Are you ready to stay at a hostel?

Low-budget accomodation: HOSTELS

I had never stayed at a hostel before, but when I decided to backpack in Europe, I got the feeling that these two words always go together: if you backpack you sleep at a hostel. So I decided to give it a try and enjoy my adventure! Let's see if after reading this you'll be ready to stay at a hostel or not!

My husband and I were backpacking in Europe going to Berlin and would stay there for one night only. First I looked for an Airbnb host downtown Berlin, but did you know that there aren't any? It's forbidden, that's why you'll only find hosts some miles away from downtown. A hotel was out of the question, so I downloaded the Hostelworld app and started my research.

Since it was our first time at a hostel, we are married and not 18 anymore I had some demands for our first stay:

a. breakfast included;

b. sheets and pillows included;

c. downtown area;

d. near a subway station;

e. English spoken;

f. cheap.

So a because we were in Germany and none of us know any German to go out in the morning to buy something to eat, b because yeah the cheapest ones charge you or just don't have sheets and pillows on the beds, c and d because we only had a day there, e well, I just mentioned this above and f it's a hostel, right?, so cheap is what I want.

When looking for hostels the feedbacks is what I'm interested the most, and many of them complained about bad smell, dirty facilities and loud noise. Because of these things I set my budget a little higher. 

I found a hostel that covered all my demands and had very good reviews St. Christopher's Inn. We just wanted a cheap and comfortable place to crash; our aim wasn't a party hostel, but they also have a very nice bar for you to mingle. By the way, it's the same place they serve breakfast.

I booked via the app 2 beds in a 16-bed bedroom! We paid 16 euros each with all the perks mentioned above. Here's a picture of our bedroom, well, part of it:

As you can see, the pointy yellow arrows are showing the things that I thought were really cool. My bed was on top, my husband slept on the one behind me, and there was a large drawer for you to store your bags, but no lock, so you have to have your own.

The drape gives you privacy, the beds have pillows, sheets and a comforter. There's a tiny light at the bed for you to do your readings, and your own outlet to charge your devices. Loved it!

The way the bedroom was organized was really nice because it didn't look like there were 16 people in there. The bathroom is separated, on the hall you see signs to show you where the bedroom is for room numbers x and room numbers y, but don't mind that because since there are only two stalls, you can just look for the next one available, nobody likes to stay in line to use the restroom... For showering, only one stall, or you can go to the unisex shower, then there are more.

The hostel is quiet and people respect your privacy. It's possible to hear people on the sidewalk talking and having drinks, but that didn't disturb me. What DID disturb me was a couple who kept talking, and eating, and coughing, and calling their family on the bed right under mine! That freaked me out, but I didn't say anything to them, I was leaving the next day, so I didn't want any problems. But that's not all! Their sneakers smelt REALLY bad! Oh boy, that was the worst! I put some VapoRub on the area above my upper lip so I would smell that instead of their feet! Urgh!

Breakfast on the next day was simple, but good. It goes up to 10 o´clock, so you see many "sleepwalkers". Fruits, bread, juice, coffee, butter, cheese, jam and hazelnut cream. That was good enough to start the day!

We wanted to spend some extra time in Berlin before taking our bus, which was leaving only at night, but we didn't want to be carrying our backpacks. When we asked the receptionist about lockers, they mentioned we could use the ones next to the hostel. It was a room full of lockers, small and big. They cost 2 euros for four hours, I think, but I remember it was a very reasonable price. We used one locker for both of our bags. And you don't even have to be a guest at the hostel.

As you can see, it is possible to find a good comfortable hostel, even if you're not there to party, have a good night sleep and go on to your next destination. I don't think I'd recommend staying at a hostel for many days, I think one night only is enough, but hey, that's just me. If it weren't for the talking smellersons it would have been great, but they upset my night sleep.

Hostel, good. Experience, interesting. Travelers, some of them don't shower. Please do!

Are you ready to stay at a hostel? Have you already slept in one? I'm sure everybody who has slept at a hostel has a story to tell. What's yours?

Travel Apps

Hey! Welcome to the digital world!

I must confess that it took me a while to finally have the guts to book a flight or a hotel room through an app. But when I did it, boy did I get addicted!

I've always done these things through my computer and no problems there, but when you are on the road it's much easier to book everything you need using your cell phone.

This is a screenshot of my cell phone apps. I drew pink arrows to the ones I'll be talking about today: Airbnb, Flixbus, Ryanair and Hostelworld.

First of all: space! These apps are somewhat heavy to download and nobody wants to have a cell phone full of cool apps that keeps getting stuck. Then, very good wifi/4g connection, because if I'm typing my credit card number and lose connection it just freaks me out. One advice, you can take it or not, is to have the same name and password for all your travel apps, which can save you some time. You can also just never log off and/or write down your passwords on a note pad app.

Here we have two choices of accommodation and two choices for means of transportation.

