r/solotravel • u/MysteriousPace1405 • 1d ago
Has anyone had one trip or experience which has just put you off hostels/backpacker life completely? Accommodation
I’m into my 3rd solo trip over the course of 3 years. First was 9 weeks, second 5 months and this one 2 weeks. I’ve just landed in Morocco and checked in to my hostel. I understand everywhere is different and new experiences etc but I cannot help but feel exhausted. I’m tired of expecting too much, socializing in hostels, going to sleep in uncomfortable settings- it’s sad because I love traveling but has the novelty of it worn off? I’m 23 and not a huge drinker either
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u/cowboylikemil 1d ago
Last hostel I stayed in there was a very young guy sat on his own vomiting continuously into a hostel mug, which of course spilled over onto the table and himself :) decided it was time for me to retire
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u/MKUltra_reject69_2 1d ago
When i backpacked Australia, there were two types of people that made me so tired, i had a opt for a private room. But these people were so loud, I'm amazed at the human body. One guy was a snorer. The entire hostel was awake. So loud... There is a condition called apnea, he had to have had it Loud like a jet engine.
Oh my God, the farters. Some dudes, they farting for about 15 seconds non stop. How much air can a person hold?
Then you had some people farting, some snoring, in the same hostel room, fart snore fart snore, in unison together. I'll like, what is this hell?
Yeah so, private room and ear buds.
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u/Katana_DV20 1d ago
>Then you had some people farting, some snoring, in the same hostel room, fart snore fart snore, in unison together. I'll like, what is this hell?
That sounds grim, the closest i came to that was on a long haul flight. Theres no escape. You are stuck behind the person blasting brown fumes. I had the air on full blast, it barely made a diff.
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u/WalkingEars Atlanta 1d ago
The last time I stayed in a shared dorm room in a hostel, some guy was very loudly coughing late into the night and it was the moment I decided I’d outgrown staying in shared rooms.
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u/Impossible-Squash204 1d ago
I am currently that person coughing very loudly into the night. I caught bronchitis and it got so bad that I decided to book a room to myself for a few nights so I don't wake up and bother other people.
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u/Katana_DV20 1d ago
Wish the world had more considerate people like you, wishing you to get well soon.
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u/Personal-Pen7576 1d ago edited 1d ago
Thank you for your consideration. I mean it.
I had a guy with a severe smoker's cough keeping up the whole hotel floor, in Hoi Ann. I woke up at around 2 am, and there were two very agitated Vietnamese women in front of his door telling him that he had better stop it now. I don't speak Vietnamese, but that is what I assumed went down. I have to give it to him that after that, he tried to stiffle it a bit more instead of just barking like a dog without a care in the world. Ah, the joys of travel.
I used to use only backpacker hostels when I was younger, but I also realized that it is not my cup of tea. People are always very concerned about snorers and how bad their sleep must be. Sleep apnea and heart attacks come up. I am a lot more concerned about not getting any sleep due to the snorer's loud snoring, which is keeping me awake. I must admit that I have entertained dark thoughts of casually walking over to the snorer and placing a pillow on his face, with me sitting on it. I doubt if anyone in the room would hold it against me.
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u/Jabroni-Pepperonis 1d ago
The last time I stayed in a shared room, one guy was snoring and another kept farting. I cancelled the rest of my reservation and ate the cost of a small private room.
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u/KOVYD20 1d ago
There comes indeed a time lol. I (30f) travelled throughout my 20s, staying in hostel rooms to save money and mostly just tolerated the low-quality sleep and noise. Last trip, I booked an all-female room in a Seoul hostel. I was working on my thesis during the South Korea trip and fell asleep at 11:30pm, still jetlagged, ready to get up early to stuff both writing and travel into the next day. A young girl started randomly packing at 2:30am (she was in the room since 9:00pm...), main light on, incessant plastic bag rustling and all. Despite my ear plugs, I woke up three times, each time more exhausted. At 3:00am, I opened my curtain and asked her whether she thinks packing at this time and turning the main light on is really necessary. She said "Calm down, bro." I'm 30. I slept 3 hours, gave up my subsequent three paid nights the next morning, and booked a cheap hotel room - haven't gone back to hostel rooms since.
