Why I love hostels not hotels when travelling overseas!

I initially chose hostels because generally they are cheaper than hotels. I dislike wasting money on a bedroom; when I am travelling I spend a minimum amount of time there except for sleeping! Now I choose a hostel on purpose.

The incredible variety of styles is one of the reasons I prefer them. So far we have stayed in a hostel where the lovely communal kitchen was a room dug out below the ground. Another was a spare bedroom in a family house where the owner was willing to answer all our curious questions. One was attached to a hospital and in the morning we had 10 new born babies with their mothers having breakfast with us. Some are in century old buildings right in the heart of town; others are new and purpose built. One night was in an old converted farmhouse beside a fjord where the wall boards were over 30 cm wide slabs of birch!

The other great advantage of most hostels is a communal kitchen. Obviously when I travel I want to experience the local food and I make the effort to do so whenever I can. But early in the morning or at night, I seldom feel like dressing up to go out for a meal. With a communal kitchen; it is like your own home kitchen…casual clothing, you can cook whatever you want and it is so so so much cheaper. Most communal kitchen have a shared box; condiments, pasta, rice etc left behind by previous occupants. I don’t want to spend money on restaurant priced meals!

As a reader, hostels are better than hotels! They always have a book stand for exchanging novels. In the last month I have read two newly released 2014 novels; all for the cost of the reading book I bought from Australia. As well as two older novels.

Every hostel is different. Like for us, one hostel had free laundry facilities, one had a television with English DvD’s, one was 20 kilometres out of town but they offered to transport you to and from town.

Ethically I prefer hostels because most times you are contributing to the local economy not a huge multinational company who own most of the hotels.

When I told my granddaughter we were going to be staying in hostels, she was appalled! She had a negative image of hostels. I now send her photos of the most stylish interior of our rooms… Hostels means more variety of interior design!

So next time you travel give hostels a go!

P.S. They are not youth hostels anymore they are hostels international!

Photos: One photo is taken by Di of the funky interior in a hostel and the other is the outside of a hostel in the English countryside.

Have you tried travelling and staying in hostels? What was your experience? Tell us in the comments below…