We found these ‘definitions’ of ‘Hostels’ and ‘Hostelling’ on the BootsnAll Travel website (www.bootsnall.com) and we fully agree with their opinion.
We would like to share this with you, because this is also our POINT of view.....!
“What Are Hostels?”
”The dictionary defines a hostel as: a supervised, inexpensive lodging place for travelers. That's a good start, but here's the rest of the skinny.
Hostels
• Put you in contact both with travelers and locals – make new friends you didn't know you had
• Are for men and woman, old and young, rich and poor – all that matters is that you're a traveler
• Prove that good accommodation doesn't have to cost $300 a night
• Can be found anywhere, from big cities to the countryside to teeny islands that don't even get dots on the map
• Help you save money so that you can spend it on things more important than where you sleep
• Give you social and sleeping space, and often have cooking facilities, internet access, info on where you are and what's around, backpacker tour bookings, maps, informal "libraries", Australian accents (there's an unofficial traveling law that says there must be at least one Aussie per hostel per day), just to name a few other offerings
• Are awesome.
That's a bit more comprehensive. What it boils down to though, is that hostels are another means to having your trip, your way. They aren't a bottled-up, wrapped-in-cotton-wool condensed version of home; they are a vibrant and mellow mish-mash of people from all over, mixing right with the locals and their ways and means of life and living. They are much, much more than a place to sleep, and can be a distinct part of your trip, not to mention the source of more than a few stories and experiences.
(…) "Staying in a hostel", and "to hostel" (as a verb, an action) or "hostelling" aren't the same thing. You can stay anywhere. You can stay in a hotel, in a train station, the bog, it doesn't matter. Staying somewhere means nothing more than having for the night a place to leave your things, bathe, sleep, and maybe catch a meal. That's it.
To hostel, on the other hand, is more than just cadging a place to sleep. This is your trip, after all, and part of the thrill and fun of travel is the willingness to be open to things new. When you're going to stay somewhere, especially in a hostel, then you might as well go all-out and go full-blown hostelling. The difference?
Attitude. Hostelling has an attitude of openness attached to it, to new and different people and experiences. It's a willingness to share and take interest, to do your own thing but to see what happens out of nowhere too.
This is the main reason we think you should hostel, and why we enjoy it and why we hostel when we're on the road. But here are some more reasons, see which ones fit you and your trip:
Location (…), Affordability (…), (…) Interaction with others (…), Relaxed atmosphere (…). Really, any reason is a good reason. Most people have their own, a unique reason why they hostel. What's yours? There's only one way to find out.....”
While in Lima Arequipa or Cusco, stay @ The Point! |