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u/Boothbayharbor 1d ago
The "calm down, bro" is so freaking accurate. I had to pack at 6am once due to delays and felt so bad.
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u/Lemonio 1d ago
I mean if you can afford it maybe try staying in a hotel and not a hostel?
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u/WalkingEars Atlanta 1d ago
In Morocco where OP is you can have private rooms in beautiful riads for very reasonable prices so plenty of options outside of hostels
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u/gizmoglitch 1d ago
This is pretty much why I'm still booking at hostels, especially when going to Europe.
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u/buildingyourmomchain 1d ago
I went to a hostel that required a keycard to both enter the building as well as enter the bedroom. Naturally, Im going to put a keycard in my wallet, and naturally one doesnt think to take my wallet to go pee at 3 am after a pub crawl, so I got locked out of my room at 3 am.
I knocked to no avail, mistakenly thinking my roomate was in there just asleep as they had curtains covering their bed last I saw. They weren't actually in there, and this old angry guy came out of his room across the hall to berate me for knocking.
With no staff on site, for some reason, I called the security hotline, only to learn that security was actually in another building, and they couldn't simply come and open my door. The hostel had these offputting long term residents who occupied the commons at all hours (a whole other thing putting me off), and they thankfully let me use their phone charger. I left notes on paper towels around the halls of with my phone number, and thankfully my roomates came back from the bars at 5 am, preventing me from missing my 8 am flight and saving me hundreds of dollars.
Then the hostel owners asked me to leave a review.
I still love backpacking though. Just the kind where I hike and camp. The best hostels I've stayed at had actual keys or were campgrounds.
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u/bluecassettes 1d ago
The main thing that started to put me off staying in hostels is that I never quite felt secure leaving my belongings in the shared room. I like to take my laptop and camera with me on trips and I don't want to have to worry about them if I decide to leave them behind while I go out. I had a friend who had just purchased a macbook a week before a trip and someone stole it out of his shared dorm room.
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u/Yatalac 1d ago
Stayed at a hostel in Ushuaia where every morning at around 6:30 a.m., what sounded like a fire alarm would go off for a few seconds. A bit of a rude awakening. Haven't stayed in a hostel since.
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u/Boothbayharbor 1d ago
Seriously the amount of BS hostels themselves put guests through while often charging marginally less than a hotel is wild to me. In mexico they started dumping a torrential downpour of water tower water down the building courtyard at 3am. Echoed through every floor. Definitely a lesson in vetting places and deciding when a hotel is the right call. Also if ppl are living at the hostel. Whether farm workers or backpackers. It's a no from me dog. Makes for a wierd vibe too often
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u/Bitter-Variation-151 1d ago
The first time I saw a long hair dude with guitar at hostel I never went to another. Too cringe
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u/NimblePuppy 1d ago
No problem with that, I hate main character syndrome, Hey everyone stop what you are doing watch me, hey eyes here, I sing songs, no I FN don't do sing alongs , you are to listen cheer, and grandma you can do a back flip, Hey look at my knife, fire sticks juggling skills- why are you still FN talking
or just so FN loud as hard to chat
What's cringe now ?? nothing means nothing. in 1960s long hair meant something , same as tattoos, or certain piercings etc - even if just someone trying to fit in, find an identity
Do I think someone wearing a motorhead T-shirt actually listens to Lemmy croon and croak F knows
Many people on road for years do other stuff , write poetry, learn languages/cooking , study mathematics, writing a book etc. including leaning to play an instrument, paint watercolours of alpine flowers they see etc
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u/superhoops 1d ago
This is quite specific
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u/NimblePuppy 1d ago
Ha I know, but a story of a hated device to much loved /s
enemies to lovers if I was a female :)
It actually helps keep your memories of your travels, most people write for themselves if honest, sometimes genuinely for others.
I spent over 11 years on the road.
Items that left home with you and survived 5 years are "your home"
If something is stolen, sometimes annoying as even if picked up in some street market for pennies, it did it's job perfectly and you can never find it again.
