Staying in hostel’s dormitory room is one of the most chosen option for a backpacker to be frugal while traveling. This is especially
true if you are traveling solo. But, if you really want to be frugal and spend less while traveling, you might as well just free camping or even go for Couchsurfing to find generous hosts whom you would like to share and also learn experiences from each other. Once in a while, I will spend my nights in campsite for several consecutive nights, but after that, I always opt to stay in hostel. Here are the reasons why stay in hostel :
Preparing food get easier and cheaper.
Food can be one of the biggest drain for my wallet because food is life (for me). Yes, I know I can just prepare instant noodle almost anywhere within 2 minutes and loads of money saved. But most of the time, when I hit the road, I spend quite a long time and it is non-practical to eat trash every time. I usually stay in a town for at least 2 nights, that mean at least 4-6 meals.
In a good hostel, I can prepare up to 3 meals each cooking session. Where I can keep the remaining food for my next meal. Occasionally I prepared some restaurant’s standard meal. For example, when I was in New Zealand, I prepared grilled lamb shank since lamb is considered super luxurious back home in Malaysia. To dine in for a bruised lamb shank can cost me at least NZD 45, but, preparing myself only cost me half of that with more portion. How awesome is that?
Activities consultation and booking.
In New Zealand, most hostel have a discounted price if you book any activities through them. Yes, without any extra booking fee. My most favourite hostel chain while in New Zealand is YHA Hostel. They can also act like I-site providing all the information needed, like what are the best activities to do around, where is the best spot for photography, and where to hike?. You can also book your bus ticket from the hostel reception. If it happen to be any cultural events coming in town, you will get to know it from their notice board.
When I was in Yerevan, Armenia, I asked for suggestion of good place to eat. The reception replied with a list of good restaurant at affordable cost. Only one or two of them listed in the tourists guide brochures. You can also get inputs from fellow travelers.
Making new friends and travel buddy.
This is the most important reason why I choose to stay in hostel. Being an ambivalent person, I cherished my moment by traveling alone and sometimes camping out. But there are times where I need a good amount of human interaction too. And hostel is the best place to find that. You can find all sort of travelers, including solo, couples, groups, and even the seniors. If you are traveling alone, your best bet to make new friends are those of solo travelers, and the seniors.
I personally had few experiences while approaching those traveling in group, and most of the time it ended up awkwardly. Lols. While my best experiences were from those of traveling alone where we tend to make some trips together, and also ended up as long distance friendship where sometimes I gave them a visit near their hometown or vice versa.
Most hostels do not allow traveler to stay more than 10 days. Which is a good policy because believe me, most long term tenant tend to kill the vibe.
Total freedom
This as compared to staying with a host, you will have the total freedom to do whatever you want. Especially on your lazy day, when you tend to just lay back day dreaming, read, sleep, or anything leads to doing nothing. Staying with a host can sometimes have their own set of rules, like we have to leave the house at the same time when the host leave for work, or can only come back to the house when they are home, which can take up to whole day. It’s our lazy day remember?
Don’t get me wrong, I also a fan of Couchsurfing community especially in a countries where their culture totally intrigued me like Afghanistan and Iran. Couchsurfers hosted me the whole time I was there and it was the best experience I ever had.
It is a stigma to stay in hostel among Malaysian.
I totally aware of the look people around me gave, when I told them I stayed in hostel while traveling. Among Malaysian, hostels and dormitory room usually represent messy, smelly, and packed shared bedroom which sound totally uncomfortable. This is unnecessarily true. You can always take a look of the room you would like to stay if you walk-in to the hostel. Or you choose those with a good reviews from other travelers. Some hostels in New Zealand can even be 3-4 stars rating, even look like a hotel, with kitchen.
These are the reasons to stay in hostel comparing to cheaper options like free camping and Couchsurfing from my point of view. It might be relevant or irrelevant depends on the country visited and level of adventure spirit one’s have.
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