Ah, the hostel. If you plan on traveling during your time abroad, hostels
will most likely become your best friend. Unless you’ve already experienced
staying in hostels, you may have some connotations in regards to them: sites of
horror movies, places frequented by backpackers with questionable hygiene, and
so on. While you might find some of these stereotypical travelers in them,
hostels are frequently used by younger people like you who are taking a trip
while studying abroad. Hostels are also the cheapest option for those on a budget
and who are planning to visit a lot of places. If you only plan on taking a
couple trips during your stay in the UK, you might want to look into more
traditional, nicer hotels. But for those who intend to see a lot of places, or
those who just want to get the experience, should look into hostels.
The most important thing to remember when using hostels is to
do your
research. A good and popular site to use is
Hostelworld.com. There, you can search for
hostels (and hotels and guided tours, among other things) by criteria such as
city, open booking dates, price range, and number of people in your party. As
with any other travel booking site, pictures of the places are posted. Probably
the most useful aspect of Hostelworld.com is that you can read user reviews and
ratings. These are essential in getting a feel for a hostel, as you can read
about how secure other travelers felt when staying at the location, its
proximity to landmarks and transportation, and the amenities it provides like
free breakfast. (The breakfasts aren’t fancy, but what student doesn’t like
free stuff? Plus, a breakfast provided by the hostel will let you spend more on
meals later in the day.) Once you’ve found one that suits your needs, it’s easy
to book through the site. I never had a problem with reservations made through
the site, but I always printed out the booking confirmation number just in
case.
Other things to remember when using hostels:
Be aware of who you are traveling with and how many people (i.e.,
strangers) with whom you are comfortable sharing a room. Is your group
large enough that you rather get a private room together? Are you traveling
alone or in a pair and open to having roommates? Adjust your room preferences
accordingly. Hostels have rooms ranging from private (housing about four
people) to large dorms, depending on the size of the hostel and layout. Dorms
are the cheapest room options and provide a way of meeting new friends, but
there is a greater chance of being grouped with people you might have concerns
about. This is rare, but it can happen; a friend and I only once had to ask to
change rooms. In terms of security, if you have personal items you don’t feel
comfortable leaving in the room, most hostels have a safe behind the service
desk or lockers where you can stash important items.
Be open to surprises. Reviews and pictures can only reveal so much. I
had some surprises while traveling, none of them expected but none of them
posing a huge problem either. For instance, a friend and I had picked a hostel
in northern England to spend the night at that had good reviews and was newly
upgraded. It turned out to be very nice: still smelled of new wood and the
mattresses weren’t sunken-in in the middle yet. After a long day of traveling,
I wanted to shower before bed. Upon entering the women’s bathroom, I found that
the shower curtains were completely clear. As in:
These shower curtains are
only here to stop water from spilling out on the floor, not for privacy.
Not one for communal showers, I ending up waiting out the day until I got back
to my own flat and private bathroom. That’s something I wouldn’t have found out
from reading reviews, unless someone specifically wanted to write about it. I
also walked in on what seemed like a makeshift hair salon in a different hostel
once. One girl was sitting in a chair with a smock on getting her hair cut by
another girl right in the middle of the bathroom. Interesting, to say the
least.
-L.
