Lucas's Blog

Ah, Hostels, the great melting pot of budget travel

whether you’re a seasoned traveler or a fresh-eyed newbie

There’s something both thrilling & terrifying about sharing a common space with strangers you’ll probably never see again

You’ll find yourself in situations you won’t find anywhere else

Trying to sleep while the world’s greatest snorers perform their nightly symphony

Smells so potent, that they could apply for a passport and travel on their own.

or going on a small town pub crawls with promises of free admission (the bar is empty)

Hostels are fundamental to both the backpacker experience & life experience they offer

With a smile, a regimented mindset & a tolerance to the craziness you might witness

You’ll not only survive within a hostel setting, but you might also thrive

For some context, Over the past 12 years, I’ve stayed at over 85+ hostels on 4 different continents

I’ve stayed in triple bunks with No A/C, Cooked pasta in a fry pan & have listened to the sweet serenade of hostel room one night stand

I wish these were something to be remotely proud of, nonetheless, I digress

Hostel living has taught me a lot about the world & simultaneously a great deal about myself (Mostly how many decibels of snoring my ears can tolerate)

It has taught me great skills on how to be frugal with money, to get off my phone, to talk to people I might not have anything in common with & many other things

It’s a travel university with cheaper annual admission

Here are some of the best tips I’ve used over these years to ensure you don’t end up with your basic human rights breached & to enjoy this fascinating journey of budget accommodation

Read the reviews –

Let’s start off slow & build into it

When you start traveling, whether by yourself, with a partner, or with friends

You’ll quickly discover you can really call anything with 4 walls (optional) & and a roof, a hostel

These very hostels can be found in some of the most popular & isolated parts of the world

Because of this, generally, hostels can be quite abundant, especially in popular touristy areas

The digital age has also bought a large majority of these dwellings online to platforms like booking.com & hostelworld.com

Unfortunately for my parents’ generation, they had to opt for put your hands together and pray method to find somewhere to sleep

Thankfully, our generation has much more access to information, particularly surrounding peer reviews

These reviews from fellow travelers can provide insights & information that is invaluable to incoming guests

They can outline positives from their experience, if the showers had any meaningful hot water or if the all-inclusive breakfast was worth it

Reviews have in some way kept businesses of the modern era honest

That’s not to say all reviews are fair & should be taken as gospel

I’ve seen 1-star reviews handed out for someone being in a room with a loud snorer (This is hardly a reflection of a hostel)

They should serve as the guard rails as you descend the internet stairs into a new location

My usual approach is first to go through booking sites like Hostel World and Booking.com and compare the reviews on their sites

If there are consistent negatives or positives corroborated on both sites, that’s a good indication they might be true

A good third-man umpire is sometimes Google maps

Cross-checking across these platforms may save you from dealing with bed bugs or a cold shower with no water pressure

If you have some insight you think another traveller should know about, good or bad, keep the cycle of word of mouth spinning and leave your two cents for the next person

Secure your belongings

As much as there is a lot of good in the world

Unfortunately, some unsavory types would love nothing more than to pick up some freebies

Don’t get me wrong

I’ve used my fair share of left-behind shower gel or Salt from the hostel pantry

But this relates more to your own belongings in your room

A few padlocks across your zips will deter 99% of people from attempting a heist of your belongings

But if possible, put your most valuable possessions (Passport, electronics etc) in a provided hostel locker

If there are no lockers, put them in the depths of whatever bag you have is the most secure

There is an argument in some cases that your belongings may be better served on your person

If that is the case, make sure it’s in a place that is secured away & inaccessible to people in large crowds

Padlock all of it away and you can rest relatively easy knowing your stuff is safe

Bring an eye mask & ear plugs

When I was a younger inexperienced backpacker

I’d suffer through the noises of the night and the blinding of lights of people coming into the room at 3 AM

Not until this trip around South America did I invest in the highest ROI items you can own as a budget traveler

A pair of earplugs & an eye mask

This sounds simple enough, but the sleep returns it has given me are immeasurable

From long night busses to noisy co-inhabitants

Any trouble the external world tries to impose on your senses can be somewhat mitigated by these small but mighty devices

Sometimes heavy artillery (noise canceling headphones) will need to be called upon for the human lawnmowers

But for the most part, these two items will give you incredible sleep returns

When the inevitable sounds of a newly formed holiday romance make their way to your eardrums in your dorm room

