Important Things I Have Learned from Solo Traveling: Hostels

My Love for Hostels 

I experienced my first hostel on my first solo trip to Canada when I was 22 and about to turn 23. I quickly learned staying in Canada was expensive, and the cheapest hotel was still $125, not including tax. I was 23, working two or three summer jobs in rural Pennsylvania, and paying for grad school, and I couldn’t afford the 400-dollar hotel.

My aunt suggested a hostel, so I googled to see if one was in Niagara Falls. Indeed, there was one. Sadly, that place is closed now.

And that’s how my love affair with hostels began! Even now, in my mid-30s, I still try to stay in hostels because they feel like home to me. The hostels I have stayed in while solo traveling over the years are:

• Niagara, Quebec, and Montreal, Canada

• Reykjavik, Iceland

• Jackson Hole, Wyoming

• Seattle, Washington

• Miami, Florida

• Chicago, Illinois

• Denver, Colorado

• Moab, Utah

• New York, New York

Now, not all hostels are created the same. Some are less fancy than others, some have more fun activities like pub crawls, and others may have their own bar. Some have the worst beds I have ever slept on.

But they have three things in common. They are:

Cheap, 

You will have stories to share ( and you will!),

and

This is the only place where you can immerse yourself in meeting people you would never have met otherwise. Even if it’s just for one night!

How Hostels Influenced My Life: 

My friends still give me shit about how I love staying in hostels. They say,

“Bel, you make decent money now, get a hotel,” or

“Bel, I don’t know how you stand sharing a room with strangers,” or

“Bel, we don’t understand you.”

Have you ever been told that in your life? Have you felt like you have been judged on how you travel? Or judged in general?

Don’t get me wrong, I am happy to spend money when I travel, and I often go over budget. Opps. That’s because I spend money on adventures or experiences. If I have never been to a new place before, I will 100 hundred percent get a hostel to get a few hours of sleep for half the price. That’s because I will be out exploring more than sitting in my room. 

Now don’t think I won’t ever stay in hotels; I do, and I love staying in hotels—especially lying in a king-size bed watching bad tv, but I tend to stay at hotels when I am traveling with friends or visiting my mom.

How Hostels Changed Me 

Hostels have changed me in ways I would never have thought.

For example, I stayed in Green Tortoise in Seattle, Washington, across the street from the famous Pike Place, which profoundly impacted my life. Here, I came up with my business idea of owning my own hostel one day.

Hostel Fish, in Denver, Colorado, is only a 10-minute walk from Union Station and right across the street from my favorite brewery, Jagged Edge Mountain. I feel like I am at home here, with its themed rooms and a bar, along with a few drunken nights with some cool and warm people! One of the few things I actually like in Denver.

The Cache hostel in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, near the famous Town Square, provided a nice, warm queen-sized bed (all beds are either full or queen size) and a hot shower. It also had a little coffee shop that helped me mentally prepare to go on the most significant solo camping trip of my life.

The Lazy Lizard, Moab, Utah, had cabins and people camping outside, and it provided a space for me to arrive late and rest my head for a few hours after flying from Denver and road-tripping to heal a very broken heart which then gave me this website.

Now, not all hostels are going to be meaningful. And not all will be incredible experiences. I remember my time in Montreal; I could barely get out of my bed because of terrible back pain. I begged for extra pillows to help. I knew the bed caused it because I was in Quebec the next night, and I had no back pain!

I mainly stay in hostels because they are cheap—living and working in DC is expensive. But as time passed, each hostel became more meaningful or at least taught me a lesson.

I will say as I am getting “older,” meaning not in my 20s but in my mid-30s. Some hostels are starting to be out of my element because I am not the young, hip person who can wake up with no hangover. And I am sure I will probably switch to hotels more often as I get older. But I hope I will be seen as that cool older person enjoying a hostel and not a creepy old person as I age.

If you are on the fence about staying in one, refer to my Tips and Tricks for staying in a hostel. And be sure to research the different hostels to see which ones are good for you!