Of all of the optional extras that I took with me on my last trip, the one thing I would make sure to take with me again would be my GPS-enabled mobile phone. I realise that in the travel world, this can be somewhat of a contentious subject; I’ve had more than one person tell me that backpacking with a GPS is cheating, or that it takes all the fun out of it.

Naturally, I know as well as anyone the benefits of discovering places that are off the beaten track, or stumbling into a cool part of a town that isn’t mentioned in a guidebook; but I also know too well how annoying it is to walk five kilometres in the wrong direction while carrying a huge backpack, because you don’t have a map; or being dumped on the edge of town in the middle of the night, after a long bus trip, and not knowing which way the centre is.

Phone with maps.

There are so many times when the maps on my phone saved me from a long walk, or rescued me when I was just plain lost – or directed me to an elusive hostel, hidden in backstreets.

But not all GPS phones are equal. It’s important to ensure that you have access to the maps when you’re offline, as is likely to be the case when you’re travelling overseas. The cost of overseas broadband access can be prohibitive, especially if your phone is locked and you can’t buy local prepaid sims.

This is why both standard iPhones and Android phones aren’t particularly good for this, unless you’re willing to pay for extra software to provide locally stored maps; the online map software on both of them is quite useless when you don’t have any network access.

In my case, I was using my trusty N85 phone. It was shipped with free mapping software and downloadable maps that can be stored on a micro SD card, so anywhere you go, the maps come with you.

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • LinkedIn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

When I look at some of the things I packed when I went travelling around Europe back in 1999, I wonder what the hell I was thinking. I’d bought myself a standard YHA-issue cotton sleeping sheet to use in youth hostels, not even thinking twice about the fact that it took up about a fifth of the space in my backpack, and weighed as much as a couple of Lonely Planet books – the brick sized ones.

Before I took off on my current trip, I invested in a Kathmandu silk sleeping liner (large size). It barely weighs anything, is easily large enough to accomodate a 183cm length body such as mine, and compresses down to a tiny 250 cubic centimetres in its supplied carry bag. As an added bonus, the carry bag is attached to the sleeping sheet by a strap, so you don’t have to try to find it every time you pack the sheet away.

I haven’t actually had a chance to use it, until now, as all of the hostels I’ve stayed in have supplied their own sheets, so confronted with a long train journey and fierce air-conditioning, I figured I’d give it a go and hopefully avoid freezing.

Surprisingly, despite being very thin silk, it did help keep me warm. Not warm enough to avoid having to cover myself in various other items of thick clothing, but it was definitely warmer with the sheet than without.

It was reasonably easy to pack it back into its carry bag, although to make it as small as possible, it needs to be folded up tightly, and this isn’t really practical on a train. Still, randomly stuffing it into the bag worked well enough.

The one real downside to using a silk sheet over a cotton sheet seems to be the build-up of static-electricity on your skin when you use it. Annoying, but not too much of an issue.

The one thing to be wary of when buying it, is that there are two different types: the standard liner (which I purchased) doesn’t have a space for a pillow, whereas the same product with the YHA designation does have one. I’ve found it hard to find a silk pillowcase to use alongside it, so if you need it to hold a pillow too, make sure to get the right one.

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • LinkedIn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

For the last three nights, I’ve been staying at Portland, Oregon’s Northwest Hostel, which is one of two Hostelling International hostels in this city. The hostel consists of two historic buildings, one containing the reception, kitchen and rooms, and the other containing a second kitchen and more rooms, often reserved for groups.

This hostel is the only one of the two that is located within easy walking distance of Portland’s main attractions – as its name suggests, it is in Portland’s north-west quarter, and it is only three blocks from the “free rail zone” – the area where all rail-based public transport in Portland is free. Theoretically, it is possible to get from Portland’s Amtrak and Greyhound stations to the hostel for free, only using the MAX light-rail and the streetcar, but it’s not really a direct path, and it’s probably easier just walking for fifteen minutes, unless your luggage is particularly heavy.

The hostel’s website notes that it has dormitories ranging from 4-bed and 6-bed rooms through to 8-bed rooms, however it doesn’t mention that these rooms are not necessarily isolated from one another. In my case, while my room was an 8-bed room, it was separated from another 8-bed room by a couple of curtains, so effectively I was staying in a 16-bed room. Personally, I prefer to stay in 4-bed dorms, but unfortunately, the Hostelling International USA website doesn’t give you any ability to specify this when you book.

