Hostel Stories
Hostels are surely one the birthplace of travel memories. Sometimes good one, some other not so good. All part of the fun I guess.
Even for the most adventurous travelers, sleeping in hostels isn’t always fun. Staff and room mates can be annoying, in several different ways. Rooms and common spaces aren’t always the most clean and tidy, and some cooking tools seems to hide some mysterious germs.
In this post I want to share with you some of my craziest experiences
Welcome to the Hostels
Hostels for me are so much fun. The perfect traveler’s meeting point and quick stop on the road.
If you are a proven Backpacker you probably know even better than me what I am talking about. But in case you are completely new of hostels, you can jump to my Hostel Starter Guide to find out a little bit more.
Mainly depending on the place itself, and the people you will find there. Sleeping in an hostel can either be a very nice or very awkward experience. All part of the fun I would say.
This post is all about my hostel stories
My first hostel experience
I spent my first hostel night in Singapore, during a 2 days stop on the way to Australia. It was my first solo trip and the fist time in Asia, and my English was just too bad. I was tired, worried and I really didn’t know what to expect. After only a few hours there I met a Californian girl called on a backpacking journey around South east of Asia. Thinking about it now it sounds funny, but it was so strange for me to see someone travelling around for months with just a small backpack. Always sleeping in hostels and booking flights and transportation along the way. Something I today see as one of the most natural and amazing things. Back to the hostel story, everything turned out easier than I thought. And it made me find a friendly companion for the following day of discovering the city
Living in an hostel
As mentioned in the other post about hostels, if for some reasons you are planning a longer staying, you can also look for a way to work and stay there for free!
Only a few years ago, the idea of spending even just one night in an hostel seemed out of my way. And then, six months after my first hostel experience, I indeed found myself living in one of them.
And not even a very good one, probably the messier in town.
It was in Cairns, Australia. I firstly got there just for a couple of nights, met many new friends, and eventually get an exchange work as a cleaner. I’ve already said the place itself was nothing really special: pretty much every room had something broken, the small kitchen was always messy, and doing the cleanings wasn’t really that fun. In moths I’ve never even attempted to jump in the pool.
But there, I’ve also found an amazing group of crazy people, and time just flied by. Half of the hostel was just us, all working there in some kind of role and somewhere else around the city. Working, living and partying together. Singing and playing live music and having dinners all together.
I finally spent there something about four months, really flied by
Just before moving to the Daintree Rainforest.
I know I’ve been able to spend such a long time there just because of the good company. The actual main reason to stay. But even good company has its downsides: being constantly surrounded by people, having to share your bedroom and spaces with others, and often need to wait for using the kitchen or the toilet. Or can’t sleep until late even when have to wake up early the following day. But never something a nice meal together or morning hug couldn’t fix.
The work after a while became pretty easy, as we were trying to help each other even with the cleaning shifts, usually two half days at week. Especially to support the unlucky ones having to clean on Friday morning, after the BBQ party
My creepiest hostel experience
I can luckily say I’ve averagely had pretty positive hostel experiences, but among many is easy to find some exceptions.
The worst has surely been in Adelaide. I firstly have to admit it was more like a guesthouse, even if the owner called it hostel. I came there because they managed to find me a job in a Potato packing factory.
I needed it to gain the 88 days of farm work required to apply for the second working visa, but I dropped it after less than one month. Firstly, because it was really the most boring and repetitive job ever done.
And secondly, but not less important, because to keep my job I was forced to stay in the creepiest hostel ever:
the kitchen was dirty, poorly equipped and often visited by pidgeons. And rats.
We had bedbugs. Everywhere. Tiny little insects biting you all night long. We could never see them, except some very rare times, and the owner thought it was just an excuse to annoy him. But the signs and scratch on our skin were just too evident.
- One day I had to fix the broken shower. And he didn’t even say thank you
the owner, an old Chinese guy, was spying us all the time. Following every single movement with the cameras he put everywhere around the place
We were also paying a fee for the cleanings. But when I got day off from work I saw him pretending to do them by himself. With nothing more than an old broom and a piece of paper
And once I even got some guys.. well.. sleeping together in the bunk bed above me! not the hostel’s fault for this one, just naughty people. But bear in mind that it can actually happen
The worst, after days trying to convince him the bedbugs thing was real, happened one night: just a few days before leaving the place, I wasn’t answering his messages asking more money for the anticipated departure. Pretending I left my phone somewhere. After a while he even rang my phone to check through the cameras if I got it with me. And then texted me that he saw that I was reading his messages, and he was coming to take the money right away. I finally won the money battle, and didn’t pay him more.
But the exact following day I got mysteriously fired from my job. Not a big deal overall, I was ready to leave anyways.
But how I handled the whole situation made me feel quite empowered, which was the most important thing!
I hope this story didn’t worry you. Experiences can be widely different, and the average is definitely positive. I have met the best people staying in hostels around the world, and built amazing friendships. And I am sure you won’t be disappointed too!
Thank you for taking the time to read this post!
Feel free to leave a comment below or share it with your friends, if you liked it. I would really appreciate it 🙂
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Thank you ever so for you blog article.Really thank you! Really Great.