A note on Hostels vs. Hotels when traveling.

I have had mixed experiences with hostels so I figured it's a good topic for a post. A hostel is just like a hotel, but instead of getting your own room with a bathroom, you are in a shared room with other people and the bathroom is not, typically attached. Think summer camp. 

There are obviously different levels of hostels. My first experience was The Van Gogh Hostel in Amsterdam, and it was great. We had a double room, which came with two single beds, nightstand, private bath, and (desk/tv). We had a leak in the shower, but that was not an issue they could have been foreseen. 

I've also had really bad experiences in hostels. When I was in Prague, the hostel we were at was a party hostel. I was with a school trip and couldn't change locations and one of the girls in my mixed room was so drunk she kept vomiting in her bed. It was so bad I was actually sick because of the sounds and smell. 

I learned my lesson (or so I thought) and my next hostel was in a smaller room, still mixed, and it smelled like a 13 yo boys closet. Ick. 

I use a laptop cable and tsa travel combo lock to secure my bags to the bunk beds. I want to see someone lift 1,000 pounds to get to my dirty clothes. LOL Bring ear plugs, eye mask, towel, FLIP FLOPS!!! and cash to pay for the bed linen deposit. Mixed dorms are fine (but sometimes smell), but if you want that added privacy, you can normally designate a women's only dorm. A lot of places you can get in a 4 or 6 bed dorm. 4 is better for quiet most of the time. Try and arrive during daylight hours so you don't annoy the neighbors when putting your bed together and if you can find a hostel that has amenities (like breakfast or laundry service or 'free city tours'), those are great. 

Hostels that double as hotels normally have better rooms/service as well. My hostel in Amsterdam was awesome, Prague and Budapest not so much, but Budapest was better than Prague. Also, try and avoid hostels in party zones or that offer pub crawls. Even the best hostel becomes a nightmare if your bunk mate is vomiting all night in their bed (yes, true experience). Some even offer excursion services. These are great buys normally and if you can get into a youth hostel in Germany, they are so cute! We were in one near Nuremberg that had games for people to use and a huge buffet for breakfast and dinner at night included. There were six bunks, but they put in an extra mattress in our room so another girl could stay with her friends.

A collection of hostels and AirBnBs I've stayed in:

Quebec, Canada, the curtain hides the window that is directly on the porch. There was no lock and a person could easily get in from outside. It was also so hot I had to sleep with the window open. I put all my bags in front of it to make it harder for someone to get in, but I did not sleep well because of it.

Our Student Hostel in Nuremberg. This place was great and you can see all of us having breakfast in the dinning room.

The view from my hostel in Budapest. While it gave an authentic feeling, staying in a converted apartment, it was creepy, the lights didn't work, the elevator was a death trap, and the location was sketchy. Plus, the old man sleeping in the bunk above mine kept farting. Ew.

The view from our AirBnB in Ispra, Italy. The house looked like the one across the street and had two bedrooms, living room, kitchen/dinning room, and bathroom. I shared a room with another girl from school. The weird bit was the tub with a shower head that had no hanger.

My hostel in Oslo, Norway was a nightmare. First, I was center bottom. That was fine, the problem was the guy to the right of me snored so loud I couldn't sleep even with earbuds in. Second, having a kitchen was great, but the en suite bathroom had no lock on the door, so anyone could walk in if you were using it. I ended up showering at 5 am and using the toilet when no one else was in the room. Might not of been as big of a deal if it wasn't a mixed room, but still. Sketchy.