The joys of staying in hostels

Unsurprisingly, it’s been another very wet day here in NZ. That meant a day of what I have dubbed “travel admin”. I got my laundry done, and booked shed loads more transportation and more importantly, more hostels.

On the topic of hostels, I was surprised that I have got this far without craving my own private room. Previously when I’ve done some form of travelling, I haven’t lasted a week without an internal scream saying that I need a room to myself for the night. This hasn’t happened yet which is weird. Maybe I am becoming more patient and accepting of my fellow travellers, being the patient, welcoming person that I am.

In saying that, last night was interesting. I am sharing a room with 5 others and I woke to a chorus of snoring in the early hours. While annoying, it was quite elegant in how the scoring choir was in sync with each other. I suspect that before I woke, I was a firm part of the snoring choir. Sadly, the ear plugs weren’t enough to cover the noise, so it was time to shove my noise cancelling headphones in my ears, and turn on my On Repeat playlist of Spotify. It did the trick.

Just to side track, I’ve bought those foam ear plugs with me that are yellow and pink and squish into your ears. I find them the best, but I wanted to make sure I had enough. I have a bag of at least 100 ear plugs, something which various fellow dormitory sharers have found very amusing. Sadly its not very environmentally friendly, however my quality sleep is more important.

The Fiji hostels were unsurprising, very basic but had everything you needed. For some reasons, I expected the New Zealand hostels to be really modern. I have stayed at a fair few hostels in Europe and they are so snazzy, I was really expecting here to be the same. But no, everything is really really dated, even though they do have everything you need. I have been told by others that this is same throughout the country, old school hostels.

So bring it on!

Still no plans on that private room yet, but I suspect I’ll crack at some point. Although the triple price tag is just something I can’t accept right now.

Anyway, it’s off to Taupo tomorrow, where I am hoping to go and hike over Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings (weather dependant).