Trials and tribulations of a 50 year old in a Youth Hostel….

Perhaps the most telling difference between staying at a 4 star hotel compared to a youth hostel is when you enter the establishment. The lingering sweet sticky smell of smoking herbs that fill your nostrils and chill you out puts you in a relaxed mood.

So you engage with the youth, easy conversation like “have you spoken to your parents recently, I’m sure they would appreciate a call”. The atmosphere can change so quickly becoming hostile almost so Rach and I decide to show the youth our rings. The site of our battered and well worn rings lets them know that we are married and of a different generation and things settle down.

We converse more freely, however the youth wants no talk of Brexit, Trump or the Middle East. They have been travelling and living this free life of bank of M and D to worry about such things. Instead we engage in more appropriate conversation like “what’s your favourite song?, country visited? and so on. All was going so well right up to when Rach blew their minds. What was she thinking when answering what’s your favourite animal or bird? Why did she mutter those words “ well I love a Cockatoo”!!

I must say sharing a dorm and it’s culture was something I was keen to do but 2 hours of spin the bottle with Rach and the other 4 lads in the dorm ended up not being quite the hoot I was hoping. So we called it a night. I pulled the curtain back on my single bunk and climbed in. I’m not sure if the excitement of the day had got to me but i had a hard one, in fact as hard as I had had for many a decade. It’s difficult to get comfortable when the mattress is that hard but I knew I was going to have to try as now the most competitive of games was to begin.

It’s not the person who falls asleep first that necessarily wins, its the person who farts and snores first that wins. After all in a dorm of 6 people only the farter and snorer actually sleeps while the others all suffer. I did for sure and spent much of the night frantically tossing, no space to turn but trying to get some sleep.

Needless to say Rach slept well……. she might not of woken up full of beans but it was evident she went to sleep full of them.

Dear older reader, don’t be put off by the thought of the youth hostel and it’s culture, embrace our up and coming generation. Oh and good luck.