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.

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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.

Hostels, the real estate game & my revolutionary get rich quick scheme

My bunk bed in Barcelona, Spain

The contemporary world seems to be all about how you can make a quick buck out of the consumer. I understand this more when I am travelling than any other time. In Europe, you can gather a basket of goods and a portable chair, set up on the tourist strip and try to make cash. Tourists around the world are fooled by the ‘town square’ or the ‘main tourist strip’ with double the price being charged at restaurants and gift shops than you would pay a few blocks away from the action. Fake look-a-like cartoon characters and people dressed up in ‘traditional’ costumes wander around the same squares, letting you take a photo with them for a monetary donation. The airline industry gets it – charge for luggage, for extra leg room, for speedy boarding. Theme parks and airports jack up their prices because they have a monopoly market – if I need food or a drink, I have no choice but to starve or pay their ludicrous prices.

So with all of this in mind, I have a revolutionary idea which I almost cannot believe that hostels have not already implemented.

Charging for the ‘better beds’ in the ‘better rooms.’

I like to think of a hostel as being a real estate game. Real estate is all about location, yes? Proximity to the city, to public transport, to amenities. This is how hostels get good ratings on websites like Hostelworld for their location. Close to the train station or the city centre, or in a larger city where all the sites are spread out (such as London), close to major metro lines. Close to supermarkets and bars. In a quiet, safe street in a funky area gives you good real estate points; if you’re in a seedy, gross street with no shops nearby, bad real estate points.

The real estate game can go a step further in a hostel. When you book a bed in a hostel, you are booking a bed in a dorm of a particular size – so a bed in a 6 person mixed dorm, or an 8 bed female dorm, or a 12 bed dorm with an ensuite. Sometimes they charge more for a room with an ensuite – which is ridiculous because half the time, you wind up using general shared facilities in the corridor anyway – and a lot of the time, they do charge for female only dorms. Male only dorms are sometimes cheaper than mixed dorms – don’t get me started on the sexism here! In a large hostel, you might have 5, 10, 20 rooms that have 6 beds, and then another 5, 10, 20 with 12 beds.... and so on. The more people in a room, the cheaper they are.

In my life to date, I have stayed in more than 50 different hostels. These have been in Australia, all around Europe, in North America and even one in Singapore. I’ve stayed in smaller hostels that have more of a B&B or homestay type feeling, I’ve stayed in party hotels, I’ve stayed in HI Hostels sharing with a wide variety of demographics. I’ve seen it all, which I think gives me the unique expertise to be able to put together this revolutionary formula. Now, my revolutionary idea is that hostels could start playing the real estate game on a whole other level – and there are two subsets. Firstly, the room; and secondly, the bed within the room.

You can have two seemingly identical dorm rooms, but one can be better than the other. The major contributing factor is noise. Noise comes not only from your dorm mates, but from the street – if you’re facing the main street and the hostel is above or next to a night club, or there’s a construction zone across the road. If in the hostel, you are situated just off the common room, right outside the telephone or all the vending machines. There’s noise from bathrooms – old buildings often have squeaky plumbing, so sharing a wall with the bathroom. Also relevant is location within the hostel building - I’ve stayed at hostels where they ship you off to another building down the street or, as I had with Jazz Hostels in New York City, three blocks away. So then, if you want to see reception, use laundry facilities, go to breakfast – you have to hike back to the ‘main’ building. And yet, an 8 bed dorm in each of these buildings would both cost the same value. In a large hostel, what floor you are on in the building can impact your stay – if they have no elevator and you get sick of walking up and down three flights of stairs; or if the wi-fi only works in the parts of the building closest to reception, or if the bathrooms on your floor are being renovated so you need to go upstairs every time you want to use the bathroom.

So, with this, the hostel could offer a ‘reduced rate’ for a crappy room or, inflate the rate for the ‘better room’. So you have an 8 bed dorm with wi-fi in the room for 15 euro a night, or an 8 bed dorm where you can use wi-fi in the common room for 14 euro a night. ‘Quiet rooms’ cost an extra euro too.

You can break it down a step further – within each dorm room, you will often have ‘good beds’ and you have ‘bad beds.’ You will all be paying the same price – for a bed in a X person dorm. But just like sometimes you book a flight and you get the seat next to you empty or they offer to move you to the exit aisle with extra leg room and you get it lucky – sometimes, you are stuck in the middle seat next to a crying baby and someone with really bad body odour. You get ripped off. Hostels are like this too.

