Hoping to save
dollars/pounds/euros along the way we knew we would have to stay in hostels,
and potentially share rooms with random strangers.
Walking into the dorm room the
first thing I noticed was the smell. Dearie me it stunk in there. A horrible
combination of BO and farts, which we kind of got used to. Is that gross?
In the 16 person dorm there
were three other Canadian girls of similar age, a couple, four other random
fellas, and an old man.
Freaking out over whether our
bags would be safe in the room, we checked out the gym change room style bathrooms.
Not terrible.
So far, so good.
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Imagine packing
this up in a 16 person dorm, impossibile
Relaxing in the room before
bed, the old man wanted to have a chat about life and his travels, before suddenly
whipping his pants off and standing there in his tightie-whities. Gross!
As we chatted among ourselves,
we could feel eyes on us. The old man, who we later referred to as Gramps, was
lying in his bed, craning his neck and looking up at everyone in the room. It
was a little weird, but he was harmless.
Exhausted after a day of
travelling we got ready for bed wondering whether the light would remain on all
night. The few hours we had been there
people slept, woke up, napped, rested, and woke up again, all with the light
on. I was wondering, ‘was it a sensor light?’, ‘does it even turn off?’
So when one of the Canadian
girls asked if she could turn the light off, I was joyous.
Ok. Showered and hair washed.
Bags packed up and valuables locked away. In bed safe up on the top bunk where
no one can touch me. Now to sleep.
Two minutes lying in bed with
the lights off and I hear someone at the door having trouble with their key.
After minutes of trying, he was still locked out. No way was I getting down off
my top bunk to open the door for this stranger.
Slowly and gingerly the person made it into the room. With my eye mask ensuring darkness and pretending I was asleep, I heard someone stumble, trip over a backpack, yelp, and then stop. He was leaning against Ash’s bed.
A few more minutes and he
threw himself into the bottom bunk below me. Or more like passed out into the
bed below me. I was praying he wouldn’t lean out of the bed and vomit on my
clothes or handbag.
I woke up hoping it was almost
time to wake up. Wrong. It was 1:30am. And someone was snoring unbearably loud.
It was Gramps. I wanted to throw my lumpy pillow at him.
The next time I woke it was time to get up. Lights still off,
everyone else still asleep, only two working power points in the whole room, and
I wanted to straighten my hair. This was not going to happen.
I picked up my straightener
and power adaptor and sat in the hallway of the hostel, using the cleaner’s
vacuum power point for the straightener, and the reverse camera in my iPhone as
a mirror. Genius.
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Now imagine pulling out all this stuff and more in a shared bathroom
Returning to the room I was
able to catch a glimpse of our drunken friend from the night before. He was
lying in bed, fully clothed and still wearing his shoes. Must have been a big
night.
He awoke asking the time. “Ah
breakfast time,” he said, and went down to the kitchen. We later overheard him
asking, “Anyone know a lawyer? I think I got punched in the ribs last night.”
Must have been a huge night.
Although it was a little out
of our comfort zone, Kinlay House Hostel in Dublin was actually quite nice. It
was clean and the bathroom facilities were more than fine. If we were worried
about leaving our backpacks in the dorm there were lockers and safes available
for hire for an affordable fee. A small breakfast of toast, cereal and coffee was
also provided.
It set us back around €22
each for Easter Sunday, much cheaper than the £55 each we paid for every night in
our budget hotel in London. Although it smelled funky in the room, I would
probably stay there again.
First night in a hostel and
mixed dorm, complete!
Almost professional traveller,
Nikki
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