Guestbook

July 19, 2002
Catherine and Corinne Cayce and
Kate Stackhorse enjoyed the NotSo
Hostel immensely. It was everything a
hostel should be and more. We just
loved it. Thank you so much Claire-you
were the perfect host. I will certainly be
back.
Corinne
Virginia Beach, VA, USA

August 8, 2002
The NotSo Hostel transcends all
previously known categories of
accommodation- hostel or not- and for
me, Darren Snow, enters the realms
of performance art. For one moment,
on the balcony, as the sun gently set
over Charleston, and young people
from several nationalities chatted
away, I found absolute, perfect peace.
Thank you, and whoever you are, give
yourself a big hug and a kiss.

Darren
Dublin

8/02/02
Dear Claire,
It was a great thing to open that
hostel.. saves me a couple of bucks
plus you meet sooo many people from
different parts of the world. Thanks for
giving me this opportunity. Keep on
going!
Thorsten
Germany

15.8.02
Liebe Claire! (Dear Claire,)
Vielen dank fur die schone zeit hier bei
dir in Charleston. Es war eine
superjolee von dir das NOTSO
HOSTEL aufzumachen. Uns hat in
diesen tagen nichts gesehlt:
fahrrader, internet, fernseher (mit
DVD) schliefsfacher, kuche mit
zubehor, kuhlschrank… und sogar
fruhstuck mit kaffee war in preis drin.

So now it's your time to translate these
sentences. We hope you understand
it. We had a good time here with you
and all thse different guys from
different countries. Thanks!
Stefan and Julia

20/8/02
Dear Claire,
Thank you so much for our stay. We've
had a lot of fun. Especially Victoria
enjoyed your neighbours. Charleston
is a really funky city and it's good to
have a not-so hostel in a not-so
American city. We wish you good luck
with the hostel, we definitely are going
to recommend the hostel everywhere
we are going to stay, even to the
people who don't really want to know.

Deciete (Germany)
Victoria (England)
Anne (New Zealand)

22.02.02
Dear 'mom' Claire
I hope this hostel is going to work out
great, you put so much work, money
and soul in it. It's the best hostel I have
been in yet (I was in C.A., San Diego,
Chicago, New York City, Washington
DC, Philly, etc.) It's a place to relax, to
find someone to talk to seriously. I am
going definitely to recommend this
homey house.
Anja Scholz

August 26, 2002
Dear Claire
Shirley MacLanine once said, "The
world's full of friends we have yet to
meet." Thank you for doing just that for
making a bed, good company and a
home available for me in Charleston.
Thank you to you, and to Rachel, John
and Lydia for such good company. I
hope we will all stay in touch.
Angela
Cape Cod now, Italy once,
Manchester long ago.

29.8.02
thank you for a great time and lots of
laughs and lots of nice people. I really
enjoyed myself at the notso hostel. I'll
give your name to everyone I come
across, even the ones that aren't
staying in hostels. Charleston is a
cool town and now it has a cool place
to stay with some cool inhabitants.

Take care,
John
England

.4.9.02

From the first night (and the balmy
temperatures) it was a great stay! We
enjoyed biking around Charleston and
looking at the pretty buildings (and
people!)Good luck with the
hostel...we're sure it will be a huge
success and a credit to all your hard
work.

xx Adam and Matt (cambs/notts.
England).

Claire,
You've got a real awesome place
here. From the first moment i was
able to tell that I can trust and rely on
you and your hostel. Very laidback and
relaxing atmosphere- perfectly fits
Charleston. Thank you for these
couple of days, it was really worth
coming to Charleston.

Ohyeah, and your mom an aunt are
really, really nice.

And your aunt's dog is cool too.

Oh I almost forgot, the poeple i met
here were awesome as well-Lydia,
Rachel, and of course you!

Nattig c

hungary

9-8-02
Dear sissy, I loved staying here and
meeting so many friendly people who
want to scratch my ears and pet my
head plus the smells here are
delightful. But those green bean
snacks have got to go. Come see me
at the beach. Lots of licks, Xela

Claire-
You and your NotSo Hostel hostel
have infectious verve. My stay here has
renewed my interest in moving to
Charleston! Your hospitality, generous
spirit, and pleasant demeanor
radiates throughout the house. Your
circle of friends- Rachel, Lydia,
Elizabeth, Mike, etc- also adds a
vibrant chord to the hostel harmony
here. I am already looking forward to
my return. I have and will continue to
spread the good word about the
NotSo Hostel. I'd wish you luck and
continued success in this nascent
endeavour but you don't need it. You
have made your vision a reality and
your energy will continue to bring you
happiness and guests (hopefully in
that order). If you make it to New York
look me up.
Cheers,
Dwight Grimm, NYC

