In the deduces mornings, guests 2008 football schedule recalls are treated to traditional Japanese music. --HOSTELTREEHOUSE YOUTH HOSTELMission Beach, Australia; yha . au/hostels/details. cfm?hostelid=52. Details: 56 beds; meals available; close to bus stop, hostel courtesy bus available. WOW FACTORRoost in a treehouse in Clump Point Mountain National Park rain forest on the continent's eastern coast. During the day, cassowaries, white cockatoos and wallabies roam the grounds around the hostel After sunset, forest sounds fill the air. The hostel, built on stilts, also affords expansive views of the rain forest and even the coast on clear days. WOW FACTOREurope is teeming with castles, but not so much Brazil. The Lua Cheia hostel looks like a medieval fortress along the country's Atlantic coast. Though the castle isn't the real deal, it has a drawbridge, tavern and a dungeon. --HOSTELPETER PAN YOUTH HOSTELPomezia, Italy011-39-06-9190-0051 hostelbooking /dba/hostel031142. en. htm. Details: Eight beds; kitchen; sailing year-round, weather and sea conditions permitting. Book early. WOW FACTORIf you've ever felt a little sedentary on your travels, perhaps a stay at the Peter Pan sailing hostel will put some wind in your sails.

Affiliated with Univelica, an Italian sailing school, the Peter Pan is the world's first sailing hostel . Guests aboard the Peter Pan enjoy views of the Tyrrhenian Sea as the ship's crew traverses the waters off Italy's western coast 2009 football schedule . For land lovers, the ship makes several stops along its voyage. --HOSTELPOINT MONTARA LIGHTHOUSEMontara, Calif. ; (650) 728-7177, hostelbooking /dba/hostel060087 Boise State Broncos Aggie Memorial Stadium . en. htm. Details: 50 beds; single-sex dorms; kitchen, meals available; Internet access. WOW FACTORLighthouses are often seen as fortresses of solitude -- not when they're hostels, though aggie apparel . Established in 1875 as a fog signal station and still in operation today, Point Montara now houses a 50-bed hostel aggie athletic . Guests stay in converted Coast Guard quarters on lighthouse grounds. Perched on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, Point Montara offers views and access to tide pools teeming with sea life. --HOSTELST. BRIAVEL'S CASTLE YOUTH HOSTELLydney, England; 011-44-1594-530-272, hihostels /dba/hostel018062. en. htm. WOW FACTORDetails: 46 beds; meals available; close to bus stop, train station. Moat? Check Drawbridge? Check Boise State Broncos Aggie Memorial Stadium - ballparks .

You'll find the real deal at Briavel's Castle hostel, which dates to the 13th century, when it was a hunting lodge for King John . The rooms have a Gothic charm and in August, the hostel celebrates with medieval banquets. --HOSTELQIXIAN YOUTH HOSTELXian, China; 011-86-29-62296977, hihostels /dba/hostel024618. en. htm. Details: 80 beds; open 24 hours; meals available; Internet access; close to bus stop, train station. WOW FACTORThe Qixian, located in the ancient city of Xian of terra-cotta-warrior fame, is in a community of traditional Chinese row houses aggie baseball . The building dates back to the early 1900s, and served as a post for revolutionary activities and a liaison office for China's army. --HOSTELTENSHOJI YOUTH HOSTELTakayama-shi, Japan; 011-81-577-326-345, jyh. or. jp/english/toukai/hidataka. Details: 95 beds, meals available, single-sex dorms, Internet access, close to train station. WOW FACTORSeeking a little Zen on your travels? The Tenshoji Youth Hostel in central Japan is housed in the 850-year-old Tenshoji Buddhist Temple You'll bed down among Buddhist carvings and statues aggie basketball . The rooms have traditional Japanese furnishings, including tatami mats and futons aggie bookstore . In the mornings, guests are treated to traditional Japanese music. --HOSTELTREEHOUSE YOUTH HOSTELMission Beach, Australia; yha . au/hostels/details. cfm?hostelid=52. Details: 56 beds; meals available; close to bus stop, hostel courtesy bus available. WOW FACTORRoost in a treehouse in Clump Point Mountain National Park rain forest on the continent's eastern coast. During the day, cassowaries, white cockatoos and wallabies roam the grounds around the hostel After sunset, forest sounds fill the air.

The hostel, built on stilts, also affords expansive views of the rain forest and even the coast on clear days. . News that Fidel Castro may be dead or dying has elicited a variety of sentiments, including an odd grief tinged with an even odder respect aggie clothing . My first reaction, on hearing of Castro's transfer of power to his equally lethal brother, Raul, was to remember the strange circumstances in which I learned that Castro had publicly denounced me to an international congress of journalists meeting in Havana in late 1999. I was having Christmas dinner with family and friends in Rome when one of my hosts asked whether I had seen the fax that the Cuban mission to the Vatican was sending around town I confessed that I hadn't, and the document was fetched aggie college . It turned out that, in the course of a typical four-hour harangue, Castro had devoted a few paragraphs to denouncing the "Yanqui" who had slandered him in my recently published biography of Pope John Paul II aggie definition . I was touched by Castro's attentiveness -- he actually called me something that can be printed here -- but I also was struck by his defensiveness and an insecurity unmitigated by age or manifest power. What I had written in "Witness to Hope" was the plain truth: The papal pilgrimage to Cuba in January 1998 was the first time in almost 40 years that Fidel Castro had not been the undisputed center of attention at a public event in Cuba. I also had recounted other aspects of the papal visit that Castro would have preferred to ignore, such as the fact that John Paul II had not mentioned the Castro regime once in five days; that the pope had tried, in various ways, to give back to the people of Cuba the rich spiritual culture that was their birthright; that he had challenged Cubans to be the protagonists of their history, rather than thinking of themselves, as Castro had so long proposed, as victims of "Yanqui aggression. " El Jefe was not pleased. I had barely made it to Cuba in January 1998 -- my first visa application was rejected, and it took an intervention by Cardinal John O'Connor of New York to get me in; the cardinal explained to the Cuban government that blocking the visa of the pope's biographer would not look good.

But once I had arrived, Cuba was unforgettably vivid, the images of its destruction inescapable. . Whether you're stranded at the Denver airport or knocking around Central Park, there are several options for charging your cellphone in a pinch aggie football Boise State Broncos Aggie Memorial Stadium - wikipedia . These devices, which work without a wall plug or car lighter outlet, give you instant power for a call or a full charge in an hour or so aggie game. (Times vary by device and battery strength. Boise State Broncos Aggie Memorial Stadium tickets ) Some chargers work with AA batteries Others hold a charge in an internal lithium battery Still others turn the sun's rays into portable power aggie gear . The most dramatic difference: their sizes. IF YOU APPRECIATE SIMPLICITYFirst look: The ubiquitous Turbo Charge (above) is a quick, reliable charger in a distinctive chrome shell that's a little larger than a pack of LifeSavers It is powered by a single AA battery. The company now also offers the TC2, a double-battery version with shorter charge times and longer talk times.