Tips for How to Stay in Hostels
Instead, you stay in hostels.
Hostels are a great option. Once the exclusive domain of youths only, hostels are now open to people of all ages. For a reasonable nightly fee (usually $20USD or less, though sometimes more in expensive cities like London, Paris or Amsterdam), you can share a room with as few as three others, and up to 19 others, and save your hard-earned cash for seeing more places and travelling longer. Private single and double rooms are available in some hostels, and they are more expensive.
Now, if you’re not accustomed to sharing a sleeping area with other people, here are a some tips to make the experience easier:
1. Earplugs! Both men and women snore, sometimes very loudly, and waking them up in the middle of the night will only anger them and increase the odds of them snoring louder the next night because they slept poorly the night before. Note: if you are a particularly light sleeper, a shared dorm room is probably not the best option for you.
2. Be prepared to share a room with members of the opposite sex – not all hostels have segregated rooms.
3. Be respectful of others! If people are sleeping, be as quiet as you possibly can and don’t turn on overhead lights.
4. Don’t steal food from common kitchens! This may sound like a no-brainer, but it happens.
5. Make sure you have a lock for your bag, and also a larger one (some hostels have lockers you can use, and you generally need to have your own padlock).
6. Don’t have sex in a dorm room when others are sharing it! Noone wants to listen and the others in your dorm room are likely to get ticked off. If you want to hook up with someone, pay for a private room or go somewhere else!
7. Don’t monopolize common areas. This includes internet-access computers, showers and bathrooms. This also includes the dorm room itself – if you have made friends with people in your room, move any impromptu parties to another space if someone else comes to the dorm room and wants to rest or sleep. When you need some extra sleep because of too much partying the night before, they are much more likely to be quiet and considerate when you’re sleeping.
8. Try to make friends with people in your dorm. This is good for multiple reasons: you can make new friends; get recommendations on cool things to do; get recommendations on things to skip; meet people to go and party with; meet people that are going to the same place you are and travel with them.
9. Be friendly with the people who work in, or run, the hostel. This can have all kinds of benefits, including leniency with an early check-out time; great recommendations for out-of-the way sights and restaurants/bars/clubs; can recommend and book tours and excursions for you (sometimes at a discounted price); allow you to leave belongings there, if you are going on an excursion for a few days and will be returning to the hostel. Many hostel employees will also help with recommendations for where to stay in another city and may even call ahead and book a reservation for you.
10. Don’t abuse the hostel environment. If there are posted rules, follow them! As in, don’t smoke inside if it says not to; return by the appointed time if your hostel has a curfew; don’t drink alcohol if it says not to. When you leave your dorm, put your trash in a trash bin. The rules are there to make a better experience for everyone.
There are different online services you can use to book hostel beds, and it’s best to talk to other travellers about their experiences with the sites. Even if you choose not to book online, it’s worth visiting the sites to check rates, availability and, most importantly, to read reviews of the hostel. Reading the reviews will spare you from choosing a filthy hostel; one with poor management; one with poor security; one that is in an unsafe neighborhood or one that is difficult to get to by public transportation.
In all, staying in hostels can be a fun and rewarding experience. It requires a certain amount of grace and adaptability, and the benefits can be long-lasting and very memorable.