Dear Claire,
I have already told you that your NotSo
Hostel is a great idea. Thanks. I'm
sure that Charleston needs you.
You're doing great! In russian I would
say that much more better. Katrina

Claire-
NotSo Hostel, notso bad. Actually it
was great. I would even go on to say
fantastic. The house rocks, I mean it's
beautiful. Very cozy, the hostess is
phenomenally kind- just a great
feeling. I will spread the word and will
most DEFINITELY be back.
Thanks again!
Whit Forrester

Dear Claire, excellent matresses, cozy
rooms and thse beautiful old
houses... I think you do a great job! We
enjoyed the stay very much and the
hostel atmosphere was great. Beim
nachsten Charleston-trip wurden wir
uns fruen, wieder im NOTSO HOSTEL
zu ubernachten. Take care!

Inga and Kai- Germany

Claire, You are doing great things with
your kind heart. You are a blessing to
the Charleston community. Best
regards,
Charles James, Athens GA
9/22/02

Thank you! I was very happy to be here
again, it feels good HERE! Thank you,
Eric in Savannah

Sept 22, 2002
Hey Claire,
I'm settling in pretty good down here,
and the NotSo Hostel has been a
really big part of that. It's a great idea
brilliantly executed, that definitely
needs to spread throughout the land.
I will definitely be coming here again,
and recommending it to any and
everybody. (On the subject of
recommendations: Tobias's Barber
Shop, about a block down Spring St.,
does a real good haircut for the kind of
money I have-not much)
I await the day our paths cross again,
and wish you the best of luck with this
and all your future ventures. May the
lights here always burn and the door
be always open. Many thanks again,
Jame Clausen


Dear Claire,
I enjoyed my stay here very much- just
what I needed!Thehostel's great and
I'll be recommending it to anyone who
wants to come down to Charleston
(and who knows you might see me
back here before long). It was always
fun playing 'spot the difference' as
more and more stuff was added (coke
machine, pictures) and I'm definitely
going to miss evenings on the
balcony. Oh and I'll epecially miss
Lucy- she's a lovely dog!
Well, I just hope I get the chance to
return sometime. It was fun!
Thomas Wieczorek

Claire and Co.-
Unexpectedly great time. I felt like I
was home. Great place- I wish you
and your enclave all the best. Take
care- Chris Lesser, 1976 BMW R7516
Sunday, September 19, 2002, 2:04pm
The kitchen

Oh Claire,
Charleston would not have been as
stupendous without the NotSo Hostel
experience! Thank you for thrilling dips
into the ocean, great directions, and a
calming atmosphere. You're an
inspiration and I think what you're
doing is awesome! Just give me a call
when you start the Folly Beach chain-
I'm here!
Ringo (ATL- where the players play)

9/29/02
As I've said- I've never had a good time
at the beach before! Sunburns aside,
Charleston and the hostel were
impressive. Thanks- Rebecca
"international woman of mystery"
Hotlanta, GA

Thanks to the NotSo for the hospitality,
An isle of intrigue in life's banality.I'm
not going to write a poem or talk about
ships but what I will say is that the
NotSo Hostel (Not So Hostile-
geddit?...i didn't) turned out one of the
friendliest little places I've been- truly
my little home away from home.
Dan Kettlewell, York, England.
10/13

Claire,
Everything was great! Thanks for
making our first hostel experience so
wonderful.
Courtney Britton
Rachel Dinsmore

Thank you for everything. I'll come
back.
Stephane Blondelle Paris, October 15,
2002

Two great days in Charleston, thanks
to you.

OKAY OKAY enough with the
guestbook entries. I hope that these
affirmations about the hostel will help
to make you feel a little more assured
about the quality of this place. I have
not fabricated, edited or deleted
entries (except for one, which was just
weird and not any sort of
condemnation of the notso). However,
I am weary of transcribing them into
this website, doubt that anyone
actually reads this far down anyway,
and besides, am feeling incredibly
narcissistic, so I'm not doing it any
more.
Cheers, Claire

If you have read down this far, then you
probably won't mind a couple of
pictures of my dogs. This is Lucy and
Samantha.

They're both about one year old, and
aren't really very well-behaved, but they
don't come into the hostel much
either.