Adventures in Hostels ...

I've been traveling again for about a week, and it's time for Mandy's edition of .... Adventures in Hostels.

My first one was above a pokies bar/casino type thing. When I walked in to reception, they said "oh just head in to the gaming area, somoene should be there to check you in ... " Okay ... So I walk in to this casino with my backpack ... imagine walking aroud Vegas like that?! So on one side of the bar you have the casino or "pokies" area, where it's all slot machines, people sitting there drinking at 10am and trying their luck with the one-armed bandit. Cross over to the other side, and it's a gaming bar with betting on greyhound racing and other random things. Not the most logical place to have a backpackers, but there you go. The Backpackers occupied the floor above these bars, and so throughout the night you could hear people sreaming "go go go go go go gooooooooooooo you rippahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. woooooooooooooooooooooooooo" I guess that guy won. They weren't the best nights of sleep, but I survived.

Next I moved on to a place that made question what the Y in YHA stands for. In case you don't know, YHA stands for Youth Hostelling Association. It's a chain of hostels all over the world. You can often find them in small obscure places where other independent hostels don't exist. Such was the case with my next town. But what I've noticed is that these YOUTH hostels tend to attract a ... how shall I say ... more mature crowd. I was the youngest person there by nearly 20 years. And I generally feel old going going in to hostels. In this particular one, there was a 60+ lady who had been there for a month, figuring out her life, etc; a late 40s man also there a month, after a life-change move from Melbourne, staying there whilst waiting to buy a house; a couple in their 70s on a driving holiday; and another guy who was in his 40s-60s (hard to tell with some people) who was just there hanging out. He started to try to impress me with stories then told me how he once "took up with" a German girl and traveled with her for a bit. I thought, "uh-oh, he's trolling for another girlfriend" so I immediately talked about my boyfriend! I made a quick getaway and made sure my door was locked! But long story short, what is it about the YHAs that attract the older crowd? Don't get me wrong, I love me some more mature people, and to be honest prefer them to drunk 19-year-olds, but this was insane! I think everyone had their lights out by 9pm!

And speaking of creepy guys, I wonder if boy travelers have the same problem that us girl travelers have. I guess the idealist in me thinks that usually when people talk to you they are being nice and don't necessarily have ulterior motives. However. The other day I was talking to a guy, friendly enough, as most locals around here are with travelers. But as soon as the conversation turned to "so are you married? have a boyfriend?" with my reply of "married, no; boyfriend, yes" he immediately reponded with "okay well have a good night." WHAT! I guess he wasn't "just being nice." I mean, I am always on guard anyway, but really, can people not just be FRIENDS! So boys, do you have this same problem?

But I digress. We were talking hostels. I moved on to the next town where I was blessed with a roommate who snored like a train. I am not lying. She snored louder than any man I have ever heard. It was so bad that the other girl in the room moved out in to the lounge room and slept on the sofa cushions. I wanted to follow. I had ear-plugs, but really that did nothing. It was one of the only times in my life that I thought suffocation might be a good idea (kidding). I have never had such murderous impulses as I've had the last two nights when all I want to do is sleep and all I can hear in the chainsaw breathing of my neighbour. Thankfully, she left today, so hopefully a good sleep is on the cards.

Aside from my interesting hostel adventures, I am actually having a really good time. It's been nice to get out of cold-winter-still-hanging-on Melbourne and head north. I am in Byron Bay now, where it is just chill, relaxing, and with good vibes. I stumbled upon Peace Day outdoor markets the other day, complete with the world's worst reggae band, followed by a better one, and drum circles and chai tents and lots of cool earthy chill stuff. Later I found a bar with another reggae band, so was the epitome of the happy mandy traveller!

Tomorrow I head off to Rainbow Beach, a 9-hour bus ride north, to get warmer still. It will be nice to get some beach time and reading time and relaxing time to quiet my mind before I head off to 10 days of noble silence on a meditation retreat ... ohmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.