I am currently traveling abroad. As part of my trip I’ve stayed in both my friends’ homes and in youth hostels. I am long-time supporter of staying in youth hostels, but let’s be honest. After you pass about 27 years old you what you want changes in terms of accommodation and you may need to approach frugal accommodation a little differently.
The current hostel that I’m staying in has a very surprising mix of young peeps and retirees. I’m serious. I’ve never been in a hostel with a 50/50 mix like this before and it’s a very interesting experience. It’s lively enough that the younger set is happy, but calm enough so that the retirees don’t get upset with the younger peeps.
I’ve had a very positive experience staying in hostels and have set up some systems so that I can have a fun, restful, and inexpensive trip abroad. I have stayed in hostels in the U.S. but the majority of the hostels I’ve stayed in have been overseas.
My favorite hostel was one that I stayed in Paris. I was at that hostel for almost 3 months! While I studied French. I am still friends with people from that time.
I do enjoy staying in hotels, but my favorite hotel chain-W Hotels is waaaayyyy too expensive for me to stay in on a regular basis (if you have a groupon for the Miami location let me know) so, I am more than happy to stay in hostels if it means that I’m to travel longer and save money.
Whenever you’re traveling the amount you pay for accommodation can make or break your trip. If you’re like most travelers then you will spend a majority of the time outside of your hotel/accommodation. As long as it’s located in a safe place and is clean and quiet-who really cares that it’s a hostel? Check out my list below:
7 Ways To Have A Great Hostel Stay:
- Read the reviews! You will be able to figure out a number of things from the review. Words such as: lively, or phrases such as “Great Party Atmosphere” mean just that-the hostel will be lively, loud, and a lot of fun. If that’s not what you want then avoid that hostel.
- Room Size-Stay in a single or in a shared room with the smallest number of people possible. More people=more problems. Most of the rooms that I’ve been in have had 2 other roommates. That’s enough. Also, I would avoid mix sex rooms like the plague. They get rowdy.
- Shared Bathrooms-If you can’t share a bathroom, then get a room with a bathroom connected to it, or a single with its own bathroom. They will still be substantially cheaper than a regular hotel stay.
- Location, Location, Location-You want to be close to downtown (city center/central business district) but not too close because those hostels usually get pretty rowdy, and are a little more expensive.
- What Does Your Hostel Offer?-A lot of hostels will have ongoing events, assist you with booking a tour, have restaurants, travel assistance, pools, laundry rooms, etc. Check out the website, then email about anything that you don’t see listed on the website that you’re hoping will be at the hostel.
- Does It Have WiFi-This one is huge. WiFi has NOT been as accessible as I would have liked in Australia. I had to figure out a different place to go for good WiFi access as you couldn’t go to Starbucks or other coffee shops and work for awhile as easily as you can in the States. Having Wifi access at the hostel has been helpful…but, not as fast as I need.
- Can you “get over” your age? Some people depending on how they feel about age really can’t get over their age. You know what I mean? They are always going on about it. If you can’t thinking about your age and why am I at a youth hostel at this age-then don’t bother. My roommates ranged in ages from 19-65 years old. They were all very sweet (with the exception of a weird French girl) they all had interesting stories to share and we all had something in common: travel
The current hostel that I’m in has family rooms, chairs for infants, a pool and sauna, laundry facilities, WiFi access, a restaurant, a travel agency, and is located by a major transit hub. I am paying around $30 a night (U.S. currency is strong) and there are kitchen facilities as well.
Latest posts by Michelle (see all)
- How Work Policies Against Black Women Birthed a Love of the Soft Life - 20 March, 2024
- How Taylor Swift’s IP Victory Could Change the Business of Music - 28 February, 2024
- Why Don’t More Personal Finance Content Creators Talk About Policy - 16 January, 2024
So you’ve had a rowdy, mixed gender room experience huh? Rowdy like i can’t get any sleep or rowdy like – I really don’t want to fall asleep? I’ve done a hostel once on a layover coming back from Rwanda outside of London. Best sleep I’ve ever had…although it could be because I was dogggggg tired. But for a day in the UK it was fine. Cute area right up from the “Tube” as I recall.
When I was 20. Not now 🙂 I’ve had consistently positive experiences except right now there is a very loud family living in the room next door. And I really think they are living there.
We stayed at a couple hostels on a trip in our late 20s. We stayed out of the rowdy hostels (but ended on a pub crawl with them some how. Iceland.) and did private rooms. We really just needed somewhere to sleep, so it worked for us. I think the hostel scene is really different from place to place so age might be a bigger factor in some places.
The hostel that I’m staying in now has probably a 45% elderly patronage-seriously!! And, families. It has been a very interesting experience so far. I am just looking to sleep and be able to keep my stuff secured.
My biggest concern when looking for a hostel is location, definitely. I need to be able to walk or get to public transport easily, otherwise the money you save by staying in a hostel gets spent moving about the city! Other than that, I’m not picky! All I need is a place to sleep, and I’m not a light sleeper so everything else doesn’t much matter to me!
It’s all about location! I am not a light sleeper either so once I’m asleep, I’m asleep!
I have always stayed in a hotel, but since I am getting ready to retire from the military I realize that I may have to look at other options. Thank you for the information.
I’ve had a fantastic time staying in hostels and have met some of my best friends at hostels. I love the social aspect that is hard to get at a hotel.
Your current hostel sounds amazing! A pool and catering to all ages? That’s right up my alley. With all the allergies my spouse and I have now, life is so, so much easier when we have access to a kitchen while traveling. Airbnb has been a huge help on that front. I’m still working on getting my spouse to agree to stay in a hostel at some point. I had so much fun staying in them while I backpacked!
It also has a sauna and movie nights! It’s a pretty decent hostel. I even saw a baby and other smaller humans the other day. I think that if it’s a choice between not having a vacation or being able to have a vacation because you economized on accommodation and stayed at a hostel-then the choice is clear. I think that you just have to be mindful of what would bother you as an adult. Couples should just have their own rooms. I think you can make it happen…just pick a smaller one 🙂
We’ve stayed in a hostel last year, on our honeymoon. It was in London, we only had 2 nights there and wanted something cheap and in the center of town. Although the experience wasn’t that bad, we felt like we’re getting too old for it (both just turned 30). It was a shared room, bunk bends, shared bathroom, and a bar/restaurant downstairs meant too much noise. Also, we were the oldest ones there 🙂 It’s OK for a short while, and I’d do it again for 1 or 2 nights.
You guys are tough! I wouldn’t have stayed in a hostel on my honeymoon…but, if I did I would have stayed in a private room. The oldest people at my current hostel have to be around 75 years old-seriously. I think it just depends on the hostel. I prefer to share with a smaller number of people or have my own room and it works really well.