Hostels are the biggest thing that
has occurred in decades for budget travel.
Just when it seemed like international travel was an activity becoming
reserved for upper class dining and whining in overpriced resorts, and when a
backpack was becoming nothing more than a fashion statement for dot-com
jillionaires to hide their valuables and their vulnerabilities, the explosion
of hostels in the last few years has once again leveled the playing field and
made travel possible for almost anybody and everybody with the desire and the
disposition. Accommodations ARE the most
expensive part of travel, after all.
Hostels have long been around, of course, at least in Europe,
but those were youth hostels. These are
hostels for backpackers, and flashpackers, too, their more upscale urban
cousins. There’s a world of
difference. Now Internet is a standard
feature, computers available for free or for rent, and many a flashpacker with
smartphone or laptop. It’s not just Europe now, either, or just youth. It includes the whole world, and it’s a way
of life. If it’s a cool place to visit,
then there will probably be a hostel there by now, staffed by local people, all
with at least a working knowledge of the English language. You can easily organize a trip and stay in budget
hostels the whole way the whole time now.
This book will help. It’ll also
tell you the history and major attractions of each place. C U in Helsinki,
or Inverness, or Lisbon,
or…?
