ACCOMMODATION AROUND THE GLOBE

Budget Accommodation for the Young and the Young at Heart

by Katie Cooney

There are many accommodation options around the world, from dormitory rooms to elegant five star hotels.  One of the daily decisions you will make while traveling is where to sleep each night.  Your budget and where you feel comfortable will determine the type of accommodation you will choose.

Listed and explained here are a variety of accommodation options.  International youth hostels, pensions, backpacker hotels, bed and breakfasts, homestays, convents and monasteries, and overnight trains and ferries are all a possibility for the traveler.  The accommodations detailed here are more suited to the backpack traveler, who tends to be on a more austere budget.  However, depending upon where in the world you go, you may find enchanting little hotels that have existed for years that are reasonable and affordable even on your humble budget.

As housing and architecture differ greatly around our globe, so will your experience in finding accommodation.  Each place has its own rules and regulations, customs, and taboos.  Each place accommodation holds pleasures and challenges to meet and greet every traveler.

INTERNATIONAL YOUTH HOSTELS

The International Youth Hostel Association provides accommodation internationally and within the United States.  Staying in youth hostels is one of my strongest recommendations for lodging.

The philosophy of the International Youth Hostel Association is to provide a place where people from all over the world can come, stay inexpensively, and meet other travelers and native people.  Understanding and gaining a greater knowledge of other cultures, ethnic groups, and race are basic tenets of the hostelling philosophy.  Some of the most interesting and terrific people stay in youth hostels around the world.  It is a place where people from every corner of the earth come together and share their lives, ideas, a dorm room, and a hot cup of coffee.

Hostels provide a clean, safe, inexpensive accommodation for travelers who enjoy the company of others and the community spirit that the hostel embodies.  Generally availed by more youthful travelers, hostels host a wide range of age groups.

International Youth Hostel Membership

The process of becoming an International Youth Hostel member is quite simple.  Contact the International Youth Hostel office in writing, telephone, on the Web, or FAX and request a membership application. See page 9 for this information.

After the membership package has been sent to you and you have filled out the appropriate paperwork and mailed the membership fee, your application will be processed.  The membership fee for an individual is approximately $25.00, is good for one year, and may be renewed annually.

Once an accepted member of the International Youth Hostel you will receive the following:  a world map listing the International Youth Hostels, a youth hostel card, and a youth hostel book listing all the hostels in the United States.  A book listing all of the International Hostels may also be purchased.  Definitely purchase the International Hostel Accommodation guide and carry it with your guidebook.

International Youth Hostel Reservations

Reservations may be made at the International Youth Hostels.  Request a reservation by telephone.  The International Booking Network will reserve a bed for you in over three hundred youth hostels worldwide.  To book a reservation internationally, you will need to call three to eight days in advance, maybe more depending on the season.  The reservation is prepaid by credit card.

Youth hostels in more frequented cities (London, Paris, Tokyo) are often booked to capacity.  Plan in advance and make a reservation early to secure a bed.  If you plan on traveling alone, making reservations may give you peace of mind when traveling to your destinations.

Each Hostel Has Its Own Style & Personality

What to Expect

Each hostel differs from the next; no two are ever the same.  Individualizing each hostel will be the country, architecture, floor plan, and the people managing the establishment.  Youth hostels each offer the same general rooms and common areas.  Although some may be grander than the other more modest hostels, they typically all share a few basic traits.

The hostel provides separate dorms for men and women.  The dormitory style rooms have bunk beds for sleeping.  Each traveler will be assigned a bunk bed.  A bed sheet may be provided in the accommodation fee or you may have to rent one.  Many hostellers bring their own bed sheet to use.  This saves money and you always have your own linen.

Typically, one large bathroom for the women is separate from the one large bathroom for the men.  Women's rooms and the men's room are often located on separate floors or opposite hallways.

A common area provides a space in which friends and travelers of both genders may come together and talk.  Usually filled with couches and chairs, people sit and share where they have been and their stories of being on the road.  This room provides a place to hang out, read, write, talk, or play the guitar. 

Many hostels have a rotating library system such as bookshelf with used paperback and hardback books. Travelers donate books they have read and then take a book that looks interesting.  The used books may also be for sale at a fraction of their original price.  Trading books with other travelers is a great way to receive new books and unload the books you have read.

