Igloo is a Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence winner!

/
tripadvisor-award-2013.jpg

When we logged into our Trip Advisor account the other day we were greeted with a lovely little pop-up…

“Igloo Backpackers Hostel is a Certificate of Excellence winner! Congratulations on being one of the top 10% of all businesses on TripAdvisor.”

​Which was a very lovely thing to read (and so have been all the recent Trip Advisor reviews you have all been writing), especially after recently having a guest give us a 4.2 rating on Booking.com (one of the things they were upset about was how we offer free tea, coffee, and sugar but do not provide milk).

Guess that proves that old saying of “you can't please every one, all of the time”. But we are glad to know that we are pleasing most of you, most of the time :)

New Mattresses For All Dorm Beds!

/

P̶a̶p̶a̶'s̶ Igloo's got a̶ some brand new b̶a̶g̶ orthopaedic mattresses! For every single dorm bed!

Because we think everyone should be able to wake up feeling like a James Brown song is playing :)​

Dot To Dot Festival - Venue Breakdown + Mix Tape

/

The excellent Dot To Dot Festival is almost here (have you got your tickets yet?) and they recently announced where everyone will be playing. So now is the time to start planning where you need to be at what time in order to see you know who.

To help with your planning (or maybe it will just complicate it), we made a mix tape of 20 of the artists that we're looking the most forward to seeing. So if you hear something you like, check the venue listings and make note of when they're playing (and remember to get there a bit early).

And if you don't have tickets already, you really should do something about that… it's going to be a pretty ace today of music in Notts. 

(for further exploring of the huge amount of artists playing, check the Dot To Dot website, the Bodega site, and you can also just bust out some googling). 

This Is Water - David Foster Wallace

/

This video, stylishly put together by The Glossary​, seems like a fitting post for a Monday morning. Here's a bit more on the video from the folks who made it:​

“In 2005, author David Foster Wallace was asked to give the commencement address to the 2005 graduating class of Kenyon College. However, the resulting speech didn’t become widely known until 3 years later, after his tragic death. It is, without a doubt, some of the best life advice we’ve ever come across, and perhaps the most simple and elegant explanation of the real value of education. We made this video, built around an abridged version of the original audio recording, with the hopes that the core message of the speech could reach a wider audience who might not have otherwise been interested.”

If you're interested, you can read the full speech David gave here.​ And Happy Monday to you all… may your time spent in Tesco / LIDL / ALDI / Sainsbury / Waitrose / etc be slightly less stressful :)

Alt-J @ Rock City Tomorrow!

/

Mercury winners Alt-J are playing at Rock City tomorrow night! Unsurprisingly, the show is already sold out. So I guess if you don't have tickets already, you might just have to watch the above video (or listen to the full album on Spotify) to get your fix.​

Although, if you are a keener, I'm sure you might be able to get lucky and find some tickets for sale outside the venue (there is always one friend in a group who can't make it).

If you've got tickets and are heading down to Rock City, here's the google map walking directions (it's a short little jaunt).​

The Igloo Volunteer Program

/
the-igloo-volunteer-program.jpg

The Igloo is now running our own volunteer programmes from 6 weeks - 6 months. The idea is: you help us out & we give you free accommodation and food allowances. During the last 2 years we have had 9 volunteers from abroad and it has worked very well for everybody involved.

If you know anyone who may be interested, they can get in touch via reception@igloohostel.co.uk and ask about our volunteer programme package!

The Universal Addressability of Dumb Things @ Nottingham Contemporary

/

It seems like a good day to head down to Nottingham Contemporary and check out 'The Universal Addressability of Dumb Things' exhibit. Not only is the weather outside a bit 'blah' today, but doesn't this sound pretty cool?

“Historical and contemporary works of art, videos, machines, archaeological artefacts and iconic objects, like the giant inflatable cartoon figure of Felix the Cat – the first image ever transmitted on TV – inhabit an “enchanted landscape” created in Nottingham Contemporary’s galleries, where objects seem to be communicating with each other and with us.”

Not only is the exhibit inside, but admission is free. So head on down, check it out, and let us know how it was (here's the google map directions for getting from the Igloo to the Contemporary).

Dot To Dot Festival - May 26th 2013

/

The Dot To Dot Festival is quickly approaching (May 26th to be exact), and you'd be hard pressed to find a better deal than spending £20 on a ticket that grants you access to 14 hours of live music across some of the best venues in Nottingham (featuring a wide arrange of established, up & coming, and soon to be well known bands).

Get more details about this not to be missed event over on the Dot To Dot website.