Travel for the Over 30s

What does a hostel mean to you? Is this your image? Times have changed. When I started hostelling you had to do a chore in the morning and were locked out of the hostel from 10am to 4pm - you know so you would get outside and be healthy! Too bad if you just came off an overnight bus trip or it was below zero outside - that happened to me in Vancouver in January!

These days hostels come in all sizes and shapes but I the best modern Australian hostels include swimming pools, some rooms with en-suite, the odd hostel which is a “bunk free zone”.

City hostels are either 24-hour reception or give you24 hour access once you check in. Hostels will hold luggage for you while you travel and most have parking - for fee in big cities .

When my mother hostelled you weren’t allowed to arrive by “motorised transport” - it had to be on foot, on horse on bicycle or by canal boat (this was England).

Some more great information from Simon at OverlandWannabe 

There is something special about the youth hostels in Germany.  Perhaps it has a lot to do with the fact that both countries have a lot of castles, built by Barons or towns to protect lands and collect taxes, which have no real purpose in the modern world.

Rather than let them fall to ruins or try to run them solely as museums,  the Germans have turned many of them into Hostels.  Castles are almost perfect for this as they all had barracks for stationing troops, which make excellent hostels!
Most famous (infamous) of these is actually Colditz Castle , in which of course a plane was built in the attic and planned to be flown out, allowing British POW’s to escape.  A night’s stay in Colditz is only 17euro, the question is - can you escape the next morning?!!

Other Castle Hostels in Germany

Bacharach Hostel - on the Rhine, 12th century - hard to miss but a steep walk!

Burg Altena - the original castle hostel.

Heppenheim  - fantastic views - steep climb

Leibertingen-Wildenstein

Stimpfach-Rechenberg

Kronach part of a city wall so not actually a steep climb!

Passau - stunning view over the ancient town - which means - you guessed it a steep climb!

Advantages of Staying in Germany’s Castles Hostels

•  there is no age restriction Bavaria has finally dropped their under 25 rule
• the price - very reasonable even for a private room
• the view - castles tend to be on tops of hills
• security- its a castle right!

Disadvantages of Staying in Germany’s Castle Hostels

• the hill- the castle will be on top of one normally!
• no lifts - retro-fitting lifts doesn’t happen in a castle - these are not disability-friendly hostels
• the cold - central heating isn’t common
• you have to join the German youth hostel association, or be a member of your home youth hostel asociation, or pay an extra fee a night to buy a visitors guest membership
• school groups use hostels extensively in Germany - you may run into a party - or find the hostel booked out with them

Today is a bit of a guest post from Simon from Overland Wannabe which is a great looking blog about a journey into the unknown as Simon is looking for a good used van in the UK - so if you have any ideas on this head over to his blog and leave him a comment!  Simon left some recommendations on European hostels on my previous post and offered the following in, in part, to my query on more information.

Packing list for European Hostels

• Obviously normal packing stuff is required
• Towels - you wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve forgotten a towel
• Sleeping bag - sheets are normally provided but don’t count on it (Lis notes; in contrast sleeping bags are not allowed in Australian hostels but beds are provided with duvets and sheets)
• Dressing gown or respectable pyjamas, some hostels are friendly enough that you can walk around in a dressing gown, it also makes the transition from boiling hot shower to not so hot room easier

Booking into a European hostel is simply a case of calling up and asking if they have space, most places are still 4 to 8 in a room, with sexes being separated.  A few are also offering smaller rooms, but for these the price will be higher.

How Much Does A Hostel in Europe Cost?

17euros - that seems to be the average price of a western European Hostel
12euros - is the rough average of an eastern European Hostel

Both usually include breakfast and free showers.

What Facilities to Expect in a European Hostel

This mostly depends on the hostel’s location.  If you are close to, or in, a larger city or town expect the facilities to be less as the city will be your playground.
Outside of the larger cities then expect a small bar serving hot food and local beers, pool tables, TV/Social Rooms, Cooking areas (mostly a few microwaves and electric hobs) and a dining area for those that serve meals throughout the day.

Most Hostels cater for any age and you will probably not be alone how ever young or old you are!

Best place for finding Hostels - Google of course!

Lissie notes that hostelworld.com and hostels.com are good places for mainly unbiased reviews - just read between the lines - some people expect 5-stars for 10 Euros!

And yes the castle is a hostel too - Koblenz on the Rhine in Germany

Photo Credit

What does the word “hostel” mean to you? It comes from the Latin hospes meaning guest. For many years hostels have struggled to be distinguished from homeless shelters or student dorms - in fact one of the largest hostel booking sites - hostelworld - is running a petition to formally change the definition from out-of-date listings such as the Oxford English Dictionary listing of

” an establishment which provides cheap food and lodging for a specific group of people, such as students, workers, etc. 2 an inn providing accommodation.”

Hostelworld’s proposed definition is pretty much on the money for me:

“Hostel: Budget, fun, sociable accommodation for people of all ages”

I’ve pointed out the advantages of hostels before, and it seems that more and more people are catching on - Hostelworld reports a noticeable increase in bookings especially in Asia and Australia.

So this week - for something a bit different I’m going to do a series of posts looking at hostels, their history, the weird ones, the cool ones and their future! Stay tuned for hostel week!

Photo Credit

Well the Swedes do it again. We reviewed the hostel on the boat in central Stockholm, now there is a new budget option to stay in a plane at Arlanda - Stockholm’s major airport!

The Jumbo Hostel combines several inprobable concepts: a cheap airport hotel, a cheap comfortable bed in a plane and a cheap hotel in Sweden!  Yes this really is a decommissioned 747 - which once flew for Pan-Am but ended up a wreck whichhas been refurbished into a hostel near the entrance to Stockholme’s Arlanda airport.

There are 25 rooms in total most of which are 3-bed dorms with a facilites down the corridor. The exception is the deluxe flight-deck suite which includes an en-suite. All rooms have a flat-screen TV which includes information for arrival and departure. There is wifi throughout the Jumbo hotel and also an onsite cafe open to the public.

Rates start at around US$43 (350SEK) for a dorm bed to US$411 (3,100 SEK) for the cockpit room. Not exactly cheap for a hostel - but not bad for a unique experience at an airport hotel!

Uniquely there is an observation deck on the left wing for those 0f you who always wanted to climb out on the wing of 747-200 but never quiet dared to!  Not sure what it is with Europe and re-purposing structures into hostels - but I think I like the idea of this one better than that off a nuclear bunker