Nouméa, the capital city of New Caledonia. Also, one of my stops on the Fiji Cruise Jan21-Feb4,202

Noumea has built its Pacific identity through a mixing of cultures and styles. This cultural diversity is reflected on your plate, but also in the architecture and all the attractions it offers. True artistic heart of the country, museums, art galleries, theaters and cinemas are concentrated in Noumea.

Nouméa is the capital and largest city of the French special collectivity of New Caledonia. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, and is home to the majority of the island's European, Polynesian, Indonesian, and Vietnamese populations, as well as many Melanesians, Ni-Vanuatu and Kanaks who work in one of the South Pacific's most industrialised cities. The city lies on a protected deepwater harbour that serves as the chief port for New Caledonia.

With its cheerful multi-ethnic community, New Caledonia’s cosmopolitan capital is both sophisticated and uncomplicated, classy and casual. The relaxed city sits on a large peninsula, surrounded by picturesque bays, and offers visitors a variety of experiences. Diners can eat out at sassy French restaurants hidden in Quartier Latin, dine at bold water-fronting bistros or grab a bargain meal from a nocturnal van in a car park. Meanwhile, shopaholics can blow their savings on the latest Parisian fashions or go bargain hunting for imported Asian textiles.

Snorkeling and diving adventures await you on my cruise on the Majestic Princess round-trip from Sydney, Australia Jan 21-Feb 4, 2020. Call me at 702-981-0445 to book your spot!

You Can Take An Affordable Glamping Trip For 2 At This Romantic Tiny House In Florida

We need a romantic getaway from our world of worries.

Keeping the romance alive in a relationship is so important; the longer you're together the more you start to feel the fire fizzle, but it doesn't have to. Sometimes you just need to take yourself a romantic vacation for 2, starting with affordable rentals in Florida to get you out and exploring. This tiny house in Sarasota might actually just be a good contender.

The Lido Tiny Home in Sarasota sits tucked away on a shared wooded lot, creating a feeling of seclusion and privacy. Since it's only for 2, tell your friends you've got plans and if you've got kids, get a sitter & treat yourself to a date weekend away from the world.

The bedroom space in the loft has a memory foam mattress, offering a comfy & cozy spot to lay your head at night. You'll even have wifi & a t.v. for late-night movie & Netflix binges together — and of course a kitchen with adorable vintage appliances to pop some popcorn and pour a glass of wine. Look for this on Airbnb.

The Lido Tiny House comes with 2 bikes for exploring the area like you're in a Hallmark Movie. Cycle away to the nearby Selby Botanical Gardens that are a true floral oasis with treetop boardwalks and rooms full of artistic flower exhibits — you're also super close to a beautiful secluded tiki bar right on the ocean's edge that has some of the best seafood and drinks in the area that locals call a hidden gem.

Hostels-are you for them or against them?

There is less privacy in a hostel than in a hotel. Sharing sleeping accommodations in a dormitory and bathrooms is very different from staying in a private room in a hotel or bed and breakfast, and might not be comfortable for those requiring more privacy. For some hostel users, though, the shared accommodation makes it easier to meet new people. Some hostels encourage more social interaction between guests due to the shared sleeping areas and communal areas such as lounges, kitchens and internet cafes. Lounges typically have sofas and chairs, coffee tables, board games, books (or a book exchange), computers, and Internet access. The lounge provides a location for social activities.

Pay clothes-washing machines and driers are often provided also drying rooms for walking boots, camping and climbing equipment.

Guests may share a common living space. Most hostels offer some sort of system for safely storing valuables, and some offer private lockers.

Shared communal kitchen and food. Nearly all Hostels will have a kitchen area for the preparation of food and some kind of storage area for dry food plus fridges/coolers for keeping food fresh. Most Hostels have a label system for your food to stop confusion. Some Hostels will have a "free shelf" or similar that people can leave unwanted food, this food will be labelled "free". Theft of food can happen.

Noise can make sleeping difficult on occasions, whether from snoring, talking and social activities in the lounge, people staying up to read with the light on, someone either returning late from bars, or leaving early, or the proximity of so many people. To mitigate this, some wear earplugs or eye-covering sleeping masks.

