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Coworker said hostels are for kids and I'm not so sure
I overheard a guy at the coffee shop last Tuesday arguing that hostels are only for people under 25 and that anyone older should just pay for a hotel. He said privacy and a good bed matter more than saving cash, and that shared dorms are basically a gamble with your sleep. But I've stayed in hostels from Portland to Austin over the last five years and had some great experiences for around $30 a night. Sure, you get the occasional snorer or loud group, but you also meet folks who know cheap eats and free walking tours. I booked a private room at a hostel in Denver last spring and it cost me $45 a night with breakfast included. So is age really the dealbreaker here, or is it more about what kind of traveler you are? I'm leaning toward hostels being fine for anyone on a tight budget, but I'd love to hear if others have had bad runs that changed their mind.
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evahenderson1mo ago
Oh man, I gotta push back on the "great experiences" part because honestly, those $30 nights come with a cost you can't put a price on - your sanity. I had a run in a hostel in New Orleans where some guy came in drunk at 3am, turned on the main light, and started having a loud phone argument with his girlfriend for twenty minutes. Nobody said a word, we all just laid there pretending to be asleep. You can't get that kind of guaranteed rest in a shared dorm no matter how chill you are, and when you're working a 10 hour shift the next day like I do, bad sleep ruins the whole trip.
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charles_young921mo ago
I mean, "cost you can't put a price on" is a little dramatic, don't you think? It's a hostel, not a five star hotel. You paid $30. You knew there was a chance someone would be loud at 3am. That's the deal you made. I've stayed in plenty of dorms and yeah, sometimes you get a drunk guy arguing with his girlfriend. But it's not like it happens every single night. You had one bad experience and now you're acting like every hostel is a war zone. Could be worse. Could be bugs or bedbugs. That's a real sanity killer. A loud phone call? Just put in some earplugs and go back to sleep.
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