HOSTELS AND COUCHES
As much as you may fight it, at some point, you’re going to need to get some sleep. As a backpacker, booking a hostel bed is your best chance to meet other young, single, like-minded travelers. Another option is finding a couch, room, or entire apartment rental on Airbnb, where you stay at a local’s home, which has the benefit of getting into the best parts of a city and really feeling like you’re temporarily living somewhere instead of just visiting. CouchSurfing is a site on which you can connect with locals from a massive, worldwide, online community who will allow you to stay at their home for no cost, often giving you a great insider perspective of their city. Camping gives you the ultimate flexibility and can cost nothing. Bottom line: you’re young, low-maintenance, and looking for fun—save the five-star hotels for retirement and explore the broke-ass hostel accommodation options instead.
HOSTELS
Hostels are low-budget accommodations normally set up like dormitories. In a hostel, you typically rent a bed, as opposed to renting a room in a hotel. Dorms usually have four to eight beds, but single or double private rooms could be available, and dorms can sometimes be much bigger (the hostel on Beachcomber Island in Fiji has a 120-bed dorm!). They range from modern, resort-like, hedonistic party palaces with gorgeous views, sexy young backpackers, and a fully stocked cheap bar to undecorated dens set up solely for sleeping purposes. At the very least, a bed, pillow, community bathroom, and basic security will be provided.
HOSTEL PROS
Crowd
An international collection of young, sexy, and broke backpackers makes the hostel scene worth your traveling dollars. Since the turnover at hostels is so high, everyone is always welcoming to newcomers. Intense friendships (and then some) form quickly since you skip a few steps between being strangers and coinhabitants.
Price
Typically, beds run $15 to $30 per night, but can be as cheap as $2 to $3 in Asia or Central America. Many hostels have on-site bars with the cheapest drinks in town. Sure, you may not get a mint on your pillow, but you’ll be sitting next to a smiling hot young Aussie drinking a $2 caipirinha instead of an old suit staring at his phone and sipping a $14 cognac at a hotel bar.
Staff
Hostel employees are usually backpackers, young locals, or both. They have the best insider info for cheap food, sites, and bars, and will often join you. If you need to go to the airport, a hostel worker will bust out a map, outline which metro lines to take, and tell you exactly how much it will cost. By comparison, a hotel concierge will call you a taxi and stand patiently (or impatiently) until you tip him.
HOSTEL CONS
Privacy
You don’t get much “me” space in a hostel. Bathrooms are usually the only private areas, but it’s all you need. You’re here to be social, and bumping into a girl when she’s changing her pants is a great icebreaker.
Price
Yes, it’s much cheaper than hotels, but in midsummer, European dorm beds can cost an extortionate $75. Free is cheaper—see CouchSurfing (page 176).
Lack of Local Culture
If you get tied up in a party hostel with a great crowd, it’s easy to forget to explore the city you’re in. Don’t let a week of debauchery with other gringos at a hostel in Buenos Aires ever keep you from saying “una empanada, por favor” or hitting on at least one porteño (local lad) or porteña (local lass).
Bedbugs
Every backpacker’s worst nightmare—and not just because they attack in your sleep—these bloodsuckers live in mattresses and couches and are the size of seeds you’d pick out of a bag of schwag. Check recent hostel reviews to make sure there’s no infestation. But if you do wake with what look like mosquito bites in odd places (usually in groups of three), tell the hostel manager, wash all your clothes in hot water, and get the fuck out of there. The problem isn’t unique to hostels, but the constant travel and communal environments help spread the critters.
Booking
If you are traveling in high season, have a tight schedule, and want to stay at the highest-rated hostels, you may need to book four to six weeks in advance. Otherwise, a couple of days prior should be sufficient, and sometimes, you can just walk in and find a bed. Hostels may have last-minute openings, beds they don’t list online, or couches or hammocks you can crash on for a few bucks. There are plenty of booking and hostel review websites to help you find a crash pad.
AIRBNB
In recent years, the idea of apartment sharing went from being completely absurd to one of the most popular ways to stay. People all over the world have a little extra space that they can spare and taking advantage of their couch, room, or trailer is your ticket to living on the cheap. Rentals listed on Airbnb are well organized, span the globe, and are reviewed by previous guests to give you an idea of what you’re getting yourself into.
AIRBNB PROS
Range
Since people on Airbnb are renting whatever available space they have, you can land yourself on not just a couch but in a backyard tent, airstream, or tree house. People have quirky little hideout spaces in their houses like lofts and guesthouses, so if you’re the type that likes to sleep in strange cocoons, this is a great perk.
Group Travel
If you’re traveling with more people, locking down an entire apartment is probably easier (and cheaper) than finding a hostel that can accommodate your rowdy bunch. If it’s just you and your boo, the privacy element of having an entire apartment or room is a nice break from hostel life.
Hosts
It takes a certain kind of person to welcome a stranger into their home. Usually, hosts are open-minded and excited to meet somebody new. They’ll share stories, kitchens, and brewskies and will have insider knowledge on where to eat, drink, and party in their city.
