Editor Pick
Charlie B's Backpackers
- April 6, 2006
- Rated 1 of 5 by
stomps from Houston, Texas
Contrary to what Lonely Planet said, this hostel was not a place I would recommend to anyone. It's not that the hostel itself was all that shoddy—walking into it, it seemed nice enough. It was very large and sprawling, but I wasn't too bothered as I was only spending one night there on my way out of the country. My room was pretty big and had four beds and a couple of chairs, and wall-height lockers for your stuff. There was a huge kitchen and Internet/lounge area, along with games and other such activities.
These things were pluses for the hostel. However, had I been staying in Christchurch for longer, rather than just being the victim of another travel fiasco, I would not have been very impressed with the location—it was rather out of the way and was a good few blocks to get to anywhere where I could find a shuttle to the airport the next day. The other hostel I stayed in, the Rolleston House, was much better located, so this may have spoiled me a bit. Or at this point, when I was actually trying to find a shuttle, I could have just been in such a bad mood that I was biased against everything about the hostel.
My room was fine until around 3am, when the other three inhabitants of my room arrived. They were raging drunk and singing and making all sorts of racket. Luckily, one of them went to sleep fairly quickly, but the other two decided to get on the bed underneath me, and proceeded to have sex. Since I was in a bed that was attached to theirs, I was not very impressed, and obviously did not sleep very well.
The next morning I woke up and, when taking a shower, realized that I was totally covered in red bites. I was willing to excuse the hostel for the poor behavior of a few of their inhabitants, but I stayed in a fair number of hostels in my trip around Australia and New Zealand, and this was the only one that had BEDBUGS. And bedbugs it had—I was absolutely covered in bites, and I know they didn't come from the hostel I stayed in previously because I spent 3 nights there and never once itched.
So, despite anything else that the hostel may have going for it, I do not recommend it at all solely on the fact that bedbugs are disgusting, and unless you like itching and washing everything you own, I'd very much advise against staying here. Also, another word of warning: they have since been taken out of the latest version of Lonely Planet.
From journal Christchurch - Crepes, Gardens, and Kiwis, Oh My!