HOSTEL STAY

NEW YORK MOORE

What’s a hostel?

So Check it!

I love staying at hostels and so far the first thing that people have asked when they hear the word hostel is  “Is that a whore house; What’s a hostel?”  I’ll start there. A textbook hostel is an establishment which provides inexpensive food and lodging for a specific group of people, such as immigrants, students, workers, or travelers.  I learned about hostels while listening to folks talk about their travels abroad. I thought it sounded really cool and some stories were kinda crappy, like the kind of  place where only men would stay, no offense, some men are less triggered by unkempt and smelly places. I’m just saying. What kind of crappy stories?  Walking into a room and the bed has sticking surfaces, Like cots, not beds on the floor, no beds at all and just a space with a roof overhead and when traveling abroad I can imagine where the typical American would be extremely humbled in these environments so anything I’d experience here in America would be just fine.  Call me hypocritical if ya want. I said what I said, lol.  Off to the net I went  and found some really cool places.  

What’s the difference between a hostel and a hotel?

Oh yea, upon finding out what a hostel is I’d also be asked “Are they safe? You’re not scared? What’s the difference between a hostel and a hotel? Why not a hotel?”
  

Hostels are different from hotels.  Hotels offer individual rooms for more privacy and are on average, pricier.  The cost of one night at a hotel would most likely get you a week at a hostel. Most hostels are also safe places to stay, as long as you keep your valuables in a locker (provided, gotta get your own lock, though), and stay aware + alert, you’re good. I felt safe enough to sleep sound and securely. 

If ya prayed up, practiced up and you and your intuition are friends, you should be good. Acute sensory perception, thanks “in-depth meditation.”  Also, your voice is king in spaces like this. They don’t know you and according to my two pennies I’m rubbing together, I think it’s important to exude your confidence, naturally. Talk to the front desk, always speak and even bring them a lil treat to make them remember you, this secures a positive thought of you when you or your room comes up. Don’t worry if it’s not your thing though, that’s just an extra. 

If you have questions, ask the front desk staff. They’re knowledgeable about the accommodations and areas around the hostel.  Most of the places I stayed provided one dry towel, so it’s wise to keep a face towel and to be honest with you your own sets of towels as I began to use them for a bath mat. They are usually thin and hard, yet I was grateful because when you have nothing… need I say more?

New York Moore

Located in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn

I was new to city transit, hopping the subway to get the “NY Moore,” was quite exciting. My first time in BK, it was about a 20 min ride from downtown Manhattan where I was taking yoga teacher training. I got off at the L and it was a 6 min walk to the hostel.  Thank GOD! Legz tired than a bihh!

When I arrived with all of my things, I opened the door and looked at the stairs and died a small death in a day. If you read the yoga teacher training blog, you’ll understand why.  I checked in smoothly into the 5 person co-ed room, hoping it would be a smooth week. The rooms didn’t look quite as they did online but the artwork definitely made up for it for me. I found the assigned bed with my name receipt on it. I was the only female of 4 guys. They were young, quiet and in and out. There were two coat racks in the room, I thought they were personal and quickly learned as it rained the following day that it was a communal rack. They kept the room cool with one window open, which was fine for me. I snuggled the blanket a bit more snug for warmth. 

I met this cool Russian kid. He was excited, young spirited and told me he was there on a student visa waiting to get his new place! My fav type of people! He told me stories about his small hometown which was 5hours outside of Moscow and he was in America to explore and have better job opportunities. We danced to Maroon 5, when it was just us two.  He left before I did and I was a bit sad to see him go. He was cool, though. After he left the scent of boy/man was beginning to annoy me and I asked to be transferred to an all women’s room. Boy, oh boy, why did I do that? Women are high maintenance and picky asf, I love us but, DAMN, we are. There were two other women when I entered and an empty bed, for a total of 4 beds to this room.  It was burning up in the room and I inquired about the temperature as one lady also had a heater next to her bed, yelped out at me when I started to turn the heat off. I asked if she preferred if I opened a window instead.  She fussed, but we compromised on the window. She insisted that the temp control that I attempted to adjust was, in fact, inoperable and I had to ask the front desk where it was.  The next day she got up early for work and my head was so stuffy and my sinuses were dry asf! I clobbered with blurry eyes to turn off the heat once more and voila magic, the lil whore was lying! I was enraged! I let the front desk know that there was an issue with the temp in the room and what’s the standard for a fully occupied room and we had to come to an agreement when she came in. Whew, the guilt trip, she tried it, but I’ll save that one, the temp remained normal 73 degrees after that talk, though. Use that heater, sis. Thanks! My sinuses thank me! That’s all dealing with folks for now.

The cool thing about staying at the NY Moore, besides their bomb decor and artwork on every floor and almost every wall, was their events. Morning yoga, evening comedy shows with free booze and a board of other events to check out in the area. Mad appreciated! I wanted to explore in my down time. They also have a game room, equipped with a pool table, foosball, couches and tons of books. Perfect for meeting new people, or kicking it with travel companions. 

Ah, The Kitchen

Last in the section, but certainly not least because at the end of the day when traveling on a budget you definitely gotta eat and not take out every night! Their kitchen is huge and equipped with a few fridges, microwaves, some pots, pans and utensils. Perfect food cooking and chopping up ingredients or taking them to the frozen section of the local markets. 

There’s two grocery stores close to New York Moore getting off the Morgan stop on the L train.  The Food Story Natural Market, when you walk in there’s a cool walk up that hosts the produce and inside for everything else, it’s a nice size, too. It’s bigger than Brooklyn’s Natural, which is a lil posh with matching posh prices, so I couldn’t help but shop there. They walk up and right next door to a sit down cafe and across the street from a frequently changing wall art on Bogart St. It made me think of the Bogarts from Harry Potter! 

They provided labels and markers to tag your food when you put them in the refrigerators and they give you a warning that if it’s been past x days of your label they will throw your ish away, I was a lil sad getting back from training one day to return to no food because I forgot to add a new label to my food. I don’t remember what it is by now, I am finishing up the edits over a year later. LOL, Yet, nonetheless enjoy these last few pics of NY Moore and be sure to check out my YouTubechannel and see the experience first hand! NY Moore was my favorite hostel overall the hostels I stayed in during my New York and Yoga stint pre-pandemic!