AIRBNB CONS
Hosts
Sometimes the kind of people that welcome strangers into their homes are not quite all right upstairs. You can get a range of weirdos that’ll stare at you while you sleep or talk your ear off about crazy-ass shit. Being diligent with reading the host’s reviews and comments can weed out some of the weirdos but not all.
Location
Sometimes hosts boast about the surrounding neighborhood of their place in their profile but upon arrival, you realize it’s way more out in the sticks than you thought. Carefully reading reviews is key here. If people who previously stayed at the place say nothing about leaving their room, or mention having a car while there, keep those things in mind when booking.
Atmosphere
Airbnb rentals can be a pretty good time if the host is down or not around. Sometimes, though, hosts just need the extra cash and have strict guest and noise policies. Also, if renting in a city, chances are even if your hosts aren’t around during your stay, they’ll have neighbors they don’t want to piss off. Late night ragers are usually out of the question at Airbnbs for these reasons.
OTP Tip: Booking.com is a great resource that searches across hostel, Airbnb, hotels, and other available accommodations, complete with accurate reviews. The upside is you can lock down a place to crash in advance without putting down a cent until the day before you arrive.
COUCHSURFING
With over five million members worldwide, CouchSurfing is a free-to-use network that connects travelers with locals and allows travel enthusiasts to safely flop around on each other’s international couches. Sign up as a host, a surfer, or both. If you play the game well, you can get a free place to sleep with the added benefit of a local’s perspective on your destination—something you can’t always find in a hostel. A general “pay it forward” undertone exists with the hope that you’ll host CouchSurfers in your city when you eventually move out of your parents’ basement.
COUCHSURFING PROS
It’s Free
Not “free, but gratuity accepted” free, or “free, but you can repay me tonight … wink, wink” free, but actually free. Monetary payment is strictly prohibited in the Couch-Surfing community, but it’s common to find creative ways to give something back.
Hosts
The generous CouchSurfing hosts are normally locals or at least residents who know the area. Usually, they’ll have great insider recommendations and may invite you to hang out with some of their local friends. Be grateful. These wallet saviors make CouchSurfing possible.
Community
CouchSurfers in most cities coordinate budget gatherings or events for local and traveling CS-ers, and many hosts accommodate several surfers at once. Also, CouchSurfers are often the brokest of the broke travelers. So if your dinner budget calls for eating crackers in the park, you may find company. The profile count is several million strong and growing. CouchSurfers exist in every country on the planet, and they’re normally down to at least meet up and talk shop.
Safety
You are in someone’s home, so your stuff should be as safe as everything they own. As for the dilemma of sleeping at a stranger’s home, the self-policing of CouchSurfing’s active community keeps it very safe—just remember to use common sense. If some dude has a new profile, no friends or recommendations, a picture that resembles Hannibal Lecter, and asks that all CouchSurfing requests include a picture of your feet, you might want to pass. But if your potential host has plenty of recommendations (especially from others in your demographic), an interesting profile, and has been an active member of the community for a while, you should have nothing to worry about.
COUCHSURFING CONS
Not the Backpacker Party Crowd
CouchSurfers are a solid, entertaining group that occasionally party with the best of ’em, but the day-in and day-out hookups and guaranteed debauchery of a party hostel isn’t part of the community (which can be a “pro” when your liver needs a rest). Sometimes you may be on your own with a busy, working host, so you’ll have to entertain yourself. And, unlike hostel backpackers, CS-ers come in all ages and walks of life.
Range of Comfort
You may get lucky finding someone with a spare bedroom, but usually you’re sleeping on a floor mat or (surprise!) a couch in the living room. The host’s profile will list the sleeping arrangements, so you’ll know what to expect.
Booking
This takes some prep time. You’ll first need to set up a profile, post pictures and information about yourself, and get references from past travel buddies. When your profile is ready, search for hosts in your destination preferably a week in advance (more in high season). Review the profiles to make sure the location, couch, and host are all to your liking. Download the CouchSurfing app to stay on top of the dialogue.
MORE OPTIONS
CAMPING
For the ultimate freedom while backpacking, pitch a tent. Camping connects you to international wilderness and can save you big bucks. Just check the local ordinances and stay away from the tweekers. In Scandinavia, there is actually a “right to access” law that allows you to camp on any land, public or private, as long as it’s not being farmed and you don’t get in people’s way. If you buy your gear locally, you’ll save your back from lugging it across the world and possibly on baggage fees. The equipment isn’t cheap, but it will quickly pay for itself in saved accommodations costs. You can also sell it online once you’re all camped-out.
HOTELS
While hotels generally aren’t the ideal option, occasionally they make sense. On some islands in Thailand, it costs $2 for a hostel bed or $10 for a private room in a resort with a pool. After months of travel, it’s nice to treat yourself and sprawl out naked on a double bed for a few nights (especially if you’ve found a travel fling). Just remember to return to the backpacker grime before your hands get too soft.