Recently I spent a miserable night on the island of Trinidad in a hot vehicle parked in the rainforest with the windows cracked to get some air while fighting a random assortment of biting flying bugs. This caused me to think about other interesting nights I have spent including one night next to a partially rotting deer (don’t ask) and a frigid night in Spain grossly under dressed for the weather in March sleeping in a dirt field covered in cardboard and clumps of grass, trying desperately to stay warm.
Who better to pose this topic to than serious travelers and travel writers. We asked them to come up with a brief description about a night(s) spent in either an Unusual, Odd, Uncomfortable or Unique hotel/location/region/guesthouse. Here are a few of their stories!
Homeless Sleepout from Adrian at www.suitqaisdiaries.com & @SuitQaisDiaries
A few years ago, when I was back in the UK for Christmas, I took part in a sponsored sleepout in the grounds of Southwark Cathedral to raise funds for Robes (robes.org.uk), a charity who provide food, shelter and support for people sleeping rough in London. In particular it was to raise awareness of the amount of homeless people in South London and the harsh conditions they have to survive in around the holiday period. It was a freezing December night and all we had to keep us warm was a very thin sleeping bag, a couple of cardboard boxes, and a bench to sleep under. I’ve done a lot of sleeping rough/ urban camping in my time on the road… but hand on heart, this was probably the worst night’s sleep of my life. Although it was absolutely miserable to be so cold and so wet you simply couldn’t sleep, it did give me was a deep, deep sense of how lucky I was to be able live the life I do and be able to travel around the world. And because of the experience, it made my Christmas with friends and family that little bit more special because I truly appreciated just how lucky I really was to have a roof over my head and to be surrounded by the people I loved.
A couple of years ago a (female) friend and I booked a trip to Granada. We’d traveled together before and just like the last time, decided to book a private room at a hostel. We both love meeting new people, but we also like the peace and quiet of having our own room.
We didn’t consider ourselves strange for reasoning like this, but when we got to the hostel and handed over our booking confirmation, the guy checking us in gave us a weird look.
Did I have something between my teeth?
A second later he handed over our room key and I began to understand where that weird look had come from. We only got one key for the both of us and it had a heart drawn on it.
Oh boy.
Turned out the hostel only had one private room and had devoted that completely to couples. When we entered we first noticed the mirrors hanging from the ceiling. Then followed the bars in front of the window, and for the grand finale: this kama sutra drawing on one of the walls:
Sleeping with Guns from Dave at davestravelcorner.com & @DaveDTC
We crossed the border between Oman and Yemen under the cover of darkness – jumping in a van with a bunch of Omani’s who were making their way to a wedding. We spent the evening with this mostly male group in some dingy partially lit house. There were no hotels in this village – later in the evening we started making our way outside to sleep outdoors in some alley when the chief of police showed up (ultimately he would be the first in a line of police chief conduits who would ferry us from village to village introducing us to the next chief of police). However on this night he was a savior – Yemen has the world’s 2nd highest gun ownership behind the United States – where safer could we possibly sleep? Upon arriving at his home he pointed out the obvious fact that the walls of his living room were literally lined with rows of AK47′s and other scary looking weapons! He then asked us which weapon we wanted to sleep with – jokingly I indicated I wanted one of the bigger round weapons to keep me cozy at night – while not an uncomfortable sleep (on his plushly carpeted rug) this certainly falls under the “unique” category!
Drunk in Vietnam from Cez Krol at etramping.com & @CezKrol
The Worst Place I’ve Ever Stayed from Greg at adventuresofagoodman.com & @GregGoodman
Yet, my wife and I stayed 5 nights. Why, you may ask? Simple: we made friends; and it was Songkran (Thai New Year)… so where else would we find a bed for $3/night?!”
Japan, Manga Cafes from Christine at grrrltraveler.com & @grrrltraveler
Cave Hotel, Cappadocia from Nick & Dariece at goatsontheroad.com & @GoatsOnTheRoad
Our room had a bed, a window, a couple of end tables and that’s about it. It was more a cave than it was a room and it even had a drip from the ceiling when it rained. We found out that caves aren’t very soundproof because our neighbours were getting pretty friendly in the next room and it echoed through the entire hotel.
Hawaiian Concrete Cliffside Yurt from Nora at theprofessionalhobo.com & @hobonora
Since then, I’ve had free accommodation in dozens of places since then, and have even written a book on How to Get Free Accommodation Around the World.
Bedouin Tent – Wadi Rum, Jordan from Samuel at nomadicsamuel.com & @nomadicsamuel
It was a night I’ll never forget. When I woke up in the morning camels were waiting to transport us to a designated area for breakfast. If you’re in Jordan make sure not to miss this unique kind of accommodation experience
Stable Accommodation from Ben at redrucksack.com & @RedRucksack
Returning to Llamac where my donkeys lived, I begged accommodation from the donkey-man in a small room next to the stables. My room was draughty, damp and full of food supplies but had a bed and more importantly, a good lock. The following day I hitch-hiked in a potato truck back to civilization.