Hostels

I have had far too much fun researching hostels.  They're just so cool.  Hopefully.  I'm doing my best to find good ones, but trying to be realistic, too.  Here is what I look for in a hostel:

Cleanliness: Hostels are known for being gross, and gross is no fun.  I'm not squeamish, but nastiness where I sleep is just really unpleasant.  Matthew is far more fastidious than I am.  Guests know me by a warm welcome, good food, and messy kitchen.  Matty can be equally warm, but his room is immaculate and built of right angles.  Half the reason Matty wants to travel Scandinavia is because it supposedly looks like this:

Much rectangle. Such white. Wow.

So, then, I would struggle to relax in a semi-gross hostel, and Matty would find it impossible.  Cleanliness, then, is a priority.  I'm still bringing flip-flops for the shower, but am choosing for cleanliness.

Safety:  We're choosing the cheapest rooms in hostels, which are mixed gender dorms of about 6-12 beds a room, sometimes fewer and sometimes more.  Even if I were traveling solo I would probably feel safe in a mixed dorm, because there are so many people that no one could really get away with any sort of assault, but with my brother I have not even the slightest qualm.  My primary safety concern is security from wanderers from outside, so 24 hour reception is preferable, and key card or traditional key dorm rooms a must.  We are spending most of our time in large cities, and, let me be honest, I took to locking my bedroom door in San Marcos because the apartment felt too urban for comfort once I was alone.  Yes, I did grow up in the Shire.  Anyway, since most of my nervousness comes from being alone, having Matty with me will make all the difference, though I fear he is more nervous of surroundings with me than alone.  Also, we'll never be alone in a mixed dorm.  We're just crossing our fingers that no one will want to consummate something in the dorm room, which brings me to my next point...

Cool dorm in the Charles Bridge Hostel, Prague

Non-Party:  There are several types of hostels, and party hostels are some of the most loved.  These hostels are for younger young adults away from their parents and wanting to live it up, or older young adults who still act like they have overbearing parents to escape.  Either way, they spent their travels getting hammered and picking up partners for the night.  Not our style.  Don't get me wrong, I am very much looking forward to wine in Rome and Guinness in Dublin, and Matty can't get over that he'll be of legal drinking age in Europe, and so his first public beer will be in Reykjavic, but we are really not the party types.  Unless it's a Saint Katherine party.  I wish all my friends could experience something as incredibly fun as a Saint Katherine Party.  But, even at those parties, I disappeared with my closest friends for tea and Munchkin if beer pong started.  King's cup is great, true American is great, but beer pong is just sad.  We don't want to stay in any beer pong hostels.

No, thank you

Location:  It doesn't have to be in city central, but relatively close, or close to the area we want to be in, is nice.  We're also trying to keep to safer quarters (Google Street view is great for checking out what surrounds a hostel), because we will most often be on foot, and would rather not walk through unsafe feeling areas in the later hours.  If we can see some beauty from the window, that's just a plus.

That view, though.  Old Town Hostel Kanonia, Warsaw

Kitchen:  This has become less of an absolute, since I found a very little, military-style camping stove set which I plan to bring with us.  Several times throughout our hostel search, we came across locations in which the hostels very rarely possessed a kitchen, or if they did, they lacked other, more important qualities.  Also, London has this thing going where they partner hostels with pubs, and these never have kitchens, but they're still just super cool.  Knowing Matty and I, we will start the days with a couple things from a continental breakfast (usually provided), purchase coffee (probably twice, although the morning may be in the common area of the hostel if it is nice) and a snack throughout the day, catch a drink in the evening, and I'll make us dinner in the evening.  If we have a real lunch, it will probably be sandwiches made in the morning.  We will certainly eat out sometimes, but not often.  So, a kitchen is preferred.

Kitchen in Isaac's Hostel, Dublin

I will probably be writing more on hostels on some point, because they are just so fun!  These, however, have been our top priorities when hostel shopping.

Where?

As of now, this is where we mean to travel, and the order we mean to travel there:

LAX to Reykjavic, Iceland--Oslo, Norway--Stockholm, Sweden--Copenhagen, Denmark--Berlin, Germany--Warsaw, Poland--Prague, Czech Republic--Vienna, Austria--Venice, Italy--Rome, Italy--Bern, Switzerland--Paris, France

Then the Chunnel!

London, England--Cardiff, Wales--Liverpool, England--Dublin, Ireland--Belfast, Northern Ireland--Glasgow, Scotland--Isle of Skye, Scotland--Inverness, Scotland--Edinburgh, Scotland--London, England

There is still a possibility of adding Amsterdam to our mainland travels, and a slight chance of dropping Glasgow from our island travels.  I admit my favor of dropping Glasgow, as it is more Urban than our other Scottish ventures.  This is, of course, why Matty wants to keep it, but we are travelling exclusively to cities on the mainland...

There will be a day excursion from London to Oxford, and possibly a few more.  We plan to travel mostly by night train, unless the travel time is short enough to make this impractical, in which case we will travel in the early morning.  We will be flying from Reykjavic to Oslo, needless to say.

Certainly Haven't Left Yet...

Hello, and welcome to There and Back Again!  This blog follows my brother, Matthew, and me on our trip around Western Europe.  We plan to leave a year from this August, so the posts of this blog will be pretty spotty until then.  In fact, I doubt I will reccomend it to anyone until shortly before we leave.  However, until then, this blog will follow our preparations, and any tips we come up with on the way.

Our trip has grown from two months to three and a half, and we simply can't let it grow any further!  It was three months for a while, two for mainland Europe and one for the UK and North Ireland, but only a month seemed too short for this latter portion.  Our goal with this trip is to reall "be" in the places we visit.  Every trip around Europe I've ever been personally told about has been described as a "whirlwind."  They describe days of waking up, heading out with a camera, and photographing landmarks.  Every day.  However, my old high school history professor, Mr. Zippi, keeps a photo of a little room with a window and a sink on his classroom wall.  He took this photo from his bed upon waking up, in Paris, to an entirely free day.  He claims there is nothing better.  This is the type of trip we want to have.

Our plan is to only schedule one purposeful excursion per day, and include what we have termed a "chill day" besides that.  We want to explore museums and stand beside landmarks, but we really just want to be there.  Most mornings (which must cease to be most mornings pretty soon, if we want to save up for our trip),  my brother and I head to Bru, our coffeehouse, and just relax.  We often talk, but sometimes we are quiet, and sometimes Matty destroys me at a game of chess.  Our dream is to wake up in Warsaw and wander to a corner coffeeshop.

So, our dream is six nights in most mainland cities, and four nights in each Island city.  Though I'm pushing for more on the Isle of Skye.  Anyone who knows Matty and I will align urbaness with him and rurality with me.  And Skye presents the most likely chance of proving my second sight.  And yes, I did name this blog.  Anyway, that's the dream, and we're goimg to do our best to make it happen.