Traveling on a budget is super common. Often, when I want to get the most out of a non-luxury vacation, I'll spend a little less on lodging so I can spend a little more on other things. Sharing living space with total strangers can be risky and I have had quite a few negative experiences. The impetus for this blog post was an absolutely horrible hostel stay in Germany that left me banging my head against the walls. I remember calling my boyfriend in desperation for a single night's rest. Trying to look at the bright side, I wanted to consider that maybe these people just didn't know better. Maybe they thought that hostel meant "cheap room where I can act in the exact way I would act in a private hotel room." News flash!! It's absolutely not. I am hoping that whether you stay in hostels often or are doing it for the first time, you'll take my hostel etiquette tips in mind for you next stay.
1. If you enter the dorm at night and the lights are off, please, for god-sake, leave them off! People are sleeping and don't need to be woken up by your selfishness. We all have flashlights on our phones these days. Use that flashlight to find your lock, bed, or whatever it is you misplaced. Most hostels will also have personal reading lights in your bunk so feel free to use that too.
2. If you are a snorer, you have two options: buy anti-snoring nasal strips or book a private room. What you should not do, is snore till' the cows come home and keep everyone else awake so you can get a restful night of sleep.
3. Use common areas for conversations. For the love of god, keep your drunken conversations with your new hostel besties in the common room. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT bring it back into the dorms. Nobody signed up to hear about your inebriated adventures. And even in the hallways, please don't yell.
4. If you must set an alarm, don't put it on full blast. Keep your phone close to your head space and set the alarm as quietly as possible. Just because you need to wake up doesn't mean that your entire suite does too. Also, if you know you're going to sleep through your morning alarm, don't set one. Lastly, if you go to the bathroom to shower in the morning, make sure no alarm with indefinitely go off in your absence.
5. Keep your music in your headphones. If you haven't caught the "be quiet" gist yet, you're definitely missing the point of this post. I once stayed in a hostel where my bunk-mate (I kid you not!) pulled a speaker out of his bag and proceeded to blast his personal, bad taste in music throughout the dorm. He proceeded to do this for two days following.
6. Similarly, please do not call your friends and family back home from the dorm. I will never forget being awoken at 3am to the man in the bunk below me practically yelling into his phone as he got dressed without regard for the 9 other people trying to sleep. Again, there are common rooms for this.
7. Mention of the man in the bunk below me leads us to a rule for co-ed hostel rooms. Try to change in the restrooms. This rule isn't as strict as the others given that everyone signed up to stay in the mixed dorm. But still, it's still not pleasant to wake up to someones junk. It's more of a courtesy thing than anything else.
8. When you go to said bathroom (or anywhere else!), close the door behind you! People's valuables are in that room and they deserve to feel (as reasonably as possible) that their things are safe. Similarly, if you are asleep, you'd like to know that the door to your room is locked. You would be amazed by how many hostels I've stayed at where people walk out and leave the door wide open. The only thing worse than leaving the hostel dorm door open is if you slam it. Don' t do that either!
9. *Cues Music* This space is your space, this space is my space, from the entry doorway to the windowsills...Keep your items in your assigned locker, and on or under your assigned bed! I stayed at a hostel once where the bed next to me looked like a tornado struck. Every morning, I awoke to dirty underwear and discarded clothes at the side of MY bed...talk about disgusting! Don't be that guy.
10. If you are leaving your hostel early in the morning, pack the night before. It saves you and your dorm-mates some sleep. Get all the clanging lockers, packing, and zippers out of the way when people were still awake. You and your co-bunkers will thank you.
I hope this has helped you to understand the major "don'ts" of staying in a hostel! If you have never stayed in one, I truly hope this doesn't dissuade you. The issues cited here are from many travels and many hostels. I have had some truly wonderful experiences in hostels too. I think I might make a post about all the great things about them, if you'd all be interested. Hostels can be a great way to meet people and learn about the city in new ways - let's do our part to make it a great experience for everyone!