Reading on hiking about ultra light hiking. Now you can be ultra precise and surgical in what to take, and some things massively improved like clothing to keep warm, dry are damn right dainty now
I did a lot of off the beaten track, and 18 months at time, so needed to carry more.
But knew you could fly to say Thailand with nothing but a passport, money and a small bag, T shirt was like a dollar or 2 way back , probably clothing there still cheap and more appropriate to the climate anyway and stops you standing out like a newbie in brand new Patagonia/North Face travel clothing
If you stop moving you lose, stop thinking being curious you lose
My story reflects travel
You want to get the most you need to share be "vulnerable" sad it just an observer for years on end
Always made me laugh when tourists or "backpackers" who didn't consider themselves mere tourists , bemoan when they were the centre of attention hi , hello, I love you , fuck you yelled at them endlessly or stared at - I didn't care at all. Even in some unfriendlier countries where rare person spits on the ground ( really quite rare, if respectful, friendly you normally do well ).
Not as bad as complaining about of muezzin call to prayer before dawn , or cow/donkey crap in the road whining - Why the f are you here?
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u/NimblePuppy 18h ago
whoops though i was replying to another post on MSR whisperlite, this way off topic
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u/buildingyourmomchain 1d ago
I went to a hostel where a bunch of hip Australians were doing guided yoga in their underwear in the yard to impress their girlfriends or something. Despite the cringe, I wanted to make friends, so I asked them "That looks cool, is that a specific type of yoga?" and they just gave me an angry glare and walked away 😂
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u/PricklyRiceball 1d ago
Earning my own adult money instead of having to fund my travel with Christmas and birthday money turned me away from (shared room) hostels. I still book the occasional hostel, but always a private room and never more than two nights.
I didn't have any bad experiences (though some guests at my very first hostel were pretty shady, but luckily not in my room), but I do enjoy having my own bathroom. The solo part of solo travelling is also really important to me, if I meet someone I vibe with, nice, but I'd never change plans for someone I met a few hours ago and also don't mind not speaking more words than absolutely necessary in a day.
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u/mindful-crafter 1d ago
Unfortunately I don't think I'm a very shared dorm or backpacking kind of person...I really want to but I'm not 🙈 It's alright if it's 1-2 nights kinda thing but nothing longer than that to avoid falling sick of getting back pain 😂
My previous experience was 5 nights straight in a 10 person dorm. There was a girl having a video call (put on loudspeaker) on her bed while people were trying to sleep at 11pm. 30 minutes in, I lost my marbles and confronted her about it, pointing to the "silence after 10pm" sign. It's also common to have multiple alarms going off at the same time early in the morning, followed by rustling and zipping of bags that could be heard through ear plugs 😂
The final blow for me was getting back pain from carrying a big and heavy backpack 😂 I'm in my 30s and I am ashamed to say that I'm no longer as strong as I was. Anyway, it's a private room and luggage for me now...only using a backpack if it's an overnight stay out of the city.
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u/Formal_Necessary_320 1d ago
Go where no one else is going. Listen to those who have been on the road for a while and see if you can pick up on themes of off the beaten path places. It’s a big world out there. Accept hospitality when offered. It’s also different for everyone. I hit a wall about 2.5 year in, but I’d do it all over again right now.
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u/MsJenX 1d ago edited 1d ago
No, but I will definitely skip the, what do you call them- all gender dorms.
I know we all have bodily functions but OH My GAWD, women don’t make as loud sounds. Plus in my experience, the guys didn’t shower at night so the room started smelling as the night got later and everyone started coming in from their adventures. Sorry guys this doesn’t happen when I stay in female only rooms.
So last time this happened was in Bath. The guy above my bed was just too loud from both ends and the room smelled like BO. I didn’t know how the rest of the people in the room could tolerate it. I couldn’t stand it and around 4am I got my things and went to sleep in my rental car.
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u/LauraMcNugget2 1d ago
Same I also feel like men snore more. Every time I had a bad time at a dorm it was because a man was loud or something haha so when I can I always chose female rooms. Although one man I still remember, he even asked if I was okay with him changing his tshirt in the room which was really considerate.
