Guys, if you wouldn’t mind lowering your voices and turning down the lights a bit… we’re feeling a little bit delicate after partying for twenty days straight. We went hard (and so did you!) in twenty of our favourite hostels in some out of this world locations across the globe. There were shocking confessions, intense dance offs and more games of beer pong than you could throw a ball at. We may be getting old, but we still know how to party – and we loved every second of celebrating our 20th birthday with you!
@marionavalencia & @mrbiese – Selina Cancun Downtown
We want to say a ginormous thank you to all of you who made #20Hostels20Parties a birthday bash we’ll never forget. That means all 5000 of you that joined us in person across six continents (Antarctica’s next on our list!), plus the thousands more that tuned in to our live streams on Instagram every night to celebrate with us from wherever you were in the world.
We kicked off our time travelling adventure in Germany, with a 1999 themed party at St. Christopher’s Berlin Mitte, before seeing in the Millennium in San Diego at the technicolour hippy heaven that is USA Hostels Ocean Beach. We then journeyed through the years to 2019, stopping for a Double Denim disco in Mexico’s Selina Cancun Downtown, a Sk8ter shindig on Colombia’s Caribbean coastline at Viajero Tayrona Hostel & Ecohabs and an Under the Sea pool party (attended by several mermaids) at Lub D Phuket Patong in Thailand. Our global gathering continued with a Funky Gym theme at Unite Barcelona, a Jungle jam on M Montreal’s epic rooftop, an intergalactic Pluto party at White Rabbit Hostel in Cambodia and a Lost Temple adventure at JO&JOE Paris, before we all turned into Vampires at Abraham Hostel in Tel Aviv. By the halfway point our hangover was real, but a night of Greek Mythology at Puri Garden in Bali had us back on our feet. We headed to Peru to act like Witches and Wizards in Wild Rover Hostel Cusco, became Superheroes at the stunning Rodamon Riad in Marrakech, threw our own Festival at JUNGLE by thehostelcrowd in Goa and went Emoji crazy at the brand new Wombat’s City Hostel Venice. Before we were all partied out, there was still time to #MeetTheWorld at Tokyo’s Emblem Hostel Nishiarai, cover ourselves in glitter for a Brazilian Unicorn party at O De Casa Hostel Bar São Paulo and walk the red carpet like the Superstars we are at The Independente in Lisbon. All that was left was to go out with a bang at our grand finale in London at the equally grand Palmers Lodge – Swiss Cottage. Phew – excuse us while we go and lay down for the next 20 years!
@steveyalo – Unite Barcelona
From local music and henna in a Moroccan riad to giant bouncy slides with views over Cusco, it’s safe to say that no two hostel parties were the same. We danced on beaches and rooftops, in cities and jungles and just about everywhere in between. Some hostels even have their own tattoo parlours on site – in fact, if you were watching our live stream from Thailand, you may have seen a crazy party goer at Lub D Phuket Patong get the Hostelworld logo tattooed on his toe, live on Instagram! And we don’t mean the temporary tatts we all covered ourselves in (anyone else still scrubbing those off?!), we’re talking about permanent ink here. That’s the level of commitment to #hostellife we like to see!
@odecasahostel – O De Casa Hostel Bar, São Paulo
We may not feel older, but we’re definitely feeling wiser after this birthday. We learned to surf in San Diego (well, almost), how to make the perfect caipirinha in São Paulo, honed our Japanese calligraphy skills in Tokyo and were taught how to create traditional Indian flower garlands in Goa (one member of the HW team also learned that giving these can be considered a marriage proposal – after she’d presented them to half the men at the party #awkward).
We learned a lot about you guys too – firstly that you never turn down a free drink, even if it’s a shot of blood (our Vampire party at Abraham Hostel Tel Aviv has a lot to answer for!) Our confession chair saw you spill your deepest, darkest travel secrets live on air, winning hundreds of dollars of Hostelworld vouchers and getting gunged in the process. Most of them are far too X rated to repeat here, but let’s just say we know who to avoid if we see her on a pub crawl. If you know, you know!
@ St. Christopher’s Berlin Mitte
As much as we loved all the incredible destinations we visited and the time we got to spend hanging out in hostels (i.e. our number one hobby), our favourite thing was getting to meet each and every one of you and help you to live your best hostel lives. This isn’t just a soppy end of the night text – we actually mean it! And some of you enjoyed yourselves so much that you travelled across countries to attend other parties. We had guests in Marrakech that joined us later in Lisbon, a partygoer who flew from Cusco to São Paulo and a particular guy named Sean (@howlsy) who was so hyped after our Siem Reap night that he came and found us again in Bali!
“A group of people in Mad Monkey Phnom Penh told me about The World’s Biggest Hostel Party and the party animal in me had to find the next one, which happened to be in Siem Reap. I headed to White Rabbit Hostel and before I knew it I was getting a tattoo of the hostel’s logo and receiving $100 worth of Hostelworld vouchers for getting involved in the party games (thank you very much by the way)! After the most epic party in Siem Reap, I decided to book a flight to Bali ahead of my plans so I could join the party at Puri Garden Hotel & Hostel, which turned out to be one of the best I’ve stayed in. The hostel choices for both Hostelworld parties I attended were spot on! Thank you for making me feel part of the Hostelworld family and for bringing people together from all over the world – please don’t stop the parties now your birthday is over!” @howlsy
@howlsy – Puri Garden Hotel & Hostel, Ubud
Other guests of honour included our supremely talented squad of Instagram hosts who kept our community around the world involved, an impressive lineup of local DJs, musicians and artists and a troupe of real-life vampires from Tel Aviv. We’re not kidding about the vampires either – just don’t expect to spot them in any of our photos! And of course, our wonderful competition winner Andrea who came all the way from Mexico to #MeetTheWorld with us at Emblem Hostel Nishiarai in Tokyo.
Okay, we could go on about the amazing time we had for another 20 years, but before we get teary eyed, all that’s left to say is… THANK YOU! Same time in 2039?
The post We came, we saw, we partied: 20 Years Young – it’s a wrap! appeared first on Hostelworld Blog.
