Friendly Hostelling in the UK (Sisters In Europe, Part II)

Hope you are all enjoying the cooler, yet cozier, days of Autumn!  If you have never before traveled to Europe, may I recommend that you make your first trip there in the Autumn?  My first journey to England was taken during a September in the late 1980s, and I was treated to minimal rain and relatively small crowds at even the most popular sites. The Spring is nice, too, but you are more likely to have a wet (albeit still pleasant) visit during those months.

Another recommendation I like to make for travel, particularly in Europe, is to try staying in hostels.  You can check out websites such as hostelworld.com (the one I use most often) and try to find hostels with guest reviews that are mostly positive.  As a bonus, many hostels add considerable local character to your visit.  Many believe that hostels are only for young singles or backpackers, but I have seen more and more middle-aged and retired folks enjoying the communal vibe of hostels in recent years (we Boomers have not lost our sense of adventure, you know!).  If you are not jazzed by the idea of sleeping in a dormitory with 20-year-olds, you can find a good many very nice private and double rooms in hostels, and you won't always have to share a community bathroom.  

My sister Cynthia is an immensely social person, so I booked us almost exclusively in hostels for our European explorations.  For the most part, we found our hostel stays to be quite pleasant, with friendly staff and guests.  Frankly, I have had more bad experiences with hotels over the years than I have had staying in hostels, so I remain confident in recommending them.  Another bonus with hostels is they are usually much freer with advice and ideas for local exploration.  Only once have I been steered into the wrong direction by a hostel (more about that when I tell you about our adventures in Rome).

For our initial stop in London, I introduced Cynthia to the full-on experience of hostelling by booking space in a 10-bed dormitory at Clink-261 near Kings Cross Station.  Previously, I had had a pleasant stay in the same hostel back when it was named Ashlee House, and their redux is a nice modernization.  Here is a pic of the room in which we slept:

As you can see, the room is clean with security cameras.  Clink-261 also has smaller, less populated rooms, of course, along with free lockers, fresh towels, simple breakfast (toast, cereal, etc.), and a full kitchen for use by guests.

From London, we journeyed northward by taking a nice, comfy bus to the historic hot-spring-spa city of Bath, which is famous for its Roman bath ruins.  The original Roman bath has been tinkered with by British visitors over the years, but much of the original structures remain, and you can still drink water from the hot spring (and we did!).  

I don't take many "touristy" photographs, preferring to take photos of the whimsical and artful objects I encounter.  Here are a painted horse and a mosaic pig we found in Bath:

Cynthia and I enjoyed very much the friendly YMCA hostel in Bath, which I recommend highly for inexpensive, comfy lodging:

From Bath, Cynthia and I boarded a train to Manchester, where our paternal grandmother was born.  Manchester remains an industrial city full of hard-working people from all over Europe and beyond.  My next Europe-related post will provide a report about our experiences in Manchester and the suburb in which our grandmother was raised, Hazel Grove.

Cheerio, for now!

Annie

"To love is to act." -- Victor Hugo