Hostel is a great way to stay overnight while traveling
Hostels are inexpensive youth hotels, where travelers usually stay who prefer to save as much as possible on accommodation.
Usually the hostel room is a large room with bunk beds and individual bedside tables for 10-20 people. The bathroom is usually one per floor. Further than less people located in the room, the more bathrooms - the more expensive the cost of living. Individual hostels are in no way inferior to 2-3 star hotels in terms of comfort, but the cost of living in them is still 20-30% lower.
A feature of most hostels is the cohabitation of men and women, but usually the guests are philosophical about this.
Based on the characteristics of cohabitation, hostels have their own rules:
- do not smoke in the rooms;
- do not come to the room late at night;
- do not stay in the rooms during the day when cleaning is done;
- keep quiet
There may be other requirements, but, basically, everything comes down to the natural norms of behavior in a civilized society.
Pros of hostels
Price
This is the first and main plus of such accommodation.
In existing European hostels you can find the cost of a bed for as little as 5-10 euros per night.
Location
We think you do not need to prove the advantage of the location of your accommodation not far from the sights in the city center. Even if the cost of such a hostel will be several more expensive than living on the outskirts - the convenience and cost of transport more than compensate for this difference.
Communication
Living in a hostel is a great opportunity to make new friends, hear first-hand news from other places and practice using a foreign language.
Kitchen
At budget travel It is very important to be able to cook your own food. Most hostels offer their guests a kitchen where you can warm your own tea and whip up simple meals.
Cons of hostels
In front of outsiders
Accommodation in one room with big amount strangers will not be a comfortable pastime for everyone. And if you are in the same room, there are men and women mixed up, you won’t be able to change clothes or retire. Although ... the next day, all the guests for you may already be good friends.
Silence Demands
In all hostels, a strict rule is observed - compliance with the silence regime in the evenings. If you can't sleep or you like to hang out in the evenings, you need to forget about it in the hostel.
Bathroom at the end of the corridor
In most hostels, the toilet and shower are divided into several rooms and are located on a floor in the distance. Such a service will not be comfortable for everyone.
Sleep disturbance
In a hostel, you cannot predict in advance which neighbors you will have in a room. Some will snore, and some will toss and turn in their sleep. If you have a light sleep and cannot fall asleep after waking up, you need to think about choosing a way to spend the night.
We will not argue that a situation is quite possible when the disadvantages of some pass into the preference of others. But given the increasing popularity of hostels, it proves once again that variations of this way of living find ways to attract every group.
How to choose the right hostel?
Despite the seeming simplicity and democratic atmosphere of the hostel, for the same price you can get a different quality of accommodation services. We will try to formulate the details that you should pay attention to when choosing a place to stay.
Read the description and reviews of guests
Before choosing a hostel, carefully study its description, photos and guest reviews. At the same time, we advise you in advance to exclude the reviews of “eternally offended”, who constantly do not like everything, and “super-optimists”, who always have everything perfectly. Of course, descriptions and reviews may not be too objective. In this case, the most The best way- advice from friends who will surely tell you honestly and without concealment all the nuances of living.
Facilities
Specify the availability of hot food, the size and equipment of the kitchen, the frequency of cleaning and the condition of the bathrooms.
Does the room have wardrobes or at least clothes hangers.
The presence of a heater or air conditioner in the room will create a pleasant atmosphere for relaxing in the presence of a large crowd of people or adverse weather conditions.
Are bed linen and towels included in the price of the room.
Be sure to pay attention to the presence of a left-luggage office or safes. Given the mass of strangers in one place - such precautions will not hurt.
Service
In addition to accommodation, some hostels offer their customers additional services, often included in the cost of living. These can be tea bags, coffee bags, kitchen equipment, a refrigerator, an iron, a washing machine, etc.
It is very important to have WiFi in the hostel.
In addition, for additional fee You can have breakfast, rent a bike, book a tour or get discount cards for local attractions or events.
Men and women
When booking, please pay attention to the conditions in the room for men and women. Most hostels do not differentiate between males and females, but in some cases it is possible to pre-select a room based on gender. If for someone this criterion is important to increase comfort, it is better to choose in advance convenient option so as not to search out the leftovers upon arrival at the place.
Residence Rules
It's no secret that most hostel guests come for entertainment, smoothly turning into night festivities. If you are not comfortable with such a nighttime pastime, choose a hostel that prohibits making noise and bringing outsiders after 11 pm.