Let’s take your average 8 bed dormitory as an example. Mostly, there are bunk beds. Immediately, the bottom bunks are top market property. There are a series of variables depending on the layout of the room. Sometimes, all the lockers are together in one area – you don’t want to be right next to this, because then you get woken up when people go to and from their lockers. Beds right near the bathroom (if the room has an ensuite) or near the door into the room are also worth less. Other things can impact upon your stay – if there’s no room on the floor surrounding the bed for your pack or shoes, if you’re right underneath an air condtioner or, as I’ve had, literally within head being chopped off distance from a ceiling fan. It’s pretty easy, given all of these variables, for you to get stuck with a crappier situation than your dorm mate who, just two beds back into the room, is living in hostel luxury.

Prime real estate is a bottom bunk in a back corner of the room. You will have a power outlet right beside your bed, and, if there aren’t full pack size lockers, there is a comfortable spot either at the foot of the bed or at the wall right beside you, for your bag to be within easy access. The general room lighting will be good in your area – not blindingly bright, but good for what you need.

In some hostels, all the beds are bad beds. They have such ridiculous room layouts or try to cram so many beds into one room that it doesn’t matter where you are, it’s going to be similar. Similarly, there are some hostels who ‘get’ that these things matter. They understand their market – people who are travelling for extended periods of time and that for whom, the smallest of creature comforts can make a massive difference to morale and your memory of your time at that hostel. Your ideal room layout will have every bunk have a full sized locker – these are typically under the beds. There will be a small shelf on the wall, where you can put your mobile, room keys, water bottle – other essentials that you may find yourself wanting throughout the night. There will be an individual lamp, and your own power outlet – you can then have an electrical item charging overnight without worrying about it being stolen, such as if you plug it in across the room. At the really elite few hostels I’ve stayed at, you may have a privacy curtain, or simply the choice of bunks affords more privacy – by having three sides of the bunk made of solid timber, you are almost in your own cacoon.

However more often than not, you aren’t at a hostel which is at either end of the spectrum – most hostels fall somewhere in the middle. And if you’re travelling in peak season or even in popular countries in shoulder season, you’re rarely going to get any choice. Many hostels allocate the beds so you’re stuck with what you get; but if it’s just ‘take a free bed’ then generally, you may only have one or two choices.            

Now, you may roll your eyes at me for scrutinising this in such detail. However, when you’re backpacking for a long period of time, staying at hostel after hostel after hostel, it’s amazing how these sorts of elements can impact upon your morale. It is nice to walk into a hostel dorm room, find your bed, and see that you’re going to have a comfortable stay. It is frustrating when you have to fight to use the power outlets, when you have to tip toe around in the dark and forgoe writing in your journal because your dorm mate is asleep at 9pm and you’re just not that bitch who turns on the light anyway. This trip, I have been forced (either through the only available bed, or by bed allocation) to sleep in a top bunk at nearly every hostel I have stayed at so far in Europe. Compared to my last two trips abroad, I’m having a much worse run when it comes to bed allocations. I’m a little more accustomed to it now – in ’08 I hardly had a top bunk, in ’10 I had a few more, enough so that now in ’12 where I’m top bunk queen, they don’t literally make me want to cry and stomp my foot like I would’ve in ’08.

It honestly wouldn’t surprise me if some hostel implements my awesome idea – of course it is copyrighted and fifty percent of the profits from all of the charges for the great beds and rooms will come straight to me.

However as a budget traveller, I’d love to see more hostels taking notice of the leading hostels and trying to make their rooms as comfortable as possible. I accept that hostels cannot control drunk people or street noise or construction sites; but they do have control over their decisions about how many beds to cram into a room and the size of the lockers. Budget travelling is something that I think everyone should experience at some point, and in ‘real life’ I’ve met people who have stayed at a hostel at some point while interstate in Australia and had a ‘bad’ experience and this puts them off from the whole notion of backpacking or budget travelling, because they cannot imagine living in that shared environment for an extended period of time. I won’t lie, it isn’t for everyone, but the extreme of the bad hostels, bad rooms and bad beds don’t reflect the average and they definitely don’t reflect the ‘best.’

And then sometimes, none of this matters. A hostel or a city is so awesome that it doesn’t matter what the room is like because you’ll be out having fun anyway!

Party Hostels and the Drunk Backpacker Culture

There are pockets of Europe which are notorious for attracting your scores of backpackers who tour Europe seeing the inside of as many clubs, pubs and bars as they can sink their teeth into. Generally it is major cities – you won’t see the picturesque town of Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic attracting scores and scores of partiers. I’ve started this trip in a party town pocket, (Lisbon - Madrid - Barcelona) and I must confess that as someone who isn’t a partier, it is kind of demoralising. I remember when the notion of a wild Contiki tour in Europe was your equivalent to the drunk backpacker wave. As backpacking and budget travelling have become more accessible to the every day person, I suspect there has been a stronger movement away from the organised tours and instead, a movement into the party hostels of Europe.