Information boards in the hostel will give you information on local sights, points of interest, and traveling tips on that particular city.  Also, corkboards with requests and offerings from fellow travelers may be present.  People may post requests for rides or the desire to share the cost of renting a car across a large distance. A solo traveler may advertise for a traveling partner for a few days to a specific area. Items for sale (travel guides, books, airplane tickets, rail tickets, etc.) may all be advertised on the hostel corkboard as well.

Kitchen facilities may be available depending upon the hostel.  A great way to save money while on the road is to cook your own meals.  The hostel may also provide a dinner for a reasonable price.  Consult your hostel guide book and note if there are kitchen facilities available.  The hostel kitchen is generally equipped with pots, pans, plates, bowls, and utensils.  The basic kitchen items are provided, but nothing special.  The kitchen may have specific hours in which it may be used so check and be aware of the time schedule.

Youth Hostel Curfews

Youth hostels enforce a day and night time curfew.  The hostel will have specific hours in which you may check in and check out.  Typically the hostel will be closed during the day for several hours.  During this time you will not be able to gain access into the building.  Not all hostels close during the day but be aware that some do.  At night, the hostel will close its doors.  Any guest who has not returned by the curfew hour will not be let in.  Take notice as to when the hostel curfew is and plan appropriately.

Small Task in Exchange for Budget Accommodation

Some hostels expect you to perform some small task as a part of your stay, such as rake a few leaves, clean a small bathroom, sweep out the women's room.  Nothing crazy or time consuming will be asked of you as a chore.  Youth hostels manage to remain available and affordable by enlisting the help of the travelers who use their facilities.

Age Limitations, Limited Stay Mail & Extra Fees

Some youth hostels have an age limit for their guests.  For instance, in northern Germany, a traveler over the age of twenty-seven must pay a slightly higher fee for accommodation.  Consult the youth hostel book in advance of your stay for any age restrictions or additional fees.  Although one may feel the age regulation and extra fee are discriminating and unfair it is in essence enforced to benefit the more youthful travelers.  Hostels want space to be available for young travelers to stay inexpensively.  In order to protect and secure accommodation for the more youthful travelers, some youth hostels do not take travelers over a certain age.

The youth hostel may also have a limitation on the number of consecutive days you may stay.  If there is a limitation it is usually three or four days.  Consult the youth hostel book.

Receiving mail at the youth hostel must be arranged in advance with the individual hostel.  A small fee may be charged to receive mail.

Youth hostels differ greatly from place to place.  While in Barcelona, Spain, I stayed in a stately old mansion.  Inlaid floors and mosaic walls adorned the rooms.  Guests would tinker away at the baby grand piano in the spacious lobby.  The cafe lattes served on the morning cafeteria line were heavenly.  Sound pretty terrific? It was.

In comparison, while staying in Krakow, Poland, the accommodation proved to be a bit more modest.  No baby grand pianos or creamy cafe latte's surfaced but the people working at the hostel and the good feeling from the other travelers made my stay memorable and unique.

HOSTELLING INTERNATIONAL
733 15th Street, NW, Suite 840 Washington DC 20005
(202) 783-6161 Fax: (202) 783-6171
Web Site: www.iyhf.org
(Membership application)

INTERNATIONAL BOOKING NETWORK
(202) 783-6161
(Reserve a bed at over 300 hostels around the world)

BACKPACKER HOTELS

In many Asian countries backpacker hotels or crash pads will provide accommodation to the traveler.  Youth hostels are not as plentiful in Asian countries as they are in Europe.  In countries such as India, Nepal, China, Vietnam, and Singapore one may find the backpacker hotels rather good, adequate, or marginal.  Where you are coming from, and where you've stayed previously will, all influence your comparative analysis and critique of the backpacker hotel.

Backpacker hotels are managed and run by individual proprietors.  They see loads of young travelers coming through their towns as a market to be tapped into.  Some of the accommodations are home-like buildings restructured into a hotel type rooms.  Many of the backpacker hotels are old hotels that have been given a structural and visual face-lift.  Some of the hotels are new structures built just for the influx of travelers to a given destination.  One never knows just what to expect because each is individually managed and owned.

