2009: Nude Awakenings (Bratislava, Slovakia)

After the expensive logistics of Belarus and a pricey three days in Vienna, I thought it would be a good idea to save some money by staying in a hostel. The Patio Hotel in Bratislava was clean and central, and the only person in the 12-person dorm when I arrived there was me. I made my bed, threw my backpack in a locker and headed out to explore the city. Some more backpacks appeared while I was out, but hostels are full of young people who stay out late so when I fell asleep I still had the place to myself.

Waking up the following morning I felt the presence of other people. Without my contacts I had to squint to see how many. Wow, those are some large women, I thought. They seemed to be exposing an awful lot of flesh, too. Sheets pulled down to the waist. One of them was snoring. Not very feminine, I thought... I hope I don't do that while I'm sleeping.

I crept out of my top bunk. The mass of flesh across from me heaved to its side. It is a woman, right? It's not shaped like a woman. It's shaped more like a sea lion. Uh... this is the women's 12-bed dorm, right?

For a fleeting moment as I grabbed my key I wondered if I'd wandered into the wrong room by accident. But then, of course, the key would not have worked... right?

When I came back, contacts in place, I saw that these were, in fact, all male bodies. Nothing but men sharing the room with me. Men with their sheets kicked off since someone had turned the heat all the way up and closed the windows. Men in degrees and varieties of underwear, some half dozen of them snoring away, one or two looking at me sleepily, maybe wondering, as I was, is she in the right room?

I was, of course. I just wasn't calling it the right thing. It was the co-ed 12-bed dorm. I just happened to be the only woman in there at the moment. If I wanted a women-only room it would cost a little more. I didn't change... partly because I liked the 14 euro price tag of the co-ed dorm, and partly because, truth be told, men in their twenties make better dorm mates than women in their twenties. They're more considerate, and much less messy. Anyway I like snoring... it's like having one of those new age sleep tapes going.

The wifi signal wasn't so good at the hostel. I got nothing from my laptop and only a weak signal from the ipod... and then only if I had it sitting on top of a foil covered yogurt container.