You’ll be extremely thankful you possess both these items & can pretend you’re anyway but that room

Put your phone down

Phones have been the downfall of traditional socializing

The thought of staring at a screen instead of conversing with the person opposite you would’ve been a bizarre thing to do 20 years ago

It is unfortunately the curse of modern technology

I like many others can plead guilty to doing this

Especially in a social setting when you don’t know anyone else well

Instagram, Tiktok & X all seem like a warm hug in these scenarios

Unfortunately, they take away from the very essence of being on the road with new people

Some of the greatest memories I have traveling are from talking to strangers in hostels

Whether it’s in your room, over a game of pool or even a beer, that first conversation can be the first step in a lifelong friendship

I’ve gotten better at this over time, when I was younger I was an anxious wreck trying to approach & talk to new people

But with each repetition, it slowly becomes easier and more enjoyable

You’ll meet some incredibly interesting people this way, and hear their stories & you might disagree with a lot of what they’re saying

But that’s the point of traveling, most importantly you’ll find out about the stories you have to tell & the things you have to share about your own life

Book directly

This one is for the traveler who’d prefer having an extra $2-10 every time they book somewhere to stay

While aggregator sites like Booking.com, hostelworld.com & kayak.com are all great for research

They will likely charge you for the service they are ultimately providing you

Most of the time they do this very subtlety

Through deposits or price lock guarantees

Ultimately they are just costing you more money

I am still in recovery from using these sites (I still use them sometimes) but will often only interact if there are no other alternatives

By searching the hostel directly, you’ll often get a significantly better price and sometimes get a secret special not available on these platforms

Be prepared for the unthinkable

With my long hostel stay resume, I’ve seen things that truly defied my beliefs of human nature

I’ve had people take business calls in their bed at 2:30 in the morning, A Chinese man using a hairdryer at midnight & a German man strain pasta with his hands

Hostels at times stray close to the edge of chaos

Sometimes it’s as simple as people having their own habits or customs

Other times people will have social awareness comparable to a newborn baby

These things will happen & when they do, you do have some right to politely tell them to stop whatever they are doing for XYZ reasons

In the heat of the moment, I have perhaps said a few too many words to people interfering with the REM sleep cycle

Most of the time, if you are polite enough & express your motives for your request, people are reasonable enough to stop

However, if people aren’t as accommodating, you can usually ask to move rooms pretty swiftly or change hostels entirely

Know when to socialize, know when to rest

It is very easy when traveling to get caught up in all the excitement of it all & want to be doing something every second of the day

Not even in your home country would you be doing something all day & then want to hang out with other people all day?

One of the best parts about traveling is you get to call the shots

If you want to read your book for 4 hours in a hammock, you can

If you want to drink beer on the beach until the sun comes up, you can

Your wishes are within reach of your reality

When in hostels I’ve always found it very handy to take a few hours off the social circle whenever I’m feeling tired

There’s nothing quite like sticking with the charade for hours on end only to realize you haven’t really done anything you wanted to do all day

Take time to sit & relax, have a coffee by yourself, go off by yourself for an afternoon

Make time for the things you want to do and see but don’t let your days exhaust you

Always eat the hostel breakfast

I’ve eaten enough cornflakes, jam & toast for the next 5 generations of my family line

The standard 3 items on the hostel breakfast menu

If you’re lucky sometimes some scrambled eggs might even make a feature

These meals don’t scratch the foodie itch you have internally

However, they do (partially) fill the stomach of a traveler looking for a day of adventure

Any calories you can get free of charge are golden

& might save you from having to buy something later in the day

And no, I highly doubt these breakfasts will help you attain your protein or vegetable goals for the day, but that’s an issue you can face later on

Hostels are a degree in human existence

You’ll see the worst & best of people, meet extraordinary people, play an unhealthy amount of beer pong & may even find the love of your life

For the young traveler looking for world experience, they are the ultimate training ground

Learning to co-exist with people, cook your own meals, find the cheapest spots, and make new mates along the way

Hostels are a temporary solution to a lifelong journey

When you grow up, like school, you will graduate into private rooms and eventually even hotel rooms

But there is something that keeps drawing me into the hostel experience, and it will for a very long time

It’s the people you meet along the journey, the stories, the laughs & the sleep you have knowing you’re in one of the cheapest beds in town

LB