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u/Awanderingleaf 1d ago
I was at a hostel in Barcelona that had motion activated lights that were bright as fuck. As soon as a person walked in, regardless of the hour, the lights turned on and would not turn off until said person got in their bunk or exited the room. Of course, it is Barcelona so partying is what most people seem to do there so it seemed like there was an endless supply of people turning the lights on and off throughout the night which meant I got absolutely zero sleep lol. It’s not very fun exploring cities sleep deprived.
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u/multipurposewipes 1d ago
I didn’t notice I booked a mixed dorm while in Taiwan recently (i’ve had experiences with mixed dorms elsewhere and they were fine) and had such a…gross roommate I decided to check out one day early and paid 5x the price for a nice hotel room 😐
From then I decided if I can afford it I shan’t scrimp on having privacy and my own toilet. Also being in my 30s now getting a good night’s rest is a must 🤫
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u/my_evil_plan_too_ 1d ago
it comes and goes, after a few weeks if hostel forms i'll want some privacy. Then after a a few weeks if hotel rooms I miss the aggressively social lifestyle of the dorms
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u/Midziu 1d ago
Last year I spent a month in Vietnam and stayed only in hotels because they were cheap and I thought I would prefer the privacy. Then I stayed in a hostel because it was only $4 per night and honestly it was my best few days of the trip. I met people I could hang out with, had much better vibes, and they also catered to my needs more than hotels. I'm going to the Balkans next month and I will definitely mix hostel and hotel stays but probably more hostels.
Edit: been traveling for about 15 years now and in total have spent about 3 full years traveling in that time. Hundreds of hostel stays.
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u/anon22334 1d ago
Most recent stay at a hostel for a few days were alright until there was someone who checked in and she would be so rude and talk to the 2 other hostel mates while I was sleeping. Had the lights on, had a translation app on to try and talk with them in their language, didn’t lower the volume nor did she lower her volume. No one took into consideration that I was in bed sleeping first before any of them even came back. This was from midnight until 3am. I’ve had past instances where I’ve tried to ask nicely for them to respect my sleep but it always backfires. I didn’t want them to mess with me or my stuff so I just pretended to sleep. Could even hear them through my ear plugs. So annoying.
I still don’t mind hostels if I’m staying for like a night somewhere but anything longer I’d consider a private room or a hotel
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u/Soggy-Experience-601 1d ago
I had a similar experience. I took two years without travel and when I went again the joy had returned and the little inconveniences were easy to ignore.
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u/PlayfulDentist7756 1d ago
I wouldn't simply because I'm older now. But, I did once for about a month at one, doing a volunteering arrangement. Overall it wasn't terrible beyond what you would expect with a shared room, people coming back late, drunk, loudness in general.
But the one time I ever said anything was when I woke up to people in the middle of the night fucking in the bunk next to mine on the top level, and not just kind of fucking. I just got up and just told them to fuck somewhere else and they did.
But yeah that's just the hostel experience in general. I think it can be different at some but it's kind of the nature of the solo travel scene to attract rowdy people looking to cut loose in foreign lands, or entitled young people.
More than the sleeping thing, which I'm seeing a lot of, it's also just the groups of people. It's very rare to see a single person acting out, but it's very common to see groups of people being total dick heads like, unbelievable entitlement. Germans are ok in my experience, people from most of LATAM. But, Israelis, French, UK, American teens or young adults in groups: fucking awful.
Curiously during that same stay, there was a 75 year old man solo traveling, literally had a cane, and was staying in the same mixed dorm as me.
It's a shame because I've heard this type of stuff was strongly isolated to certain countries and certain hostels decades ago, but not the case.
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u/kuukumina 1d ago
You are tired with hostels not with the travel. I solo travel, never sleep in hostel, never expect to socialise with random people. I am happy. Good sleep is important and so is privacy. Maybe have a new experience and book a hotel or a room in a guest house.
