Tomorrow is Island Life Backpackers’ Hostels 3 month anniversary, time has flown by! The plan was to open in off season and be able to finish everything when we were quite. It has been the opposite - we have been really busy and it has been amazing! We have had travelers from all over the world staying - over 50 different countries. We have had really good feedback and have loved our guests.
 |
| Island Life nights out |
We have an awesome team of staff now. Anthony from the UK, Cory from Puerto Rico and Michael our chef from Denmark. Along with our cleaner and security guard everything is starting to run really smoothly.
 |
| Chilling at the bar |
We have been full on multiple occasions and had some great parties in the bar. Our guys love showing our guests the local night life in the Colonial Zone.
 |
| Just in case the guests get lost! |
We have been running trips from the hostel every Sunday for our guests. We have had some awesome days out.
 |
| Weekly Friday night BBQ |
Everyone loves Isla Saona; an Island just of the South East Coast. It is a great day out - food, drink, snorkeling, starfishes and an awesome Catamaran ride.
 |
| Cayo Levantado with some guests |
Last weekend was Cayo Arena and although it is quite a trek from the capital the guests loved it.
 |
| Cayo Arena - Paradise! |
By this time I thought I would have been completely finished by now with the rest of the renovations however I still have quite a few areas that I need to finish. I still have one ensuite 6 bed dorm to finish. This will be quite a bit of work as the room is just an empty shell at the moment but I am hoping to have it finished by the end of November. This dorm will have air conditioning as well so our guests can have the choice.
 |
| Still finishing parts of our bar but its looking good |
Now we have a few staff working for us I have a couple of rooms that I need to finish as staff rooms, the pool house will sleep two and I am also changing the bar toilets. I made the bar toilets far to big - when I made the plans it didnt look that big so I am making a staff room with bathroom with half of it.
 |
| Saturday night Burger night |
I am almost finished our commercial kitchen. This wasnt a priority at first as I thought it would be a while before we started serving food but due to Michael arriving we are hoping to have it finished by the end of the week so we can move him in to this kitchen.
 |
| Island Life Bar |
I am going to keep the blog updated a bit more frequently now as I have let it slip over the last few months. So until next time.
 |
| A rare day off - out with Anthony for his birthday |
