The Worst Hostel Ever

School’s over, the students are gone, and we still have a few days before traveling. This has given me some quiet time to think, and I’ve been remembering some past traveling experiences I thought I’d share.
Worst Hostel Ever
The worst hostel I have ever been to was in Sydney, Australia in 2000 (or was it ’99?). I was coming down with a cold and we had one day to relax before our bus ticket so I wanted to take it easy. We had booked a double room but the hostel messed it up and Ryan and I were in an 8-person dorm instead. As we entered in the early afternoon there were 2 people sleeping. We tiptoed around and I was secretly happy at how nice and quiet everyone was. Ha! I have since learned to never trust people who sleep during the day (as it means they are up all night).
We went out for dinner, and returned to a more active room. The sleeping guys were up and playing loud music while going through their bags and chatting, two girls on another bunk were talking loudly and people were still coming in and unpacking. I wasn’t too worried, it was still early and everyone had that getting-ready-to-go-out vibe. I sat in my bunk to relax and read.
Well, the music never went off, instead it got louder as the hour got later. I was really tired, and not feeling well, so I put an extra sheet across the bunk so I could shield out some of the light and have a little privacy as I was trying to go to sleep. Of course I did nothing but getting crankier and crankier. The main perpetrators were a group of a few guys and after a few hours (maybe midnight-ish) Ryan asked them to turn down the music as I was trying to go to sleep. They turned it down only the slightest and then proceeded to make fun of us while we were still in the room.
I don’t know what time they eventually settled down, maybe 2 am, but the second they did two girls entered the room and proceeded to unpack what seemed like every little thing they had in their bag. And everything was wrapped in a crinkly plastic bag. I was near tears at this point in desperation to get a little sleep.
Finally, those girls settled down as well and what seemed like mere minutes later someone’s alarm went off. Two other girls hopped up at about four in the morning and proceeded to talk, at full volume, as they got dressed and packed. They left at about five.
At this point Ryan and I just gave up. We also got up, packed and left the hostel just as the sun was rising. We were in the Kings Cross area of Sydney which is a less savory part of town, and at five in the morning, when you see the drunks passed out in the McDonalds booths or throwing up in the alleys, it is especially depressing.
I proceeded to get a really bad cold and it took me almost a month to get fully better. (It didn’t help that our next stop was a sheep ranch and our sleeping quarters were a mattress on the floor of a drafty barn.) I don’t remember the name of the hostel, but it gets the distinction in my mind of being the worst hostel ever.
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