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The hostel


Absdisplay

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Chapter 1 check-in

 

"Welcome to StrayToStay Hostels, did you want to check in?" A cute looking long-haired Dutch guy said in an adorable accent.

"Um yea, hold on, let me get my confirmation out," I rummaged through my bag, looking for the email I had printed multiple times, just to be on the safe side. It had taken me too long to find it, and I was nervous I may have lost it on the trip.

"No worries, just give me your name."

"Um sure, it's Darryl Dulsons. D-U-L..."

"Oh found it. You'll be in room 123. That's the first floor. Sheets are right outside the room. Take any bed that you wish to sleep."

"It's not a single room? I thought I reserved a single."

"No. It's an 8 people shared room. Well, I'm just reading the system -"

I was getting a bit frustrated all of the sudden and started to dig back into my bag to find my booking confirmation. I was looking forward to getting a relaxing night of sleep after all my travels. I wasn't going to put up with an 8-person dorm room full of obnoxious others.

"Give me a sec please, I need to find my confirmation. I swear, I booked a single room."

The rather cute receptionist looked at me impatiently. "Maybe can you go to the side and I'll check the next person in to his room. Bedankt."

I hopped onto a lounge chair and frantically tried to locate the documentation that would prove to be my savior. But after triple checking each and every department in my bag, I was at a deadend. Shit, I thought. Looks like this is going to be a college dorm experience all over again.

Then it hit me. My back pocket! I'm such a dumbass for forgetting that. I pulled out a crumbled mess of paper and unraveled them into my evidence.

"Hey, hey I found it." I shouted, slamming all three booking confirmation copies onto the reception desk.

"Yeah, look, it says here you'll be inhabiting an eight bed room, or?"

Oh. He was right. I took a closer look to make certain, and indeed the confirmation was clearly for a shared room... What the hell was I thinking when I booked this? This had to be a mistake!

"I'm, are you sure?" The receptionist nodded, starting to get a little annoyed. "Is there any possibility I could switch rooms? Upgrade to a single maybe?"

"I'm sorry, but we're pretty much fully booked. The only other option is on the 6th floor. It's a 6 people shared room, there are two free beds."

Okay, it wasn't quite what I had in my bed, but I'll take what I can get at this point. Four roommates for a four day trip - I think I'll manage.

"I'll take it."

"All right, you'll be in room 609. Just take the elevator to the 6th floor. Here is your key. When would you like to pay?"

"Never," I said sarcastically, but after seeing the receptionist's reaction I'm not so sure the humor was interpreted as I meant it. "I mean now. Can I pay with card?"

"Unfortunately not. There is a bank just two streets down. You can pay when you check out too."

"Too? I'll be paying once," I chuckled. He didn't really get it though.

"Do you have any amenities?" I asked him, before I headed upstairs.

"Yes, there is a bar downstairs and gym and sauna on the second floor."

Hmm. I thought. I was hoping for a pool or some sort of gaming room. I wasn't much of the sauna type and not so big into working out. Maybe I'd hit the gym one of these days, but I'd most likely just spend my entire time exploring the city.

"Thanks!" And with that I left the receptionist and headed up to floor 6 to unload my bags.

 

TBC...

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Chapter 2 Top Bunk

 

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Ok, the sound of that electronic toothbrush is quite obnoxious right now. The room was empty as I tried to get to bed early but it took me a bit longer to fall asleep in an unknown bed. I was this close to deep sleep when some dudd slammed open the door, rummaged through his luggage and brushes his teeth for what seemed like twenty minutes. What's worse, he seemed to pace while brushing and had what sounded like a pretty heavy foot.

I had taken the bottom bunk and I had pulled the covers completely over my face to block the light that this annoyingly loud dude had just turned on.

I was really wishing I could have been in a single room right now. I just needed some shut eye, seriously!

"Dude, you awake?" I heard him call down, as he climbed above me into the top bunk.

I didn't answer. I just played dead and hoped he would give up and hit the hay.

