The Hostel Life

Hostels.  The budget travelers home away from home.  Traditionally offering only the bare basics, they are not for everyone. Much cheaper than a hotel, a hostel is basically like a college dorm.  They tend to be situated in the main areas of a city and offer short term, and sometimes longer term, accommodation for a nightly fee.

Most hostels have a variety of room choices.  The most expensive are the private rooms which are obviously rooms just for yourself or you and a friend.  The price goes down the more people in the room. Typically there are 4, 6, 8, or 12 bunk beds available but I have seen places that have 30+ people in a room. Then there is gender separation. Many hostels will offer female only, male only, and mixed gender rooms.

Then there's the bathrooms.  This really depends on the hostel.  The most convenient is when the bathroom is en suite but more often than not, it's essentially a public bathroom.  Most of the time they're gender separate but I have stayed in one or two where bathrooms are mixed.  

The showers are a big make or break for me in determining how much I like the place.  The best shower of all time was at Hostel Orange in Prague.  The shower head was massive with great water pressure and it felt like being under a warm waterfall.  I reckon the worst was Hostel 5 in Cinque Terre, Italy with Megan.  I just looked it up and apparently they changed it but when I stayed there you had to buy tokens for the shower and I remember them being gross.  Speaking of showers, microfiber towels are the greatest thing ever.  I only just bought mine from Next Adventure in Portland before leaving and I'm in love.  I wish I had it in Europe.  It dries almost instantly and squishes up incredibly small.  Most hostels have towels but you have to pay for them which means many people bring their own.

Almost every hostel has a shared kitchen.  There's normally one or two refrigerators and some shelf space people can claim. I reckon anyone who has stayed in hostels for an extended period of time could win an episode of Chopped.  When you're poor and have limited kitchen appliances/space, you get pretty creative. Most people keep things in labeled shopping bags to designate what belongs to whom. There is almost always a "free food" section of the shelves where people who have moved on leave extra food. Although most people staying at hostels are trustworthy, food theft can and definitely does happen.  I don't think I've been a victim yet but I've heard about it happening to others.  In the kitchen are communal pots, pans, plates, cups, and cutlery.  Once you're finished cooking, it's expected you wash and dry your own dishes by hand and put everything away.

Some hostels will provide free breakfast.  This can range anywhere from a proper hot, cooked breakfast to tasteless cereal and potentially past date milk.  The most common selection is toast, spreads, cereal, and tea/coffee.  I almost stayed at a hostel in Adelaide that does a free pancake breakfast everyday but that was the only thing people liked about the place so decided living in filth wasn't worth it.

Most hostels are social places,  There's normally some sort of common room, often with a TV and various board games more than likely missing a piece or two.  This, and often the kitchen, are the most social areas and where you tend to meet people.  Some places also have an outdoor area which tend to be popular gathering spots.  

The guaranteed questions you will be asked are: 

• "Where are you from?"
• "How long have you been/will be here?"
• "Where else have you been?"
• "What are you doing here?"

Depending on the hostel, WiFi may or may not be a thing.  Sometimes the use of WiFi is free, sometimes you have to pay, and sometimes it isn't even an option.  The more successful hostels always offer free WiFi which can make life a whole lot easier if you're trying to figure out things to do or contact people.

Another thing some hostels do is organize social outings.  This can range from pub crawls to table tennis tournaments to BBQs.  I don't think I've ever participated in one of these but they seem like a good deal.

Security is a topic I get a fair amount of questions about.  You are living with complete strangers who cycle in and out of the hostel on a regular basis.  There's been times where I've gone to bed and woken up with completely new "roommates."  Like I said earlier, most people who stay in hostels are trustworthy and aren't going to steal your stuff.  However, it happens.  Most hostels will provide lockers you can lock your important items in (passport, wallet, phone, keys etc.), although you almost always need to supply your own lock.  Other than that, you kind of have to have the mentality that, although it's rare, you might have something stolen.  As added security, most individual "dorm" rooms have a lock which limits your item's exposure to just those within the room.

So what's the best way to go about picking which hostel is right for you?  It's all about the reviews. Hostelworld is my go to.  Just like everything else that offers online reviews, someone is going to hate something no matter how nice the thing is so don't be put off on a few bad ones.  That said, if I read anything about bugs or mice, it's an automatic no.  Along with reviews, picking the type of hostel is important.  Youth hostels are only for people generally 30 and below, party hostels are very social but will likely not be giving you much sleep, family hostels for, well, families, international hostels are for people with a foreign passport, and the list goes on.

The main things I consider before booking a hostel:

• Good overall reviews (usually 70% positive or more)
• Cheap (I try and stay under $25/night)
• Central location
• Ease of access from airport to hostel
• Free internet usage

And just because it always comes up, no, the movie Hostel is not even a little bit accurate.

That's all for now.  Bye.