The beds – all bunks – were fairly sturdy, and didn’t rock too much when climbing in, so there’s less chance of being woken up when the person above you arrives in the middle of the night. Bedclothes are provided by the hostel – basically a pillowcase and a folded-up YHA-style sleeping sheet – and there were extra blankets available in a trunk in the hallway.

My room had free lockers, with a clip for attaching your own padlock, although the reception also had padlocks available if guests required them. There were also plenty of lockers available outside the rooms, again all free. I can’t understate just how great it is to have free lockers; while obviously it’s no guarantee of security, it’s nice to be able to leave your valuables behind for a little while and not have to lug them around with you all day. Hostels that insist on providing only pay-per-use lockers – or none at all – should really look at this and learn.

Other than that, the rooms were fairly typical for a hostel. One minor annoyance was that towel hooks were located on the bed. Admittedly, it was nice to have hooks (I’ve stayed in some cheap hostels that don’t have any at all), but it would be better for them to be located on the walls, away from where you can smell them.

The bathrooms were fairly drab, as one would expect from such an old building, but they were very clean. The showers were of the bath/shower combination variety, which might present problems for people with mobility issues, and while the water was always hot, the shower-head in one bathroom was missing, and it fired a fairly narrow stream of water at the occupant.

My dormitory had its own ensuite bathroom, and there were two others located out in the hall, one upstairs and one downstairs. I suspect the hostel could probably do with a few more of them, as there were times when they were all occupied.

Each building has a small kitchen, with a refrigerator where guests could store perishable food, however there wasn’t much storage space for non-chilled food. Cooking equipment consisted of an oven, a four-plate stove and a microwave, with a fairly complete set of utensils. Not quite like the industrial kitchens of various hostels in other counties (such as New Zealand, for example) but certainly workable. I’m not sure how well it would cope if the hostel was full, though.

Also, simple things like washing-up brushes were missing, meaning that guests had to clean their dishes with a sponge – this doesn’t strike me as a particularly good way to clean.

The hostel had plenty of common areas, from the dining rooms attached to each of the kitchens to a comfortable, although dark, ground floor lounge in the second building. There didn’t appear to be a TV room anywhere, although given the quality of American TV, this was probably a blessing.

There is free wifi covering every room, and the speeds were good, although it did drop out a few times. There’s also a large selection of board games available, plus a good range of travel books and also a book-swap collection.

Each building has a laundry, with one washing machine and one tumble-drier – I suspect in busy periods, this would be insufficient. Only one of the buildings had a rack where clothes could be hung out to dry.

The staff were all incredibly friendly and helpful, and upon arrival, they would take each guest through the hostel, showing them the various facilities, before taking them to their room. They also provided advice about Portland’s sights and nightlife, and were more than happy to print out my onward Amtrak ticket (naturally, for a fee).

In all, this would have to be one of the most comfortable hostels I’ve stayed in so far, but this is tempered by the fact that it wasn’t high-season and the hostel was half-empty. In more crowded periods, I do wonder if the small kitchens, low number of washing machines and lack of bathrooms might make the place a bit cramped.

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • LinkedIn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Well, it’s been over two years since my last post on this blog. What’s been the problem? Well, work and lack of travel, mostly. Hopefully, however, that is all set to change, as I am now on the road again. I’ve taken a year off to go travelling, without much of a plan.

I’m currently in the US, and hope to be giving a good rundown of all the places I visit, as well as a guide to New Zealand, where I spent much of January and February this year. And in a couple of months, Europe!

So to those of you following on the rss feed, thanks for sticking around all this time, and expect to see more content from now on.

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • LinkedIn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Kirsty Henderson has written an interesting article on Five common mistakes of first time backpackers. I’d like to add a few of my own:

  1. Arriving in a new town too late in the evening: it’s a scary feeling wondering if you’re going to end up spending the night at the main railway station, because all accomodation in a town is booked out. Try to arrive early, so that you have a good choice of places to stay.
  2. Taking a laptop computer: just don’t do it. I’ve been on business trips that I turned into short backpacking holidays, and carting a laptop around with me was an absolute pain. They’re always too heavy, yet valuable enough to make you think twice about leaving it in a railway station locker. If you want to stay in touch with friends, just make use of web-based email services in net cafes.
  3. Not properly reading up on the towns you’re visiting: you can’t always rely on being able to stumble onto a town’s sights; learn about the places you’re visiting before you leave, so you don’t waste all your time reading guidebooks when you’re there.

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • LinkedIn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS