There are so few certainties in life. The house always wins. Australians will try to put beets on everything. No matter how many or how few beds there are in your hostel quarters, one of them will always be occupied by the loudest snorer you have ever heard, and it will last all… night… long.
So let’s get you up to speed on hostels.
You don’t need much to be a hosteler. Just being a traveler with an aversion to spending large sums of money qualifies. However, like so many aspects of travel life, there is quite a tradeoff when it comes to choosing hostels over hotels. They are decidedly not for everyone. There’s a reason most of them skew young, although the world of elderhostels is also a fascinating topic. Still, the majority of hostels are not called “youth hostels” on a whim. You need to possess a very specific set of qualities to enjoy… or even tolerate… staying in hostels. A certain lack of concern over privacy, of course, but also a certain set of standards that predisposes you to a more communal kind of travel. When I write about the importance of comfort when choosing your hotel, choosing a hostel means, by default, that you are likely choosing factors other than comfort when it comes to bedding down for the night. This is not necessarily a bad or misguided choice. Hostels are adventurous choices, they allow you to see different corners of locales and people that a hotel will rarely offer. Like zip lining, vegan burgers and Knott’s Berry Farm, you should try the hostel experience at least once, just so you can decide if it’s a good fit for you.
I’ve had the good fortune to have seen most of the United States by choosing hostels over hotels, and I’ve met some of the most amazing travelers in the world in hostels. It infused in me a love of the road that has not diminished over the years, and although I stay in more hotels today, I don’t regret a single night in any hostel… even the ones with the buzzsaw snoring. Which is to say, all of them.
What to keep in mind if you’re planning a trip around hostels? In my opinion, there are three big issues you need to consider.
1. Location, location, location
The real estate adage is just as true when it comes to hostels. Thank you interwebs, for making this part of your research so much easier. You don’t have to take the hostel owner at his word when you read a description that says it’s located “within walking distance” of the Empire State Building or the Las Vegas Strip. In my experience, even in the world of $25 per night accommodations, the general rule is that, just like hotels, the average nightly rate of a hostel is directly proportional to its proximity to the largest tourist attractions. If you are not traveling by car, this can be a very big deal, because you will need to add in the cost of bus fare, train fare, Uber farer, or heaven forbid, cab fare to your budget, and it can quickly wipe away everything you saved on that inexpensive sounding hostel.
I’ve also found that the closer a hostel is to a city center, the more likely a hostel is to be the “party hostel.” Hey, no judgment here, party hostels can be a great experience… if that’s what you’re looking for, but the energy level of the hostel seems to ramp up the closer you get to a city center.
2. Nothing from nothing leaves nothing
Aside from a very few countries (many travelers report Japan springs quickly to mind), you should assume a hostel will provide you with nothing by way of creature comforts, and you should expect nothing from the creature comforts which they do provide. In a previous post, I’ve written about what you should include in your basic packing inventory, but that the list was not hostel specific. That’s because you need to include many very specific items to make your hostel stay not only enjoyable but simply tolerable.
The list should include:
- your own bed sheet. This is especially true in the United States, which has faced a resurgence of… yes, bedbugs.
- a microfiber towel. Hostels will rent you a towel, but you need to ask yourself how clean that towel really is. Yes, they launder, but is it up to your standards? Will they be available when you arrive? Will it even, ahem, cover you as completely as you would like when you’re making your way back to your room? It’s not really even a matter of money, but consider saving the $2 and bringing your own towel. By the way, many women carry sarongs, specifically as a backup towel for emergencies.
- indoor flip flops. I cannot possibly stress this enough. In the land of communal showers, it’s not even a question of if you’ll get a fungal disease if you shower barefoot. It’s when. Get one or even two pairs of indoor flip flops. Why indoor flip flops? You may be staying in any number of hostels that frown on wearing shoes indoors. Flip flops for the showers and the hallways that lead to them are often the , pun intended, sole exception, and you need indoor flip flops to wear on that looooong walk back to your room via the bare linoleum. You will, of course, be wearing them in the shower. Every time. No exceptions.
