Hostels, Elder Hostels and hotels on the go

Hi, it sounds like an adventure! And positive attitude is important with travel. I've done just a few trips by train on UK trips. The lighter you can pack you will likely appreciate (light in my dictionary is down to 15 or so pounds). The less you carry, the easier to keep track of belongings on the train and traveling from station to hotel/hostel.

I don' t know of a resource for hostels for older folk, but I've an assumption that hostels labeling themselves as appropriate for families will also be appropriate for you.

A travel tip I've seen more than once is to book first night and last night, then do everything in middle on the fly. Seems good advice. The tourist information stops can help with this issue, I believe.

Do a little shopping when looking for a hostel. While few if any are dedicated to seniors, some work out better than others for the quieter crowd. Look for the words "fun" and "party" in the description to know what to avoid. I have stayed at the YMCA in Bath, England several times. My rooms had two twin beds, but I rented them as "singles." The place is clean, institutional, and reasonably inexpensive. They serve a simple free breakfast and an inexpensive lunch. The bathroom is segregated male and female, and is down the hall. No problem there. Bath also has a hostel called the White Hart on the hill behind the train station. It was inexpensive and breakfast was DIY.

Old farts pile in with the young twerps, that way everybody learns more.

Some hostels have a room for two, maybe a couple of them. They seem to fill up a bit slower than the dorms, but they do get full. You can find an empty B&B in a split second, you can find a full hostel in the same amount of time -- a couple of weeks out is not too soon to pick a place. Weekends are especially a full-up time.

Dorms may be gender-segregated, so may the shower facilities -- maybe fifty-fifty, but everybody sleeps in shorts and t-shirts so it doesn't matter. The room of common showers almost always have a pre-cubicle into each stall so you have enough privacy.

Most have quiet hours in the dorms that start at some reasonable time. What goes on down in the courtyards and common room is mostly just people talking. I've never ever been in a place that had a bunch of drunks or loud music at anytime of the day -- everybody's too busy going about their business.

Also, I've never come across the stereotypical thievery that you read about. Nobody locks their stuff and there's enough unattended tablets and laptops sitting around on chargers while people are out for the day to start an electronics store. There seems to be more outlets in the common rooms -- walk in there in the middle of the night and you don't need to hit the light switch for all the LEDs. Somebody might move your stuff a few feet to get a turn on the outlet, but they won't do it without making sure that you're topped off first.

The UK has two large hostel affiliations -- Youth Hostel Association and Independent Hostels, the former generally pretty far out of town and the latter right in the middle of things. You can buy the full listing book for a few bucks at the first one or probably order it from somewhere.

Hostelz.com is the best place to start looking since it's a mega-search deal that wiggles through the other three or four big search engines. Typing 'hostel' into a zoomed-in area on google maps works about as well.

I'd say that your concerns are groundless. Last week I was in a fourteen bed dorm that was full on the weekend, during the rest of the week a girl in her twenties and I had the whole place to ourselves. Other than the fact that she humped me into the dirt (I was begging for mercy at twenty-five miles and she struck off on another loop the one day we walked together) we were able to work around the single bathroom just fine. Neither of us was uncomfortable with the age difference -- people are people.

Now what might be the bad part. If:

. you have a permanently inserted corn cob and want everything just so

. you travel with a guidebook and/or only know what's in it

. you just want to use the place as a stop-and-sleep

. you're self-centered about your own little excursion and don't want to hear the story of a plumber who had a heck of a time replacing a drain field in the rain last week -- or the gal from Finnland with a doctorate in biology coupled with a life-long study of the mating and migration patterns of South African penguins

You might fast become frustrated with the whole notion and give up after a night or two.

You have to bring something to the table besides yourself. Willingness to dive into a free-for-all head-first is a plus. A couple of spare languages helps -- I've switched to mostly German the last few days in the middle of West Nowhere, Wales.

Give it a shot. You might get hooked or you might run away in disgust from us riff-raff.

We have no second language skills - still cling to English like grim death. Ok, this all sounds fine. What I was most worried about is having to make reservations weeks ahead at hotels and then finding on the fly that we want to go on to another city. In July we sailed over to GB and back again on the QM2. We had brought the requisite baggage filled with tiaras, gowns, tuxedos and spanx - and then never opened that bag once. We didn't even go to the Britannia restaurant because it meant getting dressed up. Really frustrated our cabin attendant when we did laundry instead of attending the two balls. He thought we were nuts. Anyway, I think we'll do fine with an occasional hostel and B&B. Thanks for the help.

{Edit}
{Ed said (tongue-in-cheek), "A couple of spare languages helps -- I've switched to mostly German the last few days in the middle of West Nowhere, Wales." The reason for my comment below.}

As a mono-language person & of your age I would not worry about knowing a second language in Great Britain. Just know the brogue gets thicker (in general) the farther north you travel from London.

In my travels I have found there are foreign words common to English (cognates) that can help you pick up the content of what someone is saying in a foreign language. Check "cognate listings" online. In France a person said "salade" & I immediately picked up salad (= restaurant).

