Hi Bruce,

Thanks a lot for your warm words! You sound like real adventurers 🙂

About the Age Limit: Just some have these! And trust me: Any hostel with an age limit won’t make you happy anyway.
Many hostels in the UK cater to families and all ages. Keep a close eye on the age limit. Hostelz.com has some cool features to sort hostels and check for age limits. Hostelworld has no option to filter for age limits, but lots of hostels obviously.

Advanced Reservations: It is always a good idea to have the booking ready. The better hostels fill up easily and quickly. If you do not need to remain super spontaneous, then I recommend to book – especially the famous/ popular “hot spots” and in high-season.
If you travel outside the season (shoulder season like April/may – September/ October), then you can remain pretty flexible.

I hope this helps, Bruce! Let me know if your wife and you have any more questions! I would love to help!

Safe travels,
Matt