Heh. Tourist in MSN reminded me of a situation in Minneapolis back in ‘99. We spent two nights in a non-HI Hostel. The place was packed with summer workers. Many were from the UK. From what I could glean, they had jobs at an entertainment/concert venue. Sunday morning, the day were departing, I had to step over sleeping bodies to get to the kitchen. It had to be a code violation.

The HI Hostel at Lake Itasca was closed during the day. We had to wait outside in the rain until the hosts showed up. They were two miserable guys. They were like two drill Sergeants. In the morning they assigned us cleaning assignment and hounded us until we completed them: The HI Hostel in Bar Harbor was also closed from about 9 until 5. Fortunately, the weather was nice the two days I was there.

Definitely bring ear plugs for common sleeping arrangements. I stayed in the huge HI Hostel in Seattle. Not only did a couple of people come home drunk late, one of them was a really loud snorer.