Older travellers staying in hostels (55, conversation, dump, retired)
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I would like to hear from any older/retired travelers who have recently used hostels in the true manner (staying in the common dorm rooms, not the private rooms). I'm particularly interested in hostels in other locations besides Europe where it's quite common (and not the US). Questions: Did you feel that the hostels were mostly full of young people? Were the dorm rooms noisy? How did you protect your luggage when you were out sightseeing for the day? Were you able to get access to the bathroom without difficulty or were you always waiting in line? Was the price worth it? I'm just trying to get some insights into the hosteling experiences of older travelers (over 55), especially solo female travelers.
I would like to hear from any older/retired travelers who have recently used hostels in the true manner (staying in the common dorm rooms, not the private rooms). I'm particularly interested in hostels in other locations besides Europe where it's quite common (and not the US). Questions: Did you feel that the hostels were mostly full of young people? Were the dorm rooms noisy? How did you protect your luggage when you were out sightseeing for the day? Were you able to get access to the bathroom without difficulty or were you always waiting in line? Was the price worth it? I'm just trying to get some insights into the hosteling experiences of older travelers (over 55), especially solo female travelers.
I'll be 60 this year, and have been staying in hostel dorms a lot. I always stay in the best hostel I can find (just google "best hostels in Paris" or wherever you are traveling - it will most likely be also the most expensive one, but that generally means $45 per night rather than $25, ie, still tremendously cheap). All my hostel experiences have been excellent, in the US and international, except a horrendous dump in Santa Fe, NM a few years ago, where I actually had a moldy private room rather than a dorm bunk (but it was advertised as a hostel). The guests are predominantly young, but seniors are not rare - I always run into at least one other senior besides myself (at any rate, youngsters will not find you an unusual company). The rooms in good hostels are generally not noisy because there are lounges where people go to socialize, not in the rooms where other people might be sleeping (check hostel reviews, and the level of noise will generally be mentioned. Carry ear plugs, just in case). Most hostels have lockers for luggage in rooms (bring your own padlock). Bathroom access is variable, but I have very rarely had to wait, particularly at unusual times (like 5 am - you'll have all the bathrooms to yourself). The price is always worth it - a bunk in the nicest, cleanest, quietest, most pleasant hostel is generally cheaper or at least about the same price as a single room in an awful zero-star hotel.
I have most recently stayed at hostels in Singapore and Bangkok, several weeks each, this past fall. Both of them were wonderful. I am female, and one of the reasons I like hostels is that I actually feel safer in a hostel dorm than alone in a hotel room.
Interesting idea. I have always pictured hostels as full of young people. Would it be a problem if I went to bed at 8:30 and asked everyone else to turn off the lights and keep quiet?
Interesting idea. I have always pictured hostels as full of young people. Would it be a problem if I went to bed at 8:30 and asked everyone else to turn off the lights and keep quiet?
Good hostels generally have individual reading lights in each bunk, and good hostels in Asia generally have thick curtains, so a bunk is like a tiny room (regrettably, the curtains are uncommon in the US and Europe, but you can sometimes create them with a hanging blanket in a lower bunk). You can't ask people to shut off their reading lights, but you can shut off the main room light, nobody objects to that. You also can't ask them to keep quiet, but people generally do keep quiet if that is the local culture of that particular hostel (rowdy hostels with loud conversations 24/7 will generally be described as such in the reviews, and some young people specifically seek that kind of places). The worst noise problem in otherwise quiet hostels is when someone snores heavily (and you may need earplugs for that) - I imagine that problem is probably worse in male dorm rooms than in female ones.
Elderhostel has been renamed Road Scholar, and is something very different from a hostel. It is a Boston-based travel company with hundreds and hundreds outstanding travel/educational programs all over the world. As opposed to hostel accommodations, Road Scholar (formerly Elderhostel) is among the highest quality travel, and is most definitely NOT cheap!
Elderhostel has been renamed Road Scholar, and is something very different from a hostel. It is a Boston-based travel company with hundreds and hundreds outstanding travel/educational programs all over the world. As opposed to hostel accommodations, Road Scholar (formerly Elderhostel) is among the highest quality travel, and is most definitely NOT cheap!
At my age spending money is OK. Going cheap to save $$ when traveling not is worth it.
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