"Dude, where are you from?"

We were the only two in the room at the moment, he must have been addressing me. But I refused to reply. I was not ready to start a round of ice breakers right now.

But he continued, assuming I was all ears. "I'm from the states. Near NYC."

Not too far from where I'm from, I thought.

"You ever been?"

I gave in. If he was going to take to me all night, I might as well reciprocate. "Yea, it's a few hours away from where I live, I'm half way to DC."

"Cool dude, what are you doing here? Vacation?"

"Yea I have a few weeks off, so I decided to do a trip to Europe. This is my first time abroad."

"Dope." Did he just say dope?

"What are you doing here? Are you on vacation too?"

"Sorta. I have a bodybuilding show in Cologne. But decided I'd fly to the Netherlands to see what the buzz is here."

A bodybuilding show? Wow that's crazy, I thought. But I didn't really know what to say to show how interested I genuinely was. I didn't want to sound weird though, you know. I had a secret attraction for muscular guys.

"That sounds cool!" I said. Did it come off as a bit disinterested? "I mean it," I added.

"Yeah, I'm excited to step back on stage. I'm addicted to the shreds. I just started my carb loading yesterday and fuck, the dude next to me on the plane must have thought I was a fat skinny kid."

That sounded awesome, but what do I say to that? "Um, so you just flew in yesterday?"

"Yeah, I had a red eye flight. Wasn't half as bad as I expected. And they were really not lying when they say airplane bathroom lighting is the best lighting. I could barely fit in the bathroom, but my shreds were on fleek." Who's 'they'? I thought to myself.

He paused for a minute. "So, yeah, what do you do bro? What's your passion?"

My passion? I'm not sure. I certainly didn't have anything like bodybuilding is to him. "Photography. I like talking pictures of people and of different places. But it's not my job or anything like you and bodybuilding."

"Oh, well bodybuilding isn't really my job. I teach at a community college and give private trainings at a local gym."

"That's really cool!" This time my interest seemed to show a bit more.

"What do you have planned for tomorrow?"

I hadn't really made myself a schedule. I preferred to take things spontaneously, find a cozy cafe and some cute lesser known streets in the city.

"To be honest, I don't really have much of a plan. You?"

"I'll be going to a park just a few blocks down. There's supposedly a free outdoor gym there. I got to check that out."

"There's a gym in the hostel, well at least they told me that at reception."

"Nah, trust me, it's lame. I already checked it out, just a step climber and a few rancid dumbbells. I'll admit though the overhead lighting down there was epic."

"So you didn't train there today?" I asked.

"Not really, I got a slight pump, stripped down to my briefs and practiced some posing. Until some old woman walked in," he laughed.

This dude is definitely not shy. He was probably laying down in his briefs as we spoke. I was eager to see what his condition looked like it. Maybe I could catch a glance in the morning.

"Do you lift too bro?"

"Yeah, sometimes." Okay, maybe not so much, but I'd get into it if I could get motivated.

"What are your lifts?" He asked.

Oh god, I can't even answer that! "Um, I don't go like you do. I'm more of a casual gym-goer."

"As long as your not part of the treadmill crew," he joked. "But hey, once you find the rhythm, you won't want to stop. There's a tipping point, where you start to notice some serious progress. Your shirt will start getting tight, people will comment on your veins, aunts and uncles telling you how much you've grown, how handsome you've become. And before you know it, you're lifting in stringers, people are asking you to flex, your abs become the highlight at parties."

"Do you drink?" I asked, wondering how he could get on stage and enjoy parties.

"Not now before my show. Except the wine I'll down just before the show to achieve that serious vascularity. But ya, I keep it within limits. Don't want to fuck up what I have, you know."

It's funny, I had no idea what his name was or what he looked like. But I could tell he looked pretty epic.

He seemed to read my mind. "I'm Caleb, by the way."

"I'm Daryl."

"Sweet. Hey, let's chat tomorrow, I'm going to doze off."

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