Boldly Go Solo

Real ghosts for Halloween...scary!!!

They say that if you walk late at night, up Hog Alley, a short, steep street in Harpers Ferry, W.Va., you might see a tall black man, dressed like a gentleman from the 1800s, pacing up and down. If you get close enough, he slowly lifts his head to show piercing blue eyes. But when he lifts his head a little farther, you see blood dripping from a scar that goes from ear to ear. . . .

Agghhhhhhh!

This story is continued in Friday's Weekend section of The Washington Post. The headline is, "An eerie twist on 'living history.' "

I went on the O' Be Joyfull ghost tour in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, and visited The Haunted Cottage there as well.

The Harpers Ferry Ghost Tour

Rick Garland, the guide of the ghost tour in the historic area of Harpers Ferry related stories about the ghosts of people who actually died in the area, many during the Civil War era. Some Confederate soldiers, some abolitionists, some young boys sent to help the soldiers.

Solo skiers and hikers can find camaraderie via Maine Huts and Trails

My friend Diane and her husband Wessel recently visited Flagstaff Lake Hut, one of the huts that is part of Maine Huts & Trails. As a cross country skier, I was intrigued by her account of the two of them walking into the woods with all their cross country ski gear for a little winter getaway.

I want to do this! Though it will have to wait until next year at least.

I first heard about hut-to-hut hiking and skiing in Norway, where they have a good system of backwoods huts. I didn't know they also have them in Maine.

It seems to me like a really cool thing to do, hiking or skiing to a destination, rather than just taking a random hike or skiing for an hour then returning home. I like the idea of pushing toward a goal. It's why I also like week-long bike trips.

The huts I saw in Norway were quite spare. Diane says the hut they stayed at in Maine was more like a lodge, (although the photos on the site don't convey that.) Diane does say the bedrooms are quite spare. All the more reason not to hang out in them but to join others in the common room.

City guides and videos by hostelworld offer a trip preview

Hosteling sure has changed since the days I was bumming my way around Europe. I carried a ratty little book listing where the hostels were and counted on outdated information that was printed probably once a year at most.

You'd have to write letters to make reservations at a hostel, or just show up and potentially be shut out for the night for lack of space.

Now, at hostelworld.com you can find videos and podcasts, and ratings and prices of hostels in particular cities. You can book online. Short videos take you around the bedrooms, bathrooms and exterior of the hostel. See Athens below, for example.

Getting a little familiar with a place via video might help a solo traveler get more comfortable about going someplace new.

A hostelworld guy named Colm Hanratty also has produced six "city guides" titled "10 Things You Need To Know About (X city)" and he's done them for Paris, London, New York, Prague, Rome and Dublin. Sure, you can find all the same information, and in much more detail, from guidebooks or at other places on the Web.

But there's something charming about his take. And, again, the visuals provide a "you are there" feel that you don't get from books and still photos.

Fair warning: If off-kilter French pronunciation bothers you steer clear of his guide to Paris, in which he mangles all the French words he utters. (I haven't watched all the videos so I can't gauge his facility with Czech or Italian. And I'm sure I'd do the same in pronouncing Czech locations!)

*******

A solo traveler gets treated to a Christmas party at a Pennsylvania youth hostel

It being December, I'm reminded of a night I spent at a stone mansion in Quakertown, getting a taste of a Pennsylvania Christmas. Not having been to the manor born, this mansion experience provided a little taste of the high life.

But actually, it was a youth hostel. I was researching a travel story for The Washington Post on hosteling and I called the Weisel Hostel because it's within driving distance of Washington, D.C.

My hosts welcomed me to sign up for the night but apologized at the same time. Since they live in the 100-year-old country estate, as well as run the hostel there, they were inviting their neighbors for a Christmas open house the night I was going to stay.

It wasn't going to be a quiet night, they warned. But I was welcome to join the festivities.

I arrived after dark at the huge stone house in Nockamixon State Park (the hostel is operated by the Bucks County Department of Parks and Recreation) and let myself in. The first to greet me was Gunther, the dog.

Next were hosts John and Geri Ann McLaughlin and their two girls. I was to be the only paying guest that night. So I had a huge private room with my choice of any one of 10 bunk beds. Top or bottom.

What a great place. In the middle of nowhere. And that night, all decorated with red bows and welcoming lights. (That's the one problem with U.S. youth hostels. They're often far from public transportation. I went by car).

A couple of hours later, the "partying" began. My $15 guest fee got me not only a bed, but food and entertainment. Christmas caroling around a bonfire. Hot chocolate in front of an indoor fireplace. And a huge selection of homemade cookies. And no need to help with cleanup. There were plenty of neighbor teens who were conscripted for that.

Nice.