I love hostels!

My first hostel experience at age nineteen was my worst only because my friend and I did not know what to expect. It was not until years later that I rediscovered them through sites such as hostels.com and hostelworld.com and fell in love. I have since stayed at fifteen hostels throughout Europe and the States.

I grew up vacationing in tents and an expandable trailer (I miss it). As an adult, I’ve been fortunate to have enjoyed deluxe accommodations like the Intercontinental, a fabulous five-star hotel in Singapore, New York’s four-star le Parker Meridien, and various gawdy hotels in Las Vegas.

WHAT TO EXPECT

1. small quarters
2. bunk beds
3. sometimes no windows
4. people who may not clean up after themselves
5. few bathrooms
6. varying levels of security
7. mostly young people
8. sometimes a chronically ill person
9. sometimes a creepy f*er
10. noise, especially if you’re on a popular street
11. planned hostel events like pub crawls or dinners
12. usually a great location
13. a really cheap price
14. paying a bit extra for linens or possibly internet
15. sometimes a kitchen and use of the frig
16. to book, pay only 10% up front, if you don’t show, you’re charged one night’s stay only

I personally tend not to hang with people at the hostel, just because I prefer to party with the locals and not speak English, the prevalent hostel language.

WHAT DO I LOVE?

The fact that it’s cheap allows me to travel much more often than I would if I always stayed in hotels. There are people to hang out with if you’re bored, and you have a kitchen (sometimes) to store your food. There’s usually free wi-fi or PCs and a metro stop is often nearby.

HOW TO FIND A GREAT HOSTEL

Your primary tool is the rating system. On booking sites, each hostel is rated by its guests. I usually stay at hostels in the 75% to 90% satisfied category. Secondly, you look at the written reviews. Through them, you see what quirks you might not enjoy, like being on a major street, rude staff, or cold showers. If I see any reviews of bedbugs, that puts me on edge. Once in a New York budget hotel, I woke up looking like a leper. No thanks. I’ve never been attacked by bedbugs at a hostel. As for noise? Bring earplugs. I usually come back to the hostel at 4 or 6 a.m. I’d hate to wake you up. One more thing, if you’re getting on in years, hostels are probably not for you. Meaning, if you’re an older person, you may fall into the “creepy f*er” category, and I’d hardly want to encourage you to be my roomy.

If you’re staying for a decent period of time in one city, book several locations, for variety’s sake. You’ll discover more parts of the city, and if you happen to have a roommate that hacks up her guts every night and guilts you into buying her dinner, you can say, “Bye, bitch.”

Finally, at the end of a trip, I like to book a a single room to decompress, shop like mad and not worry about where to put all the new stuff, and just enjoy being by myself. I found a crazily-prized, highly-rated single room in Barcelona for a miniscule 25€ a night, including taxes and booking fees, through barcelona30.com.

I personally have had no issues of theft in a hostel. Usually, people who travel in hostels already have so much shit, the last thing they want is yours. Laptops are very common so unless yours is amazing or light like a netbook, there isn’t much of a draw. Plus, you can just put those things in a locker. Also, don’t bring things that would make you cry if you lost them. That’s just standard travel advice.

Enough about hostels. I’m almost done booking mine for my upcoming trip. One more city to go. Happy hosteling!