What You Need to Know About Hostel Accommodation

Ways to Cheaper Accommodation While Traveling

One of the main reasons I can travel so much is to minimize my costs during my travels. I try to cut down on food, drink and accommodation as much as possible so that I can increase my budget for new trips. One of the important expenditure items during travels is accommodation! There are of course various ways to make accommodation cheap, my method is stay in hostel. Hostel I felt the need to write this article because I started to get a lot of questions about the subject.

Another method is Couchsurfing, which I will explain in another article.

All photos used in this article belong to Belgrad Mosaic Hostel. 

What is a Hostel?

It is actually an accommodation management that is familiar to those who study at boarding schools, those who live in dormitories, and those who have served in the military. Predominantly dormitory rooms with 4-6-8-10 person dormitories; It is a form of accommodation where bathroom, toilet and kitchen areas are shared.

Things to Consider When Choosing a Hostel

Choosing a room in a hostel

Hostels may not always have dormitory rooms, some hostels may have private rooms. While these private rooms are sometimes in the bathroom, sometimes they can be shared. If you are choosing a hostel from hotel reservation sites, information about the number of people in the hostel room and whether there is a common area if it is a separate room should be included. You should pay attention to these when choosing your hostel room.

Room type in hostel

Another issue you should pay attention to; If not specified in hostel dormitory rooms, the rooms will be mixed. So men and women use the same dormitory. If you are uncomfortable with this situation, you can choose hostels with separate rooms for women only or only men.

Hostel types

Common areas in hostels are important areas for the socialization of the residents. Sometimes the lobby, sometimes the kitchen, and sometimes the garden can be a socializing area. Some hostels are known as “party” hostels and this socialization is taken to the next level with parties. If you are a sleeper or spend the whole day traveling like me and use your accommodation as a resting area, this can be a bit tiring. Hostel promotions may not specifically mention the "party" subject, but you can easily understand the situation from the hostel's photos.

Materials you will need while staying at the hostel

If you are going to stay in the hostel, do not forget to take slippers to wear inside, remember that none of the extras you are used to in hotels will be here! All your needs such as shampoo and towel should be with you. Otherwise, if you are lucky, you will train on shampoos or soaps that those before you forgot. In some hostels, extra bed linen may be requested, again, it must be specified in the information at the time of booking.

Noise & light issue in hostel

In the hostel, dormitories are common areas and everyone goes to bed at different times and stays at different times. In general, although everyone tries to be respectful, if sound and light bother you, headphones and sleeping glasses can be very useful. Especially if there is someone snoring in the room, that earphone can be a life saver 🙂

Head change at hostel

Another issue is how do I change in the shared dormitory? You can use the bathroom or toilet, or learn to dress in bed. Since the bathroom will be in the form of a shower most of the time, it is difficult to change the headboard. On the other hand, it should be taken into account that you will have very comfortable roommates and that they can dress and undress in the middle. If you say I can't handle such things, the hostel is not for you 🙂

Hygiene in the Hostel

If you are very sensitive about hygiene, hostel may not be the accommodation solution for you. Keep in mind that you may encounter "traces" of people as there is a lot of shared space. People staying in hostels are generally people with this culture and they will be as sensitive as you, but people come from all over the world, there is no guarantee of course.

It is also possible to have information about the general hygiene status of the hostel by reading user comments while making a reservation. However, as a precaution, I have a very thin sleeping bag, I carry it with me.

After all, we are talking about a cheap accommodation solution, so we should not keep our expectations too high, right?

Food in Hostels

There is no standard here. While breakfast is included in some hostels, some do not, while some hostels use a free kitchen, some hostels do not have a kitchen you can use. In some hostels, breakfast is included in the price, while in others it may be extra, so the food issue is completely variable.

Most hostels have kitchens, and you can cook your meals yourself using the communal plates, glasses and pots in the kitchen. You can significantly reduce your meal costs when you shop at the market and cook yourself, especially in expensive countries. It is a method often preferred by long-term travelers.

Misconceptions About Hostels

What comes to mind when you think of hostel? Young people smoking weed, crazy parties, male and female repentance… I beg you to delete that picture in your head immediately. Hostels are the intersection point of young people trying to travel cheap, those who prefer to travel alone, and travelers trying to cut costs by traveling for a long time. Hostels have helped me make friends from the age of 20 to 60.

My Hostel Experiences

I've stayed in hostels around the world; There were times when I shared the room with the lizard family, when I chased a monkey in its garden, when I was alone in the big room, and when I shivered from the cold. There were times when I was sick to my stomach from the smell of people, there were times when I had deep conversations by the fireplace or barbecue.

My first hostel was in Split, Croatia. When I couldn't find a cheap hotel on the internet, I found a hostel quite far from the city center. This was really an old school dormitory converted into a hostel and it was the coldest hostel I've stayed in. When I say cold, it's cold in spirit. It might be because it reminds me of the dormitory I stayed in Avcılar when I was at university 🙂 There was no kitchen, no breakfast, only coffee and cold drinks vending machine. Bathrooms for 10 people at the top of each floor, people waiting in line for the bathroom, wrapped in towels… So the first experience was pretty bad, so it took a long break for my next hostel adventure.

I had my best hostel experiences in South Africa. I can say that all the hostels I stayed in were better than the other, I even thought of settling in one (Dijembe Hostel). Those who throw barbeque parties, chat with the manager until the morning, wake up to the magnificent ocean view, make hot cakes for breakfast… South African hostels may be the best in the world in this regard 🙂

Especially during my solo travels, hostels helped me to make very good friendships. Hostels are great for meeting sociable people from all over the world who love to travel and listen to their adventures.

If you want to put the classic hotel experience in your head on the shelf and experience a new accommodation, I definitely recommend you to stay in a hostel on a trip.