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To hostel or to hotel
Dilemmas of an ageing traveller
I’m debating where to go next after a super trip to Kenya on safari and hiking, and the usual search to prepare a budget is underway. One of the biggest expenses of your trip abroad is your accommodation, and whilst hostels used to be my first choice every time, now I have other considerations. It’s not just me I have to consider, but others.
Party hostel or not
I used to just book the cheapest hostel with the biggest shared dorm and get on with things. More often than not this turned out to be the party hostel, and sleep was precious because you didn’t get much. You ultimately had a choice, get woken up every 20 minutes with people coming back late (or early) or be that person waking someone up.
Sleep is a luxury now, and I’ve learnt to prioritise it, so when looking at hostels I tend to look for smaller ones without a bar downstairs. I have a look through the photos and see whether the kitchen or the weekly bar crawl is prioritised, and I try to judge and stereotype the people I see there too. If they’re young and British like me, then it’s red flags all round.
As much as I like going out, socialising and having a few drinks, the amount of time I spend on travelling is rapidly decreased. Three months used to be my norm, and now it’s…