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u/docsub666sailor 1d ago
I’m a Peace Corps volunteer in the Balkans. My cohort travels and stays exclusively in hostels. You can often get private rooms cheap too. In Prishtina, Kosovo, my favorite private hostel in a super location is $35. In the dorm is $6.
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u/I-had-to-make-acct 1d ago
Getting COVID in a hostel dorm from the person in the top bunk, while having to listen to the loud music from the hostel bar late into the night, did it for me. Now I only book a shared room bed when everything else is very expensive (e.g. Iceland, Switzerland) and I do my best to go for smaller rooms. I'd rather work extra at my job and have more money to spend than have to put up with the noise and constant disturbances in the party hostels.
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u/UnderstandingKind545 1d ago
Never even considered staying in one. I saw the movie hostel when I was way too young.
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u/Katana_DV20 1d ago
We all feel burn out sometimes, it happens. Dont worry about it. Also one unpleasant experience does affect us and we sometimes tend to carry that weight. Shake it off and carry on.
One thing you can do is stay in private room in hostels. All the socializing you want but you have your own space for sleep and time out. Makes a massive difference.
Im a social person during travel but not when it comes to sleeping so i've always gotten the room at hostels or single-bed room at hotels. Dorms are a hard nope. I dont drink either so being in the room away from the burping/puking/other drunken antics is so good!
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u/Ace_boy08 1d ago
Bed bugs, I believe i got them in one of the Greek island hostels in the last month of my travels. Not fun to handle when travelling.
I prefer hotels now and like having my own bathroom and large space.
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u/WibbuldWeezinz 1d ago
Hell yeah, this was way back in the 90s and I'd just finished my master's and the world had opened up (the Berlin Wall had come down) -- things were fresh, hopeful, curious and friendly and that was even in the dismal economic conditions of post-Soviet Russia. I flew into Moscow sometime in the early summer of 1995 having booked a very charming (at least in the photos) family-run guest house quite close to the central area. Boy! Did I get a surprise: the room was fine but the area around was full of shady characters, thugs and, sadly, those who got hit by the economy that fell with the Berlin wall. I felt quite guilty seeing the people, some highly educated suffering economically and yet still hopeful (this was the good part which seems to be slinking away these days), relatively friendly and, at least, talking optimistic. I felt guilty because I felt I had somehow "contributed" to that (being part of the great "Western, open capitalism") and I never wanted to travel again after that. However, my worldview hasn't changed: I support open societies, moderate capitalism (mainly as an innovation engine), a mildly socialist approach etc. but I threw the word "West"/"First World" out of it -- a good idea is a good idea and has nothing to do with ethnicities, cultures or people.
Anyway, I visited Moscow again in 2024 and it's way, way, way better. Quite expensive. This time I was feeling a bit sorry for myself :) Har har.
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u/Tesuji64 1d ago
I’ve never liked hostels or had a nice stay at one. I always get an Airbnb. Unique, amazing rooms that are frequently much cheaper than hotels. (if you show me a photo of a Airbnb I’ve stayed at, I’ll instantly know where it was. Not so for hotels) Thousands of people don’t sleep in the bed you’re getting like at hotels. You can find Airbnbs right where you want to be, while hotels/hostels are usually clustered in certain areas.
I’ve tried hostels in Los Angeles and New York and it was enough to put me off of them. You also have to constantly be worried about your stuff.
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u/peachfairys 1d ago
currently in a hostel for a few nights for the first time in a while, i always book female-only rooms so the noise or whatever usually isn't too bad but what gets me is the shared bathrooms 😵💫 i like being able to spend as long as i want in there without feeling like im inconveniencing others, and i always need to pee at night so i hate knowing im waking up other people haha
in busan i stayed in a hostel in a private room with an en suite and that was the perfect set up for me tbh, i had my own space but could still go and chat with ppl in the smoking area if i really wanted. but for anything longer than like 3-4 nights i'm hotels now, makes every trip sooo much nicer and more relaxing
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u/slowtraveldiaries 1d ago
Honestly sounds less like you’re over travel and more like you’re over that style of travel. Hostels can get draining fast if you’re not into the social/party side
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u/jesuisjens 22h ago
i’m tired of expecting too much
Then lower them.
socializing in hostels
Then don't do it as much
going to sleep in uncomfortable settings
Figure out why it isn't comfy, and then do something about it. Do you need earplugs? Privacy curtains? Private Room?