In addition, most hostels have a limit on accommodation. As a rule, this is no more than 3-7 days of residence. In the absence of such a clause in the rules, be careful, because. gastarbayrets or homeless people can live in it, stealing from customers.
Location
As we wrote above, no one will dispute the advantages of living in the city center. If there is no difference in cost with distant hostels, there is practically no need to rack your brains before choosing.
Discounts for youth
Despite the fact that the cost of living in hostels is quite low, special international programs for youth allow you to get additional discounts for their services:
- International Youth Hostel Federation for 10 USD offers everyone to purchase a special card, which in hostels around the world give a discount of 5-10%;
- Hostels of Europe costs 15 USD and offers 5-15% discounts in 3000 European hostels;
- International Student Identity Card(ISIC) - for 400 rubles, it offers schoolchildren from 12 years old and students to get 5-30% discounts in hostels, museums, cafes, theaters and public transport.
I've been renting a bed in hostels for two years now. To strangers, when asked about my place of life, I introduce myself as an urban nomad. We also call ourselves urban hippies (urban hippies) and digital nomads (digital nomads).
I have a normal, albeit not always stable, income - I run my own educational project, before that I studied at Columbia University and at Strelka, but still I don’t have an apartment - either my own or rented.
Someone may say that this is another whim or unwillingness to grow up, but I like to look for housing for an emotional state, and not just for comfort or budget. The funny thing is, I've never lived in a hostel. First with her parents, then she rented an apartment, then a room. I really wanted to change. Packing my first "hostel" suitcase, I did not plan anything. And I certainly did not think that I would live like this for two years.
Living in Moscow is much cheaper than in San Francisco, where this ideology originated, but still I cannot rent an apartment of the required level. And if so, I prefer to come to a minimum. All or nothing. Also, maybe I'm just irresponsible or too tired. But I don't want to be tied to an apartment in a particular city or country, I appreciate cleanliness, but I'm not ready to wash the floors every day. It is important for me to be mobile - to always have a ticket somewhere and an emergency supply of foreign currency. I can leave at any moment without thinking that I am setting up my neighbors or the landlord. It may seem like I have nothing. But I know that for comfort or harmony, I can rent everything, buy it or make it myself if I want.
How did urban nomads appear?
It all started, as often happens, in Silicon Valley. There, the “heirs of the hippies” first abandoned offices, and then moved to BlaBlaCar, handed over extra things to Goodwill, enrolled their children in Traveling Schools and went on a work trip with Remote Year (WeWork and Airbnb to help). People gradually cease to be tied to one space, and for some, even the house has become too much of a burden. And the burden is very expensive.
There is a space in San Francisco called The Embassy Network. The shape is typical of a student house in the States: you have your own room, a common living room, several bathrooms, and a lot of fun and parties. But in fact, everything is much more complicated. All decisions regarding everyday life are made collectively, tenants alternate responsibilities for organizing cleaning, purchasing food or delivering water. They organize open lectures in their living room, maintain several rooms for tourists (the candidacy of a new guest must be approved by everyone), share one car. The doors are not locked in the house, and at first the tenants regularly changed rooms in order to get rid of the feeling of attachment to one place. Getting into such a dream house for a long time is not so easy. Permanent residents change infrequently, this is a complex process, you need to leave an application and go through a “casting”.
What am I missing?
Still, life in a hostel has its downsides. For each they are different, and it is better to foresee them in advance. What am I missing? Places to recharge! It is, but I am embarrassed to make noise, to attract too much attention. Laying out all the cosmetics - this was also not enough, although this is already more of a luxury than a necessity. I also miss being able to talk on the phone in the room while lying on the bed. Usually this is not accepted: if there is someone in the room, there is complete silence.
But the saddest thing for me is the inability to invite friends and colleagues - I love gatherings. Perhaps this last point is the main factor for me to still acquire my own space, whatever that means.
The hostel for me was a retreat from sociality and any spheres of life, except for work and inner world, therefore, personal life was not particularly implied there. At the same time, I had a period when there were suddenly two of us, and we were both “nomads”. It's an interesting feeling, we joked that we're like "Empty House" character Kim Ki-duk, starting over and over again in someone's empty apartment. With our number of friends, this could go on indefinitely, and not only in Russia.
Of course, life in constant movement changes a lot. Maybe when I get mine own house, many habits will still be useful to me.
