Dover Castle Hostel (London)

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While in London I stayed at Dover Castle Hostel. It was the first one I found and I was able to buy a bed on a walk-in; and they offer good weekly rates…so I stayed. After three weeks in town – I didn’t plan on sticking around that long! – I really wanted to move to another place but was unsuccessful. Couchsurfing is a bust (good luck trying to secure a host in London!); Hostel 369 et al. (there are three of them) is simply a money-maker run by people who couldn’t care less about running a comfortable hostel – and who don’t even answer their own phone line – and St Christopher’s Inn is way too corporate and accepts only guests with bank cards. I’ve already written about them here.

one of the first hostels where I’ve not found a place within to read and write…and very, very stingy lighting

Dover Castle is a nice enough hostel with free wi-fi, comfortable beds, clean facilities, hot showers. The staff is friendly and helpful. Its operation is organized and professional and the building is a mere block away from the Borough tube station (walking across the street in direction of the backside of the nearby church). A lot of French people work here (but they are friendlier than the French people you might encounter in France); and there are even two black men on staff! On the ground floor is a real pub, meaning it’s open to the public, and guests receive one free welcome soft drink.

A big minus to Dover Castle is its tiny Commons Area which also serves as the kitchen. Rather than use a room for T.V. and lounging separate from cooking and eating the hostel prefers to squeeze in as many beds as possible thereby making more money. 

The television is never loud enough to hear but this perhaps owes more to the group of Italian and Spanish guests who insist on having the television on regardless of watching it and downright prefer to shout over it rather than turn down the volume or simply off. Go figure. Dover Castle is one of the first hostels where I’ve not found a place within to read and write…there are no study or dining tables (only two coffee tables) and very, very stingy lighting. The sister hostel, The Cricketer, is one tube station away and is even worse. 

Dover Castle has good weekly rates

For long-term lodgings - it also has good weekly rates - The Cricketer serves the most basic purposes – bed and linen, hot water, lockable doors – of having a cheap place to live while working or looking for work in the City which is good; but the long-term lodgers seem… shall we say, unhappy and unmotivated. I find its atmosphere depressing. Cold and depressing. Who wants to be around that?

Cheers!    

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Renting in London? Dream on...!

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Renting a place in or around town is far from easy or affordable. Aside from the multitude of rent scams proliferating on the Web targeting newcomers for whom London post codes are Greek – 300 pounds sounds reasonable to me! Doh! You mean the median rent in this neighborhood is 950 pounds?! – there is simply the high standard of living which, compounded by requirements of a deposit plus two months rent paid in advance, makes getting your own place the thing of fairy tales. This year is even worse thanks to the coming Summer Olympics: renters are jacking up rates (and evicting tenants) to cash in on the Games.

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London iconic telephone booth

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St Christopher's Inns doesn't take cash payments (London)

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Sell out. That's one of the better ways to label the hostel franchise St Christopher's Inns. You know how laughable it is for Jennifer Lopez to claim she's still down-to-earth Jenny from the block? Switch the celebrity for a brick-and-mortar business and you get my drift.


I've stayed in St. Christopher's Inns in, both, Berlin and Paris and never incurred a problem buying a bed if there was vacancy. But such was not the case in London. Unlike most stupid young people I don't use credit cards. I pay for everything in cash and upfront because - guess what - much of the world commerce still does use hard currency.

this policy of London St. Christopher's Inns is not at all in the spirit of youth hostels

I walked over to The Village, one of the hostels on High Borough Street, to book a bed for the week and asked if they had a weekly special rate. They had but.... I found it very odd that the reception could not take my booking then and there; she gave me a card and informed me to call the booking office. I did. But the telephone rep wouldn't make a reservation unless I had a bank card of some sort. Really?! Wow, let's complicate life by making the simple complicated! What did hotels ever do before the invention of call centers and invisible money (credit)?

to turn away my business just because I was equipped to pay cash is amazing

This particular policy of London St. Christopher's Inns is very short-sighted and not at all in the spirit of  youth hostels. That the hostel would turn away my business just because I was equipped to pay cash is amazing -- and stupid.

Thankfully, London is a big, big city with plenty of other budget hotels who, unlike this corporate-minded establishment, gladly accept credit cards AND cash. In the meantime I'll write a complaint letter to the appropriate gov't bodies to see if this practice is even legal. 

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Oxford, England

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Went up to Oxford last week. I took the bus, which makes frequent runs to the town, and paid only 14GBP; even bought my ticket on the day of the trip with no price increase. It takes just under two hours to reach Oxford.


Of course I visited the university campus and also went to the theatre to see "Tis Pity She's A Whore". Can you believe that play is over 400 years old?! Sounds just like one of our running reality television shows! Upon coming out of the theatre the streets were already being freshly covered with snow. It looked pretty but I wasn't too glad to see it or feel it. I hate the cold!


The nearby hostel, Oxford Backpackers, wasn't much warmer either. Damn manager is a cheapskate who takes energy conservation a little too keenly...Commons area (translation: wi-fi reception, television, comfortable couches and tables) was cold as a witch's tit! We had to wear our coats and hats indoors. Thankfully, though, the sleeping rooms DID have heat -- and I took the bunk right next to the radiator. Hello! I stayed three nights. At 18GBP (18 bed dorm) the cost of sleep ain't all that cheap; in fact, it was more than what I paid for in London.

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