25th December 2015 - 10th January 2016 Hostel Life verses Hotel Life - Love It or Hate It

This is actually a VERY old blog I found that I had not published at the time it was written so another "FLASHBACK" yep all the way back to 2015!!!!!

For many years I stayed at several different apartment hotels until about 3 years ago I discovered a thing called "a  youth hostel".

If you're young and travelling alone hotel life can be boring. The only people I ever spoke to were the front of house staff, the housekeeping staff and concierge staff (for some reason one in particular who was determined for me to take a photo of him with my camera).

In a hostel there are always interesting people to talk to - your roomies if you are sharing a dorm, people you meet in the common areas ie communal kitchen, tv room, dining room, library or games room,  even in the basement communial coin op laundry! Of course there is also the house keeping staff, kitchen staff and front desk staff who often like to gossip!

I forgot to write about one particular kitchen staff member at the hostel in Vancouver I stay at and I think she has  retired from her position at the hostel since my last few annual stays there and after many years of hard work she deserved to. She did take a nice long holiday overseas to visit her family back home although I can't remember what nationality she was originally.

From my very first stay at this youth hostel, I instantly had this impression of her as a mean and nasty old lady that was in charge of keeping the communial kitchen in the hostel clean and in order. She really reminded me of a female equivalent of the famous " No soup for you!" soup Nazi character on Seinfield and could imagine her yelling out to everyone " No more cooking. Kitchen is closed!" every night - which she did at times because the kitchens in hostels are closed for cleaning and maintenance at certain times during the day and at night.

You always get the backpackers that never clean up after themselves or leave stacks of food to rot in the communal fridges because they either forget or are too lazy. There are etiquette rules at youth hostels too not just at hotels. The kitchen staff ensure that fridges are cleaned out as part of their duties at least once a week and kitchens are cleaned at least twice every day.

I did not warm to this particular kitchen staff member and gave her the nickname of "The Kitchen Nazi" which actually caught on with my fellow backpackers staying at the hostel although it's not politically correct to use. It was not intended to offend but a term of endearment. Some of my fellow backpackers actually thought it was funny and could actually see why I nicknamed her this as they witness her "No more cooking. Kitchen is closed!" type announcements late at night whilst we are in the communial dining room socialising together.

As the years past and I began to stay at this hostel annually during my Winter vacations, I got to know her better and she got to know me and she was actually quite a sweet old lady -  very Eastern European in her manner though. She would approach me and ask what I was cooking and she would speak to other guests as well. She would sometime sit down with me or others briefly and chat - giving her a little break from her duties probably.

I haven't seen her in my last few stays but at one stage she looked unwell and exhausted. She really did need to take a break by that stage. I think I saw her after her overseas break and she did look better but did not really see her during my following stays at the hostel.

If you want privacy live a hotel life  - If you want tv live a hotel life and if you can't be bothered to clean your own dishes after you cook a meal live a hotel life. Hostel life is harsh almost everything is BYO and DIY except maybe breakfast ( if included) where you can load yourself up with unlimited carbs sugar and fat. Some guest do as this might be the only meal they can afford ( the good thing about hostel life is nothing is wasted and a lot of them are very sustainable ie everything is separated and or recycled eg rubbish , clothing, toiletries etc, they have herb gardens which you are welcome to use the produce from and there is usually left over breakfast products, salt pepper milk oil even pasta available in the kitchen as well as a free food area where guests can leave any food they can't finish or take with them upon checking out for others to use. So unsuitable for "princesses".

I love hostel life when I'm travelling most of the time but to an extent. The great thing about  staying at a hostel is if you get sick of dorm life or just over living the hostel life you can always upgrade to a private room like I did for my last 2 days of my stay or move to a hotel for a few days then return to hostel life which some backpackers I've met
have done.

Some people love hostel life and stay for months on end but beware of the 21 day stay restriction which applies in Canada or 28 day stay restriction in Australia. Quite a few of the people I met at the hostel were long term residents some by choice some not - all happy to check out after 21 days and stay at the other hostel before checking back in for another 21 days and repeat. No need to take your luggage with you - it stays in storage. They just walk down to the other downtown hostel and spent a night there before returning to this hostel. I would never stay a night at the other hostel it is far too noisy and it is known as the "party central" hostel with no kitchen therefore suitable for very short term stays only.

This trip I met some really cool people (and some not so cool people unfortunately whom I refer to as "undesirables" or just weird but one cannot discriminate) mostly Germans but also fellow Australians, English, Canadians, Americans, South Koreans,Japanese,even the rare Welsh and Swiss person.

My favourite hostel friends to "hang" with are the Germans - they travel everywhere! They are always full of fun and so open minded. I've lost count of how many I actually met this year - I estimate approximately half of  the people I met during my trip to Canada were Germans ( I love to say to every German I meet whilst travelling "You Germs are everywhere!"). Maybe that's why there is The German Friendship Globe located at Dundarave and on my final day in Vancouver one of my German friends declared that he had found it. It meant a lot that at least one of my German friends had found it.

At the end of the Sea Walk there is the German Friendship Globe. During the Christmas holidays there is a Christmas tree display and if you look closely you will see an assortment of Christmas baubles scattered around the base of the German Friendship Globe. Visitors and probably locals do all sorts of things to this globe - one year I found the globe turned completely upside down off its axis ( there is something strange when Australia no longer down under on the globe!)  which is quite a feat as the globe is extremely heavy to move and because it is a water feature the huge ball of solid stone is constantly wet and therefore really slippery to get a grip around.

Staying at a youth hostel is like being a member of the United Nations.

There was even 1 occassion where there was a "round table" ( well actually it was rectangular!) of Australians where there was a representative staying at the hostel I was staying at from each Australian state ( including Tasmania although they departed the round  table early) except for The Northern Territory which doesn't count as they are not technically an Australian state but a territory. 

I have never shared a mixed dorm room always an all female dorm room to avoid witnessing any night time activities - you know what I mean?

This a typical view out of a window from the HI Downtown Vancouver

Staying at a hostel compared to staying at a hotel you realise you need to pack a lot more stuff - different stuff as well. Above is what I carried in my carry on backpack and wheelie bag of which I emptied out onto my bottom bunk bed in my 4 share female hostel dorm room. Look at the size of my  black carry all bag in the corner!

Note : If you request a bottom bunk bed in a 3 or 4 share dorm room don't expect to be guaranteed one.