Every traveler knows what happens to plans while traveling. They get smashed either by higher circumstances (to be honest the most unlikely one), the fact that people in different countries have a different understanding of time (more likely) and also by your optimistic planning how everything works out (maybe most likely :D).
Let`s say this time it was a mixture of all those three circumstances that stranded me in a little town near to midnight with literally everybody asleep and the next bus in over 7 hours. Since I sometimes do make Plan B´s I knew there was a hostel in town. It seemed much more appealing to spend the night there than on the street next to rats and leftover food from a month ago.
After a short walk, I see the hostel lying there dark and looking deserted. Loud knocking and screaming actually is leading to a reaction inside. There seem to be people in the hostel. Thank god. But for some reason the door doesn´t open. I hear muffled whispers behind the door but my tries to convince them to open the door go unheard…. But why, it`s a god damn hostel?! A shelter for stranded people a port of light and cold beers in the middle of nowhere.
It took me only 10 minutes to find a way to break into the hostel and find two scared faces of fellow travelers inside. A short chat later everything is cleared up. They stay in this hostel, but all the staff seems to sleep at a different place and left a few hours ago. My knocking and screaming woke them up but didn`t really convince them to open the door for a stranger. Fair enough, I´m inside now and they agree that I don`t look like nor behave like a serial killer or a thief.
Finally, I fall back in a warm bed and promise myself that I gonna tell the hostel stuff tomorrow that maybe, just maybe it would be nice to have somebody stay at the hostel at night, especially since it’s quite easy to break in if you wanted to. I wake up early, hang out at the terrace and look out for anybody who might look like staff so I can pay and move on to the destination I originally want to go to. 9 am passes and nobody shows up. I get a little nervous. The other two people in the hostel already left and my bus is 10:15 which I really don`t want to miss. 9:30, nobody to be seen. 9:45… my fingernails are getting shorter and shorter… what to do? Just leave? It feels wrong… but as 10 am passes and nobody showed up I throw my Backpack back on and close the door behind me. I make it to the bus, I arrive at my destination and since then I never went back to that hostel. I wonder if they ever showed up and found my notice that I would recommend them to fix the balcony door and that I sincerely thank them for the free night and the free shower.