Each hotel has its own rules and regulations, which are generally posted by the check-in desk, so they are easily visible to the guest.  These accommodations generally have less rules, regulations, and curfews.  Kitchen facilities, common areas, rotating libraries are less common.  The price will also vary from place to place.  Sometimes you will be able to bargain for a better price if you plan on staying for an extended amount of time.  Time of year, the season, and the flow of travelers are all taken into account when bargaining for accommodation.

PENSIONS

Pensions are popular in Europe.  A step above the hostels, yet not as pricey as the larger hotels.  A pension may be a small hotel or a room in a person's home.  Many guidebooks will list different pensions in the accommodation section of the city.

Pensions have their own rules and regulations. The price of the room may include breakfast.  When feeling the need for privacy and personal space, pensions are a great option.

Personally, I have only stayed in one pension while in Florence, Italy.  Feeling quite a bit under the weather and in need of speedy accommodation.  My friends, Valerie and Robin, secured a room in an older Italian woman's home.  Although we moved to less expensive accommodation the following day, after I convalesced, the pension met my immediate needs to rest and lay down.

HOTELS

Hotels offer another accommodation option.  Flying to and arriving into a unfamiliar foreign city late at night may be unsettling.  Especially if you are traveling alone or even with a friend, book a reservation at a hotel in the city of your destination prior to leaving home for at least one night.

For instance, leaving the United States and arriving in London or Nairobi, late at night with no set accommodation will immediately be challenging.  Upon arrival you may be jet lagged, tired, disoriented, and anxious.  Being able to deplane, go through customs, collect your baggage, and go directly to your hotel will be reassuring and comforting both physically and psychologically.  Give yourself at least 24 hours to get your bearings and begin acclimating to the new environment.

CONVENTS, MONASTERIES & RETREATS

Convents and monasteries provide accommodation for travelers.  Listed in guidebooks, convents and monasteries offer safe and modest accommodation to those on the road.  Each facility has its own rules and regulations, accommodation may be limited in age and gender.  The convents, in Italy, typically host only female travelers.

In Venice, Italy there is a great convent run by endearing, yet strict and forthright Catholic nuns.  The spunky disposition of the nuns provided entertainment and an upright community spirit.  We stayed with them for several days and had a blast.

The convent dorm room was one large room with three rows of thirty stiff starched beds.  High vaulted ceilings and one large crucifix of Christ loomed above us.  The convent was clean and safe.  The cafe vending machine in the lobby was the best place to get that caffeine jolt in the early morning.

If you would like to take a spiritual retreat for a day, few days, or several weeks, planning ahead and making the appropriate plans will only help when you arrive at your intended spiritual destination.  Contact your church or the organization in which you would like to take a retreat.  Some guidebooks may also list different monasteries in which you may take a spiritual retreat.  Not all organizations can be contacted from home.  In this case you will have to go and see what you can arrange.

BED & BREAKFASTS

Bed and breakfasts offer a more personalized accommodation.  The comfortable, cozy setting may be a bit on the pricey side if you are on a tight budget.  Keep in mind these lodgings are about pampering people away from home and making them feel taken care of, indulged, and relaxed.  The backpacker may welcome this extra indulgence, but the price tag may be out of your budget.  The rate of accommodation will depend on the geographical area and the season.

To actually stay in the home of a person who lives in the country you are visiting is a terrific experience.  Although a guest, you gain insight on a small slice of life of those people who run the bed and breakfast.

HOMESTAYS

Participating in a homestay with a family in the country you are traveling to, may be one of the greatest ways to get to know the people of the country.  Staying with a family gives you the opportunity to become part of their lives for a short time.  The family also has the opportunity to get to know you and learn more about your culture.

Homestays are a more intimate way to travel the globe.  A great bonus will be that the family will be excited to have a foreign guest to show their local points of interest and welcome the opportunity to teach you about their culture.  Observing how the family operates in daily life will give you greater insight upon their culture and your own.  The rules and expectations for the family will most likely also apply to you over the course of your stay.

One way to find a host family abroad is to investigate any of your family or friends who may know families abroad that would like to host you for a few days or a couple of weeks.

