Evening star., 1962-09-14
By JOHN HAMILTON

Contributing Writer
Mama mial" screamed
Luigi when he realized the
speed with which our gondo-
La was approaching the side
Of the canal.
With skill born of years
Of experience, he nimbly
scampered back to the stern
and steered US away from
danger.
Carson. q Kansas Univer-
sity junior and former helms
man. had Just failed miser-
ably on taking a gondolier
and Nal Read and me on q
gondola ride through Ven
ices famous waterways. He
apologized for his la ack of
skill. Nal and I were laugh
ing 50 hard that the little
boat rocked In the still, dark
canal. Carson's unskilled ef-
forts were farcical. At one
point. we very nearly saw the
end Of our adventure when
he failed to duck at the first
bridge. Luigi took over and
remained in control long
enough to give US q delight
full tour of Venice by night.
It was free because we had
talked the gondolier into let
ting US take him for a ride
in his gondola. He wasn't
busy. so he agreed, and sat
in the tourist chair while the
rest Of US almost finished off
his boat.
Such unforgettable exper-
fences may seem out of reach
to most teen-agers, since a
large financial outlay has
become almost synonymous
with travelling in Europe. But
we spent an average Of only
$3.50 q day for living ex-
penses, although we met a
middle-aged couple from
New York who were spending
$50 daily.
Carson was with US only
for the one evening, as we
had met him at a Venice
youth hostel, so we don't
know what his trip cost.
Nal and I Travelled a lot
by bikes that we bought in
Germany for $50. eve sold
them later for $320.
The reason we were able
to spend IL weeks in Europe
so inexpensively was the In
ternational youth Hostel
movement. This movement
Is designed for the young
person travelling on a budget.
A typical hostel contains
bunk beds with blankets
only. (The hosteler supplies
sheets. There's a commons,
or recreation room, wash
rooms, bathrooms. an office
and often q locker room and
dining room. The price for
one nights lodging is stand
ardized by each nation, and
usually runs around Is cents,
but it can 60 as high as so
cents.
Real international
Hostels are more or less
shelters where you sleep and
talk, and sometimes, in the
bigger ones, eat and dance.
A big hostel sleeps more than
100. The hostel in Munich,
for instance. could take care
Of TOO persons. The smaller
ones sleep about 40. We we're
surprised at how many hos
tells there are in Europe. We
met a number Of teen-age
Americans in the hostels,
most of them from New
York and California.
It's the chance to live with
students from many nations
that is the main Joy Of stay
ing in hoStels. In Rome, Nal
and I slept in a 10-man room.
There were young people of
eight nationalities: Amer
lean, Israeli, German, Aus
tralian, English, Tunisian,
Dutch and South African.
Luckily for US, English W a S
chosen as the common Ian
guage, but often individual
conversations would slip off
into another tongue. Nal
speaks excellent French, but
I've studied only Latin.
It was a good chance to
observe traits, customs and
opinions Of various national
tiles side by side. You could
hear English boys talking in
high school French to Paris
ian girls about Britain's
/, problems with the Common
Market. In the morning you