I wish you a happy journey!

Since your plan is to travel in the UK why has the discussion taken a turn to the need for a second language? English is the language of the UK except where Gaelic or Welsh is spoken and even then English is the lingua franca. Yes, there are regional accents but nothing more difficult for an American than southern US accents or perhaps a Maine accent.

My husband and I have done this many times...and during the height of the summer travel season. Once you're out of London we have found that it's relatively easy to find lodging on the fly. You should be able to do this in May. Hostels are great as long as you don't mind basic accommodation. We have never found a hostel that wasn't well-kept, clean and well-run. Yes, you will probably be the senior members of the guest list but there are plenty of people in the 40+ range. Most hostels have a selection of single, double, and family rooms. Our strategy is to spend a few nights in one place and then a day or two before we leave, call ahead and secure a reservation at the next place we decide to go, whether it be a hostel or a B&B. Some of the lower end or out of the way B&Bs end up being very similar in price to hostels especially if you are wanting the more private rooms at hostels so keep that in mind.

Anita makes an excellent point on the relative price differential regarding private rooms in a hostel and some B&Bs. I missed it since I use hostels only when traveling without adult leadership.

Norma, the language business has nothing to do with the hostel itself. People that stay in them are from all over. They might not be too franca in English. If you want to pick their brains you have to switch to their language or dig around for a middle one. Last week it was a gal from Berlin, a guy from around Hamburg, and an Austrian hiking group -- their English was marginal. Last year up on Lewis I did a lot of humping with two Chinese gals who spoke virtually no English. With me standing in the middle to translate back and forth with the Brits in the evening we all had a pretty good time and learned a lot from the exchanges -- much better than a couple of isolated groups with the same interests but no way to share perspectives.

Wandering around is about people -- not museums, cafés, and gelato.

Ed, I hadn't thought about the other hostelers being non-English speakers. The discussion had suddenly veered to the necessity of having a second language when travelling and since the OP is planning a trip by rail around the UK I found that a bit puzzling.

Yep. My little comment pushed the whole thing off on a tangent. Sorry.

But to go further since I don't know much about cognates, in Delta Wu one kind of shrimp, toothpaste, and goat butt are a slight inflection apart -- you'd have to be careful.

On the other hand, when I was a kid in Spain Mom never learned the language, but kept us fed, clothed, and the servants marching around by just sticking an 'o' on the end of everything.

Speaking of language, one has to be careful when using the word "hump" as a transitive verb. It has a different meaning than Ed intended, I think.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hump

Hump = walk until your eardrums are about to pop out, your lungs are full of jalapeños, and your knees are in your boots.

It makes the beer taste better.

Yes but as a transitive verb (with a person as the direct object) it means "have sex with".

That makes the beer taste better too.

Regrettably, I learned the word as a Marine, I guess.

We had no transitive verbs and very infrequent sex.

Thanks for the vocabulary explanation, Ed. Knowing the other definition, I had been wondering about you and the many young ladies mentioned.

The original question seemed to be concerned with age and gender. I probably emphasized the broads because those kids can hump / walk me into the dirt. I leave guys their age sucking air and breathing dust.

Thats for the unintentional guffaws Ed.,I did wonder if it was a mischevious UK/US slang thing you were trying to slip by..
Certainly reads different for those of us with a juvenille sense of humour over here.

These replies do run off into the most interesting directions. I understood the 'hump' in reference to walking although I did require a nitro under the tongue for a moment. thanks everyone, I feel a lot better about getting rooms on the fly now. Since we don't know all the train stops, and I have no real grasp of the concept of time, I want to just get on a train and then get off when we see something neat. We did take someone's advice and make a first night reservation in Stamford. After that we have to see Chatsworth house and Stratford and Bath and Port Isaac and Downton Abbey (yes I know it's not really called Downton Abbey). We've read about so many lovely little towns too, but we still have to figure out where they all are. We will end with four days in London too.

Speaking of London, on one of Rick's shows he mentioned a B&B where he stays when he's in London. Does anyone remember the name of that place? Thanks again to everyone.

Do you have a plan for Port Isaac? We were there last May. It was better than expected. But the train does not go there. We booked a taxi for four from the Bodmin Parkway station and that was fine. He had trouble finding our B and B but in the end a local pointed the way. It is a lovely place --- we walked the coast path, my husband swam in the harbor, we wandered all the back lanes of the village, and heard all the Doc Martin gossip from our hostess. Yes, they will film another season, next spring.

Ed, I was thinking you must be a real stud:)

Lola, I'm soo jealous - I'm a huge Doc Martin fan and would love to visit Port Isaac. We will be in GB in Nov, but I can't convince my husband….and November is probably not the best time.

On topic - we have stayed at a few hostels which were a great experience, however we did stay at one in Prague that was quite noisy late into the night. Learned my lesson and now pack ear plugs!

Thank you so much, Lola - that is valuable information. Do you recommend the B & B you stayed at, and what was it called? Thanks again.