One of the cutest little finds in Amsterdam was this all women’s hostel. It’s not quite in the centre of the city, more like south of it I would think. However, it’s easy to get to the city centre on the metro which is an easy 5-10 min walk away.
This was the first time I was staying at a hostel so I was quite apprehensive about the shared loo and all other “people-mingling” anxieties. BUT, it was all exactly that, just little anxieties that I have before I do something new!
The view from the dining area and looking out @ Hostelle
I loved it! I loved that my first encounter of strange new places was at a place where I would instinctively feel safe (yay to all women’s acco).
Our own little fears
Generally in Europe, it took me a while to get over the fear of walking alone on streets especially at night. Empty streets in the twilight are not the places I would venture out on in India, so it was like an instinctive hangover that I couldn’t quite shed.
It was interesting to note fears that we develop because of who we are, where we are from and our own past experiences.
When I was asking for directions to Hostelle, I remember a man getting concerned about the fact that it was in a “little unsafe” area. The way he said it made me worried about what I was getting into. I imagined a neighbourhood where I would have felt unsafe, I put in my filters. However while walking through from the metro station to the Hostelle, I realised the man’s fears were because the area had slightly more of an immigrant looking population. Here I was, happy to see people in groups, walking around this late in the evening, and he was scared because of his own fears about brown and black people!
If you want reviews for Hostelle, here it is in one small blurb!
All women, super clean (all the hostels that I stayed in Europe were clean btw). You can cook your own food if you want. The kind of place that lets you be who you are. The thing about staying in common shared quarters is that if you want to do something, you say hello. And if you don’t, then you do your own thing. No one really bothers you. You can stay an island unto yourself, while also being around fellow humans (me! me!). The best thing they did for me was that they let me keep my luggage after check-out for no charge. How sweet of them!
Check out this website for more details, including precise instructions on how to get there.
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