Hostel Etiquette 101

You’ve made the decision to stay in a hostel – excellent choice! You’re going to save some money and potentially get free amenities like wi-fi and breakfast; and hopefully, have the opportunity to meet some interesting people. If when meeting said people, you don’t want to be known as ‘the hostel pariah’ then never fear – follow my general guide below and you will get along just fine with your roommates.

Disclaimer: Written after one too many occasions of wanting to wring the neck of a disrespectful roommate.

 

Late arrivals and early departures

In hostels, it is inevitable that you will not sleep through the night. People will come in late, people will leave early. Not everyone can be spry and light footed and do this in silence, but there is a general principle to being as respectful as you can. I think the ultimately most useful thing you can do is to be organised. Should you know that you’re going out to see a show or out for a few drinks and will likely be arriving back after other people in your dormitory are asleep – get your things organised. Have pyjamas, toothbrush, whatever you might need when you come back in, out and ready to go. This prevents unnecessary rustling and fumbling in the dark, or needing to be annoying and turn the light on. Similarly, if you’re leaving early in the morning – whether checking out or have other early morning plans, get your things for the morning organised the night before.

Silence isn’t expected, but people who have to go through their entire pack at 4am are beyond irritating.

Talking

When travelling in a group or if you’re hanging out with newly made friends, sometimes this requires late night/early morning conversation. To accompany the general rules of late at night and early in the morning – be respectful with your discussion. If you’re going to chat, do it in the common room. If it is necessary conversation like ‘what time are we leaving?’ or ‘do you have the room key?’ then fair enough, but have the conversation quietly and efficiently. It’s extremely annoying being woken up by loud voices discussing the hot chicks they met at the bar, or gossipping about the guy who was hitting on them who spoke no English. Even quiet voices, in a dead quiet dorm, can be irritating, so even a whispered conversation about something trivial can be frustrating.

Alarm clocks

There is nothing more annoying than the person who has an alarm clock going off every ten minutes for an hour. In my ordinary life, I am a serial snoozer, but at 7am in a dorm room, it really isn’t acceptable to press snooze repetitively, especially not if you have a loud alarm.

Bunk beds and shared space

If you have the bottom bunk, it is easy to find yourself taking over the immediate floor space around the bed. Take a look around – make sure you’re being fair to the person above. Leave the space under the ladder empty. Don’t use the ladder to hang your towel or other items. If there hasn't been anyone in the top bunk, don't assume the entire area - someone may check in whilst you are out and find themselves without any room to place their own belongings.

Bathrooms

Different hostels have different bathroom standards. Some hostels have separate showers and toilets, some have ensuites plus communal facilities in the hall, some have larger rooms with multiple shower/toilet stalls contained within. Regardless of the particular set up, keeping the room as clean as possible is absolutely key. Don’t leave your empty toiletry bottles lying around. If toilet paper runs out, let reception know. If you drip water everywhere, clean it up. Be aware of how long you’re taking in the bathroom, and even consider altering your bathing pattern to try to avoid the morning rush.

...

In the words of Aretha Franklin, living in a hostel is all about one thing:

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

You’re choosing to stay in a shared space, and coming with that is that you are staying with people from all walks of life. Even in hostels with a party driven atmosphere, you will have people who perhaps have run out of money so want to sleep, people who are sick, people who want to have a night off. In a hostel that doesn’t have such a vibe, you may have elderly people, children. Anyone who expects perfect silence and perfect cleanliness is being unrealistic, but everyone who is staying in a hostel can do their part to create a more harmonious vibe.

Managing your hostel expectations

Hostels are a thing of fascination for people who haven’t stayed in one before. I know that there was a time in my life when I really never could imagine what a ‘hostel’ really was.

When it comes to hostelling, I think that your experience can be tampered with largely due to elevated expectations. As I write this entry, I am in the common room of my hostel in Sacramento, California. I was just in my dorm room and this woman who is in her fifties (as she told me had checked in and the receptionist showed her to my dorm (not a normal service here, I gather she was being such a pain that the receptionist had to go out of her way to appease.)  The lady proceeded to be an absolute pain, complaining and whining about all sorts of things and I found myself incapable of just hmm-ing sympathetically; and instead found myself attempting to reason with her. I gather that she goes around to many hostels, being a pain and probably annoying other people and so my twisted logic was that maybe, just maybe, I could make some sort of a breakthrough in her approach to hostel life. I doubt that my efforts would have been effective. When I came down to the common area and passed by the receptionist, she apologised to me for having to put her into my room and asked me to let her know if I encounter any ‘problems’.

This encounter has led to me thinking about all of the times that I have been frustrated about something at a hostel. I’m at the point where I’ve stayed at so many hostels that I’m used to certain facilities being standard. I was in utter disbelief when the hostel in Brighton, England didn’t have a map. They had dozens of general tourist brochures advertising tours, hiring bicycles, museums, attractions – but no map. I judge more so on the level of the price that I’m paying, and what facilities I should get in return. I also do generally belief that if a hostel advertises to have a facility, then it should be available. However I’ve been caught out on various occasions by the exception to the rule, and I’ve witnessed many people who are new to hostelling be shocked by particular aspects of the hostel life.

