Thoughts on Hostels... particularly the NY one!

The reason I haven’t posted much on NY yet is that the silly hostel we were staying at in NY only had one computer! Needless to say it was difficult enough to get time on it to check my email let alone find the time required to update my blog. So I didn’t. Now we’re in Boston and back in a Hostelling International hostel so there are way more computers! Hostelling International may be more expensive than the independent hostels but at least you know what you’re getting – there seems to be a reasonable standard.


That said you really can’t beat $27 per night for a bed in NY so I wont complain too much. Even though the phrase ‘not enough room to swing a cat’ instantly comes to mind. The bathrooms were seriously tiny. For example, if you wanted to get out of the toilet stall and go to the sink you actually had to walk out the door into the corridor because there wasn’t enough room to get round the toilet door with the door to the bathroom closed. It was an experience! Keep in mind that these were shared bathrooms – one female one for the whole floor! You could fit a max of 2 people in there at one time.

Our Hostel in NY was in Harlem. It was called the 5th Ave Spot which sounded promising until you realise that 5th ave goes all the way up Manhattan Island! It’s definitely and ‘interesting’ part of NY! It’s older and the part we were in was definitely quite run down but everyone was really friendly especially the lady in Starbucks (I was suffering from tea withdrawal). Last time I posted I mentioned that Nick and I were going out for proper NY pizza. Well the one place that my guide book suggested was not far from us in Harlem so we headed off there. It was quite funny! I think Nick was way more nervous than I was walking there and back. We got some odd looks from people because we were definitely out of place there but it was 6pm and light and not too bad! I felt much safer there than I do walking around town in Durban.

The restaurant was very unpretentious to put it mildly! There were plastic cups and plates (metal cutlery though) and paper on top of the tablecloths. When we walked in we could tell it would be good though because the clientele were definitely not your Harlem locals! And it was - the pizza was awesome! It was huge (16”) but with a very thin base. They served it on the metal trays it was baked on and when it arrived it was piping hot. I just had a basic Margarita with garlic and fresh basil and I can honestly say it was one of the best pizzas I’ve ever had.

And in case you were wondering – no I didn’t finish it!