London Hostel/Cheap Hotel & Amsterdam Houseboat

Rick Steves list this hostel in his book and on this site. It is in Notting Hill:

$ Norwegian YWCA(Norsk K.F.U.K.) is for women under 30 only (and men under 30 with Norwegian passports). Located on a quiet, stately street, it offers non-smoking rooms, a study, TV room, piano lounge, and an open-face Norwegian ambience. They have mostly quads, so those willing to share with strangers are most likely to get a bed (July–Aug: Ss-£32, shared double-£30/bed, shared triple-£25/bed, shared quad-£21/bed, includes breakfast and sack lunch; Sept–June: same prices also include dinner; 52 Holland Park, tel. 020/7727-9897, fax 020/7727-8718, www.kfuk.dial.pipex.com, [email protected]). With each visit, I wonder which is easier to get — a sex change or a Norwegian passport?

The Oxford Hotel (http://www.oxfordhotellondon.co.uk) is an option. Its actually in Bayswater and close to Kensington Gardens. Its also close to a stop for the double decker bus tours. Its quite affordable, comes with a continental (as opposed to English) breakfast, and has microwaves and refrigerators in all of the rooms.

The London Vicarage Hotel is more expensive than the Oxford, but its in the area you'd like. It's a great place.

There are more hotels listed in Rick Steves' guidebook as well.

Thx for the link to hihostels.com (I had been looking at hostelworld and didn't like the site much.) There is a hostel in the middle of Holland Park that used to be a mansion in the 1600's. If that doesn't sell, then the Oxford Hotel is definitely a great option.

I've looked at the houseboats site before but all boats need to be stayed in at least 3 nights and we only have time for 2 nights in Amsterdam. Bum deal.

Oh, well. The real struggle will be convincing my friends to pack lightly. They don't understand how laundry can be fun.

There are some good resources on this board for packing light. And once you've packed light you'll never go back! There are some brands that have rather nice synthetic/synthetic mix clothing that dry fast and actually looks nice which makes laundry easy (e.g. all you need is a sink, clothes line, and a couple of minutes). I managed three weeks in Europe with three short sleeve shirts and one long-sleeve shirt.

How many days will you be gone total? If you're only gone a short time (e.g. a week) you can pack light and avoid laundry.