 

Elevators

The woman who I was dealing with in Sacramento was complaining about the lack of an elevator here in the hostel. She told me that in the USA that a building not having an elevator is peculiar. I cannot really judge this as a blanket statement, but I did tell her that the property is described as being in a historical building which has been retained in its original form, and that this implies no elevator. The lady bristled when I pointed this out and just commented that she’s ‘close to being in a wheelchair’ (an exaggeration from what I can see). My response to this was that if she’s genuinely disabled then it might be necessary to call ahead to confirm the facilities. However she isn’t the first person I’ve come across who has complained about this.

Not all hostels will have elevators. In Europe, most hostels don’t have elevators! In Prague in 2008, I had to walk up and down six flights of stairs to get to my room. Even in London, where the hostel I stayed at is in an older building, there are five floors of rooms with no elevator. You will need to be able to cart your luggage up multiple sets of stairs. If you are budget travelling in the long term, you will need to do this at hostels, train stations, metro stations and more.

Solution:  If you are physically impaired in some way and considering a stay in a hostel, I do recommend calling or e-mailing the property to check if it is accessible. Be very clear about what your requirements are.  If you’re using a third party booking website, you probably won’t be able to locate direct contact details until you book. Try a Google search or looking for the property on social media sites. If this fails, generally you can contact the booking site who will forward your query.

Noise

If you have never stayed at a hostel before, it is really important to go in with an understanding that you will have to deal with more general noise around you than you would in your home environment. This may sound obvious but after having someone who was on a trip for a job interview ask me to ‘open my locker quietly’ when I woke up at 8am (generally, an acceptable time for general movement about the room) – I’ve learned that some people don’t grasp this concept. This noise may come from within your room (people waking up to their alarm, packing, the beeping sound of an electronic locker being opened); from outside your room (people in the bar downstairs, couples fighting in the corridor, a noisy elevator through the wall); or even from the street (a hostel situated above a nightclub, construction across the street).

Solution: If this is going to be a major problem, consider taking earplugs and practice sleeping with them at home prior to going.

Grocery stores & Food

My Sacramento buddy was complaining about ‘how far away’ the closest grocery store is. I looked at her with confusion and I said, “oh, so you need like, a major store, like a Walmart?” She said, “no, just a small store would be fine.” I said, “Oh, there’s one only three blocks away.” She said, “that’s six blocks in total.” By this point, I’d listened to her complain for twenty minutes and I found myself asking, with the slightest hint of joking tone to try and soften my utter disbelief at her being so unreasonable, “What, were you expecting a grocery store downstairs?”

Sometimes, hostels are located within absolutely perfect location to food and groceries. In Helsinki, the hostel was above a major grocery store. This is a rarity to be quite this close, but normally I would expect to be no more than about five blocks to some sort of food if I’m staying at a hostel in a downtown type of location. If you're further out, then you may need to walk a lot further or get public transport to find appropriate facilities. However depending on destination, time of day and day of the week, you may have facilities across the road but they could be closed. Even in Cleveland, which is a relatively major city, the CVS (major pharmacy here in the USA) closed at 5pm on a Saturday. I remember arriving in Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic on a Sunday and finding that I would have to go all the way to the other side of town to the Asian run store to find a food outlet that wasn’t a restaurant open.

Solution: I recommend carrying with you some sort of ‘emergency’ food: something like packets of oatmeal or noodles, something that you can stash away in your pack and bring out if necessary, a ‘just add water’ kind of food. This has come in handy for me many a time when I’ve arrived in the evening and there is no nearby and open food outlet - or simply if I'm feeling too tired to head out.

Internet

It is very rare in a modern hostel in either Europe or North America for there to not be some sort of internet access at the hostel. Wi-fi is generally free; however a couple of times I have encountered places that charge a fee for wi-fi. Some hostels have internet kiosks, the kind where you pay a couple of dollars for twenty minutes. Sometimes, hostels (more commonly found in Europe) will have a common use computer with internet access. If internet is an absolute necessity, I would closely check the amenities listed and read through reviews on a site like Hostelworld. If the hostel commonly has issues with its internet, generally these will be highlighted by previous customers.

Solution: If you’re an internet junkie like me, I look ahead of time to see what the wi-fi access is like in the city I’m headed to – if there is Starbucks, McDonalds, if the train station or airport has free wi-fi. Shopping malls sometimes have free wi-fi. If you need to get essential information, like the address of your next hostel, ask at reception – you may just find that they take pity on you and let you quickly check your e-mail on their computer.

Laundry

If you are ever literally at a point where you are going to be absolutely, definitely needing to do laundry – e-mail ahead and just check what facilities are available. Some hostels list that they have ‘laundry’ but this might be self-service or might be a laundry service that only is available at particular times. Always, always have lots and lots of pairs of underwear. Worst case scenario, unless you’ve literally got spots and stains all over your clothes, as long as you have clean underwear you can get by!

Solution: I carry with me a small pouch of laundry powder so that in an emergency I can hand wash in a sink.

 

Rule of thumb to managing your expectations: you are guaranteed a bed, anything else is a bonus.

