Jaunted - Tag: Hostels

Cape Town: South Africa Field Trip: Cape Town Basics

Jaunted — 2008-09-29T16:00:35-05:00

Our Southern Africa embed Jill Nawrocki recently ducked out of Namibia for a field trip to South Africa.

Being on a budget can really narrow down your choices. But luckily, Cape Town is a big city with lots of options when it comes to accommodations and dining. (Even for those who are broke!)

Chintsa: World's Best Hostels: Buccaneers Backpackers

BS — 2008-08-12T09:45:08-05:00

Dirty rooms, dirty dishes, dirty hippies... we've all stayed there. But every once in awhile you stumble upon a unique hostel that makes you realize why some people never graduate to the hotel scene.

Buccaneers Backpackers in Cintsa, South Africa is one of those spots. Set in the middle of the Wild Coast, the country's least developed bit of beach, Buccaneers has a location that screams future four-star hotels and makes you want to stay as long as possible before it gets touristed-up.

Skip the dorms and grab one of the two-person safari tents, which come complete with beds. Mounted on individual wooden decks, the tents overlook the mouth of the Cintsa River as it flows into the warm Indian Ocean. Starting at R90 ($10) a person, you'd be hard-pressed to find a cheaper room with this view anywhere in the world.

Related Stories:
· Buccaneers Backpackers [Official Site]
· Hostels coverage [Jaunted]
· South Africa Travel coverage [Jaunted]

Hostel Intent

AVB — 2006-04-10T12:07:21-05:00

Remember when we mentioned that adults were spending more time in hostels? No wonder, now that the truth comes out: It's not that they were so interested in slumming it, but that hostels are getting fancier by the minute. Aussie and Kiwi hostels, anyway.

Base Backpackers has locations in Wellington, Sydney and Melbourne and was named one of the top ten "hippest hostels" by Lonely Planet this year.Perhaps it's because they don't treat their residents like dirt, a welcome change from many cheap accommodations.

Unlike regular hotels, which still don't know how to cater to the ladies, Base offers a women-only floor called "Sanctuary", which has free Aveda hair care products, down pillows and hairdryers. For the men, there's a basement bar to pick up the well-rested, perfectly coiffed ladies staying in the hostel with them.

If only there were metrosexual hostels...we need mousse when we travel, damn it!

[Image via *rafaella/Flickr]

Related Stories:
·   Cheap Chic [SF Chronicle]
·   Back in the Arms of a Girlfriend [Jaunted]
·   Strange Bedfellows [Jaunted]

Strange Bedfellows

AVB — 2006-02-09T13:35:41-05:00

Want to sleep in the same room as some rowdy Australians, but don't have a passport? Maybe you should consider staying in a hostel in the U.S. of A. Hostels don't have to be an unpleasant experience abroad anymore. No sir, there are plenty here at home as well.

And not only are there gobs of them to go around, but they're full of old people, according to the Washington Post. Baby boomers are apparently so desperate to recapture their youth that they are yearning for communal showers while they travel. They can have them, as far as Jaunted is concerned.

See, this is why we only go on getaway weekends with Oprah. She'll protect us from learning something about other cultures or getting drunk and making out with that smelly Dutch girl.

[Image via atanas/Flickr]

Related Stories:
· Hostel Sleepover [Washington Post]

Hostels Going Yuppie

johnrambow — 2006-02-03T10:40:03-05:00

Running at a loss, the Youth Hostels Association, which runs hundreds of them in England and Wales, is closing about 30 hostels but going upscale with many of the others. More and more of the YHA's British audience has been heading to the Continent instead (blame the cheap airfare), and for lots of people, a dorm-like room without a bathroom just doesn't cut it anymore. The newly yuppified hostels will have features such as private showers, Fair Trade coffee, and local produce and booze served at mealtimes.

Related Stories:
· Hostel dorms to make way for en suites and fine wine [London Times]
· Youth Hostels Association [Official site]