Myths and reality
I know a few myths about life in a hostel, but they are not very true.
Myth 1: Hostel life is not for introverts.
Reality: In a hostel, no one owes anything to anyone. You can be silent for days and no one cares. Just close the curtain and no one can touch you. Unless you cry loudly, but here the shower saves. And I walk a lot - a lot. It is also a way to be alone. In hostels, I most often avoid areas where you need to share space and can start a conversation.
Myth 2: The hostel is a hell of a place filled with crooks and vagrants. Or, conversely, is paradise travelers and creative people.
Reality: In practice, the palette is much less vibrant, although memorable characters come across regularly.
Myth 3: Life in a hostel is not arranged in terms of everyday life.
Reality: In a good hostel, the room is cleaned every day, bed linen and towels are changed every three days, there are always basic products: milk, cereals, spices and other everyday goods: from soap to a good hair dryer. Usually there are spacious and beautiful common rooms, a kitchen with everything you need.
Myth 4: The hostel is cheap.
Reality: Different. Often a hostel is more expensive than a room or even an apartment.
Prices for a place in a room (from 4 to 8 people) in hostels within Garden Ring vary from 750 rubles (a neat 8-bed room on Kuznetsky Most) to 1800 rubles (a spacious 4-bed room on Bolshaya Dmitrovka with a designer interior, air conditioning, brick walls, huge windows and wardrobes). As the arithmetic mean, we take 1100 rubles. Total: 36,300 rubles per month. Whereas the average prices for a room within the same Garden Ring on The Locals website range from 21,000 rubles (a room with a neighbor in good repair and just 1 km from the Kremlin) to 32,250 rubles (Petrovka, good repair and two bathrooms, an apartment (two-room apartment. You need to pay another deposit of 33,000 rubles + utilities and monthly internet).
There are no apartments within the Garden Ring for 36,000 rubles. But for this money you can find acceptable options in Yasenevo, on Skhodnenskaya, Shchelkovskaya and in other areas near the terminal metro stations. Newly refurbished sterile studios in the Moscow suburbs and New Moscow cost about 20,000 rubles. Almost everywhere you need to pay a deposit, and utility costs will amount to about 2,000 rubles per month.
How to choose the right hostel?
I have never had any conflict situations in hostels. The main thing is to know where to settle. Here are some tips to help you find the perfect hostel.
2. The administrator must be polite. And he must immediately show you the whole hostel and tell you about the rules.
3. Beds must have curtains. It is best when the beds are built into the walls.
4. As a rule, hostels located in non-residential premises, many times better than converted apartments.
5. You can ask about permanent residents. Alas, there are not so many of them in good hostels (the administration maintains a balance between tourists and urban nomads).
6. Be sure to have fast wi-fi, a washing machine, all the necessary utensils. Sometimes the kitchen has a basic set of products for guests (spices, oil, tea and coffee, cookies). Linen and towels should be changed every three days.
Installations that make hostel life easier
1. Be flexible
You can fall asleep with any sound and any light. Work in the cabin and on the bench.
2. Appreciate the details
The missing comfort can be found in the little things, and with detachment from external conditions comes increased attentiveness: the smell of soap in a cafe, the convenience of hangers in a hotel, the quality of paper in a notebook - all this matters.
3. No need to look for excuses
If you are not living the way you want, then you should not blame the circumstances for this. You can hold the bar for two minutes in a train compartment, you can check your work mail at stops in the tundra, it’s quite convenient to meditate, winding circles around the MCC, and it’s possible to apply neat makeup even in the McDonald’s toilet.
4. Create your own environment
The rejection of the attributes of a settled life can be compensated by the creation of rituals. Breakfast in your favorite cafe, a pleasant road to the music, your own bookstore, your own gym, the same smiling old woman on the boulevard - this is quite a city comfort and home.
5. Be disciplined
In the hostel, you need to predict when other visitors get up. Rise 20 minutes earlier - and the shower, kitchen and ironing board are at your complete disposal.
6. Get rid of excess
With each move things become less and less. Nothing teaches sensible consumption and a well-organized wardrobe more than one suitcase.
Conclusions:
Living in a hostel is not really a way to save money. And certainly not a way to sit back and live without money. A huge plus is the ability to move out right now, without leaving any obligations behind. And of course, you can choose the most expensive central regions, an apartment in which is definitely not affordable. Or always live ten minutes walk from work.