To Go:

Ryanair app: Once you have downloaded and logged in, click the big yellow button to search for flights. The app doesn't allow you to search for "anywhere in the world" like the desktop version does, so you have to type from and to, but, before that, make sure you selected one way or return. Then you have the boxes to type the date you'll fly out (and/or fly back). When you open the calendar to select the date you'll see that sometimes they only have flights on Tuesdays and Fridays or they just don't have any flights for the next two months. Sometimes it helps if you change the airport (if possible), if it doesn't, I'm sorry, you're too late so you'll have to choose the dates they are offering you. They also show you the price for some days before or after the day you chose, this feature has saved me some money!

Alright, so you have the airports, dates and number of passengers, you will now have a list, or not, sometimes just the one, for the available time of the flight. 

Please, be sure you can arrive at the airport on time! I'm saying this because once I saw a one way ticket for 9,99 euros, but the plane would depart at 6:30am, I'd have to arrive at the airport two hours earlier, but there wouldn't be any buses available or subway train. So, I chose the next time available, at 2:30pm. Paid 16 euros... oh well.

Now, comes the payment part. Type your name, credit card number and nationality. Very important: if you DO NOT have a European passport, you CANNOT check in using the app and you will HAVE TO print your boarding pass. At the airport, DON'T FORGET to get in line for checking in one hour before departure.

If you have a European passport, you can at least one day before, check in via the app. Your boarding pass will be saved in the app for you to show at the departure line. It comes with your name, seat number, time of flight, where you're going and a QRcode. You have to show the real one, screenshots don't work. And, please, don't forget your passport.

Enjoy your flight!

Flixbus app: In case you don't know this company yet, here's some info: it's a German company currently in 20 countries! Their app is really user-friendly. As you can see from this screenshot, you have easy access to booking a trip, selecting the from and to, dates and number of people. Right next to the booking icon, you have my tickets, that means in case you might have mutiple locations booked, which means multiple tickets, they are all there in a very organized way. I say this from experience!

The app also allows you to choose the station you prefer (see the screenshot below). It gives you a variety of prices according to their timetable, even if there's any transfer or if it's a direct bus ride. I personally like to play with the dates, so they also allow you to see the prices for the day before and after you've selected.

Once you've booked your ticket - you know the drill, complete name of passengers and credit card number - you will now have your saved bookings in my tickets and it doesn't matter if you have a European passport or not, just now the QRcode from your ticket with your passaport or ID to the bus driver and you're good to go. Although I see many people who can't trust QRcodes so they print their tickets, another available option, but never a screenshot, it just doesn't work, I also say this from experience.

It happened to me once so I think I should share this information with you. One day before my trip with Flixbus they sent me an e-mail saying that the time of my bus ride had changed, so they were sending me a new QRcode. I got a little anxious about it, but again this is good for you to know to stay, or try to stay, always connected while traveling. So the next day I showed the new QRcode to the bus driver... it wasn't working properly! I explained what happened and asked him to check the old one. All the information was there, my guess is that they updated, and this simple code (there's nothing else, no name, no nothing) shows the bus driver number of passenger and their names for him to check with you passport.

Enjoy the ride!

To sleep:

Airbnb app: Never booked with Airbnb before? What are you waiting for? Since I had two great stays booked with Airbnb hosts they are nowadays my number one choice of accomodation. I strongly suggest you to do your booking via the app, because they have this amazing feature: you can exchange direct messages with your host in real time!

Source: Airbnb.com

First of all, create your profile: picture, brief description of who you are, what you like doing and so on. Then, there are hundreds of hosts for you to choose, just type where you are traveling to. They all show pictures of the bedroom you'll be staying, what kind of amenities you might have, what's nearby and feedbacks. Always read the feedbacks because sometimes they say things that might encourage you to stay there or maybe describe something that is not your cup of tea.

Before I booked my first Airbnb room, I sent a message to the host to know if her place was walking distance to the tourist area and other doubts I had since it was my first time staying at a stranger's house. She was always polite and helpful. So, I booked!

For everybody's safety before closing your booking you will have to take a clear picture of a personal document (passport, driver´s license...), have an online account of any social media and let them check the validity of your credit card number before your booking is finally complete. But all of these things are just for the first time you're using the app, for your next bookings they'll have all this information stored.

You'll receive confirmation of payment and reservation by e-mail .

Have a good night sleep!

Hostelworld app: Another affordable option of accommodation is staying at a hostel, whether your young, be it physically or mentally, single, a couple or in a group. Hostelword app allows you to search any type of hostel you want. Again, read the feedbacks written by people who have stayed there, some details you'll only find reading feedbacks. You'll register, via the app itself, type destination and start looking for your perfect hostel. Search for most relevant, price, location, party hostel, small, boutique, you name it!

Source: hostelworld.com

From my personal experience, I just had to choose the hostel, click book, and pay a pre-booking fee of 4 euros, which was part of the total payment, the rest of it I'd only pay at the hostel. Of course I was logged in, so they already "knew it was me".

How simple is that?







One thing that is worth mentioning is that I paid Ryanair, Flixbus, Airbnb and Hostelworld with my pre-paid travel card! After my trips with them, they all (except the flight company) asked for my feedback, which, in my opinion, is a big deal for the travelers' community.

Ready to travel? So go on and download your new best-friends!