Staying at a hostel 101

Staying at a hostel can be a great time because not only is it cheaper than hotels, but you usually meet some interesting characters there too. Some of these characters can become your lifelong buddies and honestly, if they are from other countries, you can very well find yourself sleeping on their couch a few years later while visiting their home country. But in order for your friendship to blossom, you need to follow certain etiquette on how to behave while staying at a hostel. And for your own physical safety and mental sanity, you need to think of a few things. Here are a few pointers: 

Coogee Beach House, Sydney, Australia

 

 Choose a hostel that is not a party hostel. Believe me, you will still be able to party with your new friends and usually you can join a pub crawl that is starting from another hostel even if you don’t belong there. But to come “home” after a long evening out on the town and having to fend of drunken people, well that gets old really quickly. If you are traveling for a long time, you actually need sleep.

Introduce yourself to the other guests in the room as soon as possible. If they are tied up with something (Skyping home etc) when you enter, of course wait until its a good time. But don't wait too long as it then can feel a bit awkward. Do it right away and that usually sets the tone for how your relationship will be. I know that relationship may just last 24 hours, but you never know, you may have just met a person that will become a lifelong friend. If your roommates have been staying at your current destination for a while, they usually posse really good inside information on what is worth doing in the city and its surroundings. Ask where they have been and where they are going. Travelers generally love to share stories from the road. 

Bring your own pillowcase. And you may not want to slip it over the pillow in the room. Stuff clothes in your pillow case if you want to be on the safe side.

Flip flops for the shower. A must.

Always be VERY courteous to the staff at the hostel. I mean, being courteous to people in general is just good manners. But if you are in a bind and need to book more nights there than the original travel plan called for, chances are if the staff like you, they will help you stay.

Be courteous to your fellow roommates by NEVER turning on the ceiling light if you come home late. Use the light coming from your cell phone to guide yourself into your bed.

Do try to vary your diet by not only eating white pasta with red pasta sauce. While traveling many people overload on carbohydrates as that is usually the cheapest food. Try to cook eggs, beans and perhaps sweet potatoes in the kitchen. It’s doable, it just takes some determination.

Don’t try having sex in a bunk bed when there are other people sleeping in the same room. You are never as quiet as you think and again, a bunk bed?! Come on!

Bring earplugs. If the above scenario happens. Or if someone snores.

Keep an open mind. No, really, this is THE most important point. You will share a room with people who probably are not like you and yes you will be a bit dirtier (okay quite a lot dirtier) than you would be if you were staying at the Sheraton. But I do believe everyone should have the hostel experience once or a few times in their lives.

My favorite hostel in the world? Coogee Beach House, Sydney, Australia, pictured above.

Toddy's, Alice Springs, Australia

My favorite saying someone uttered at a hostel: “It’s like we are in the army now” – my dear sister Ida at “Toddys”, a hostel in Alice Springs way out in the Australian outback. I was beyond thrilled it was clean although a bit sparse. My sister, “the flight attendant”, who is used to 4-5 star hotels, did not find it as appealing. 

Over and out!