At age 33, my days of staying in hostels are probably almost over. I feel like I’m past the age of doing bar crawls (not that I ever really did them) and sleeping in such close proximity to strangers (not that that was ever really a selling point).
Many hostels have an age restriction, and 35 or 40 is often the upper limit. I don’t want to be caught arguing with a volunteer receptionist that “actually, I won’t technically be over 35 until August”.
I’ve had a love/hate relationship with hostels while travelling solo during the past decade or so. A truly great hostel can rival the best hotels in terms of making you feel at home in a foreign place. On the other hand, one night at a bad hostel can make you wish that you’d just stayed at home.
Cutting costs with hostels
To me, the main appeal of staying in hostels has always been cost. Sacrificing some privacy and comfort has allowed me to travel way longer and further than I would have been able to otherwise.
I’ve managed to visit dozens of cities in 40+ countries, with hundreds of nights in hostels.
When a dorm room is only a third or a quarter of the price of a hotel, or maybe even cheaper, my cheap-ass brain simply can’t justify the higher price tag. “Why pay big number for small stay when can pay small number for big stay?”
Meanwhile, in countries where private accommodation is only a little more expensive than a dorm room, I am happy to pay that premium. I guess my privacy does have a pricetag.
Of course, cost isn’t the only thing going for hostels. You do miss out on something important in the peace and quiet of a nice hotel room.
The social reckoning
I’m lead to believe that some people book hostels primarily to be… Social? With other human beings? No, that can’t be right.
But seriously, as a fairly introverted person, I remember being scared shitless about my first few times alone in hostels. This was especially the case in cities with a bit of a reputation or when the hostel itself wasn’t particularly well regarded.
Thankfully, social interaction at a hostel really isn’t that hard and I haven’t had very many bad experiences (says the straight white male).
I’m completely comfortable travelling solo and don’t constantly crave social interaction, but I also tend to just be naturally friendly by default.
When someone walks into the room, I’ll always give them a smile and say hi. If they’re down for a chat, I usually am too. Some of my best travel memories have started off with a quick greeting and the classic “so where are you from?”
It is always a little surprising when people just completely blank you at a hostel. Like, I don’t have to be your best friend, but I might be sleeping a metre away from you, so at least try to be nice.
As with everything in life, who knows what these people are going through. Maybe they’re travelling for a sad reason or are just having a bad day.
Whether you’re an introvert, extrovert or somewhere in between (ambivert?), a bit of basic friendliness and kindness goes a long way in a small dorm room, and outside of it too.
Testing your luck at hostels
Walking into a dorm room for the first time always feels a bit like a lottery. Does it look like the pictures? Did I get a bottom bunk? Is everything fairly clean and tidy? How many people have they squeezed into this tiny space? Is that someone sleeping at 3pm?
The must elusive prize of all has to be having a room all to yourself for the night. A private room on a hostel budget? That’s living the dream.
The lottery continues throughout your entire stay. Your travel plans can change in an instant based on who walks through the door.
Within just a few minutes, you might be hitting the town with your whole room, or making plans to visit a new place you’ve never heard of before.
But maybe you don’t get the chance to interact with anyone during your stay, whether that’s because the place isn’t very busy or everyone is just doing their own thing.
Such is the hostel life! It is down to dumb luck whether you get talking to people who you click well with. You can increase your chances by trying to be as social as possible, but everyone’s capacity for doing that is different.
Snores galore
Another thing that is all down to luck is whether you’re sharing your room with any snorers.
If I ever open a hostel, I’ll be implementing a strict system where snorers are all grouped together, so non-snorers can rest peacefully.
Okay, people might not be in a position to seek treatment for their snoring. But for the sake of their health, and for the sanity of anyone they share a room with, they really should if they can.
It’s certainly a bold choice to book a room with six, ten, a dozen or more people when you know that you make animalistic noises throughout the night. Maybe they just have no other place to stay.
Unfortunately, it takes me a long time to fall asleep and I have had the fairly regular misfortune of being in rooms with absolutely atrocious levels of snoring. Worse still is when you get stereo snoring or sometimes a whole damn chorus of people snoring around the room in different registers.
I hate to single them out, but snorers have made me lose countless hours of sleep over the years. I can never forgive them for making me miss out on one of my favourite activities.
(By the way, I am aware of ear plugs but am unable to use them due to previous hearing issues).
I’ve only ever had one person proactively apologise for potential noise, and it was a guy using a portable CPAP machine. All I heard during the night was a pleasant gentle hum, which helped me fall asleep if anything. Still, I really appreciated what was a rare case of thoughtfulness.
Ageing out
Back on luck, I seem to have been given the sort of appearance where it’s a bit tricky to tell exactly how old I am. I don’t mention this as some kind of weird flex (wow your age is indeterminate, how cool!) but because it’s led me to feel comfortable enough to keep staying at hostels into my 30s.
It seems easier to fly under the radar when people don’t know whether you’re twenty-something or thirty-something. Meanwhile, a more mature looking 33-year-old could be more noticeable.
Many hostels don’t have age limits and are open and available to all, but people who are obviously in their 40s, 50s, 60s and above still do tend to stand out. Not necessarily in a bad way, but many people continue to associate ‘hostels’ with ‘youth’.
If I did choose to continue using hostels, I can’t help but think that I could potentially be almost twice the age of the youngest adult.
So is that why I would choose to stop staying? Because I’m worried being older than everyone else? Or because I don’t want to risk a bad stay filled with snoring and all kinds of other potential disturbances and discomforts I haven’t even mentioned? But what about the social element?
At this stage, I don’t really know. I can’t say for sure if a good deal on a hostel would stop me booking one again in the future. I guess I’ll only know for sure while planning my next trip, whenever that may be. Hopefully I’m not too old.
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