Place to sleep: Headlands Hostel, San Francisco, California, United States

About this place:

The absolute best - okay, cheap and creative - place to sleep when visiting San Francisco. A 5 minute drive from the Golden Gate Bridge, The Marin Headlands Hostel is located in a historic setting (old military quarters), nestled within a grove of Eucalyptus trees, steps from Rodeo Beach (good surfing) and a short walk to the edge of the world at the Point Bonita Light House.

The landscape is something of a paradox. It is desolate yet so close to civilization. If you meander along the cliffs carved high above the ocean, you will find benches looking out across the flat, vastness of the Pacific to one side and toward the sharp contour of San Francisco on the other. It is peaceful yet dotted with abandoned military outposts, reminders of a varied succession of wars which never quite arrived - if one was waiting. For the wars happened elsewhere or behind closed doors, as with the case of Nike Missile Site built during the Cold War.

Depicted by the remains, one can see how the nature of war has gradually changed and in turn has altered the travelers financial landscape. With the current value of the american dollar so low and gas prices so high, traveling can be a daunting expense. A bed in a dorm room starts at $21. Not bad if you like to share. I don't and recommend instead the private rooms, priced at $55 per night.

Bring a frisbee, a surf board and a deck of cards. Pop tarts and hot cocoa seem to be popular in the evenings and someone is bound to be playing the piano in the main room or a guitar or clarinet in the lower field. It is not a lavish stay but rather a surreal and thought provoking experience.