The photos were taken at the Star Wars Hostel.
Everyone remembers the movie "Hostel"? In short, the moral is: watch where you stop. And even if everything seems to be quite decent, in fact, you can encounter some surprises. Of course, no one is going to dismember you (although anything is possible), but it will not be superfluous to know about some pitfalls. A Novosibirsk resident who lived in a St. Petersburg hostel for six months shared his experience of being under the same roof with completely different people.
Life
I stayed in a small hostel in St. Petersburg and lived in a quadruple room with two bunk beds, so the bed had to be shared by two. And if you still have the illusion that a bunk bed is two different beds, then I have to tell you that it’s not like that. In fact, such beds are a single organism, the parts of which are connected and live in complete harmony with each other. That is, if someone tosses and turns on the first tier, then the second inevitably walks with a shaker. Plus, the whole thing constantly creaks at the slightest movement.
As for amenities, two showers and one toilet can become a problem if all the places are occupied and there are 20 people in the hostel at the same time. The main thing here is to understand when the main stream of thirsty baths and other bodily joys passes, and in no case should you intersect with it . Get up an hour earlier or two hours later. Otherwise, there is a risk that they will burst on the door to you and persistently offer to hurry up. Understanding when such a rush hour occurs comes with time, but it can be calculated.
In addition to the restroom, there is another common area - the kitchen. Here, too, surprises can await you. For example, your supplies may be eaten by an unknown person. It is completely useless to make a scandal about this - no one is recognized. Thankfully this happens very rarely.
How to survive? Determine rush hour. Don't be greedy, buy food with the expectation that someone might want to treat themselves to it. And also buy ear plugs and sleep peacefully, however, only going to a bar can save you from a shaking bed, and more than once.
Neighbours
The majority of St. Petersburg hostels are located in the central part of the city, often near some kind of art space. Decent people settle in them: in our hostel, for example, the doors were not closed in principle. That is, everything is based on complete trust, and I like it, somehow in a European way. However, decent and pleasant are two different things. And if a person has not communized anything with you, this is not a guarantee that you will become ideal neighbors. Everyone has their own troubles: someone goes to bed early, someone late, someone wants to open the window, and someone closes it, someone behaves like a bulldozer, and the presence of someone in the room you can not even notice (and trust me, it's not always a plus). In addition, people are constantly changing: today there was a person, and tomorrow someone else is lying in his place, dangling his legs. And he usually snores.
It is interesting that some live in hostels on a permanent basis, preferring such accommodation to renting a separate apartment or room.
In general, I can say that people are cool, and serious problems practically do not arise. The only such moment was when my neighbor played with a lighter, set his hand on fire and almost burned half the room, trying to put out the fire. The most amazing thing is that he was not at all upset, and it looked like he was even enjoying it. These are the pyromaniacs to be feared, but it is impossible to calculate them until it comes to the point.
How to survive? It is important to understand that you are not in a hotel and you will have to endure certain inconveniences anyway. If you came late and everyone is already asleep, you don’t need to turn on the light and start rummaging through your things. The same applies to the morning: if you need to find something in your bag, take it, go out into the corridor and rustle as much as you like. In general, no matter how trite it sounds, respect your neighbor. But if you don’t get reciprocity in return, then you can give love. Kidding. Let the person know that he is wrong in some other civilized way.
Love / Sex
Of course, you can fall in love anytime and anywhere, but it usually takes time to develop a serious relationship, so with constantly changing tenants this is unlikely. But if people live together for a long time, especially if they sleep on the same bed, while they are still pretty and of different sexes (as a rule, there is no gender separation in the hostel), then sooner or later something can happen. The question is, is it worth it? I have a similar experience ended with a trip to different rooms, haha. Yes, it’s not possible to leave beautifully by slamming the door.
But the most interesting. Is sex possible in the hostel? To be honest, your chances of establishing your sex life in such places are quite low. But nothing is impossible. Here a lot depends on who you share the room with. It is definitely not worth trying to do this if a mother with a twelve-year-old daughter or a couple of old farts, or an arrogant lady who has come on business, are sleeping in neighboring bunks. The chances are much higher if your neighbors are two drunk people or a couple of snoring men.
How to survive? Take a closer look at those with whom you live, determine the depth of sleep or alcohol intoxication and act according to circumstances. In general, take a number!
