Type: Hostel
City: Edinburgh, Scotland
Address: 5/3 West Register Street, Edinburgh
Website: Link.
Date Visited: July 2013
General Hotel Rating:
TripAdvisor: 4.5/5 (19/206 Speciality Lodging in Edinburgh)
Hostel World: 8.1.
Booking.com: 8.1.
Expedia: 3.7/5 (82%).
Trivago: 83.
Enuresis Friendly Rating (1 to 5): 5. See the Enuresis Friendly Rating System Explained.
Details of Stay and Recommendation:
This is perhaps the first 5 I’ve given, though I must admit that it is a little hard to rank this hostel when compared to some of the hotels I’ve ranked. As you will note from the date of my visit, it has been a while since my visit, so this review may not be up to date. Regardless, this is an excellent hostel, for those who are looking for cost-effective accommodation, but also a decent place to stay. I would certainly recommend this place as friendly to bedwetters and your pocket book.
I will do a separate post on back-packing and bedwetting and hostels, as I think this presents additional challenges on its own. I was not visiting this hostel as an itinerant backpacker however, so I will leave this discussion for another day.
While my long-established routine is to contact a hotel well in advance of my visit, this booking was a last-minute kind of thing, I was still on a work-related trip, but my visit to Edinburgh was a last-minute side junket, and this was one of the few places that was both cheap and close to where I needed to be. Anyhow, I still managed to contact the hostel in advance of my visit (probably from the train), and informed them of my arrival time (which was to be rather late in the evening), and to ask about waterproof mattress covers. I arrived before they could send me a reply, but I can’t fault them for this, given the short time frame involved. Despite this short time frame, the helpful young person at reception was aware of my arrival.
Because I had not received an answer to my question, I was forced to ask it in person, much to my embarrassment. Alerting a stranger to the fact that I wet the bed still embarrasses me. I don’t know if I’m the only one, but revealing this personal detail to someone who is younger than me seems all the more embarrassing. I think this is partly the case because it is embarrassing to them as well. When I asked the young man at the front desk about waterproof mattress covers, he seemed to blush as much as I did.
This situation fortunately did not last long, as he quickly informed me that all of the mattresses were already waterproof, and not to worry as this sort of thing ‘happened all the time.’ I requested a bottom bunk. I was given my own set of sheets, duvet cover and pillow case and directed to the shared dorm I was staying in.
Like I said, I will have to do a separate post about the challenges of staying in hostels as a bedwetter, but I will say that my stay at this hostel was not difficult. The mattresses were those kinds of mattresses that are completely covered in waterproof vinyl(?) much like the kinds found at summer camps. The one uncomfortable thing is that you really only have a sheet on top of this, so it can be a little sticky. I took the long-established habit of taking the bottom bunk, set up my bed (without a bed pad, as this would have been very visible to other residents in the dorm, and also was unnecessary given the mattress. Because it was late, I did this with the light of my phone, and as quietly as possible, to avoid waking the other ~6 residents in the dorm room.
I then went to the washroom to prepare myself for bed, which in addition to the usual stuff, involved changing into a diaper in one of the bathroom stalls. Despite the summer heat, I covered this with a pair of sleep shorts and sweat pants. Once under my covers, I removed my pants, but kept the shorts on. I was careful to keep the pants under my pillow at hand in order to slip them on in the morning in order to make my way to the washroom to discreetly change.
I stayed at the hostel for only two nights, and was unfortunately wet on both of these nights, though fortunate enough that the protection I was wearing did not leak (noticeably). On both mornings I managed to make it to the washroom in my sweatpants, to change discreetly without any of my roommates noticing that I was wearing a wet diaper.
Overall this was one of the best experiences I’ve had staying at a hostel. I should add that my experience was much improved by the fact that the people in my dorm did not snore all that much, and there were few middle of the night disturbances.
Chain and Loyalty Program?:
None, or unsure.
The Bedwetting Traveller 