On top of the bed, the general next level of understanding is that the hostel will provide running water, that the facilities will be clean and you will have somewhere secure to store valuables. Having said that, these three can be questionable in the worst of the hostels that are out there, however if they have a major issue, this will be evident from reviews via booking websites.

Beyond that, even promised facilities may not actually be available – things like kitchens, wi-fi, laundry facilities, common rooms and lockers may not be up to the standard you had envisaged.  Things break down, go wrong, the hostel may be in the midst of renovations, there could be electrical problems, or they just might have exaggerated their facilities online.

The hostel life requires flexibility and open mindedness to being able to live in varying circumstances. You are giving up your control over many things, you don’t get to pick where you sleep, you sometimes cannot use the bathroom as you desire, you may have to scrounge around to find a power outlet to charge your electrical items. It is this very open mindedness which is the greatest thing that comes from the hostel life – the longer that you travel, the more that you become accustomed to handling what you are presented with. What you get in return for giving up that basic control is worth so much more. In the long run, you won’t look back at that time you had weak internet connection. You’ll remember the places you went, the people you met and the things you learnt. So embrace the challenge, don't focus on what you don't have and instead focus on what you do have, and you'll find the experience to be all the more better.

The ‘cheap fare’ illusion and my crazy night in Dortmund, Germany

I know, I haven’t done my write up of Portugal and Spain yet. As the Spanish would say, I will do it ‘mañana.’ Instead, I feel the need to capture what happened to me last night in Dortmund while it is still fresh in my mind.

You know, you’d think I would be travel savvy enough to have thought through my decision to take advantage of a cheap EasyJet fare to a random German city I’d never heard of prior to looking on the EasyJet website for cheap fares. I’m well aware of being careful about which airport you’re flying into – that if a city has multiple airports, make sure that you’re not flying into one that is so far away from the city that you’ll pay an arm and a leg to actually make it into the city – that so called cheap deal can be misleading.

When I saw this flight from Barcelona to Dortmund, I must have been acting on a whim of spontaneity, which is rather unlike me. I mean, when I booked my arrival time at the hostel, I said I’d be there at 9pm. So obviously I’d had enough sense to recognise that I wouldn’t actually see any of Dortmund – I’d arrive, go to my hostel, sleep, wake up, make my way to Frankfurt. I didn’t sit and do any of the actual math, or research the train fare from Dortmund to Frankfurt. If I had, I would’ve realised that for the fare from Barcelona to Dortmund + the train fare to Frankfurt; I really should’ve booked with a  ‘real’ airline that flew from Barcelona to Frankfurt and skipped the whole Dortmund extravaganza of a crazy waste of time. Then again, maybe it was meant to happen so I could come away having learnt this lesson and having an absurd story to tell.

Most hostels provide instructions on how to get from various points (the airport, train station, bus station etc) to the hostel. The instructions offered by A&O Dortmund is that I should get the Airport Express bus to the Dortmund haubtbahnof (main train station) and then they offered walking directions from the train station to the hostel. I found the stand for the airport express bus, to be reading the sign that the next one wasn’t leaving until 9:30pm. It was 8pm. It was freezing cold – I mean, not quite England cold, but I had just come from Spain. A girl wearing a backpack came up behind me and spoke to me in another language, which I thought was German. I told her I only spoke English. Turns out, she spoke English too. She remarked that we could get a shuttle bus to a local train station right near the airport, and get a local train to the haubtbahnof. We chatted for a little while and she seemed nice and harmless and it made more logical sense to try her suggestion than to sit for an hour and a half in the cold.

 So I followed her onto the shuttle bus, we were dropped off at one of those train stations that is literally the platforms, a bench and a ticket machine – no staff or toilets or facilities – and we went over to check out the timetable. She was distraught because the next train wasn’t due to leave until 9:30pm. She told me that the regional train would take ten, maybe fifteen minutes to arrive in Dortmund, so to me we were still making up time because the original bus from the airport was going to take between 30 – 45 minutes. And from all this I got to chat to someone and try something a bit different, so I was still in good spirits. We chatted, turned out she was on annual leave from work and went to Barcelona for five nights on her own, to get away to somewhere warmer. She goes on jaunts occasionally and always takes her backpack and stays in youth hostels. We talked about various things, including the English language and travelling, and how if she didn’t speak English she couldn’t get by in other European countries.  9:30pm came and there was an announcement to be careful of the oncoming train (so the girl told me) and the small crowd of gathering people all stood up and were waiting. And waiting. And waiting. Ten minutes passed, and there was no train at our platform. People started to leave. A few trains came to other platforms, going to other destinations, none going toward the Dortmund hauptbahnof. We went back over to the departures board to see if there had been a delay – the 9:30pm train ceased to exist. It had not arrived, disappeared from the board, and now a 10:30pm train was due to arrive next on Platform 5.

How can a scheduled train just not arrive?? My new friend simply rolled her eyes and said “That’s Deutsche Bahn (German rail)!”