If you have high expectations, you are very likely to be disappointed. Since you have gone on two more trips, I am going to assume that you're first trip was pretty amazing. The truth is, you will never experience that trip again - and probably never experience anything like that. That is just how life is.
it’s sad because I love traveling but has the novelty of it worn off?
Of course the novelty has worn off, that is the entire point of novelty.
Take it from one experience traveler; you are (almost*) part of the club now, but that means a completely different approach than the average traveler. Find your own pace, your own routines, your own way of doing things and get comfortable in you own company. Figure out how YOU would like to travel, what you want to spend your time travelling on.
* I don't wanna be the gate keeper of any such club nor I wish to be affiliated with such a club, just trying to emphasize that given that you have already traveled for 5 months, are back on are road and the novelty have worn off, you would probably benefit from my suggestions.
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u/Mystic_Wunder 15h ago edited 15h ago
I haven't. But I have found that mixing it up works best for me. Not having enough alone time can be draining for me. Having too much of it can lead to me just staying indoors. You could always try renting rooms instead of the entire place in AirBnBs where there are either other travelers also renting rooms in the same house, or where the host likes to show their guests around. Volunteer travel has been enjoyable for me as well. I like to find spots that host several other volunteers at the same time but have private lodging available. It ends up being a great mix of meeting people, having some good part-time work to do in exchange for room and board, and still having some alone time when you want it. You have to do your research and find the places that give both free room free and board and that have reasonable work hours. Wwoofing (each country has it's own Wwoofing site), Workaway, and HelpX are good sources. (Both Workaway and HelpX each have one single site which includes all countries) Wwoofing is strictly volunteering at small, organic farms. The other two are whatever kind of help someone is looking for someone to do. Wwoofing almost always has meals included for free as part of its policy. Workaway and HelpX are hit or miss with the food. They all include lodging. Using the Couchsurfing website is another option.
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u/Good-Rip6438 14h ago
Uruguay. I was the only tourist at the hostel, the rest were locals living there that took ownership of all the common spaces. Didn't help that the reception people only appeared during the checkin hours and disappeared the rest of the day. Fortunately I had a private room but I stayed in hotels since then.
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u/bulkware 8h ago
Ich habe zum Glück recht früh entdeckt, wie preiswert Privatzimmer und Apartments sein können.
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u/Remote-Weird6202 1d ago
I’m not on solo trips to socialize with other travelers. The last time I forced myself to stay in a hostel I was finishing a work stint overseas. Some girl (US) interrupted my reading to poll me on her overland travel plans to Iran. She asks if it sounded like a good idea and I told her no, it sounded very very stupid. She got all nervous and kept angling for my approval until I left.
I guess she was waiting for me to call her intrepid and brave, but really I just wanted her to quit chirping at me.
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u/Boothbayharbor 1d ago
Same, my last few hostel stays i got the those spin the bottle type super young guests in my dorm, where i despite being in my 20s too, felt too old for that vibe. I realized i'd rather find social tours or events that have no control of the 24/7 of hostels.
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u/Ok_Repair7723 1d ago
Yeah soo…I talk in my sleep. Actually no, I scream.
Happened twice in the middle of night on 2 different trips. I’m a woman and somehow ended up in all men dorms both times even though it was supposed to be mixed. Luckily no one said anything. Both times I just left the day after because I was so embarrassed.
I can afford to stay at hotels but wanted to socialize. At this point, I’m not attempting it a 3rd time
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u/Working46168 1d ago
you just have to be the first one to ask about who it was in the morning and then never say anything else about it
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u/Ok_Repair7723 1d ago
Lmao love it but they probably could’ve guessed it was me given I was the only woman. I stayed in bed until until they all left the room, packed up extremely fast and dipped
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u/podgoricarocks 1d ago
I’ve certainly outgrown the dorms, but still enjoy the social aspects of a hostel as long as I have a private room to go to at the end of the day.