For your room:

Hostels are notorious for being the cheap and easy way to travel. If you want to spend a few extra bucks, you can have your own room, but if you’re on a budget be prepared to share a room with 3-25 other people. At first it’s a little daunting – sharing a room with a number of complete strangers – but as you backpack, it becomes more of a lifestyle. You meet people from all over the world, with different stories and ways of thinking. You may share a bunk with a kid from another country that offers you a place to stay should you ever be in his hometown, or someone traveling in the same direction as you. (Which, when traveling solo, is a nice change of pace.)

Now comes the part that takes the ‘getting used to’; the noise. If a hostel is known for being party-central and in the hip part of town, the chances of doing your early-to-bed-early-to-rise routine will be more difficult than a hostel that is a few blocks away. Whether it’s the cellphone alarm that goes off for 15 minutes at 5 in the morning, the squeaky bunk bed that groans with every movement, or the ‘frisky’ couple that decide to share a bunk in the multiple bed shared room, you will have noises that you wish didn’t exist. For this I recommend iPods or ear-plugs.

I have only ever had one thing stolen from me in all my experience at hostels; a jean jacket that I hung up to dry – on the “left behind/free” clothes rack in my room. Most of the time you can ask around to backpackers who have been in the hostel a while to see how bad the theft is. For the most part, it’s a good idea to keep your things together, and keep copies of important documents/phone numbers for credit cards in separate bags. If anything is stolen, you will have the important numbers to call into your consulate/bank and have the information to protect yourself from your passport being sold on the black market.

SURVIVAL TIP!

When you are staying in a shared dorm, most times people will keep all their stuff together in piles. This helps reduce any confusions about whose stuff is whose and if someone had something that ‘oozed’ over to your pile, its easier to tell it apart.

Also, just remember that when you’re sharing a room, people may not want to see you strutting around in your tighty-whities/teddy. You may want some comfy pajamas that double as lounge clothes.

Addition: A lot of hostel rooms have scarce power outlets. Having a power strip that turns one outlet into many will make it possible to charge your phone, computer &/ iPod at the same time.

Recommended tool-kit items:

Earplugs/iPod with playlist that you can sleep to.

Comfy pajamas that you don’t mind warring in front of people.

Power strip

For the kitchen:

In Hostels, most of the time there is a shared kitchen with your basic kitchen appliances, and a community fridge. The fridge works like that one in your break room at work; lable your food and others know whose it is. For the most part I haven’t had any trouble with food theft until a couple weeks ago, when someone in my big city hostel decided to go on a ‘picking spree’ and in addition to my bread and cracker missing, others had sandwich ham, milk (which is the most common thing ‘stolen’ from community fridges), and a few other things go walk-a-bout from our bags.

This led me to invest in a $5 bag that was created for this environment; a mesh bag with handles and window for labeling, and “o’s” on the zipper to attach a small combination lock that is conveniently attached to the bag. However, there are many styles and sizes you can get these in. If your going to be staying in a large hostel, or in a hostel with food theft problems, I highly recommend these.

Normally though, hostel kitchens are the heart of the backpacking social experience (that is, if the hostel doesn’t have a bar attached.) Here it is common for backpackers to meet up with others and create a community meal, each donating a part of a recipe or volunteering to cook/clean.

SURVIVAL TIP!

Do your dishes. Yeah, when you lived at home mum and dad took care of that. So what if your excuse is “I’m not good at it, it’ll take me ages”? Some hostels simply consider it bad karma, while others may keep key deposits. But in a community kitchen, the general rule is ‘if you use it, you wash it’.

Recommended Tool-Kit items:

Sharpie

Locking , mesh kitchen storage bag

For the bathroom:

On the rare occasion you will have ensuite bathrooms, but the majority of the time its large communal bathrooms with a few shower stalls. I would recommend getting a pair of plastic flip-flops/sandals to use as shower shoes, and have a bag that you can dedicate to shower stuff (Soap, shampoo, razors etc.)

SURVIVAL TIP!

If you’re at the hostel for a couple days, you can figure out the bathroom traffic, and go for your shower when you don’t have to wait. Usually showering in the morning has less traffic, since most people are either sleeping, or getting ready to check out. Them being busy means you get that favorite stall.

Recommended Tool-Kit items:

Canvas bag/reusable shopping bag for ‘shower bag’

Plastic shoes.