Jason-and-the-Argonauts is good traveller mythology about a guy - Jason - and his mates - Argonauts - on an adventure, called a quest. Read the animated story here: www.mythweb.com

Argonaut Hostel is so called because its purpose is to accommodate guests on their own quest in life. Business should be fun and travellers asking life's questions are the most fun guest to have.

Argonaut Hostel was established by Dean whom is an Australian born to a Latvian father. Dean reconnected to Latvia in 2001 even though he could only speak one Latvian word when he first arrived. Since arriving in Latvia, life and business has been really challenging in Latvia but that is better than being too comfortable in Australia.

Dean has undertaken many of life's journeys that include serving 7 1/2 years is the Australian Army and living 3 years in China. Now he would like to support other people in their life journey and provide adventures to enable people to see another side of themselves.

"Life's journey pressures people, and this pressure too often causes them to set up comfort zones which limits their life. You see it all around you with people stuck in their mindset and unwilling to value a different perspective. Too many people on this planet are either selfish or too scared to contribute something back to society and this I see is a result of successful comfort zoning."

It is the purpose of Argonaut Hostel to celebrate the adventurous and facilitate the meeting of like minded adventurers. This may mean that you simply meet others for a chat in our homely Common Room or have a casual beer in our bar. An Old Town walking tour is a step towards satisfying your questions about Latvia. But we also have some adventures not readily available at other hostels in Riga. Argonaut Hostel is the only hostel in the world to own bobsleighs, no other hostel in the world offers our Soviet Prison Reality Tour, or our insane Shotguns & Vodka. We have a White Board dedicated to informing you of what tours are happening for the days you are with us in Riga. Mostly advertised is Canoeing, Guided walks to the good bars, pubs n clubs in Riga, Riga Circus, Go Carting and AK47 Bunker shooting.

The success of the Argonaut Adventures is proven by the fact that Argonaut has been copied by other hostels and this is the biggest compliment Dean can receive. 'I opened the first hostel in Riga and now there are over 20 hostels in Riga offering the same free stuff we offer that is not freely available in many other cities'. Now I have opened the first hostel in Liepaja to further the benefit for travellers www.liepajahostel.com with free BBQ and Sports Equipment so people can play beach cricket, frisbee golf etc.

Your stay at Argonaut will provide you with a great location in an impressive city where there is a lot to see and do. Argonaut Hostel is private owned where every cent makes a difference so that staff can be paid fair salaries and profits can be reinvested in to services that make your stay more enjoyable. Your staying at Argonaut Hostel enables Dean to continue to work on as many projects as possible to assist the economic advancement of Latvia. These places have included the Latvian Investment Development Agency, The Latvian Tourism Development Agency, Riga City Council and as Director of the Business Development Lab at the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga. In 2008 Dean is organising the second to Latvia of his friend – the Commissioner of Police in Western Australia.

Through Dean's efforts, Curtin University of Technology in Western Australia that has won the Worlds Most Innovative University award for 2004 has been to Latvia twice to assist the development of economically challenged regions. Dean has also put together a technologically innovative solution for tourism development that has been EU funded for installation in a remote region of Latvia to improve their economic situation.

Dean is the founding Director of the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Latvia www.austcham.lv free of charge assists people do business with Latvia. Austcham Riga offers accommodation under the name of Barons City Central Hostel. Is most suited for people requiring a very quiet place to sleep in Riga.

Thank You for staying at Argonaut as you indirectly help this work to continue.

Please let us know if we need to do something better.