7 things I love about Youth Hostels

a listicle that absolutely nobody asked for...

Morning!

I’ve been talking and thinking a lot about the things that bring energy and the things that take it away. Got myself into a state at the start of Sept, an emergency switch of plans with my partner to give me some space to breathe. It’s a shame it gets to the point where I can no longer complete simple tasks like making food or speak out loud properly for this to happen, but it’s a learning process. I know from looking through a more neurodivergent lense, these things have actual names; ‘executive disfunction’ and ‘shutdown’.

I am often completely confused about which things give me energy and which things extract it in a way that is hard to replenish, but I do have a failsafe that seems to work wonders- stopping in a youth hostel and going exploring on my own. I’m lucky to be able to do it and lucky to live so close to the Lake District.

This time I went for a place that is familiar; I knew where to park, where to swim and where to eat. If I’m less fucked I will be a bit more adventurous, i just didn’t want that this time.

I went for a walk around Elterwater and saw a massive tree that had uprooted and taken an entire square of paved pathway with it

.

I went for a swim in Loughrigg Tarn…

…then sat and ate my Bakewell Tart from Chesters, read for a bit, watched lots of first time cold water dippers taking the plunge.

There’s always a pervading sense of mum/wife-guilt when I do things like this, but the benefits of 24 hours of no responsibilities far outweigh the guilt in the end. I am a much better functioning person if I make time for this sort of thing.

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Reasons why I like youth hostels

1. They make sense to me. Hotels feel ok, but I always have that uneasy feeling of the behind the scenes stuff that needs to happen to make it a comfortable stay. All the tiny bottles of things that end up in landfill, all that laundry, all the waste etc. I don’t get that with youth hostels. (I know, I’m a fucking delight. Don’t get me wrong, I do love a hotel stay, I’m just saying this sort of stay feels more congruous to me.)

2. For someone who needs a lot of alone time but doesn’t necessarily want to feel alone, they are a great mix. People are there, they have plans, they are easy things to ask and talk about, should I choose to. There are general rules to the conversation there.

   “Where are you planning to go tomorrow?”

   “Where did you hike today?” and so on.

   This time, I chose not to, and spent a great 3 hours in the evening sat in the common living room reading my Luddites book talking to no-one.

3. I enjoy the buzz of people prepping or returning from a trip out. It makes for a nice atmosphere.

4. They are cheap. If I really need to, I can get a dorm bed for £15. As it happens, I really dislike being in a room with other people, so I’ll fork out the between £40 and £80 for a private room where possible. But that’s pretty much my only spend, and given that trips or nights out are fairly infrequent, it feels justifiable.

5. I know what to wear in these situations. Warm, waterproof, functional clothes. I usually HATE dressing myself.

6. You check in from 5pm. I can pretty much go after seeing the kids home from school, have an evening and then a day, back for tea time the next day, replenished and ready to plan the shit out of a billion mediocre school-night teas.

7. That being said, they are also great places to go with the kids. It feels a bit like camping, but easier. The same general vibe of feeling like it is good money spent, actual time together, games played etc. in a way that sometimes doesn’t click into place on an expensive holiday.

I highly recommend it as a course of action if you are able to find the time/money and are feeling a bit overwhelmed with life.

I’m trying to build up a bank of these things for myself; from longer overnight stays to a quick half hour movement to certain music in a dark-ish space. I’d love to know what your version of this is though. When you need to just hit the reset button, what’s your go to?

Have a great Sunday

Em x