Inexpensive and excellent lodging downtown Montreal

    

     It was time to shake up my rural comfort zone and visit The Big City. I was to meet my sister and her hubby for a week of adventure in Montreal, similar in population numbers to Houston, Texas, but mostly French-speaking and exceptionally bikeable. Chef Renauld, mon tres bon ami et expert diesel, suggested I blow the carbon out of La Lair and take the international highway in overdrive, which I did.

     My sis, her hubby and I all love to bicycle as sight-seers. They had easily talked me into joining them for Montreal's annual 50K cycling event called "The Tour de I'lle de Montreal" and another shorter evening ride. These mega-rides are completely car-free. There's something exhilarating about flying through city streets without having to stop for signs, traffic signals, cars and buses, plus pedestrians must stay off to the sides. But it takes a ton of volunteers and police and EMS personnel to ensure safety for tens of thousands of folks. More about the mega-rides in a forthcoming post.

     Montreal is expensive and non-resident charges and sales taxes are high. When I learned my over-size van would be charged twice the $15 daily parking lot fee, I decided to park at an open-air longterm parking lot near the Montreal-Trudeau Airport; only $6 per day plus free shuttle service to the airport. Once at the airport, I'd catch the 747 bus to downtown for only $10 CD and then reverse the process a week later. I'd save myself about $140 CD. 

     My sis and her hubby stayed at a Bed & Breakfast near downtown, but being solo, I opted for a hostel within easy biking distance, but 75 percent cheaper than their Bed and Breakfast. I've stayed at hostels throughout my life perhaps a dozen times. Each is unique, so it's hard to generalize about them. Since I'm a member of the Hostelling International organization, I stayed at the locally known Auberge de Jeunesse (Youth Hostel). It's undergoing an exterior face lift right now, but inside, it's a well run hostel.

     
     Many hostels are independent; very few are located in the United States. Some have annual memberships; my senior membership was only $18 and entitles me to discounted prices at HI hostels all over the world. Don't be fooled by the "Youth" in hostels. About one quarter of the folks I've seen at hostels are middle-aged to senior citizens, and we're usually traveling solo. Yes, my sis and her hubby are pampered with more attention and elaborate breakfasts each day at their Bed and Breakfast, but hostels also have their unique charms despite a limited free breakfast and dormitory rooms with bunkbeds.

     The best things about hostels are the kitchen and dining room; you can use the refrigerator, stoves, utensils, pots, pans and make your own lunch and dinner. And it's fun to visit a strange town's grocery store and try their fresh fruits and veggies, including meats. But in my limited experience, a hostel's kitchen is un-organized, somewhat dirty, uses pots and pans that should have been tossed years ago, and there are few procedures or tools for clean-up. The kitchen and dining room at Montreal, however, are exemplary. In the kitchen are three commercial size toasters, hot water pots, several coffee makers, a mircrowave, and a Toast-R-Oven.

     There are two huge refrigerators like this one . . . baskets are provided with labels to keep your food separate from others.

 There are three cooking areas plus work space and plenty of pots, pans, and lids to choose.

  Plenty of cutting boards, plates, cups, dinnerware and glassware . . . .

Three sink areas with spray bottles of detergent and drying racks . . . .

And it gets better; each hosteller gets their own cubicle to store dry goods which must be labeled, too.

     And since hostellers are multi-lingual, pictures pasted on the drawers tell us what's inside the drawers. No need to open each drawer to find a wire egg beater for example. There are also clearly labeled individual buckets for compost, trash, and recyclables. 

     The beauty of this kitchen is that with everything clearly labeled, there are fewer screw-ups by 60 or so hostellers everyday. And with plenty of everything to go around to each hosteller, there's no rude shuffling or elbowing to hurry to the front of any line. There are also coin-operated washers and dryers. It all makes for a more pleasant stay.

     And I've noticed too that in the dining room of approximately 20 small tables and 80 chairs, a bar and stools, free Wi-Fi and several flat televisions on the walls, there's a soothing pleasant hum of conversation and conviviality. There's pleasant music, too; no bassey loud music to damage eardrums or make conversations indecipherable. When it was raining outside, I spent many hours in their pleasant dining room working on this blog with no worries about hogging space. My bedroom with four bunkbeds and a bathroom is clean, but it's solely for sleeping and showering, not for leisure enjoyment.

   In a few more weeks I'll be staying at another Canadian hostel in La Tuque. They've agreed to let me park and sleep in my van and use their facilities during the day for a small fee.