early in the morning, or so we're told. The Base we stayed in at Queenstown was very good and pretty quiet) but our first night in Melbourne was spent in a new more professional hostel called Space. It was being renovated from an older hostel and made more modern. The renovation works themselves didn't bother me, we had to be up early anyway and the lifts still worked. What was annoying was the strict atmosphere and attitude of the staff. You needed your key card to get in everywhere - including the communal showers, toilets and kitchen. Plus there was no real communal area, just big, flash cinema-like TV room which was good only for watching films and a kitchen not big enough to cater for four floors (it only had three hob-rings) and for which you had to give deposit to get a box with plates and cutlery etc! The YHA in Wellington was probably on the better side of the uber-professional hostels - and though we only stayed one night had lots of amenities including a huge kitchen and communal area and was in a good location.
On the other side, the more 'boho' hostels can be cheaper and often - like this one Asylum in Sydney - offer more for free. We have free use of internet here and even the opportunity for a free meal (not the biggest you've ever seen but still) and a free breakfast of sorts (just cornflakes but it's better than nothing). The only problem is they tend to be a little dirtier than the professional ones and often have more 'long-termers' - those who have come out to work for a year or two as they travel. Whilst everyone seems very nice, they often know each other well already and have a different outlook on the traveling experience to those of us lucky enough to do a 5 month tour - as in my case - of pure traveling. In truth they are probably less 'touristy' than myself, but when you're in a place for under a week you need to see the sights! They also tend to be about the hostel a lot more - sleeping during the day etc - and indeed often in need to relieve their carnal passions. Presumably living communally long-term reduces your inhibitions and prudishness - though largely it seems the done thing to book a private room for such a night if you are a couple. Though I have heard some worse stories of sounds in the night... On the whole they're more relaxed but this can have it's disadvantages when you need to check in early and they are less than prompt about sorting out the rooms or making sure people haven't out-stayed their booking.
On the whole my favorite hostels have managed a good balance. These have funnily enough both been based in former guest-houses of sorts. The first was Noah's Ark in Greymouth, New Zealand. There isn't a whole lot to Greymouth in honesty - hence why we took the opportunity for the brewery tour - but this hostel was great. Based in a former guest-house it was more chilled-out than some YHAs and more professional hostels having something of an atmosphere and 30 minutes free wireless internet use which is always a boon for a Facebook-addict like myself. To be fair the YHA at Taupo, New Zealand was good too and full of people doing a similar sort of trip to our own - so easy to get to know people. The other great hostel was Home at the Mansion in Melbourne. It's got a reasonable location for those who aren't too lazy to walk into town (or indeed aren't as skint flint as myself) but near to the free circle-route tram which takes you to which ever side of the centre you need to be at. (In honesty we avoided paying on any trams - free or otherwise in Melbourne, though you are taking a risk as they have plain-clothed inspectors about apparently...) The hostel was similar to Noah's Ark but it (and the city/the country) was livelier. There were a mix of long-termers and passers-through and it was relaxed and clean at the same time!
Anyway Ben's noted that I've chatted on for quite long enough now about hostels! Hoping for a less embarrassing night tonight, the first night it was amusing i;m not so sure about the second, third and fourth...
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