I hate hostel life and 10 reasons you should hate too

The day came when my parents dropped me at my hostel and left. It was hard to be away from your loved ones, but I had no other option. Initially, everything was difficult.

Since it was a GIRLS HOSTEL we had rules and regulation but that was regarding our in-time which was good and should be followed in a ladies hostel.

We friends enjoyed dinner together, the endless night chats, and our warden trying to catch us for making a sound at night….those are fond memories.

I believe you have to experience hostel life once in your life. How to handle situations when you are alone, how to behave with others when you are sharing a room with them. You tend to be less selfish and understand what is sharing. But there is a negative side to this If you are in a bad gang and staying in a hostel that has no rules and regulations. It is all in choosing best friends and a hostel. But it’s not necessary that you will be successful in it. You will learn from experience. Experience is not just important for your resume alone, you need it throughout your life. For that, hostel life helps.

But i hate hostel life.

Reasons…..

1. Dirty Rooms, Dirty Everything!

It seems to be the older something gets, or the greedier the management/owner is, the hostel in question gets run down, looks shabbier and dirtier. And not in a cool hipster vintage way. More like a meth or crack den kinda way and it’s disgusting.Like I said before the teenage grunge in me would have been quite content to roll around the floor in there, now I’m afraid to touch the walls.

2. Poor Design.

I mean places that have not been thought out or planned or even decorated well. Some hostels don’t know what up-cycling is.
I’ve been in some really poor areas where old items have been up-cycled and used to create really cool features in hostels. Some places just fall short. Put some effort into it. The last hostel, the lounge was great, nice comfy chairs and artwork everywhere but as you walked to the rooms everything got really lacklustre and just crappy looking. I should have slept in the lounge.

3. Beds that Ruin your Back and Life

o many things wrong with hostel beds if they’re done wrong.
I have taken a stand now and said I’m not staying in any more hostels with metal bed bunks. Noisy, awful things. Squeaky. Nope.
Old mattresses are not good for you. End of.
Bed bugs! EEeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwww.
Dirty sheets? Even more eeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwww.
Dorm sex? I just can’t even.

4. Lack of privacy

I hate the lack of privacy. Sometimes I get depressed n just need a really good cry, I don’t want anyone to comfort me just need to let it out. Couldn’t do that without going to the bathroom.

The nature of a hostel is sharing. That can be beautiful, but it can also be annoying. You don‘t have much private space in a hostel room. It’s impossible to escape other people completely. You might get a roommate that snores or comes in late every night. There is the consummate loud talker or the person who thinks everyone loves their Spotify playlist as much as they do. However, many hostels have tried to get past this by creating seating clusters, quiet reading nooks, and outdoor spaces.

Tips for finding some space:

Use your blanket or towel to create a private nook in your bed if your hostel doesn’t provide curtains.
Find a time of day where you put in your earplugs and enjoy the hammock alone.
Earplugs are your friend, and so is an eye mask.
Pack a small fan if you tend to get hot. A shared room equals having to deal with the temperature that the majority wants. Sleep in long pajamas if you tend to get cold.
Take your shower at a weird time: in the middle of the day or early in the morning. Just beware of quiet hours.
Remember many hostels have private rooms, and it may be worth it for you to book your own room if you are staying a while.

6. The WARDEN

In other words… THE BOSS

7. Hostel Mess

No proper nutrition. Many hostelities live on Maggie day in and day out. There is no one to offer you with fruits or juices or fresh vegetables.

8. Rules and Regulations

This is the most awful thing in girls hostel: RULES AND REGULATIONS. These rules and regulations in hostel sucks. Everything has a time in girls hostel. No night outs. No one allowed at our campus except for girls living in there. So this is most annoying thing.

9. The creepy Security guards

These security guards always have their eyes on us… like always. What are we doing., where are we going, at what time we are coming back. Those judging eyes are always on us.

