Hostel Takeover

Some people are such creeps while drinking. We’re not all like that, promise!

You don’t sh*t where you eat. Not only a good guide line for dating at your workplace but also in shared sleeping quarters. Drunk Canada doesn’t sound like fun but there will always be jerks like this, especially in youth hostels in party cities like Barcelona. There is a reason why all the hostels offer dorms exclusively for females.

Maybe he’s one of these people that just doesn’t handle alcohol well…. particuarly as the girl he was travelling with didn’t seem to be concerned about him or raise any red flags with the OP.

Awful situation OP, just glad it didn’t escalate into something worse.

On behalf of Canada, I apologize for his behaviour!

You guys should really heed the red flags in this post before jumping to the side of OP. She was going out to clubs and bars every night, while in one of the most historic cities in the world. She’d rather drink and party way too hard than learn some culture. She partied so hard that she had to force herself to stay sober the next night. Then when she’s “sober”, she’s ignoring the feelings of her roommates. After her “date” started getting close to her, she went right into the arms of another man–that’s what it looks like to your “date” honey, you’d realize that if you weren’t being so detached and insensitive to other people, but I guess you were forced to stay sober. And then hiding behind closed curtains with another guy, so lucky your “date” didn’t find you in that position, but the fact is that avoiding problems never solved anything.

review, why are you always so freakin’ nasty? One can go to an historic site, visit the monuments and what-have-you, take a nap, and then go drinking and dancing. You know, indulging in some of the current culture.

Review, reading is fundamental. She said she hid in her bed with her friend. And England happened to be staying in the same room as them. Not that she was hiding with England.
If you are going to be nasty, at least get it right.

I completely agree with Rattus. @Review, you came down on the OP so hard that it almost seemed to me you found it surprising that people go to Barcelona to drink/party. It happens everywhere! Just because OP likes to party doesn’t automatically make her behavior into red flags. And I can’t believe you can turn “staying sober tonight”, which is more mature than most people who never stop drinking, into a negative. And seriously, she only knew Canada for what, a day or so? And she was going clubbing with a bunch of people. It wasn’t like they knew each other well or the guy was a completely normal date and OP was being callous to his feelings. I think she was fully within her rights to dance with anyone else once Canada started talking/acting creepy (AND she directly told him she didn’t want to dance with him anymore).

Sometimes I like your comments, review, but I’m really baffled at this one.

And ditto with Jennie. OP drew the curtains over “our beds”, “our” meaning her and her friend she went on vacation with.

No partying in Spain, only history. Got it, thanks buzzkillington.

@review – that is the stupidest thing. You sound terrible and boring.

Eh, Barcelona’s not that “historic”. See big cathedral. Done.

See a big cathedral (and various other Gaudi/cultural sights) THEN take advantage of the fact that guys sell Estrella in the streets, and then to go the clubs and have an amazing time because, you know, you’re young enough to be staying in a mixed hostel with 16 other people and you still remember what it means to travel and have fun…. unlike certain other people.

Now I’m all jealous because I’m too old to do that (48).

I can’t fathom why anyone would ever stay in a hostel unless the alternative was to be out on the street. I don’t mind bare-bones facilities at all, but sharing a room with a dozen total strangers, any one of which could be a thief/rapist/serial killer? And I’m a guy, how any female with a brain in her head could do it is beyond me.

Yes, I know the vast majority of hostel travelers are perfectly nice. But it only takes one.

@Jeff, I’m with you, brutha. I won’t even stay at a B&B because have no desire to share a washroom or eat breakfast with the owners.

I can’t imagine why a man with a brain in his head would physically harm a women who is merely in his presence whilst on vacation (or any other time) but here we are.

Nightlife can be part of the culture of a city as well actually. It’s not all about touring museums and old buildings.

And Jeff I see your point but I think the chances of being raped or murdered in a room with 16 other people are pretty slim. Young travellers are usually on a budget! They also provide lockers for your stuff in places like that.

I’ve stayed in hostels before. In Italy, I had a private room. One had a shared bathroom. I didn’t pee for 24 hours because I was afraid I’d bump into someone else. In Australia, I was in a room with 6 beds, but I had known three of the other people for a while.
But this story sounds really crazy! Yikes.

I’m female and I LOVE hostels, choosing to stay in them over hotels regardless of budget. Granted I’d never stay in a mixed-gender room, but I love meeting such a large number of often quite interesting people in a short period of time. Sure, you can get raped and murdered in a hostel…but you’re actually far more likely to be victimized by someone you know than a stranger.

Don’t feed the trolls. For goodness’ sake, don’t do it!!

Some hostels can be nice, I stayed in one that was like a dorm suite, with the whole suite sharing bathrooms and shower stalls. It was a pretty nice place.

Regardless of affordability though, there’s always a chance of getting into trouble no matter what you do. If I pay park entrance fee and go back country camping, I worry about getting mauled by bears, or getting killed by one of those serial killers that kill hikers in the wild; if I go to a hostel then I worry about being assaulted while everyone else slept. Even a hotel has its downs, if you get jumped in the hallway no one would know what happened to you until check out time.

With so many crazies out there, all we can do is pick a safe play to stay, take precautions, and hope for the best.

I’ve had some of my best travel experiences in hostels! When I was in my early 20s, I was the only person I knew who wanted to go traveling (we’re kind of an insular bunch in these parts) so I was on my own if I wanted to see the world. Staying in hostels allowed me to make friends with people from all over the world (still in touch with some of them, more than ten years later) and my experience of some of the places I’ve visited was enhanced by visiting them in the company of folks I dormed with. Never had a scary experience either. Roomed with some serious jerks too, of course, but that’s the price you pay. And most people have been great!