Hostel Sleepover - Cameraderie Draws All Ages

Hostel Sleepover

With a mix of ages and nationalities, the least expensive lodging can also be the most fun.

Came across this interesting article by Ellen Perlman in The Washington Post.

"We hoof the couple of miles from the Harpers Ferry train station to a white-shingled house on a hill in Knoxville, Md., just across the Potomac River. Wet from the rain, we let ourselves in the front door.The sight of a crackling fire in the stone fireplace is a welcome surprise. Women are busy in the kitchen cooking burritos. People read on the living room couches. We wander through, smiling and saying hello. Never saw these people before in our lives."

Hostel Sleepover

What is hosteling really all about? Budget travel? No, that rather misses the point, don't you think? These quotes get it right, I believe.

"Hostels draw young budget travelers . . . But tourists of all ages are attracted by their air of camaraderie and international exchange."

Friendliness and a little bit of irony . . .

"Anda Samson, 23, and her parents visiting from Holland.The Samsons are veteran hostelers, drawn, they said, by the friendly atmosphere. I'd packed a book, but it remained untouched that night. We talked and laughed for hours. I mentioned a favorite Dutch cookie I'd tasted in the Netherlands years ago. Anda left the room and came back with a package of those very cookies brought by her parents. Funny, this kind of thing just doesn't happen to me at the Hilton."

The article goes on to quote Barbara Yates, manager of Angie's Guest Cottage Hostel in Virginia Beach. Here's what she had to say about hosteling today. It's exactly what this blog is all about. ;-)

"You stay at a hostel because you want to stay someplace interesting. Youth hostels used to be for youths, but now it's common to see people in their sixties and seventies mingling with the young folk. Seeing those intrepid souls inspired Yates's mother, at 68, to join her daughter on a hosteling trip through England, Ireland and Scotland." I can see her now, climbing into the upper bunk." Yates said.

Click on over to the Post and read the whole article. It'll warm your heart.

Hostel Sleepover

Kinda makes you want to get packed and on your way, doesn't it?

Later . . .

Kristi

technorati tags:seniors+hostels, hosteling, hostelling, senior+travel