Hostels Are Good for Grown-Ups Too

Many backpacking travelers are in their teens or 20s, but if you don’t have the chance to travel in your youth, don’t give up on the idea. Lesley Hamilton and Scott Mc-Inerney spent July backpacking in Europe. It was a birthday adventure for Lesley, who turned 40 this year, and her son Scott, who turned 13.

“I married very young, had children young and never traveled,” Lesley said.

Looking for something special and deterred by the cost of a week at a theme park, she chose to backpack through Europe for a month.

“It was awesome,” she said. “We never felt out of place anywhere.”

Carrying eight-day Eurail Flexipasses (https://www.raileurope.com), they booked their first five nights at a modest hotel in Paris and their last night at a hotel near the airport in Frankfurt, Germany. Then they set off through France, Italy, Switzerland and Germany, staying in hostels that offered separate family rooms and discovering some gems that would suit backpackers of any age. They also picked up tips on budget travel along the route. Their journey was not without its bumps, though.

“Scott got pickpocketed in Paris” as he stood in front of their hotel on their third day of traveling, Lesley said. “Two kids came up to him pretending to beg. One was begging for change; the other put his arm around him and inside his pocket. He lost $10.

“From that day on Scott always carried his passport, his plane ticket and his money in his pouch.”

From Paris, the pair went by overnight train to Chamonix, France, checking into Hostelling International Chamonix (https://www.fuaj.org). What made this hostel special, Lesley said, was “the diversity of the people in it. It’s such a climbing culture there.” Guests ranged from university students to mountain climbers in their 60s.

From Chamonix, they made an unusual entry into Italy by crossing the Alps in six gondolas, a tip she picked up from the guidebook “Europe Through the Back Door,” by Rick Steves (https://www.ricksteves.com). She chose the guidebook because “I wanted to backpack and I wanted to hostel, but I didn’t want to starve. I didn’t need those tips about where to eat dinner for two bucks.”

In Rome they stayed at Casa Olmata Hostel (https://www.hostelseurope.com), a historic building with a “crazy” atmosphere, where, Lesley said, “we couldn’t find our room for the first two days we were there. We always had to ask directions. It was full of teenagers and totally lacking organization, taking up to two hours to check in.” But it cost $12 per night and was just a five-minute walk from the Colosseum.

“Italy was tiring,” she said. “You’ve got a street light telling you to cross, and if you step off the sidewalk, there are a hundred motorcycles coming at you. In Venice, we got off the train and the lineup to check your backpack at the station was about an hour and a half long.”

One thing they wish they had known about Italy was that businesses shut down from 1 to 4 p.m. “Every shopping area is overrun by tourists, and nothing’s open. When you can’t go anywhere from 1 to 4, people need more time in which to do what they want to do.

“We caught on after a week. Every day, the first thing we did when we got to a new location was find the nearest park, [where] we’d spend two hours just lying around, going through the day, just chilling out. It’s hard to absorb everything you’re doing. Every third location we would take a break for a couple of days.”

One of the best hostels they stayed in was Chalet St. Martin in Gryon, Switzerland. “It was around $15 a night, and it was the most fun,” Lesley said.

“The kitchens were stocked with every spice imaginable, available to guests through a one-franc honor system. So you didn’t need to buy stuff that you really didn’t need. When you’re in Switzerland that’s important, because it’s so expensive. People pooled food and played impromptu chess tournaments.”

The hostel also has two vans and an adventure staff. “You sign up for an activity and they transported you and made arrangements.

“After navigating in Rome, this was a dream,” said Lesley, who used the hostel to book Scott on tandem paragliding in the Alps (about $100) and for a visit to local thermal pools. “If you book two nights at Chalet Martin, you’ll likely stay a week.”

“I’ve got the travel bug something bad now,” Lesley said. “We did that month like teenagers, and we went to an awful lot of locations. Next time we’ll pick one country.”

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Lucy Izon is a Toronto-based freelance travel writer. Her Web site is https://www.izon.com.