The hostel post

This time next week I’ll have done my first day back at work. It feels a little strange and I’ve been playing the lottery manically for the last few weeks in an attempt to not have to go back! And yes, I do realise that probably isn’t the best strategy… A week ago I moved into my new flat. I’m still doing stuff to make it feel like mine, which of course is always a challenge in a rental. I’m feeling quite a home here but the Landlord’s curtains are crying out to be replaced by mine and so now I have my sewing machine here this is a work in progress as mine needed altering to fit the windows and I’m super happy to have my bedroom curtains up tonight (my green taffeta are sooooo much nicer than the grey unidentifiable material ones that are currently there!). Having all my things around me brings back memories of hostels and how very different the travelling life is to routine life. As I’ve mentioned previously there are a number of things I really wished that hostel owners would do that would make hostel living so much better which I’m now, eventually, going to share! They’re in no particular order of importance, more the order in which they occurred to me. Most of these I’d also like to be able to do in my flat but well, it’s a rental and so there are limits…!

Hooks in the bathrooms

Bathrooms in hostels rarely have enough hooks. The last place you want to leave your stuff is on the floor as they’re usually wet and the presence of hooks makes a massive difference. I became very good at finding every possible sticky out thing that things could be hung on, but hooks, not difficult and massively appreciated.

Lights by the bed

Often when travelling you take something that you think you’ll use for one thing and you end up using it for something else entirely. On the South America trip this turned out to be a book lamp. It had been a Christmas present and I’d intended to use it for my Kindle. However, so few dorms had lights by the beds, which are so handy when returning late or getting up early, my Kindle light became my bed lamp and left very many people jealous when they saw it.

Printing Facilities

Some countries this isn’t necessary but in South America they have this weird system whereby you can book a ticket online, it gets emailed to you or you have it in an app and yet you still need a hard copy to get on the bus. This is nuts to me and also challenging when you’re in a hostel without a printer. How do they function without one themselves? I don’t even mind paying for the printout! Please, please, please think about getting one if you don’t already; spending time finding a print shop isn’t why I’m travelling!

Mirror in the dorm room not just the bathroom

Again, something so few hostels have. It’s not that I want to look at myself constantly but when you’re generally trying to be as quick as possible in a bathroom that there are probably 3 other people waiting to use, I could be out of the so much quicker if there was a mirror in the dorm room and I didn’t have to have combed my hair etc. before I leave the bathroom and could do it in the dorm room. Similarly, if I’m going out, whilst I rarely wore makeup, if I did want to apply it, I wouldn’t be taking up a bathroom to do it if there was a mirror in the dorm room.

Plug sockets by the bed

One thing we all carry these days is a mobile phone. They are our lifelines when travelling and generally require charging daily. There are also a myriad of different electrical items we all travel with that need recharging, and having a socket by the bed makes this so much simpler as you know you are guaranteed to have access to an electrical outlet and it also feels much safer knowing your expensive belongings are close by.

No animals

This is quite a personal thing. I don’t have any allergies; I just don’t particularly want to share my living space with a pet, particularly if I wasn’t expecting to have to. In the hostel I was in at Pecs in Hungary, I walked into the kitchen and there was cat crap on the floor. In another hostel in Salta, the dog peed all over the steps leading up the rood terrace and then vomited at the bottom of the steps (he really didn’t like the steps). Seriously, not good. If you’re gonna have an animal in the hostel, make it clear in your opening spiel on the booking website. It will mean that I won’t be staying there though if you do!

Little shelf by the bed

To put charging phone, glasses, water bottle etc. on. We’re never going to expect bedside cabinets (how would that even be possible for a top bunk) but a little shelf – having this would be fab!

Bunkbeds with sturdy frames, ideally fixed to the wall so movement in one doesn’t affect the other

Some bunkbeds are so bad that you really feel like you’re on a boat! By far the best hostel of my South America trip was the Corner Hostel in Puerto Natales, for many reasons, but a big one was the beds. They were super comfy and independently attached to the wall so you weren’t even aware of a person in the bed above/below you. Sadly that was also the hostel which had the worst snorer of my trip so even when you do get an amazing bed, there’s no guarantee of sleep to go with it!

Bunk bed where the ladder rungs have flat surfaces and a the bed has a handle/frame to hold onto

It is so painful to walk up bunkbed ladders with bare/socked feet when the rungs of the ladders are round. Added to that some beds don’t have handles or a frame that you can easily hold onto to hoist yourself up. This is definitely a case when style has won out and it really shouldn’t. In Cordoba, I was on a top bunk, which was high up and had no frame to hold onto when going up/down the ladder. One time, I fell off the ladder, fortunately onto a single bed on the other side of the room. Thank goodness it was there (and nobody was in it at the time!) or I could have done myself (and them) a serious injury!

Lockers

This is a no-brainer surely, but they’re not always guaranteed.

Disability friendly

One of my cousins has to use a wheelchair and he’d love to do more travelling but has concerns about accessibility. I was very aware of this on my trip and amazed at how inaccessible so many hostels are. This is really something that needs addressing so that travel is possible for everyone.

Basic maintenance

Check your lights to see if the bulbs have gone, tighten up the taps that swivel round in the sinks, unblock your drains, descale your shower heads, make sure they work, you know the obvious stuff. Once a week, once a fortnight or once a month, not once and then never again.

In Curico I was in a homestay run by Guillermo. It was fab and he told me that every so often he would stay in the rooms himself and then he knew if anything was wrong or if there was something that could be done to improve his visitors’ stays. I would recommend this to all hostel owners, I think they’d be amazed at how some very minor changes could make a huge different to the experiences of their guests.