World Travel Guide Online

Look Both Ways
London, England

After walking a labyrinth of hallways, I stepped to the blue door. It had the huge numbers “016″ stenciled on it. So this was to be my home for the next month. I heard a commotion inside as I approached as well, and it seemed to be coming from a loud woman inside. By the tone of the commotion it seemed to have an air of comedy. Lots of laughing was going on. That was good, I needed a place like this. I always love to laugh. After listening for a second, I knocked on the door. Then I heard the same female voice pipe up, “Who’s there?”

“The guy who just paid for a bed in this room!”

The door opened, and a pretty good-looking woman greeted me. She was about 5-foot-7, straight auburn brown hair, a soft face, full lips, and bright blue/hazel eyes. She wore a cool belly shirt and some jeans. She already had a smile on her face, as if I had interrupted the telling of a funny tale inside the room. She stuck her hand out saying, “How ya going, my name’s Pip.”

“Pip, nice to meet you.” Near Pip was her friend Zoë, hovering by her backpack. They were both from my favorite country, that land of Oz. Melbourne, to be exact. They had only arrived in London a few days before, planning to live in the UK for at least a year, like many young Aussies do. With them in the room chatting was a guy named Sean, another Aussie from Sydney. He was traveling around, looking to settle in Ireland to live with his girlfriend, who was already there. The rest of the room was empty except for one other person towards the rear of the room, a guy in black near my bed. After some immediate small talk, I found my bed in the rear.

This was The Generator: An independent youth hostel, having several stories, and over 900 beds. There was a huge bar on the first floor where you could get drunk on the cheap, and being in the Kings Cross area near Russell Square, it was quite central to the sights one could see in London. The dorm rooms were all huge, varying in the number of beds, but on the average about 15 or so beds would be in each room. The place was generally clean, and wasn’t expensive to stay in, being around 13 bucks a night. A good deal. It seemed the right place for me to live for my month in London, since it would’ve made things very easy for me in terms of getting to and from any potential interviews. My recent layoff from my Internet job, coupled with a pretty damn good severance, allowed me to do just that.

As I approached my bed towards the rear of the room, I scoped out the young Scandinavian guy standing near it. He was wearing all black: black leather trench coat, black pants, black boots. Though he was monotone-colored, he looked sharp. He had dirty blond hair and light blue eyes. He looked boyish, like he’d just turned 18 or so. The way he was primping himself made me think this was going to be a big night out on the town for him. He saw me as I approached, turning. He spoke very deadpan when he introduced himself to me. “My name’s Hanno.”

I dropped my backpack, exhausted from my 8-hour flight from New York. “Hey Hanno, Mo’s the name. Where abouts are you from?”

“Estonia.”

“Estonia, eh? Damn, I thought you were from Scandinavia or something, you could pass for one of them.”

“Yes, I think we all look alike there, yet our languages are very different,” He said in perfect English. He continued primping himself, spraying himself with some cologne. “What are you doing here?”

“I just got laid off from my internet company back in New York. The bastards. But I got a good severance, and I figured this would be a great time now more than ever to just snoop around the world and see what the IT biz is like. Maybe I can find a job. I’m only here for a month, then I plan on going to their homeland to do the same,” I said, pointing at Pip and the crew on the other side of the room.

Hanno explained that he too was in IT, in Estonia. It hadn’t been hit as hard as it was in the US, but he said everyone in his homeland was watching the industry in the States. He said that he was keeping track of the internet companies that were collapsing. Hanno asked me about the one I came from, but when I told him he said he had never heard of it. He pulled out a pen, wanting to write the name down, but I told him not to bother. The company would be cooked by the time he returned to Estonia to look up its stats.

In our small talk I asked him what side of the road they drove on in Estonia. He said the right side, just like we do in the States. I commented that I couldn’t understand why the hell the Brits drove on the left side of the road. It seemed like their stubbornness just would never end; from rejecting the euro, not switching over to Imperial measurements, to driving on the right side of the road. We both made a joke of it all, laughing, quickly forgetting the comments and talking about other subjects.

He walked over to the small mirror above a sink that sat not far from our double bunk – which he slept on, above me. As he put some gel in his hair he said, “Hey, I’m going out tonight to see DJ Shadow. Have you heard of him?”

“Oh yeah, I’ve heard of him. He’s very well known in the States. He makes some really good music. I listen to that type of stuff all the time. You’re into that I guess?”

“Yes, like all European people. His music is fantastic. I’m actually going to go see him tonight, I’m leaving in a few moments. Would you like to go?”

I initially wanted to, but after dropping my pack, waves of exhaustion washed over me. My bunk was looking more and more inviting every second. “Naw, man, I’m too tired. Really I’d like to go, but I’m beat. I think I’ll have to sleep in tonight.” Hanno then turned to the other guys at the other end of our room and asked them. They all declined, being too tired as well.

Just before Hanno got ready to go, I asked him if he had been to the bar upstairs. “No, I haven’t checked it out yet. I will eventually. I just got here myself you know.”

“Really?! When did you arrive from Estonia?”

“This afternoon. This is my first trip to London, on my own. The last time I was here was when I was a child, with my family several years ago. Back then I did all the touristy things. The boring things. But now I’m out here alone. I’m here for just a week. So I need to make the most of it. I’m really looking forward to this night out, my first time on my own overseas.”

I looked at my watch. “Well it’s almost 11 in the evening man. You’d better go do yo thang while the night is still young, bro!”

Pip and Zoë offered Hanno a drink from the wine casket they had brought in just as he began to leave. But he declined. He said he’d do a little drinking when he got to the club, but was afraid if he got really drunk in the hostel he wouldn’t even be able to find the club!