When I talk about drunk backpackers, I am referring to people who sleep through the day and wake up for happy hour. I don't mean anyone who likes to go out. There is room to enjoy the night life without merging into the drunk backpacker category. I’ve met people who literally lived this life – people who have been to London without seeing Buckingham Palace (come on – you’ve got to do it at least once!) or who go to Berlin without seeing the Berlin Wall. There has become such an influx of these travellers that the Party Hostel is in its best place ever to thrive.

Sometimes, a party hostel is clearly labelled as such. In its descriptions online, it will say things like ‘want to come to Europe to party? Want a free vodka shot on arrival?’ Others aren’t quite as blatant but depending on the season, it morphes over into having that culture – summer is more likely to bring party backpackers, for example. These hostels will generally have a bar, they will run pub crawls and sometimes will have later check-out times and later breakfast times – all things in support of people who want to stay out late. In a party hostel, you can expect the noise volume to be louder, you can expect people to be coming and going from the dorm rooms at all hours, you can expect the light to remain on nearly all night.

I have such mixed feelings about party hostels. I’ve indicated before when highlighting how to pick a hostel that the hostel culture is something you need to keep in mind when booking your trip. For some people, party hostels are ideal. If you’re an outgoing solo traveller who wants to party and is happy to stroll into the hostel bar and make friends, then the party hostel is your place. If you’re in a group who want to party, the party hostel will also be for you. But if you’re an experienced traveller, then you’ll know that even if you aren’t the type to party every night, that the party hostel should not be discounted just because of its reputation.

In some cities, the reality might be that if you’re not willing to compromise your budget or your other requirements – such as location and wi-fi – that you simply might have to book into a party hostel. Often, there are amenities and features at party hostels that you may not get if you choose to stay somewhere smaller. Most party hostels are larger, which means that they generally come with a slightly wider variety for breakfast, may have day and night activities run by the hostel and usually will have good, central locations.

As I write this entry, I’ve just finished my stay at Kabul Backpackers in Barcelona, Spain. They are your classic party hostel which I do not like. The bathrooms are gross and they have taken all of the power outlets out of the rooms to deter theft, but the common area at night was loud, loud, loud music even after the pub crawl departed. So there’s effectively nowhere that you can just sit in peace and quiet and have your eletrical items charging. As a non-partier I may have been allocated the worst bed in the entire hostel – right by the door of a 24 bed dorm where the door slams every time someone closes it, right across from a balcony overlooking a nightclub and a busy, thriving, loud square. I’ve never felt older as I looked forward to the hour where all the ‘kids’ would be out for the night, where there would be a few solid hours where the ones who go out late have left, where the ones who come back early are yet to come back, and there is a few blissful hours of crossover of quiet.

Not all party hostels are like this, though. Most hostels will have some sort of a divide between a ‘drinking’ area and a general chill out area – sometimes they overlap, but the status quo is that there is a divide. I’ve mentioned before that I enjoyed my stay at party hostel SameSun Lodge in Vancouver – because the common room was far away from the bar. Yes!Lisbon in Portugal had a bar and a pub crawl and yet the common room didn’t feel overtaken by a drinking culture –the staff did an amazing job at being able to maintain a positive vibe in the room, without turning up the music to nightclub volume and therefore being offputting to everyone else trying to enjoy the lounges and comfort. Las Musas hostel in Madrid had a 12am – 8am ‘quiet time’ rule – they turned down the music and the lights in common areas, which I found flowed through in that people were more respectful when entering the dorm rooms and moving around the hallways.

I think it is this drunken backpacker mentality that bothers me most while travelling. Not that people aren’t allowed to enjoy Europe the way they want to; and not because of my sleep and personal space being interrupted. But more so, because it is harder to meet likeminded people. A lot of my best travel experiences have come from when I've met someone in the hostel - whether it be over breakfast, in the common room or in the dorm - and we've hit it off and then spent time hanging out together. Finding people who I will hit it off in party hostel central is difficult. I was reading through the reviews for this place I’m at in Barcelona, because I was curious as to how long ago they brought in this ridiculous power outlet thing –and came across a review which stated the following:

“People have been commenting about how rowdy it can get, but if you're in Barcelona and planning to sleep at 10pm, then you really shouldn't be in Barcelona, or backpacking for that matter."

This in itself brings about that discussion of the difference between travelling, backpacking, vacationing, touristing... I’ll leave that for another entry. But I find that a lot of the time, when I’m staying at a louder, rowdier hostel, people look at you strangely when you’re in bed before midnight. We're on different wavelengths on every level.

