Why I don't like hostels.

I wasn't really that excited about staying in Hostels while I'm travelling in the first place, but they are so affordable and I thought probably a great place to meet fellow travellers.

The first hostel I stayed at, in Arnhem, was pretty nice. It was surrounded by forrest, and the room was clean, and I was only sharing with 2 other girls (they were both in Arnhem for a dance audition, and were lovely girls) and we had one bathroom and toilet and 2 sinks between the 3 of us (although the room did sleep up to 7 people). There seemed to be a couple of school groups also staying there, and yes, it was annoying having the group of about five 14 year old boys standing in the hallway outside the room next door to me, calling out to the girls who were staying in that room and playing music on their ipod, but as I couldn't understand a word they were saying (they were talking in Dutch) it didn't really bother me that much.

The second hostel, in Den Haag, was similar to the one in Arnhem. There were 8 of us sharing this room, and again, we had 2 sinks and one toilet and shower between us all. Again, it was a little annoying when the woman in the bed opposite me started snoring (and farting), and when I was awoken at god know's what time by 2 of the girls who were staying in the room, who came back late from a wedding (they were Aussies by the way) and the Asian woman who got up noisily at about 5 o'clock in the morning mumbling to herself something about "time to worship" and "rotten Americans" (this is what it sounded like to me, at least, she may have been saying something completely different in Chinese). These were all slightly annoying, but again, didn't bother me too much, as I accept it as being part of hostel life. The toilet smelling like about 200 people had urinated on the walls, did bother me a little.

Last night, I arrived at my room in my hostel and found that it had no ensuite, and that beween however many girls that were on the floor, we would share 3 showers and 3 toilets, plus about 6 sinks. This is not really such a problem, as I don't think there are many people staying in this hostel at the moment, and at any rate it was no problem getting a shower this morning (and the toilet is a lot cleaner as well). It was highly annoying when I did my laundry last night and found that my clothes came out from the washing machine sopping wet because someone before me had pressed the "no spin" button (and ok, I will take the blame for that for not checking first), and because I could only wring them out, before putting them in the drier, they took about 2 hours to dry! But these are all things that you just deal with, and accept as being part of the cheap price of a hostel.

Why I don't like hostels, has more to do with one of the girls that I shared a room with last night (and I'm guessing I will again tonight, unless - hopefully- she checked out this morning). I was sorting out my clothes that I wanted to wash when this girl, Maree, from Greece (or France, she said she was part Greek, part French, but didn't say where exactly she came from) opened the door to the room and then just stood in the doorway looking at me as if I was a piece of dog poo. I looked up and saw that there was a guy standing behind her and said "Hi, are you right?" because they were just standing in the door way, and Maree said " Can we get in please?" So I shifted my bag a little for them, although, really, it wasn't in the way and they could have stepped around it. So while I was sorting out my stuff, the guy was saying things to Maree like, "they should have mixed rooms, really, shouldn't they? I don't know why they don't have mixed rooms". Then the guy (Mark, from the UK, but has been in The Netherlands for a few years) began talking to me and started telling me how his room mate was also from Australia, and he was pretty lonely, and maybe I should go and say "hello", and also, did I know that there are lockers downstairs in the basement where I can put all my valuables?

I gathered up my clothes and left them and headed down to the basement to do my laundry. Once I had put my clothes in the washing machine, I had let it start washing for about 20 minutes, when I realised that it was going to be going for about another 40 minutes, so I went back to my room to get a book. I was a bit worried about going back in, as I was a bit suspicious as to what Mark and Maree were up to, however, as another girl was leaving the room just as I got back to the door, I figured it would be safe. When I got in there though, I found that Maree was in the bed opposite mine, and it was pretty obvious that there was someone else under the covers! I grabbed my book and left pretty quick smart. I didn't return to the room until I saw them later, sitting at the bar.

And so that is why I don't like hostels. I didn't think that there would be people there who were so inconciderate of others. I haven't yet booked my accommodation in Paris, and was planning on staying in one of the hostels there. Now I am not so sure. So I would like to emphasise my previous invitation: If anyone would like to meet me in Paris for 7 nights from June 18th - June 25th, I would be delighted to share a hotel room with you (as long as you don't bring strangers to our room). This is not a completely selfish invitation: although, yes, sharing a hotel room will work out much cheaper per person than getting a room on my own, by then it will be nearly 2 months since I left, and I will be looking forward to seeing a familiar face! Just let me know, and I'll book the hotel!

Lis x.