By now it was getting dark and she didn’t think this was the best train station for us to be sitting at this late at night, so we decided to take the shuttle bus (which was back there at the time) back to the airport. Whilst we were on the bus, I expressed that my only worry about all of this drama was that I could not recall if my hostel had 24 hour reception. She asked if I had their phone number, I handed over my booking details and she called them for me, establishing that there was 24 hour reception and because I had paid a deposit online, my bed was held until I arrived. I felt a lot better now! We arrived back at the airport, a sense of déjà vu! We’d now missed the 9:30pm airport bus, and the next airport bus wasn’t due until 10:30pm. Our plan was to just wait for this bus, but she felt bad that she’d had me buy a ticket for a train that didn’t come – it wouldn’t be valid on the airport bus. So she was determined to find another way. She went over to another bus that was there and had a chat with the driver. New plan! My ticket was valid on this bus. He would take us to a metro station, we could take the metro to the main station. I asked her if she could ask him how often the metro ran at this time of night. He told her that it was timed so that it left about five minutes after his bus arrived. Perfect.

Finally, after much more drama than necessary, Plan C had worked and seventeen stops on the metro later, we arrived at the Dortmund haubtbahnof. My new friend had to get two more regional trains, evidently, to get to where she had to be, so I insisted she be on her way since it was getting late. In our conversations, she knew I was staying at the hostel. I had told her that it was very nearby - my directions from the hostel were to take the main exit, turn to the left and walk for 300m. My companion insisted that she had stayed in the only hostel in Dortmund once and that the directions were wrong – she gave me a list of instructions including “go over the road, up the stairs to the church, turn left, then right, then left....” I knew she was wrong – I would not have booked a hostel that was complicated to get to when arriving at 9pm at night. I didn’t have a map and didn’t worry about printing one because I would’ve conferred with a map and their directions a couple of months ago when I made this string of bookings, and decided that it was simple enough to not require a map. However, she evidently was feeling guilty about having taken me on this wild goose chase – I would’ve been in the city an hour earlier had I just waited for the 9:30pm airport bus – so she wanted to accompany me to make sure I arrived safely.

And so, off we went, across the road, up the stairs, behind the church, up an alley... She was looking less and less certain as she searched her mind for something familiar from this one night she spent at the hostel a few years ago.  Finally, I exclaimed, “Look, I’ve stayed at 57 hostels in my life. Sometimes the directions aren’t very clear, but never, ever have I seen a hostel mix up ‘turn to the left and walk 300m’ with the way you’ve taken me.” At this comment she paused, thought, and decided we should head back to the train station. We sort of cut through so we emerged probably 100m or so down from the train station if we’d just walked to the left to begin with. Surely enough, we kept going and volia! Hostel was there.

At this point, I realised I didn’t know my new friends name. I’d followed this girl from the airport to a train station, back to the airport, to a metro station, to the main station and around Dortmund city and I didn’t know her damn name. She told me it was Liza. We hugged, she apologised profusely for her muddling everything up, I wished her well in getting home and told her if the trains weren’t running, she knew how to get to the hostel in Dortmund now! And we parted ways.

In my time with Liza, I got to see suburban Dortmund, I got to use the metro, I got to see the (closed) strip mall in the city centre. I was shown how to use the DB ticket machine and given some tips about my upcoming routes and how I might get some cheaper fares. She might say that she led me in the complete wrong direction the entire time, but all I can do is walk away and laugh at the experience. I made it safely to the hostel in the end, a couple of hours later perhaps, but slightly more enriched with experience. I also got to meet a lovely woman who for me, represents exactly what I would like to think I would be like if I lived in Europe – the kind of person who takes advantage of cheap getaways and explores around them and embraces other cultures and languages and is kind enough to reach out to help a stranger, even if her help was more of a hindrance in the end.

I learned that never again will I blindly book a cheap airline flight to a city I have no interest in seeing or staying in because in the end, the so called cheap fare is just an illusion. I probably broke even in money, if I’d just booked a flight with say, Lufthansa, straight into Frankfurt – but I did lose a day in travel – this is an extra day I could’ve spent in Frankfurt. But as I say, maybe the experience I gained is worth more than any amount of money or time.

 I present to you the two photographs I took in Dortmund, which represents the 12 hours or so that I spent there.

I gasped in excitement at the airport when I saw this – my favourite musical, evidently coming to a local theatre.

And that damn elusive train station. Better to have found it late than never.

Technology withdrawals and the modern backpacker

I have three main items of technology with me this trip. Firstly is my netbook – which is now two years old and honestly has seen better days. It still runs though and the size is perfect for me as a traveller – people told me, even two years ago – that I should get a tablet but when I am a writer/blogger, I need a normal keyboard! Secondly is my iTouch, predominantly for music on previous occasions but I’m finding having it connected to whatever wi-fi source around has been wonderful. I have a mobile phone with me, mostly for emergencies/basic texting to my mum. It was supposed to be able to connect to the web but it isn’t working and I’ve decided that maybe the universe has decided to look after me and make it impossible to rack up data charges!

Since arriving in the UK, I’ve hardly used my phone. It’s expensive to use, even having bought an international SIM card, so it really isn’t practical to be used as I would in my normal life. I don’t miss my mobile phone for its regular phone technology. There isn’t anyone who I text regularly or speak to on the phone. What I do miss it for is the on-the-go access to the internet. This is for two reasons – both social media and general internet access.