Well you know what, person side-eyeing me, I think you’re bit strange for being drunk every night of the week, for coming all the way to Europe just to see the inside of every bar and club. I judge you for not having seen X castle or X monument. But I will let you do your thing, if you let me do mine. Show a little bit of courtesy as you’re ducking back into the room to pick up more money at 2am, and I’ll show you a bit of courtesy when I wake up in the morning. We’re all human beings, a bit of courtesy can go a long way. If people think it is acceptable to slam the door and carry on at 2am, then at 8am when I’m organising my things to leave, I won’t even try to be quiet. Reality is that the people I’m trying to affect are likely so deep in drunken sleep that they are oblivious to my movements, but there is a vindictive part of me that takes pleasure in rustling around with my plastic bag covered laundry and shoes a little bit longer than necessary.

Unfortunately, it’s practically impossible to judge a hostel and the ‘vibe’ from the advertisement alone. When it’s day 2 and you’re looking around the common room at 10am and people are enjoying their first beer of the day – you know that you’re pretty much going to be on your own. And hope that next time, your hostel choice is little wiser!

From national pride to national disgust

April 25^th is the commemoration of Anzac Day – ANZAC being Australia New Zealand Army Corps. It is similar to Memorial Day – essentially a day to acknowledge and respect the sacrifices of our troops. I knew that I was going to be in London this year and knowing how many Australians are in the UK, I did a quick Google search about a month or so ago, to see if there was anything going on. One of the options which popped up was complimentary tickets to an Anzac Day service being held in Westminster Abbey. I’ve been to the outside of the Abbey before but hadn’t felt the need to spend the money on the entry fee. This seemed like an ideal opportunity to not only do something to mark the occasion whilst so far from home, but also a cost effective way to do something that normally would cost money.

My friend and I arrived early and it was possibly the worst weather day we’d had in London – ridiculously windy, proper rain rather than just a bit of a shower. I took a few photos in the surrounding areas, including one of me with my umbrella inside out, and we sheltered in the Westminster Tube station for a little while longer before heading back to the Abbey, finally figuring out where the entrance for services was and soon after being allowed inside. We were seated in the nave, and scored front row seats due to our prompt arrival. It was almost an hour before the ceremony started however we were grateful to be inside and sheltered from the rain and wind.

The service itself was a fairly religious based service – hymns and bible passages and the like. I don’t have religious background, which perhaps isn’t adequate justification for my ignorance, but for me it was a bunch of guys in robes and some with ‘sticks’ walking through. We couldn’t see the main service, we were seated further back in the second section of the Abbey where the seats face toward the aisle. It wasn’t too long, an hour in total for the actual ceremony, and some of the readings were very poignant and relevant to the occasion.

The part which for me was particularly poignant was at the end, when the Australian National Anthem played. I hadn’t been sure what the demographic was in the room, I mean, I assumed that there were a lot of Australians. But it was in that moment when the anthem played and we joined together in chorus that it felt surreal. All of these Australians – backpackers, travellers, people who are working or perhaps have relocated to the UK – took time from their lives to gather together for the commemoration. It was a humbling moment, a moment where I felt a great deal of national pride.

That night, our dorm room lay asleep – it was mid week, mid week is generally quiet in most hostels, even the party animals take a couple of nights off to recuperate. I awoke to the sound of this incredible racket from the corridor, and moments later, some men came barging into our room in a drunken, messy pile of shouting and laughter. I think there were four of them and I immediately recognised their Australian accents. This isn’t uncommon – Australian backpackers drunk and stumbling into a hostel room. Now, I’m accustomed to hostels and to different people keeping different hours and I actually have no problem with people coming in drunk. I understand that a certain amount of noise is required to change and settle into bed. But these guys were on this whole other level of disrespect. Their conversation was loud, lewd and foul. You would think it was 6pm, not 2am, with how loud they were speaking, with utter disrespect for the fact that anyone else was in the room. And it went on long after they’d all collapsed into bed.

There are lots of Australian backpackers – I think it’s just a representation of being so far from the rest of the world, that you don’t just go on a two week vacation, it makes more economic sense to take a longer, extended trip. And drinking culture is prominent in Australia, so it’s hardly surprising. But frankly, you wouldn’t encounter this sort of behaviour from English backpackers or German backpackers – whenever you come across people who are incredibly lewd or loud or annoying or inappropriate, nine times out of ten, they are Australian. It’s amazing how in 24 hours, I can be so struck by a pride of my country and national spirit; and then in the wee hours of the morning find myself equally struck by a sense of embarrassment. The Aussie bloke at his worst, multiplied by four, backpacking in Europe and representing us in this way

 To say the least, it was an interesting mixture of directly related and yet incredibly contrasting emotion and reflection. It's funny how when I'm travelling the smallest of events or moments can be the spark for a subsequent series of far deeper emotions, reflections and contemplations.

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!