The Joys of Boys while Hosteling

The Joys of Boys while Hosteling

I'm not a youth but I love staying at (youth) hostels.

Today's hostels are not just for the under 26 backpacker. You can often choose from a variety of room types (including privates or double) along with bunk beds in dorms. Some regular hotels even offer 'hostel' type rooms - such as the Gershwin in New York City.Clearly, some people think these budget accommodations / dorm-type rooms and shared baths should be called 'hostile' - like QueerAngel said - it can be uncomfortable Comfort is not the only reason to stay somewhere. But if comfort's what you need while on vacation, you probably wouldn't find it at most hostels. People who love the outdoors don't expect there to be comfort on a camping trip - so as I said staying in a hostel is like indoor camping - group spirit, shared facilities, respect for individuality...  It's the main attraction, besides the fact that stays at hostels can be quite inexpensive. The chances of making friends or at least talking to people is also a big plus. 

These other benefits of hostelling more than make up for the lack of comfort. Not to speak of the economy, I can stay 4 nights  at a hostel (at least) for the price of one night in a 'comfortable' hotel. Each traveler is different and has different reasons and purposes for the trip. I am NOT trying to defend hostels or deny any traveler what's important for his / her trip, just asking you recognize that one style of vacation or one kind of hotel/accommodation would not suit everyone.

I've almost never found anyone with whom I could not communicate (although I might not have actually have wanted to communicate (grin). It's like boy scout camp or a sleep-over or a college party (without the noise - hopefully).


I enjoy the camaraderie that's generated when strangers esp. travelers (often single men and women) bunk together - it really is more like camping than a hotel stay - so it's not for everyone. But I really enjoy my stays because I fee free to be myself (more than when I'm home or at work). I feel comfortable being the 'gay' guy who is older, wiser, and knowledgeable, and friendly.
I'm not getting 'hit' on by my roomies and wouldn't really want that (at least on the surface). I just enjoy getting to know people, talking, and sometimes getting to see them live their lives in front of me. Sometimes there is 'sexual' attraction - but typically it's not mutual. Still.. my hostel roommates once all went skinnydipping at the local public beach late one night. (4 men and 2 women).
 

The stay is really what you make out of it.. it can be unfriendly and lonely but normally if you open up to the idea and the possibilities, it can be a great time well spent. Sometimes you make a lot of friends because the group just congeals.

I have written about my 'hostel' stays in my blogs. There is never really anything 'hot' - no sex in the hostel room - but I have certainly had some great fun and got to hang out with some sexy guys and sometimes been naked together.

Next week I'll spend 4 days in a hostel - really looking forward to it.

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Let a sleeping guy lie.... erection in his sleep

This was originally published on the Guys Into CMNM blog by sunbuns99

A World of Real (Mostly) Naked Guys (blog) has a recent post showing a Warhol-like video with a the main character naked in bed and sleeping with an erection that grows then fades. There is also a link to that blog on the right hand side bar here (the blogger has also linked back to mine).

http://www.nude-guys-world.net/article-22377559.html


This brings up another form of male-male homoerotic communication (CMNM experience) that I find to be absolutely spellbinding - especially when it i

s happening to me: sleeping with another guy - particularly when either I or he is nude.


I happened to me recently when I was staying in a hostel during August. I had the 'hardest' time getting to sleep because there were mostly unclothed guys (wearing only boxers or boxer-briefs) in the bunk beds around me. I always sleep naked during the summer months, and when I am staying at a hostel - I usually do so, too. In most cases, the sheet keeps me covered but at times, I'm sure my cock - soft or erect - is plainly visible. I have found many guys at the hostels who sleep in the nude.

Chris said... (A comment made by a blog reader)

I also sleep in the nude when I'm staying in youth hostels (as well as everywhere else). I have two other traits as well: I tend to get a hard-on in my sleep (I've been told), and I tend to throw off my blanket if it's too hot.

Youth hostels are also often very tolerant and international places, so if I happen to get up in the nude in the morning and walk over to the window in the buff to see what the weather is like, I guess people just think that's the habit in the country I'm from...

September 5, 2008 2:23 PM

How to find a hostel
Google will help (as you must know). It helps to try Google in various languages, especially the spelling of the city is different between specific languages.

Cologne is very different in German and French.

I found an interesting link (for Germany's hostel/backpackers) ...for example.

http://www.backpacker-network.de/home/ 

This site listed only two hostels (I am sure there are more), but it also has city info (listing straight bar, gay bars, restaurants and tourist spots, along with other helpful hints,).


If you don't get specific advice from anybody here, then try a more generalized travel site (esp one with travelogs or traveler's recommendations) such as TravBuddy or
Virtual Tourist, or TripAdvisor (heavily commercial), TravBuddy listing for Cologne ( a sample city with a large gay community and Pride festivities)
http://www.travbuddy.com/Cologne-travel-guide-391589

Othe sites worth looking at:
http://travbuddy.com
http://www.virtualtourist.com
http://www.TripAdvisor.com

Also the major hostel listing are at:
http://www.hostels.com
http://www.hihostels.com (Hostelling International chain)
http://www.hostels.net/ (reviews of hostels)
http://www.hostelz.com/
http://www.hostelworld.com/
http://www.hostelbookers.com/

 

Japanese Society in Cameo: Guys emerging from a hot spring bath

[ This entry was also posted one of my other blogs: Kelly's Second Life and on my Tribe and JustUsBoys blogs.]