Self-contained facilities and services

In attempts to attract more visitors, many hostels nowadays provide additional services not previously available, such as airport shuttle transfers, Internet cafés, swimming pools and spas, tour booking and car rental. Some hostels, especially isolated ones, may also include food in the price.

The ship Passat is a floating hostel and museum.

The traditional hostel format involves dormitory-style accommodation. Some newer hostels also include en-suite accommodation with single, double or quad occupancy rooms, though to be considered a hostel they must also provide dormitory accommodation. In recent years, the numbers of independent hostels have increased greatly to cater for the greater numbers of overland, multi-destination travellers (such as gap-year travellers and rail-trippers).

The quality of such places has also improved dramatically. While most hostels still insist on a curfew and daytime lockouts, very few require occupants to do chores apart from washing and drying up after food preparation.

Hostelling International (HI)

Richard Schirrmann's idea of hostels rapidly spread overseas and eventually resulted in Hostelling International, an organisation composed of more than 90 different youth hostel associations representing over 4,500 youth hostels in over 80 countries. Some HI Youth Hostels cater more to school-aged children (sometimes through school trips) and parents with their children, whereas others are more for travellers intent on learning new cultures.

In 2017, Hostelling International reported that it has added hotels and package resorts to their networks in addition to hostels.

Independent hostels

Independent hostels are not necessarily affiliated with one of the national bodies of Hostelling International, Youth Hostel Association or any other hostel network. Often, the word independent is used to refer to non-HI hostels even when the hostels do belong to another hostelling organization such as SIH and Backpackers Canada.

The term "youth" is less often used with these properties. Unlike a hotel chain where everything is standardised, these hostels can be very diverse, typically not requiring a membership card. There are chains of independent hostels throughout the world such as the Jazz Hostels on the East Coast and Banana Bungalow Hostels on the West Coast of the United States, or the Generator Hostels, Equity Point Hostels, St Christopher's Inn hostels and Clink Hostels of Europe, or Zostel of India. Each offers their own niche of services to travellers and backpackers. For example, one independent hostel might feature a lot of in-house gatherings, another might feature daily and nightly tours or events in the surrounding city, and another might have a quieter place to relax in serenity, or be located on the beach. This is an independent hostel's personality and travellers will frequent the hostels that offer the personality that they find desirable. There is frequently a distinction being a "party hostel" or not.

Boutique hostels

In response to demand, as well as increasing competition between the rapidly growing number of hostels, the overall quality of hostels has improved across the industry. In addition to the increase in quality among all styles of hostel, new styles of hostels have developed that have a focus on a more trendy, design interior. Some historical actors as Generator has always offered an array of in-house programming such as live concerts, DJ parties, art openings and fashion shows. Now local actors and big chains (as AccorHotels with the brand Jo&Joe) are competing this market, by combining three different hospitality areas: hotels, hostels and private rentals, taking the best features of each, boutique hostels selected by some platforms. As research shows there is also a growing segment of older remote working travelers preferring hostels or backpacker lodging that offer slightly more upmarket private rooms or generally quieter accommodation such as Blouberg Backpackers in Cape Town. With a changing trend towards hostels offering this type of service inclusive of en-suite bathrooms and more in some instances along with improved quality of service, the term 'Boutique Hostel' is increasingly being used to attract this group of guests.

Mobile hostels

Though very uncommon, a mobile hostel is a hostel with no fixed location. It can exist in the form of a campsite, a temporary building, bus, van, or a short term agreement in a permanent building. Mobile hostels have sprouted up at large festivals where there exists a shortage of budget accommodation. As with regular hostels, mobile hostels generally provide dormitory accommodation for backpackers or travelers on a shoestring budget. The first ever commercial example of a mobile hostel is Hostival. It has provided accommodation at Oktoberfest, Carnival, San Fermin, Las Fallas and the 2010 World Cup.

Have I ever used hostels? Yes, when the hotel market gets too high, it's time for a hostel, those these days, I request a private room and when available a private bath. It's a little more, but worth it. I have used hostels in London, New York Times Square, San Francisco and Hong Kong. Money talks.