CHECKING IN: HOSTELLE, AMSTERDAM

Having had security buzz us through the glass doors, the first thing that struck me about the hostel was its likeliness to a teen sorority house. Pyjama-clad girls were lounging on the sofas tapping away on Macbooks and wrapped up in blankets sipping coffee, with latin music playing on the speaker by the massive Bluray collection. If this were a high-class hotel they’d label it boutique and add three £0s to the price tag. Fine art was strung up and down the hallways, each piece designed by a local artist. This was a chic, style-strewn hostel without pretension.

HOSTELLE: A HOSTEL FOR BEGINNERS

I’m not going to lie to you, when I book accommodation away I always un-tick the little box labeled “hostel”. I’ve always thought, why would I want to share a room with 20 complete strangers in a dusty room where my possessions go walkabout in the night, and I’m woken by rustling sheets and moans from the neighbouring bed? However, finding myself having booked a last-minute trip to Amsterdam to realise that there were no lovely cushy hotels to bed down in, I was met with the strained reality that I was going to finally face a hostel. Honestly, I miss it already.

“If you want to get up at 3am to cook scrambled eggs in the [extremely well equipped, well designed] kitchen, then go ahead – just don’t use all the spices.” I’m sure I just stared back at the guy behind the reception desk, a look of utter confusion on my face. Crossing over into this shiny new world of hostels where you’re enveloped into a homely little community, being offered leftover food from someone’s cook or getting asked to flick the kettle on, you’re constantly reminded that this isn’t hotel territory anymore, homeboy. Holland in Winter is bordering on unbearably cold, but the atmosphere is very much warm.

A COMMUNITY WITHIN A COMMUNITY

It’s an entirely new attitude to which confronts you in most city life, let me tell you. Faced with free pasta, care products, a book and clothes exchange, and hospitality matched by no other, it’s hard not to fall in love with life at Hostelle. The people are all lovely, and the surprise of which random thick accent will greet you at the door is a delightful little novelty.

FALLING IN LOVE WITH THE CONCEPT OF HOSTELS

Despite being skeptical before, this female-only hostel was probably the best introduction I could have had to hostel life. We spent our evenings curled upon the blanket-laden sofa, drinking free green tea and reading and painting to the hum of Spanish music and distant voices uttering languages we couldn’t name, or chatting to each other in lamplight, ushering forward tales of old towns and new places to jot down on bucket lists. Located in a safe neighbourhood only a train ride from the heart of the hustle and bustle of the city, even the area couldn’t have been more perfect. A morning commute filled with Cinnabon stores and markets – what more could you want?

The perfect place to sit back and chill after a busy day in the city centre, Hostelle, it’s been aangenaam. 

Have you guys ever stayed in a hostel that made you fall back in love with the travel community? Let me know in the comments below!