10. Cleanliness

This one is pretty much a myth. There are some disgusting hostels out there, but there are some outright nasty hotels and Airbnbs too. In this digital world, hostels rely on online reviews just like every other vacation rental, so it is in their best interest to be clean.

Cleanliness tips:

Carry your own antibacterial wipes, just in case the toilet is gross.
Do your part, and clean up after yourself.
Bring flip-flops for the shower. No one wants ringworm.
You can ask to tour the place first and look at your bathroom and bed before you book. We always do this if we are planning on staying more than one night. Better to take five minutes to look for bed bugs than to pay for a week and be miserable.
If something is gross, report it to staff or the owner. It will generally be taken care of.

Top Ten Reasons Hostels Rock!

1. Travel is Better With Friends

One of the original purposes of hostel organizations was to encourage comradery among young people. A hostel is still the best place to meet people. Contrary to what many might think, a wide array of people and personalities frequent hostels today. Sure, you will meet young backpackers, but we have also met businessmen in their 60s and whole families of nomads in our travels.

Travel, especially full-time travel, can get really lonely if you don’t have human interaction on a regular basis. Some of my favorite travel buddies are friends we have met in hostels around the world.

2. You Expand Your Understanding of Other Cultures

Currently, this American writer has found a quiet couch in the corner to write, while the volunteer worker checks new folks in. He hails from East Africa and is in exile from his university in Ukraine. There is a German Youtuber editing his video as he cooks a fabulous-smelling dinner. Two beautiful ladies from East Asia are sharing the hammocks in the yard and listening to music from their homeland. There is an American school teacher taking a nap in his bunk, a Romanian student on her way to her home village, and an older local gentleman living here while he waits for his new apartment to be ready.

It’s a conglomerate of personalities and backgrounds that treats an intuitive traveler to the subtle nuances of how upbringing, culture, and national norms shape who we are and our behavior. Usually, these differences are just looked on as funny peculiarities and good conversation starters. Sometimes, they can be annoying and really push your buttons.

Either way, a hostel stay teaches you something valuable about cultural relations. You learn to exist in harmony with others (for the most part). You find common ground. In the end, we are all really similar, though it may not seem so on the surface. The hostel environment is really just a miniature model of the world, and the lessons you learn in one are representative of what travel as a whole teaches you.

3. You Discover the Freedom of Simplicity

Hostel life is about simple pleasures. You will likely have everything you need. However, it is a simple existence. If you embrace it, you will find that you really don’t need much to be happy and even thrive! A roof over your head, food to eat, and new friends to share it with. It’s really all you need as a base for exploring a new place.

4. You Can Save Tons of Money

Whether you save money with a hostel really depends on the location and your travel situation. Generally, a decent hostel is going to cost you about half of what a decent hotel room will. In Europe, they range from $12-30 for a bunk bed. Australia and New Zealand can be a bit more expensive. In Southeast Asia, they can be as low as five dollars. It really just depends on the quality and the location. If you are a solo traveler, you’d be hard-pressed to find any other accommodation in Western Europe for less than $15… especially right now with almost all travel-related expenses skyrocketing in 2022.

However, if you are a couple or a group of 3, then that’s another story. With budget options on Airbnb and perks for repeatedly using a platform like Booking.com, you can easily score an apartment in some of the same locations for $30. As a digital nomad couple, we often nab something private for the same price as two hostel beds… but not always. For instance, yesterday we needed to book one night in Bucharest. The lowest available room in our desired area was $55. We were able to get two hostel beds, in the perfect spot, for $29. It pays to shop around.

When you find an excellent hostel, it’s like a family. You all go to the grocery store together. You chip in for food, and someone cooks a meal from their home country. Out of soap? Ask your bunkmate. Pay them back with a beer. It all equals out in the end, and you get to try lots of new things!

6. Increased Awareness of Others

A hostel can be irritating, but it can also be a place where you learn about yourself. Sharing a space, food, and your bedroom makes you more aware of others…and yourself. You start to think about other people more, which if we are honest, is probably something most of us could use more of.