So wait, your grandma's trick actually worked for 11 years? That's wild. Did she ever tell you why the golf ball works, like does the hen see it and think it's another egg so she stops pecking, or is it more of a superstitious thing she picked up from someone else? I'm asking because my grandpa used to hang a snake skin in the barn for a totally different reason and I always wondered if there was any real logic behind it or if it was just something passed down. Does the kind of golf ball matter, like a cheap one vs a nice one, or is it just whatever's lying around? Also curious if you've ever tried taking the crate out just to see what happens, or if you're too scared to mess with a good thing at this point.

That $6 bottle of vinho verde story is what gets me, because the money math is never the real story with these places. You said the walking tour and family dinner were the thing that got you, so I'm wondering how much of that was the setup itself versus the two guys from Brazil you clicked with. Like, would the same hostel have worked for you if the dinner had been awkward and nobody talked? I ask because I've had one dorm stay where the crowd made it feel like a party I wasn't invited to, and another where some random guy showed me his grandma's bakery map on day one, and I can't tell if the place was different or I was. So was it the hostel, the people, or just finally being in the right head space at 34 to not care? Because I keep hearing people say the social stuff is the whole point, and if that is true then a quiet dorm with a good price would still flop for most of us. Curious if you'd have bailed on night two if the dinner had been a dud.