Markus and Brian's Excellent European Adventure

On Hostels

Markus and I are hopping on a train this afternoon to head to the foreign lands of Budapest, Hungary. We're expecting a healthy dose of culture shock. Should be good for us isolated Canadians living in a world of french fries and resealable Cheeze-String bags -- we'll get to see what those things are called in a completely foreign language.

Anyway, I will regale you with a quick description on hostels. Hostels rock. They're essentially a cross between a cabin-filled summer camp and crashing at your friend's place because you've drunk too much. You generally stay in giant rooms filled with bunk beds, usually between 6 to 30 beds in a room, sometimes with mixed sexes. Everyone leaves their backpacks on or beside their beds (concern for theft is relatively low once you're inside the hostel). Sinks, washrooms, and showers are usually down the hall.

You pay roughly $20-25 Canadian a night, and get, outside your room, an extremely casual environment packed with other people your age, all looking to meet people and see the sites in whatever city you're in. There's usually a chill-out area where people meet, eat, read, whatever, and the more interesting hostels have bars to make the area even more social.

Here's what to look for in a really fantastic hostel:

* No curfew (that is, you don't get locked out of the hostel after 12:30am, making it very difficult to have a good time out on the town)
* Free, hot showers (some places will charge you for hot water)
* Central to the city (it's a serious pain to have to hike all the way to and from the edge of town)
* Free breakfast (almost always standard, but usually it's just bread, jam and coffee)
* Movies, chill out area, pool table, foosball table, giant novelty chess board patios, etc (for relaxing and meeting people)
* Book exchanges (leave a book, then take a book)
* Events organized by the hostel staff (generally means the staff is extremely friendly and wants to help you find fun stuff to do in town)
* Clean (there have been some rather old, dingy hostels, but have made up for it with a great atmosphere)

Only downside is that sometimes it's quite noisy in the room until everyone finally settles down to bed. Earplugs have been a lifesaver.

Any questions? You will be quizzed tomorrow!