h Shore News - 27 a Hostels are more than just a cheap sleep Sensible travelling advice offered MIDLIFE WAS barking at Janet Thomas’ heels when she discovered her first hos- tel. Life, she felt, had become complicated, and she took to escaping her routine job by going exploring on week- ends. David Wishart One day she came across a hos- tel in a lighthouse and stayed the weekend. The setting was perfect and So was the company, several foreigners including a Dutch family who frolicked foudly in a hot tub (this was California). Everyone was at home in the kitchen, there were people to meet :- and books to read, even a place to sleep, and the cost for this wonder- ful experience was just $7 a nijsht. Thomas went home hooked on hosteling, and so will you after reading her new book At Home in Hostel Territory (Alaska Northwest/Raincoast, $17.50), one ’ of the best travel books to cross my desk ina long time. It’s important to understand that hostels describe an attitude rather than a place. They are to travellers what hotels are to the traditional tourist. Housekeeping chores are shared and work is sometimes available in lieu of payment. Smoking and “drinking are not usually allowed inside. What you generally get is a kitchen, showers, public phones, a storage area (sometimes lockers), a i onsde GIVING HOLIDAY CRUISE Hotiand America Line Rotterdam can. $349 pepe inside cabin can, $389 pps. outside cabin ® Oct.10~ Vancouver to Portland by § motor coach. 2 nights accommodation at the 7 Portland Hilton. 4 & Oct.12~Sail from Portland to § : Vancouver at 11am ie wt.13~Arrive in Varicouver at g common lounge area, separate men’s and women’s dorm rooms, a laundry room and information board. The board, or desk, is to a hostel what a concierge is to a hotel, and is the key to finding out what's on in the area. Then there's the other travellers, who usually include somebody who's been where you're going. Better still, you may be able to find companions for the road. Hostelling is perfect for solo trav- ellers because it can offer the free- dom of unhindered movement by day with the chance of finding com- pany in the evenings at the next hostel. Young Australians and New Zealanders are perhaps the greatest travellers, and British, German and Canadian young people are great wanderers too. Americans, strange- ly, are rarely found off the beaten track, at least in Asia and Europe. And although hostelliag is often thought of as a passage around the world, the fact is that there are many good places right here in our backyard. Thomas lists places in California, Washington, Oregon, Alaska and B.C., located in wilder- ness areas, smal] towns and cities. One is Fiddlehead Farm at Powell River where, for a daily charge of $18 and two hours of farm chores, you get a bed and all of your meals. You can also use the canoes, sit in a sauna, learn to bake, milk the cow and meditate. Some places will accept labor in place of money— a useful consider- ation if you're low on funds. In Kamloops it costs $13.50 to stay in the Old Courthouse hostel, and the building is just that, the courtroom being the dining room and lounge, complete with judge's bench and jury box. They say that Mighty Moe’s Place is a must-stop on the Cassiar Highway, even if it’s just for a cof- fee with the old Yukon trapper who runs the place. Thomas says this is the kind of hostel you can write home about. ven submitted WHO KNOWS what awaits travellers at the next hostel over the hill? information and compan- jonship often come with the low cost of a bed and breakfast. Almost every hostel, not to men- tion the operator, has a story to tell. Tom Baker’s Brown Squirrel hostel in Newport, Oregon, was formerly a church, and the Sanborn Park hostel in Saratoga, California, is a regis- tered historic place. (Many hostels are independents.) Thomas gives sensible advice on how tv approach hostelling, and confesses that she had some restless nights learning to share sleeping quarters with women she did not know. Now a seasoned hosteller, she sees it as an adventure that attracts people of all ages, not all of them poor. As the operator of the Sea Star hostel at Bandon, Oregon, who had travellers from 70 nations in a year, said, “A hostel is not just a cheap Book your Princess Cruise with us and receive your luxurious terrycloth robe compliments of your Thomas Cook/Marlin Travel agent ... call today. Thomas Cook Travel PARK ROYAL S (Inside Eaton’s) 926-5555 Martin Travel PARK ROYAL 922-9301 LYNN VALLEY 964-4545 PARK & TILFORD 980-9766 sleep, it’s a unique opportunity to meet and exchange ideas with peo- ple from around the world.” Regional office of Hostelling International is 1515 Discovery St., Vancouver, V6R 4K5, 684-7101. 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