I didn’t even realise that I was as dependant upon social media as I am. Over the last six months in my 'normal' life, I’ve found myself increasingly using my mobile phone to access my Twitter and Facebook, to quickly check in, see what is going on, without having to completely log in via a PC.  Not having that now makes me feel almost like I’m quitting smoking or some other habit – I’m eating more lollies/sweets/candies (depending on your dialect of English) because my hands need something to do! While travelling, it feels even more necessary to be able to keep in touch via social media. That craving to see what people are up to. There isn’t a huge amount of normalcy and I think for me, social media is almost like a security blanket. It was really hard while in London, especially when surrounded by three friends who could so easily pop online as they desired to quickly Tweet, Facebook and check their feeds. I quite genuinely felt jittery at points from the withdrawal.

Even general access on-the-go is something I miss – if I get lost and don’t have a map of that part of town, or want to look up the closest location of a particular store. You might say ‘just ask someone!’ but I’m a quiet traveller – prefer to work it out myself than ask for guidance. Think like a man who is lost on the road and refuses to pull over and ask for directions. Modern life is all about convenience – being able to jump on Google and find out anything that you may desire, and being able to do this from anywhere. To an extent, this takes away the spontaneity of travel. It’s no different to people who do the Lonely Planet Tour of any city or town – checking off all the landmarks and restaurants. However one could argue that modern technology makes certain mundane research elements simpler which allows for more time to enjoy the wonderful things of travel.

Don’t get me wrong – you read right, I have my iTouch and Netbook with me. From here where I leave my 'holiday' and depart my friends house in Edinburgh, I will only book into hostels that have free wi-fi unless there is no such option available. I’ve found myself pulling out my iTouch in public, outside Starbucks and fast food outlets, trying to snap up a snippet of wi-fi to allow me to quickly scroll down my feed and see if anything may have changed in the last two hours. I’m writing this entry in Edinburgh, where I have wi-fi in my friends house, and I have flicked back to Google Chrome at least twice to take a glance, ‘Just in case.’

I tell myself that this is a learning experience – to teach me to be more resourceful, to spend less time relying on the internet and to live in the real world instead. Maybe this time things will be different, but I remember in both ’08 and ’10, returning back to ‘real life’ after my travelling simply thrust me further into the world of internet technology. In a strange, ironic way, the curiosity of the traveller is congruent with the internet – the traveller wants to explore the world, and the internet and other modern conveniences make the world an easier, more accessible place. I think the key is finding the balance – when you’re spending too much time reading websites about the markets and museums and food and culture that is just outside your hostel door to actually experience any of it, then it’s time to acknowledge that the addiction has taken a step too far.

Transitioning from vacation mode into traveller mode

I’ve been in the UK for six nights now. I think I’ve placed myself into this precariously dangerous place because I had to overcome all the butterflies prior to leaving Australia, and I’ve arrived to experience the epitome of vacation mode. I don’t feel like I’ve embarked upon my backpacking journey. I feel like I’m on a vacation. I spent five nights in London with a friend who came down from Scotland to visit me, met up with a couple of other friends, and now I’ve gone back to Edinburgh and I’m here staying with the creature comforts of home for just over a week. I almost feel as though I could just go back to Australia after my time here and say that I’ve enjoyed a lovely vacation.

The Thames; London, UK

However that isn’t what I have to do – I have to leave here and get myself into the space of being resourceful, looking after myself, not having a friend to talk to, the barriers of not speaking the same language. The back of my brain remembers why I decided to embark upon this adventure but as I sit here with clear wi-fi signal, drinking coffee and with Loose Women on in the background, it all seems pretty far away.

I did my best to keep my brain in backpacker mode in London – it would’ve been easy to have sat back, played dumb and allowed my friends from the UK to figure out where we were and where we were going. But I made sure that I always knew where we were going, didn’t just follow them onto the tube mindlessly. I kept my budget in mind – advocating the purchase of simple sandwich dinners and filling up on the hostel breakfast. And I’ve told myself that regardless of how cold it is here in Scotland, I’m not allowed to just cower on my friend’s couch and play online and watch movies.

There’s a comfort that comes with my current trip and the people who I have around the world to experience these same comforts with, even just for a couple of days at a time along the way. Just as I’m starting to feel homesick and crave familiarity, I’ll be able to see someone I know. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing – I think that even while budget backpacking, it’s important to take time out from that lifestyle, to give yourself time to just relax and enjoy creature comforts. When I first went travelling in 2008, this for me was manifested by seeing a film in Budapest when I was too exhausted to keep walking around, going to every Disney store I encountered, spending a week in Nice where I wrote for 75% of the time. 2010 was more alike to this trip, with smatterings of meeting up with friends.  But I think the danger isn’t so much in taking time out – but it is in getting into the right mindframe when the time out is over. I can see myself wanting to spend my time in Lisbon hanging around the hostel rather than exploring the city, for example.

However once I leave my friend’s place here in Scotland, I need to get my mind in the right place. Make the most of the experience – it isn’t so much that it is ‘once in a lifetime’ but just that I can lay in bed on Facebook any old time. If I don’t see within a half hour of her posting it that my friend I went to high school with is at the movies, it won’t be the end of the world. A disconnect from my former life, temporarily, doesn’t mean a permanent disconnection. Anyone who really cares about me will make sure that they contact me personally with any update on them or their life, rather than just posting it generally on Facebook or Twitter.

