Island Life Backpackers Hostel

A lot of people have been asking me why I am restoring this Colonial property and what I am going to do with it. Well now is the time to reveal all. It was a dream of mine from a young age to travel, I just wanted to get out and see the world but time was ticking away when I was living in the UK and at the age of 26 I left on what was meant to be a two year around the world trip. Well it has been 5 years, 25 countries and I still have not been back so mission accomplished I guess. Before I left I had travelled in Europe and stayed at backpackers hostels in a few countries and always enjoyed them, by the time I made it through Central and South America I was hooked! 

At that point I realized what I wanted to do... welcome to Island Life Backpackers’ Hostel in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. I plan on opening within the next couple of months when I have finished restorations. It has almost been a year of building work - longer than expected but good things come to those who wait!
I am really pleased with the progress. I have been called crazy quite a few times when I started the project and I can understand why - all you need is to look back at the photos at the start of this blog. I still find it hard to believe how far the project has come.

So what is my vision? The decision to open up Island Life Backpackers’ Hostel would have seemed strange to me when I first started my travels - my response would have been “who goes backpacking in the Caribbean?”. 

I had been living here for around three years when I realized that this was the place I wanted to open a hostel. There are so many successful hostels in the world and I have to say the area that is best set up for them is Central and South America. I wanted to replicate this in an area not yet fully set up for backpackers and budget conscious travelers. 

Coming from the United Kingdom a lot of people think that the Caribbean is for the rich and that if you step out of your all inclusive hotel you are going to be in trouble - stereotypes that are there to be proven wrong. Another problem that many people; including myself found when first coming into Santo Domingo was the lack of good quality budget accommodation - my aim is to fulfill those needs.

The Dominican Republic has so much to offer yet people just think of beaches. Don’t get me wrong I am a beach person and love them but the center of this country is amazing too - ATV riding through the hills in Jarabacoa - jumping, swimming and sliding down the 27 waterfalls of Rio Damajagua or trekking to the summit of Pico Duarte the highest peak in the Caribbean. That is just to name a few! This country is ready to explore and we have made our base in the Capital, Santo Domingo.

I have stayed at over a 1000 hostels world wide and each and everyone has their own feel. Some amazing and some not so good but I have learnt something from every single one. So what makes a good hostel? It all depends on the person really. I have had the funnest times at absolute dives, its not always the hostel you stay at its about the people. Ok sometimes you get unlucky in the way that there is no one staying at the hostel that you actually connect with - the hostel might have amazing facilities and perfect in every way but it goes like that at times.

Some hostels have made an impression on my around the world and I thought I would share my two favorites with you...

Cranky Croc Hostel, Bogota - Colombia

Now I have to say I didn’t even plan on staying in Bogota but I had to stop there for a night to wait for a bus. I am so glad I did - Capital cities usually get written off but I absolutely love the hostel and the city. Great nightlife, interesting sites and just generally a good vibe. The hostel had all the facilities you could ask for and the staff were great.

Hanoi Backpackers Hostel, Hanoi - Vietnam

Hanoi was the last stop on my 6 week bike tour of Vietnam and I had heard good reports on this hostel. Usually I tend to stay away from big so called party hostels but these guys had it almost perfect. Amazing place - they had two in the city and they are actually run by the owners which is good to see. They are from New Zealand if I recall correctly - great guys with an awesome place.

Thanks for everyone that has been keeping up with this blog and I will keep you posted over the next couple of months coming up to our opening.

So near yet so far...

Ok, it has been a while since my last post. I realized the other day that it is getting close to a year that I started work on this project - time really does fly. When I started I targeted a very optimistic 6 - 8 months completion time - obviously that was not even close but hey. It did get my ass in gear though, I have set a date of two more months to finish.

Finishing off front rooms

The finishing details take a lot of time to complete - just because a room has walls, plumbing and power does not mean its finished. My mum who has been helping over the last 5 months is leaving tomorrow and she was determined to finish all the painting - which see did!

painted and almost tilied

She has done an awesome job, the walls are one thing but the ceilings were very time consuming!

Downstairs ceilings

It has turned out great, I am so pleased with the final results. I have just one and a half rooms to finish tiling down stairs and that means the downstairs floors will be finished. I realized when looking through my blog the other day that all the photos were of the back part of the property, well finally we have a few here of the main rooms.

A lot of mess - but all painted

There were two rooms in the house that I have been leaving till the end - two upstairs bathrooms. I didnt have any intention of touching these until I had finished everywhere else as I hadn't even finished the plumbing. However I finally got around to finishing them - the plumbing and floors at least. All ready for tiling!

Two of the upstairs bathrooms - plumbing installed

Now, against my preference UNESCO made me install a wooden floor in the main house which has been on my list to finish for a while now. I was having a bit of a dilemma about how to fill the gaps between the boards - ended up going for slivers of wood which you hammer and glue in.

Upstairs front room

Due to not being able to find a floor sander in this country I have completed about half of it just using power tools - a pain and very time consuming but needs to be done. Stain plus oil and they are starting to look good.

oiled floor

I have been completing lots of little jobs in between doing the floors such as the drainage in the garden. When it rained really hard my two inch pipe I installed for the overflow of my infiltration system was just not enough and would start to create a little pond in the garden. It has been one of those little jobs that I kept on saying I would get around to... So I finally started it, new bigger pipe getting installed - I really do not like changing work that has already been completed but this needed to be done. Even Katherine was helping...

A helping hand

I even got around to finishing the laundry - almost. Roof is on and the washing machine and sink are installed.

Laundry

Storage has been a bit of an issue as we have been finishing rooms so as the laundry roof was so high I built in an attic room to store all my building tools and materials.

laundry attic

We have started a sign post tree in the garden for guests and people that have visited so far. Not many up at the moment but it will soon grow.

Sign posts

I havent actually explained on here what I will be doing with the property yet so my next post will explain all! Until next time...