youth hostel

Inside an old youth hostel in rural Saxony, more than 50 men are waiting for their future to begin.

For 60 years from 1945 the castle was a youth hostel, but during World War Two it had served as a sanctuary for members of the Norwegian royal family after Nazi Germany's invasion of Norway.

The island's youth hostel wrote: "We were fully booked before the ferries were cancelled and they keep just sending people without even calling us."

The great social experiment of bunking in a youth hostel is forever worthwhile, even for families.

When a youth hostel came up in my search on Booking.com, I dismissed it.