Some of these photos of Japanese men emerge from a hot springs (mineral baths) or 'onsen' were highlighted on QueerClick not long ago. I can't resist showing them again. It's just THE Japanese thing to do - and seems to be especially popular with groups of male college friends, intramural sports teams, or company excursions. They usually spend a night or two at the hot spring resort - one of the most famous - as well as accessible to Tokyo - is Hakone (near the Mt. Fuji Lakes area). Invariably, they have a nice meal - (that's a whole other story) and gulped down lots of beer, sake, and even whiskey or strong imported Chinese liquor.

They're all wearing the traditional 'yukata' - thin, cotton kimono-like coat - with (hopefully) nothing on underneath. When the alcohol, good food and camaraderie take effect, they start dancing sometimes in the buff or provocatively draped, they sing (karaoke) or do stunts (handstands, etc), and then everybody heads down to the communal baths in the resorts - usually downstairs and many
times facing outdoors - a river, wooded stream or even the ocean. Those who can no longer stand - due to the alcohol- might be helped by to their rooms, and fondled or groped or even much more (I only know what I would be doing if my buddy had passed out half naked). Back in the baths, the antics usually escalate - naked men are scrubbing each other's back, and there's the relentless teasing about the size of somebody's dick (often teased that he's too big), and sooner of later somebody passes out from heat exhaustion and too much liquor. A few erections may emerge from under the suds or hidden while squatting in the thigh-deeper hot pools of volcanic mineral waters.

 

All in all.. it's a great time for everyone.

Japanese men are horny a whole lot of the time and - in my opinion - the repressive nature of their society actually only deepens and heightens the sexual tensions for the average company worker. The stress of so many social and work responsibilities is sometimes almost too much to bear: 'fetch this' and 'do this now' is the only thing workers hear all day and half the night since they almost always work overtime for NO (or little) pay.

Without much recourse or with little leeway for arguing back, they submissively accept what they have to do, and go about it quietly (or at least only mutter out of earshot) or complain to their 'real'

friends later. All this comes bubbling to the surface when the drinks and relaxation reach the max at big group parties out in the country. The months of repressed desire also come bubbling to their consciousness - well.. at least it would in mind. Japanese men are generally dissuaded from 'flirting' in public - especially in an office situation. In fact, it use to be true that inter-office affairs and romantic relationships were so frowned upon that a worker risked getting transferred or - in the worse case - fired for dating a co-worker. It really is much less true nowadays because of the changes occurring in the society and in the economy. However, to some extent interoffice romance is discouraged. In that kind of environment, young men (ages 22- 35) before marriage didn't have many avenues for sexual or romantic release -except Japanese anime and pornography, and the nightly jerk-off once they crawled in to bed after midnight when they got home from a couple of 'mandatory' rounds a the local pub with the office gang - that often included their immediate superior (who was bucking for promotion or for leverage to support his pet projects).

 

The trips to the onsen (hot spring resorts) and the pub crawls after working later are rather like R & R for the troops in an army that's on dangerous duty. This was (and still is in some cases) the Civilian Military - (Japan Incorportated) because that was exactly how the typical Japanese factory or company used to operate. The new ones were the recruits -- called upon to have to endure all kinds of hardships (workign 12-16 hour days for example was expected), so these 'trips' were probably a natural way to help relieve a lot of stress.. some of it under the belt line - so to speak.


There is no doubt in my mind that many a young company employee (male or perhaps more so the females) was 'defrocked' while on one of these onsen excursions organized by his (her) company or social group.
The situation has ameliorated to some extent. It is not easy to determine how much though. Japan still has the highest rates of suicide of any industrialized (first world) nation, and the numbers continue to swell. Over 30,000 per year end their lives and by estimates, nearly 4 times as many try to do so.

Japanese has a massive social networking infrastructure long, long before the days of the Internet - or Facebook. I could write a book on this and related topics... but - in reality - much of it is coming to an end. Today's young people do not want to participate to the same degree as before. The number of 'freeters' - young people who refuse to get a full-time job, who often still live at home on their parents' dime, and are content with having little money - but lots of freedom and tons of free time to work part-time at as many as 3 jobs, quit when they get tired of one, go out with friends to sing karaoke or drink or just hang out, and play PS3 games or windowshop all night long.

More to follow (eventually.....)

The above first 3 amateur photos were forwarded in a group message from: atitlan [ymna2] Yahoo group, the last one was sent in my Erik on his [cmnm] google group. Note: Queerclick displays their logo on the photo but they no more own the copyright (c) to that photo that Richard Nixon does!

 

Sex visit to a gay sauna in Tokyo: 24 Kaikan Shinjuku

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