My budget for this trip, yes… I made some kind of estimation cause it’s always better to have a handrail than not having one, included staying at hotels all the way. Of course that becomes quite a finansial burden on a solotravelling budget. I can se a pattern while I travel, and that’s being cheap in the beginning so I can let myself loose in the end.
Staying, where?
Booked lodgings zero and none, I’ve been too busy working and had put the upcoming travelling far back in my mind. So much that I actually started dreading the departure when I had one or two days left in the office. I’m not going to pitch a tent in a city park though, like I ended up doing when I interrailed the last time, and first time at 18.
So, after I met up with my dear ex-husband living in Berlin, for breakfast I started to look for a place for my coming 2-3 days in Berlin. When I travel for work in Sweden I always use Hotels.com but this time looking for hostals I ended up with booking.com and continued with them and hostelworld.com that’s completely new to me since I just don’t… stay at hostels. Did… that is. Why I stopped using Hotels.com during this trip is they have few or no hostels in their listings.
Nena hostel & Bicycling
Since I havn’t stayed in a hostel on this side of the new century I wanted to go full frontal and book a dorm. It happened again and again during my continuing trip that I was greeted as if (the older…) if I had booked a single room in the hostals. What’s the point of a hostal if you’re going to have your own room?
Now, being a more re-experienced hostel stayer, I DO see the point of a single room. The atmosphere is most of the time a lot more social, and relaxed. I have to add, that the shared areas appear so much cleaner than in a hotel that gives much more of a grimy feel. Mind you I stay in 4-star hotels all the time when I travel in my ordinary work. I just hate the rugs and not rarely the bathroom cleaning leaves a lot more to ask for in hotels. I change rooms regularly. I think the hostels lowers one’s expectation, and therefore the ones I’ve tended to choose have been very decent and clean. No icky rugs for sure.
Since I quickly realise taking the foldable bicycle from Decathlon as a company on this trip is like winning the lottery in liberty and easy access. I can now double the gain by picking a place regardless of location in the city. I didn’t realise that Nena Hostel was so far off when I booked it. The gain is besides good exercise that you get to see so much more of the city one’s visiting. I added my going back and forth ut to bicycling 120-160 kilometres during my three days in Berlin.
No, I didn’t take a helmet cause the one I use at home (Hövding & airbag) is very heavy and took up too much space in my backpack. But you should use a helmet, hell yes. I’ve had two very serious accidents, one including a fractured skull and punctured… liver. This makes me on my knees and toes and with the most causious mind EVER bicycling. One of the very few times I actually prioritise humility.
This humility is in accordance to:
1. Overdo safety, by…
2. Not only stay far aside, SHOW that you stay as far as you’re possibly comfortable with. A psychological game, for sure.
3. If available, use bicycle lanes.
4. Note the rules for bicycling where you’re at.
Can you bicycle on sidewalks in Berlin. No. It happens, but is rare that others do. How do I know? I asked David (the ex-husband), and observed. He said you can without it being very rude if you pay attention to, and give way to pedestrians 103%.
A small and inofficial rating of Nena Hostel according to me:
Very clean and recently renovated. The same goes for the bathroom that has a toilet and shower in the same unit. That worked fine since it was only four beds (two bunk beds) in the room. One can buy breakfast on site, but since I always prefer finding a cafe I opted for that. The breakfast seemed very good though as I passed in the mornings.
It’s a bit far off intresting things, in a somewhat booring and very calm area, menaing there are no real abundance of cafés, restaurants or bars in the vicinity. But if you have a bike… it doesn’t really matter that much.