- a combination lock. Let’s face it, thieves love hostels. You are not staying at the Four Seasons. You’re not even staying at the Motel 6. If there is not a secure locker or cage to stow your hear, you don’t want to stay there, but you should also know that the hostel will probably not have locks for their storage spaces. Bring your own. Why a combination lock? Because you don’t want to worry about losing the key to a padlock. It’s no fun at all to have to hunt down a bolt cutter in the early pre-dawn hours of the morning so you can get your stuff and move on. Please trust me on this… as I speak from unfortunate experience. This means you will also need…
- a penlight. Be kind to your dorm mates. When you stumble in at 3 a.m. and need to haul essentials out of your pack, or if you need to leave before sunrise and everyone else got in at 3 a.m. don’t be the guy who turns on the lights and wakes everyone up. Just… don’t be that guy.
- toiletries. This should be a given. You need soap, shampoo and you should bring toilet paper or wipes also. There are some boutique hostels that provide these items, but you know you have to assume that some other budget traveler took it all just before you got there.
- earplugs. Absolutely buy the best you can possibly afford. And all I can say is… they might help.
3. Do your homework
Yes, the hostel advertises free breakfast or community dinners. Every day? Most hostels only do this a few times a week, and usually not on weekends. Is there really free coffee, or just a coffee machine? When the listing says “groceries nearby,” do they mean an actual supermarket, or just a budget busting 7-11? Is the hostel open and accessible all day, or do they lock the doors starting mid-morning until around early evening? This impacts your wallet and your travel plans. Sites like hostelworld.com can help you filter the specifics. Providing you also treat the accompanying reviews you read on any site with a critical eye, you can learn a lot of the important information before you go. Lonely Planet, also has good information about hostels around the world. And while this is not an endorsement, in my experience, groups like Hosteling International (HI) and American Youth Hostels (AYH, part of HI) do tend to require a basic set of standards for their member hostels. You can find out valuable information, like how many days you can stay, whether they accept credit cards (many do not), and whether you are required to do chores or kitchen restocking as a condition of your stay. As a matter of fact, you should always assume a communal attitude when staying in a hostel… that in exchange for those budget prices, you will likely be responsible for more than a sign in and sign out at the front desk, but this leads to the cardinal bonus rule of hosteling.
Extra Credit: Open wide
Okay, so you’re all kitted out. You know where you’re staying, and how much you’re paying. One last piece of information/advice.
Be open. This sounds like an obvious piece of advice… you have, after all, taken the road less traveled by choosing hostels over hotels. Do yourself a favor and don’t try to shoehorn the “hotel experience” into a hostel layover. They’re not the same, and they’re not designed to be the same. One of the best travel experiences I ever had was at a hostel in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. My room wasn’t even a room, it was a teepee on the banks of a tributary of the Rio Grande. After calling it a night and crawling into my sleeping bag, the only radio station I could pick up was an AM station running a program by a UFO enthusiast whose chosen broadcasting style was a low mumble about the coming invasion. Accompanied by the gurgling sounds of the river outside and the, it was somehow soothing. The earthen hot tubs with water from the adjacent hot springs just made for a great start to the next morning. The alternative of a free continental breakfast at the Ramada? Please. The most interesting people I’ve ever met were the Croatian backpackers I fell in with at the hostel in Flagstaff, Arizona one December. They pushed me to explore beyond just the Grand Canyon and by the end of the week, we were as close as family. The last minute “fill the kitchen” run with fellow hostelers in Grand Junction, Colorado led to a night long culinary extravaganza, thanks to the know-how and cooking chops of a recent university grad from Bologna. Really, the $15 per night cost was incidental compared to the experience.
It takes a certain frame of mind and it often takes being at a certain time in one’s life to really get the most out of a hostel experience. Some travelers never get it out of their systems. If that’s you, there is a world of unique experiences awaiting you, but like all experiences, it doesn’t hurt to take a few precautions. Hopefully, these tips will help make hostels seem… well, a little less hostile.
Onwards!
What’s your favorite hosteling experience? What’s your favorite hostel? Comment below.
