anyone sleeping in hostels when travelling abroad ?
 

I guess hostels aren't popular in America but lots of them in Europe or Asia.

I know many young people chose hostels because of the price but some also because of the relaxed, informal atmosphere/easy to socialise/meet new people etc

What's your outlook/experience?

I guess if you're young and poor and want to travel the world, then there's no choice because you need to budget carefully and can't afford sleeping in hotels :winkwink:
Then, if you're above a certain age, then there's no choice either, since hostels are rather for young people.

but how about if you're young and make good money?
I guess most such people on GFY would chose a comfortable/luxury hotel but perhaps there are exceptions?

I'm all about hostels. I've stayed in alot of them. great place to meet chill laid back people when you just get into town. there's often other travellers who don't know anybody hanging around who are fun to puff a doob with or hit the local bars, or do whatever. It's great that they're cheap and all, but the people are really the best reason to crash in a hostel in my opinion.

yeah hostels for me too

I always use hostels. As you say its the cheapest way... but its alo the best way to meet new people.

so at what age you'd stop using hostels?

edit: personally I never slept in a hostel actually, just hearing a lot about them

I stayed at The Pink Palace on Corfu, Greece and visited athens backpackers in Athens. Both are world renounced places and I had a great time at both.

There's no age to stop using hostels, I even saw some like 50yr old businessman staying at one. The point of the hostel isn't just a place to crash. It's for if you are traveling alone to make some friends, have someone to party with. This way you don't feel totally alone in a foreign country.

Who doesn't like hostels ???
http://www.moviesonline.ca/movie-gal...ostel2-2-8.jpg:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

Hehe I worked at the pink palace briefly whilst on my holiday in corfu :pimp cool place but ouzo is bad bad stuff !

Well honestly, i'm still on the young side of life, and i think as long as i feel confortable staying in them i always will.
I mean, i would never stop using them, but if i end up being the 50 year old dude using it and all the other guests are teenagers, it would also beat the socialization part, they would look at you from a more different view.

So i guess, id stop whenever i don't feel confortable no mroe

I used hostels, alot when i was still like 16-18. was cool.

Now i got worse lol. I love camping .... nature, no dress code for dinner. 90% have wifi
perfect ......and a huge camper....better then any 5 star hotel

I've gotten hammered/stoned and hung around with plenty of 40+ crowds in hostels. there's no cooler than rad old people who still enjoy life...

If you're travelling solo, which many backpackers do, you'll have mad fun staying in hostels, partying with different people in each of them. Of course, you also need to watch your valuables and make sure no one picks your pockets while you're asleep. Make sure you have a decent supply of ear plugs too, you never know who's gonna keep you awake all night, snoring in the bunk above you.

I once stayed in a hostel for four months. :) Was a lot of fun and I made some contacts which I still keep in touch with, several years later.

All in all, I'd say it's a very nice experience, as long as you stay on top of your game and don't lose or get your stuff stolen. Possibly not the greatest play to take a chick you pick up in a bar though, so unless you plan on fucking chicks staying in the same hostel you'd probably need to ask her to take you to her place. :)

I always sleep in hostels. It's always a great experience and people I meet there are always kinda cool.

Never been to a hostel but my current hotel gives me some hostel feeling.. scary people, poor service and even the suite is just 340EUR/night.

Save yourself ?320/night and move to a hostel instead. Nice people and generally decent service too, if you pick the right hostel. :)

i like to use tripadvisor.com and try to find best balance of cool and price

Scary people are my favorite kind. They're great in small doses.

Brrrrrrrrrr..

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0...CLZZZZZZZ_.jpg


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I used hostels too when I was young, but now I look for more comfort. I need MY bathroom, I need MY space and a need a good bed.

If I would need to sleep in a hostel, no problem, after sleeping in crappy places next to the Ganges I can sleep anywhere, but if I can choose, modest hotels are ok for me.

If there's no room service and high thread count on the sheets, I'm not interested.

is it all hot horny chicks like the movie?

when i made my first international trip i had enough $$ to avoid crap places.

I've stayed at tons of hostels around europe. My friend and I alternated between hotels and hostels for a mix. We met lots of great people at hostels (tons of crazy aussies and kiwis) and had a better time staying at those than at the hotels. It was rough on sleeping in bunks with 4-12 other people in the room, but we usually passed out drunk when we came back anyway at night. My personal favorite were he coed hostels. mmm

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh ...

i'm always in hostels unless it's a family or business vacation. i actually find hem a lot more fun and interesting places to stay that some boring hotel. I was recently in a great one in Rio de Jenario... if headed that way, give me a heads up and I'll get you the info. Also a cool one in Ecuador.

When were you in India?

Ok, thanks for everyone's input :thumbsup

I really like hostels. I think what I enjoy most is meeting other people and having a lot of good conversation, learning about the world and other cultures.

I can sleep just about anywhere though and no amount of noise ever keeps me awake at night.

Actually Ive heard that hostels are good for sex in group .... and " clean" sharing bathrooms .. niceeeee
No thanks !

On average what does a decent safe one cost per night?

any i've stayed in are $10-20