Hello, Jumbo Hostel. Would you sleep on a grounded Boeing 747?

Backpackers love finding idyllic hostels. Some exist near tropical beaches in Australia; others could be in the heart of the red-light district in Amsterdam. Each traveler has an opinion of what a cool hostel is — some keep the locations to themselves and others share their finds with the rest of the hosteling community. But the Jumbo Hostel will be hard to keep secret, and I have a feeling staying there will be a golden notch on a round-the-world traveler’s money belt.

What: A Boeing jumbo jet model 747-200 made in 1976 is being converted into a hostel that will  accommodate 25 rooms with three bunks in each room. There will be a total of 85 beds on the plane, including the cockpit suite. Each room will have a flat-screen TV that will also let occupants check departure times for flights.

When: Starting December 2008

Where: The Jumbo Hostel is just steps away from the Stockholm-Arlanda airport (LFV) in Sweden.

Connect/Disconnect: Wi-Fi will be available throughout the Jumbo Hostel.

Bonus: Visitors can experience the plane by visiting the cafe and have a look around even if not spending the night on the plane.

How much: Stay tuned; rates haven’t been announced yet.

– Jen Leo, Los Angeles Times Travel & Deal blogger

[Photos: top, Jumbo Hostel; bottom two, Bjerking Arkitekter Ingenjörer]

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This entry was posted on Thursday, September 4, 2008 at 3:50 pm by Jen Leo and is filed under Airline travel, Europe, News, Tips & Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.