NOT EVERY WHERE
Every country needs to have hostels. It wasn’t until our international travels began several years ago that the hostel lifestyle became quite enjoyable with memorable experiences. In the beginning of our travels we stayed either in lodging provided by host families and organizations that exchanged room and board for my services, or an occasional hotel. While traveling there were often times where a yoga studio, meditation temple, restaurant or museum were a common stop. Those were places where we would meet others who were aligned with attaining enlightenment or some sort of transformation into a higher state of consciousness. Occasionally there would be the grocery store patron that would engage in conversation, although rarely would such interaction occur at a hotel.
Eventually the decision was made to stay in a hostel that offered private rooms at a huge fraction compared to hotels and the AirBnB type lodging. Traveling on a budget, lodging can quickly consume a large percentage of funds and this can become an issue if one fails to remain attentive. The first hostel room rented was a private room for three days/two nights. People from across the world stayed at the hostels and many conversations were held in the kitchen, corridors, and shared common areas. In the beginning I was concerned about guests pilfering and soon realized that practically all visitors had maximized content in their backpacks because everybody traveled light and there was no room in peoples’ backpacks to stow away any items belonging to other backpackers. We would have been more concerned about the staff at the hostels than travelers, however as long as the staff was treated respectfully there was never a problem. Our experience was that many backpackers, travelers and staff always wanted to “gift” something following a deep conversation whether it was in the day while visiting museums, or into the wee hours of the morning.
Throughout our travels to several continents and tens of countries, some of our most cherished and memorable experiences involved people who were met and had already been staying at the hostel, or at the counter during check-in. There were those from a variety of lifestyles who had many reasons for their travels. One thing in common that nearly all of them had was that they were “seeking the truth” or “finding themselves.”
It was an honor to listen to their story whether it was at a restaurant table, a bedroom, a museum, or a beach. There is something about being present to witness people’s transformations and actively listen to them sharing significant parts of their life that brought them joy, taught a lesson, or working through a period of grief. Shortly after several years of meeting people from all around the world, of all ages and demographics, and filling the role of “therapist” (and I mean that in the most loving way), there were endless realizations. The greatest realization is that every single person on the face of this planet has experienced trauma that had been debilitating or nearly debilitating, and we are all seeking understanding at the very least and, almost always, healing. Often times the healing may be considered unorthodox and maybe even far evolved from the mainstream. We all have our own way to obtain that goal, our destiny. Much of it comes through self discovery, none of which we can be judgmental as we have not lived that other person’s life.
Below is a list of some of the hostels visited during my travels. I would definitely stay at most of these facilities again. Those where second thoughts or absolute “not” is explained in the comments.
