Hostiles?
The one type of accommodation that we haven’t even considered for this upcoming tour is the hostel. We have stayed at many and our son who was just in Europe and stayed at hostels every night that he was there reminded me why we haven’t seriously researched hostels along the route.
The concept is great. I enjoyed meeting fellow travelers at the hostels in NZ, especially since I had spent much of the day alone. They are ideal for the solo traveler as there are no single supplements. Having a kitchen facility for meal preparation is a real bonus. Oh, I have had some enjoyable stays at hostels, most notably when our group commandeered the entire hostel and we were all on the same page regarding respect for fellow travelers.
Our son mentioned late arrivals, who flicked on the overhead light, played with cellphones and made totally ignored the fact that the rest of the people in the room were sleeping. Not getting a good night’s sleep can make a miserable next day for a cyclist, especially for one who may have traveled many miles the day that he arrived at the hostel.
We had a great time at the hostel at Malabar Farm in Ohio. Because of it’s affiliation with HI, we were locked out during the day, which was fine because we were out cycling. The same was true of the Stanford Hostel in the Cuyahoga Valley. I especially remember the lock out time because I had a crash and suffered a minor concussion. I returned to the hostel and although I explained my situation, the warden reluctantly let me stay in the hostel during lock out time. Geez, I had a concussion and injured my shoulder, which required months of physical therapy. In these situations, the HI affiliated hostels might use their heads and adjust the rules a bit. We booked the entire hostel, so it wasn’t as if other guests were being inconvenienced by me being in the hostel at the same time that they wouldn’t have been allowed in anyway.
The Malabar Farm hostel wardens assigned us some very odd tasks. We certainly didn’t mind contributing our share to the hostel, but laughed at the chore of dusting spiders and their webs from the exterior of the house. After we left, that hostel sparkled.
We have found that the non-HI affiliated hostels are much more pleasant in general. The biggest problem with them is the lack of mutual respect for fellow travelers. I am certainly not interested in having my sleep interrupted by loud snoring (been there, done that), overhead lights, cell phone dialing or other annoyances. This is what can really turn this places in hostile environments.
Having said all that, we once considered operating a hostel and are considering something like that for cyclists along a long distance trail. We, of course, would design it so that there is no overhead light, no late night entry and no lockouts.