And if all else fails, a glance of my quickly depleting bank balance every now and again should help to keep me aware of why I'm here and the need to seize the moment!

Handy Hints - Choosing a Hostel

I was at the hairdresser the other day, and we were chatting about my upcoming trip. She was probably in her mid 40s, a mother of three, but a young at heart character. She told stories about her 'younger years' where she went travelling along the east coast of North America, and this was before travelling was quite as approachable as it is now. Globalisation, the internet, new technology, competition leading to lower prices - all has made the modern world of travelling a breeze in contrast to what Jacqui the hairdresser had to contend with. She asked about my plans of where I was going to stay, and when I responded with 'youth hostels' this was a conversation starter. 'So how do they work?' she intoned. 'Like... you share a room? With how many people? How does this work?' I started to explain hostels, the layout, the amenities; and then I mentioned that in most major cities there are a dozen or so options of different hostels to stay at - to which, she asked me the golden question, 'How do you know which one to stay at?'

My simple answer was, 'You don't always.' She didn't accept this.

For me, choosing a hostel has become almost intuitive. Sure, sometimes I make the wrong decision. But after staying at about five hostels, I began to get the feel for where I would enjoy, and what facilities were important to me. You could line up five backpackers and each would have a different list of priorities when it comes to travelling. For me, there are five things which, generally, I use as my guide when I'm trawling through hostel sites to make my decision.

1. Location: For most backpackers, location is about proximity to the sites. For me, I generally am happier to stay further away, as long as it is located next to a metro service. I hate arriving in foreign cities and having to get onto a bus or tram and have to navigate my way to the hostel. In general I find it frustrating getting on and off with luggage, and often, it's difficult to know where you actually need to exit. However if the city has a metro/subway/tube type service, you know which stop is yours. If staying in a larger city, like New York City, London, Berlin - you're most likely going to be using the metro anyway, so if I can save a decent chunk of money and have an extra ten minutes on the subway, then I'm happy to do this.

2. Internet: Judge me all you like, but I need to be able to access the internet. I spent the first half of my trip in 2008 spending my money at internet terminals; and then I finally switched on and made this a necessary criteria. In 2008 I was travelling without a laptop or device, and after making that decision to make this a prerequisite for me to book at a hostel, with the exception of one location, I was able to book hostels where there were complimentary shared computers and internet. In 2010, I travelled with a netbook and the difference in two years was phenomenal - I'd say more than 50% of backpackers around me had a laptop or netbook. I don't recall a single location where I did not have complimentary internet access at my accommodation.

3. Kitchen: Even if I'm only in town for a couple of days, I find myself wanting to have the option to buy a handful of items. I'm not the type to cook up a storm, but I'd like to be able to buy some tubs of yoghurt and have somewhere to store them. If I purchase food out and bring home leftovers, I want somewhere to store them. It is more or less essential for me that a hostel has a kitchen facility, or at a minimum, a kitchenette and a fridge.

4. Reviews: At first, I didn't care so much about reviews on hostel booking websites. Then I made the mistake when booking into a hostel in Rome of saying 'oh, how bad can it be?' when I read a 55% rating. Worst. Hostel. Ever. I don't go by the ratings, but I will scan over reviews - there is a difference between a hostel being rated down because of bed bugs, and because it didn't allow alcohol on premises.

5. 'Vibe': I am not particularly a fan of 'party hostels.' Once in a while it's a refreshing change, but it isn't my scene. I'm not 18 - I'm 26. I don't need to be woken up on a Tuesday night by shrill teenagers running down the corridor shrieking. I'm not unreasonable when it comes to noise in hostels, but since I know that this isn't an atmosphere I enjoy, I make the decision to avoid booking at party hostels unless I can see they have a nice lounge area which is separate to the bar - an example of this would be at SameSun in Vancouver, where I had some lovely conversations with likeminded travellers in the lounge at 10pm on a Saturday night as we sat with our netbooks and journals and books. A look at how a hostel describes themself - and whether they have a bar on premises - will often give you an idea of what the general atmosphere is. This isn't always a firm rule - for example, Palmers Lodge at Swiss Cottage in London has been one of my favourite hostel experiences and they had a bar. However they didn't 'market' themselves as being a destination for people wanting to 'have fun'.

Location, Internet, Kitchen, Reviews, Vibe. Those five things, in a nutshell, form my bible when making my hostel decision. However my top handy hint would be to develop your own list - understand what your priorities are when travelling. Budget, lockers, activities, breakfast - there are so many variables, and with these variables come choice. Choose wisely, but keep in mind - you're out there exploring the world. At the end of the day, it's a bed to sleep in, and if you don't love the accommodations, you won't be there forever. So don't fret, make the most of it and enjoy!

Can 'two' be a crowd? - Travelling companions, yay or nay

I've spent the majority of my travels alone; and my lack of trust in society and in random strangers to seize my camera and take a shot of me means that I have perfected the art of the 'self shot'.

