Hostile toward Hostels?
© Diane Goldberg under the original topic name
She has resolved to never again, as long as she remains in this incarnation, tell 12 year old French girls stories about ghosts buried beneath the IYHF Hostel Bruntsfield. (7 Bruntsfield Crescent, telephone 447-2994, about one mile from the south end of Princes Street if you're headed for Edinburgh.)
Edinburgh has a stark and bloody history. http://www.mercat-tours.co.uk/ is the best way to discover it; they provide excellent well-researched tours that take you down hidden lanes and creepy closes pointing out houses where horrible things happened. The dour Scots get downright cheerful talking about ghoulies, and ghosties, but a grotesque murder complete with skinning the victim or something equally attractive transports them to euphoria.
After an evening ghost walk I scurried back to the curfewed hostel to obtain admission prior to closing. I discovered myself in a room with a horde of giggling Claudettes and Maries gleefully away from Mama. Had it not been for the curfew, I'd have hung out in the pub and acquired a moderate buzz, which would have sent me to sleep. Dismally sober I relayed the gristly tales to my companions. You really don't want to know what five frightened schoolgirls sound like when a door slams in the middle of the night.
Which brings me to some of the negatives about hostels. Many of them have curfews. None of the IYHA hostels allow onsite drinking. If you smoke you'll probably need to take that to the street as well.
In Chicago I stayed at an IYHA hostel operated through the summer months in the Columbia College dorms. For unknown reasons I was awakened by an enraged Aryan shrieking at me in German around 2AM.
Check Ms Budget Travel's last name. Being awakened by German shouting in the middle of the night is fairly high on her personal list of nightmares.
Which brings me to another disadvantage of hostels. The dormitory style arrangements are pre-determined by the Grand Inquisitor Division of the Cosmic Joke department. You can end up sharing space with people you really dislike at first shout. I suspect the German Miss pinched my shampoo.
In all fairness, on the same stay I met some really lovely Englishwomen and an interesting funny Austrian. But, lunacy happens.
I've also stayed in Falmouth Castle, Cornwall, in a lovely private room for less than fifteen dollars. Conversely London hostels average around sixteen or seventeen pounds per night. If you are traveling in tandem the Elysee Hotel in Lancaster Gate will offers a clean comfortable budget room for forty five quid the two of you, minimal breakfast and private shower included.
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