Hostel Sleepover

The living room of the Harper's Ferry hostel looks like the rumpus room of a '50's ranch house -- with the addition of an Internet terminal in one corner. The first night, the women's dorm was full. But no one was in the men's dorm, so the manager told us to bunk in there. Soon after, three soaked Boy Scouts and their leaders turned up and started claiming nearby beds. They had just ridden 60 miles on the C&O Canal towpath with plans to camp on the lawn. The kindhearted manager invited them in from the driving rain.

Hosteling is not for everyone. Guests usually have to clear out during the day. Some hostels are dormlike, with stall showers in a row in the bathroom, as they are in Harpers Ferry. If you want to lounge in bed, party hard or make spa appointments, hostels are probably not ideal. But if you're looking for adventure and interaction, they might be.

"You stay at a hostel because you want to stay someplace interesting," said Barbara Yates, manager of Angie's Guest Cottage Hostel in Virginia Beach.

Yates has hosted Israelis and Palestinians who meet at the hostel and end up going to the beach and eating together. "You don't understand why there should be any problems in the world when you see people get along like that," she said.

Youth hostels used to be for youths, but now it's common to see people in their sixties and seventies mingling with the young folk. Seeing those intrepid souls inspired Yates's mother, at 68, to join her daughter on a hosteling trip through England, Ireland and Scotland. "I can see her now, climbing into the upper bunk," Yates said.

Urban hostels also have their charms. Philly's Bank Street Hostel is steps from the Liberty Bell and other key sights.

Recently, some Scottish lads decided to wear their kilts at the neighborhood bars. "Usually we don't have people dressing up in their native clothes," conceded Bryan Weigly, the manager at Bank.

And who knew that my recent $15 stay in Quakertown, Pa., would include a night of Christmas caroling, a bonfire and hot chocolate in front of a stone fireplace?

The managers of the beautiful stone mansion that is the Weisel Hostel invited me to their neighborhood open house. Helen and Laurel Ann, daughters of the managers, said it was quite normal for them to have people from all over the world stopping in and staying in the other half of their house.

As I was the only paying guest that night, the entire upstairs was mine. It was a taste of the high life -- except, of course, for the bunk bed.