One of the biggest 'wow' reactions that I get from people when I tell them that I'm travelling abroad is when I tell them that I'm backpacking alone. I'll tone it down for them – point out that I'm meeting up with a friend for a week midway, or know someone who I'll stay with for a few days, but it doesn't curb the genuine surprise in their tone. Just a couple of days ago I was telling this fit, pretty, perky girl who works at my gym about my upcoming trip, and she said, “I'd never do that, I'm too scared to even do it with someone, I could never do it alone.”

I've been fortunate among my travel experiences to experience the varying ends of the spectrum – I've met up with a friend from home both trips, spending time being a tourist in a foreign country with someone familiar to me. I've spent days at a time not really conversing with anyone but the hostel staff and shop assistants. I've stayed with friends who live in my destination, being driven around and pampered and cooked for and taken to their favourite restaurants. I've stayed in hostels and in the dorms or the common areas, met some lovely individuals whom we shared common interests and then spent a portion of our time together. I know people who made long term friends from their travels – I haven't been quite so lucky, a few are around on my Facebook but we haven't really kept in contact.

My travels wouldn't have been the same if it wasn't for the lovely people I drank with and picknicked with on the hill in Cesky Krumlov; my fellow James Marsters loving traveller I hung out with in London; the boys I met in Ljubljana and day tripped to Bled with; my fellow Aussie who I went to 'Dracula's' castle with in Bran, Romania; or the lovely Irish girl I spent my last day of my 2008 trip with in Singapore, having a deep and meaningful until late in the evening about how we could ever fit back into ordinary life – and many others, who are in no way less important than those I've noted. Would I have forged these alliances had I been travelling with someone? But at the same time, did I miss out on experiences because I wasn't travelling with someone – did I not go to restaurants I would've liked to due to lack of travel companions, did I avoid staying out a few extra hours after the sun had gone down in a security conscious effort?

Which begs the question – which is better, travelling alone or travelling with companions?

Travelling alone – benefits

• Flexibility – you decide when you want to wake up, what time you eat, where you're going, if you're bored and want to leave somewhere. Your trip is yours – no need to compromise.
• Random encounters – as a solo traveller, I feel as though you place yourself more likely to have random conversations with locals. Sitting on a park bench in Nice, a local gentleman came and sat beside me and started to converse with me in French. After establishing that I spoke English and he did not, he continued to persevere, with a combination of hand gestures and noises. In Los Angeles, California, a local sitting behind me on the bus proceeded to lecture me about the white youth of America not understanding the oppression experienced by he and his fellow African American kind. I politely advised him that I am Australian and I could tell him about the oppression experienced by Indigenous Australians. Had I been sitting with a companion, would I have had these random and memorable encounters?
• Meeting fellow hostellers – reality is that you're more likely to chat and mingle if you're on your own. You'll crave the human interaction and conversation and find yourself asking questions as you sit beside someone at the hostel breakfast, or waiting in line for the bathroom. As a result of people I've met in hostels, I know more about the world, I was given travel hints and tips, I forged companions to spend time with, I heard about other peoples travel adventures, was given recommendations for hostels and destinations.
• The accomplishment – let's face it, you walk away being able to proudly claim that you did it – you went through the experience and you did it by yourself.

Travelling with a companion – benefits

• Financial – there are often better deals when you're travelling with a companion. For example Eurail have group ticket options, if you're staying at a hotel, you can get a twin for the same price as a queen.
• Meals and cooking – dining out is one of the most disconcerting experiences for solo travellers, and cooking for one is sometimes impractical and not always cost effective
• The experience – sometimes, it's just nice to have someone to turn to and say 'wow'. I'm grateful that I was able to share that moment whilst at the top of the Eiffel Tower, or while surrounded by the overwhelming beauty of Bled, Slovenia. I felt that pang of being alone whilst I stood looking at the absolutely astounding Niagara Falls and had no one to share it with.
• Security – travelling alone comes with inherent dangers. Two people means twice the eye to ensure you don't get lost, to research the details, and makes you feel more secure whilst out in the dark.

A lot of the seeming disadvantages of travelling alone can be overcome simply by mingling with other people at the hostel. I met a girl in Manchester who, as I was on my way out the hostel door to go wandering down to the shopping strip, she literally ran behind me, called out to me and introduced herself and invited herself along on my outing. We wound up spending the next day day tripping to Liverpool, then together met some of the other people at the hostel that night, and wound up going out for drinks and dancing. Hostels like The Loft in Budapest and Krumlov House in Cesky Krumlov come with a prestablished family like camaraderie. Hostels like the HI Upper West Side in New York City and Apple Hostels in Philadelphia have organised activities, walking tours and pub crawls. Just because you make the decision to travel alone, does not mean that you will be alone for the entirety of your trip.

If you do decide to travel with a friend or family member, make sure that your goals and travel theories are compatible. If you want to go to every art museum and they want to go to every nightclub, you may not be compatible. If one person has a significantly higher budget than the other, you may not be compatible. Just because someone is an ideal flatmate or your favourite shopping partner, does not mean that they are an ideal travel companion. If you come to the decision that you're on the same page, make sure that you agree to have time apart, to not compromise your own journey, and to take the time to get to know the people around you. Just because you're travelling with someone, does not mean that you need to spend every moment of your travels with them - you're allowed to part ways to ensure that you don't miss out on each of your travel goals.

