Reviews

Galaxy Guest House (Hachijojima, Japan)

Perched on the side of one of the mountains, this guesthouse overlooks the ocean, with fantastic night views. Run by two gorgeous cats (one of whom spent each and every night on my bed, you must be a cat lover to stay here!), it was the perfect place to unwind to of a night. Keiko is the perfect host, and speaks impeccable English, making it all that much easier for a non Japanese speaker! She also knows the best onsens in town!

The guesthouse is Keiko’s house, and you have access to her kitchen and her television area. Best of all, you have access to the balcony, which gives you beautiful views of the stars of a night. A car is needed to get around the island, but they are cheap to hire and Keiko will take you to the hire place (you will need an international license to hire a car in Japan). Driving on Hachijojima is slow and easy, with plenty of onsens and natural views to see. I cannot emphasise enough how much I LOVED my time here.

Chester Backpackers Hostel (Chester, United Kingdom)

We stayed here in October, in a large dorm room. Facilities were great – the rooms were clean, so too were the bathrooms and the kitchen. The lounge was relaxed, a great place to meet travelers and watch TV. The problem occurred just after we’d gone to bed – at about 1 am a completely crazy guy walked into the room, and proceeded to spend the rest of the night yelling and swearing and getting onto his bed and off the bed. It was disturbing, to say the least. Apart from this incident, it was a decent hostel, although it kind of scared us off.

York Backpackers (York, United Kingdom)

We stayed here in October, in a female dorm room. There were no locks on the doors, but I put some belongings in the safe, and was impressed with the way they handled it (took my name, made me sign when it was returned to me, gave me a card with a number, much better than some other hostels). Rooms were clean, as was the kitchen, the toilets and the showers. Showers were ok, although the water pressure wasn’t the best in the world. Sheets were clean, although extremely hard to sleep in.

The location was good, a close walk into the main center of town. Overall, it is good hostel, worth the money. As a side note, I recommend the ghost tour that leaves from the Minster, was only £2 (student), very interesting and enjoyable.

Bath Backpackers (Bath, United Kingdom)

I stayed here twice in October, in a 10-bed female dorm room. The dorm rooms were clean and fairly big. Toilets and showers were clean, as was the kitchen. The TV room was warm and cozy, and had a great atmosphere. The internet wasn’t working when I first stayed; it was working the second time, but I didn’t get a chance to find out rates.

I returned to Bath to do a tour of Stonehenge (I did a Mad Max all-day tour and highly recommend it). Overall my stay was a great experience. The only problem was that there were no bathrooms on our level, so we had to go down (and then back up) two flights of stairs to go to the bathroom.

City BackPackers Hostel (Stockholm, Sweden)

Great hostel, once you find it (our own fault, we arrived late at night and forgot to bring a map; we only had written directions). Rooms were very clean and secure (each room had its own door code). The rooms had lockers (bring your own lock), and comfortable beds. The kitchen area was good and free pasta kept the crowds happy (on more than one occasion I saw some guys tucking into a plate of plain pasta with no sauce). The free Internet was great; they had six computers available, meaning you were able to get on the computer whenever you wanted. Bathrooms were clean and plentiful (although the showers only had curtains, no lockable doors).

The only problem we had while we were there was the fact that the dryer wasn’t working, so we couldn’t do any washing. Overall a great place to stay, and I wouldn’t hesitate in recommending it.