Maddie and I moved from San Sebastián to Lisbon in Portugal continuing our love affair with Europe and the travellers dream. To live and work over seas. I loved San Sebastián it feels like a home away from home, it was hard to leave. We felt it had given us all it was able to give at this time of year. Days were getting cold and wetter and the hostels we worked at were getting more quiet. So we emailed a party hostel in Lisbon that we had been told about by various travellers and friends.

The gspot is a new hostel run by a 25 American guy named nick. His maturity, intelligence and people skills really blew me away. He had tapped into the Portugal hostel scene which is one of the most prestiges and through the importance he puts on the people I.e staff and guests has become so successful.

We arrived to a happy nick "welcome to your home away from home" he said while showing us to our staff quarters. A shared room with four divided sections, a bed and wardrobe each and a flimsy curtain. Rough, but just what we needed! The hostel offers queen size bunk beds, free pancake breakfast, free family dinner, free pub crawls, drinking games and much more. So it's a winner with travellers. The thing that really sets this place apart is the vibe! We were a family and each guest was made to feel welcome and a part of that unique family. Bookings of days turned to weeks and I found myself finding it difficult to find a reason to leave!

Lisbon was nothing special to me at first, a port town, big city feel. Nicks first challenge to us was to get out on a scavenger hunt and explore the city. Armed with ten euro each, a 24 hour transport pass, a map and a list of things to see we set off. Two hours later we were lost amongst old back streets getting delirious and coming up with excuses as to why we wouldn't have any of the answers done! The day ended well! We found a Tati Cafe which became our cafe of Lisbon, we explored beautiful Belem and tried the famous Portuguese tarts at a traditional and famous Belem patisserie (something that I would later often recommend to visitors) and explored back streets finding little cobbled streets, Fado music bars and local shops and restaurants.

Pub crawls became a way of life, we would take our guests out every night to the same bar district! Shots were free to staff, which led to many messy nights and days spent nursing a hang over. Hospital shots became notorious around gspot as the black outters. Three and you were done no questions asked! It was three types of absinthe and a drop of tobasco; a cheap way to get drunk and a sure way to a hang over!

We had countless unforgettable nights, the night when gina, jim, Maddie and I danced on the streets and were followed by Irish Celtic fans as they chanted and surged forward to our favourite clubs! The night with the edinbrugh boys where we danced like kids in love and made our own puc crawl through new hidden bars following the punk boys who couldn't conform to following the crawl. Nights with movies and late chats with drea, liz, Munro, doug and Sami, Sunday bowling nights and the spinning ball of death with matt and alby.

I loved cooking family dinner we would have a five euro budget and have to cook for over 20 hungry travellers. We would set the table and all sit and talk about our day drinking red wine and anticipating the night to come. Drinking games always followed, I learnt new games ill take home with me for sure, stack cup and touch the cup to name a few.

I loved my time at gspot just like everyone had who'd come before me. I can't wait to visit Lisbon, nick and the infamous hostel in the future!