So when it comes to the question - to travel alone or with a companion - there is no right or wrong answer, and the decision is largely personal. In the end you are the one who has to be comfortable with your trip and the decisions that you've made, so listen to your instinct and you'll likely be pointed in the right direction.

Realistic travel budgeting without compromising who you are

Over the years, I've read countless volumes of blogs, websites and forums where people discuss various tips for how to budget for your trip abroad. A large volume of what I've read I find to be accurate, but my experience has taught me a great deal more than any of this research could have prepared me for.

Travelling should not be a burden - a minor, manageable credit card debt is one thing, if you know you have a reliable job upon your return. However if you're embarking upon an overseas journey, the ideal is to do this without having to slave away just to survive when you get back, check your credit card statement and start to regret your travel decisions.


Tip 1: Don't forget the real world will continue to turn up until you leave, and from the day you get back

You can plan and plan and plan to eat only noodles, bread and butter in preparation to save cash for your trip; you can think you have your accommodation/job for when you get back all sorted and organised. However things go wrong. If you are embarking upon a long overseas trip, for starters, people in your real life may want to catch up - go out for farewell drinks with your work colleagues, catch up with all of those pals you only see once in a while for coffee/lunch. The dollars add up. Sure, if you're being completely frugal you can insist that they'll have to shout if they want to see you, otherwise it is budget brand soda and popcorn in front of a DVD at home for your pre-trip catch up. However, in the interest of normality, try to find a line between locking yourself away and being wise.

Depending upon your living/job situation, you may need to account for start up costs when you get back - if you're moving out of a rental accommodation, if you're quitting your job. Include in your budget any realistic start up costs for your return and put them aside into an account which is separate to your travel budget account. Do not touch it, under any circumstances. This may include cash for bond and two weeks rent, and even to allow for your wages for a few weeks if you're going to be looking for alternative work.


Tip 2: Separate your budget for major pre-trip expenses, and allow for lots of minor extras


This will depend largely upon your style of trip, but generally most people who are backpacking or budget travelling will have booked some sort of major flights, and then will do travel within a country/continent with some sort of pass (whether it be a Eurail Pass or a Greyhound Bus Pass or the like) and other smaller flights and travel costs. All of these major expenses should be accounted for as pre-trip expenses. So too should your luggage, travel insurance, any clothing you may need to buy, any guidebooks you wish to purchase. Budget for lots of extras, little things that you won't realise you need until you're almost leaving, last minute journals you pick up and when you decide that you do, in fact, want a travel pillow for that major long-hail flight you'll be starting out with. Try to think about all of these little things in advance, and where you can, shop around - check out Ebay for travel accessories, start looking for things early so you know what you want and can grab it when a sale comes up.



Tip 3: Prepare for the worst.

Always get travel insurance, and get comprehensive travel insurance: for an extra couple of hundred dollars, you'll be grateful if something does go wrong. I was staying at a hostel in Nice in 2008 and one of the guys in our mixed dorm went out drinking one night and slipped over in a bar where someone had spilled a beer and they'd yet to mop up the floor. He managed to do some serious damage to his knee, and he and his brother spent the next three days trying to arrange for emergency flights home for him. This poor guy was laid up in the hostel, the joy of his day being when his brother would sneak him in 'medical' marijuana.

When you're reading estimates for your budget for a particular area, and they range from one dollar figure to another - use the higher figure in your budget. Always. This will allow you more flexibility in your budget. I not once have sat down and actually budgeted a trip to the dollar, I've never been at the point where I've spent the last three weeks of my trip filling up on the free hostel breakfast because I can't afford to buy food. I believe that the reason for this is because I've always estimated HIGH in my general expenses budget. If they've said to allow 75€ - 100€ per day for Paris in summer, I budget 100€. 

You'll have days where you eat the hostel breakfast, all of your tourist efforts will be free and you'll just be paying for lunch and dinner and you decide to self cater and grab things from the grocery store. You'll likely break below 100€ even allowing for public transportation costs. But then, because you've budgeted high, you'll be able to afford to go to Disneyland Paris; or if all you've ever really wanted is to go shopping and buy something from Champs-Élysées, then it will be realistic for you.


Tip 4: Be realistic with yourself

Some people plan their travel budgets with this notion that they're going to become a whole different, frugal, targeted, simplistic person. You can have all the best intentions but you can't deny the person that you are. You aren't going to enjoy your travels if you never take the opportunity to experience things and sometimes, experiences cost money. Beer and pretzels cost money in Germany, so too do hotdogs from vendors around Central Park in New York City. If you deny yourself the simple pleasures, then you're going to be denying yourself experiences that you want to have. If you're likely to want to go out and party, then that's fine, if that's who you are and that is the trip that you want to have. You're going to have to allocate extra money. If you'll want to go see a show when you're in London at West End, or go to theme parks in Orlando - allow the cash.


Tip 5: Be true to yourself

Just because you know someone who managed to spend 6 months in Europe and never paid for anything more than their hostel and basic food and transport, it does not mean that this is the way that you should experience your travels. There is no formula for the best way to travel - the best way is your way. Sure, branch out, have new experiences, try to cut down on extra expenses - but don't do away with the things that will bring you joy. You're the one who has to look back at the experience you had and know that you made the most of it.