If you are attending a university or are a alumni, check into any exchange programs offered through your educational institution.  Overseas internships and study programs may be available.  Contact the Career Center or International Studies Center at your university and see what you can find.

OVERNIGHT TRAINS & FERRIES

Overnight trains and ferries offer a cheap place to sleep while on route to your next destination.  Getting from one destination to the next may only be viable on an overnight excursion.  When traveling by ferry over great bodies of water, as between, Ireland and France and Italy and Greece, the journey was only offered overnight.  Unless you want to book a flight or swim, your only other option was the overnight ferry.  The bonuses to overnight trains and ferries are two fold.  While you sleep you are traveling closer to your next destination and you avoid paying a night's accommodation.

Reservations may be needed for overnight train travel.  Check the schedules and restrictions at the train station prior to your departing date.  Don't wait until the night you plan on departing to investigate your options.  A little prior footwork avoids unexpected surprises, delays, and disappointments at the train station.  Depending upon the country, train, your ticket, seat and sleeper availability, you may sit and sleep, lay down on the seats, or pay a supplement for a sleeper.

The long distance ferries run overnight.  Usually the journey is quite long and will generally leave late afternoon or evening.  Again you may purchase a seat to sit and sleep, purchase a berth in the bowels of the ship (not recommended), or sleep up on deck for no extra charge.  On deck you will find one large sprawling traveler slumber party. 

Overnight ferries are not the most restful way to travel, however they do serve the purpose and you do arrive at your intended destination the next day.  If you travel by ferry during the day it can be quite nice.  Relaxing on deck and enjoying the salty sea air can offer a great break from travel.

The stretch in traveling on overnight trains and ferries are a few.  Sleeping is often uncomfortable, restless, and interrupted by stops and train conductors checking tickets and passes. Theft is a problem on overnight journeys.  At your most vulnerable, when asleep, you may be robbed.  If another passenger is harassing you it may be difficult to ditch them on the journey.

Remember to stock up on some food and water before you board the ferry or train.  Food concession prices are practically criminal.  Always take something to hold you over until you can get off the train or ferry.

WORD OF MOUTH

Undoubtedly, the best resource regarding information about accommodation will come from other travelers.  Commonly you will meet travelers who have just come from the town or area you are traveling to.  Ask them about where they stayed, what they liked or disliked, and how much they paid.  Simply asking other travelers about their experiences is most helpful.

Accommodations and hotels come and go.  The turnover cannot be updated in guidebooks as rapidly as other travelers can advise and recommend.  Other traveling souls are the best resource.

When you first begin your trip it will seem as though everyone knows so much more about accommodations, food, and sights.  Don't worry.  In a couple of weeks you too, will be recommending accommodations and the like.

Remember to write down were you stayed.  It will be helpful in giving that information to those you meet.  Take a business card if available, of the great accommodation or restaurant, to refer others.  I wrote down the accommodations in which I stayed and was then able to go back and give a great recommendation having written it down.

TRAVEL BOOKS LIST ACCOMMODATION

Most travel books will list a variety of accommodations.  Remember to choose a travel book that is in harmony with your budget and philosophy of travel.  Browse through the accommodation recommendations and see if it resonates to what you are expecting and can afford.  Some books will give accommodation recommendations in varying degrees of one's budget from high end to budget accommodation.

SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES

Special circumstances arise, you can depend on that when traveling abroad.  You may miss the check-in time at the youth hostel, all the budget accommodations in the town seem to be booked for the night or you may be feeling ill.  I call this a special circumstances time.  A time when you need to pay a little bit more for your night�s rest or catch a train to the next town and hope for better luck.  If you do end up paying more for your accommodation, then simply enjoy it.  Let's face it, regardless if you enjoy it or curse about it for the next four days, you will be out the same amount of cash and maybe some enjoyable days.  Remember to try and plan ahead and make reservations if it is high season for travel.

WALK THROUGH

Take a quick look at your intended accommodation before you lay out your cash.  Some proprietors may act put out by your desire to see the room or dorm.  They either believe they have a great place and feel distrusted or their place is not great and they know you will run when you get a closer look.

Look At the Room

Check out the room you will be staying in, the bed, the bathroom, and the overall general cleanliness.  If you are in an individual room check the lock on the door and the lock on the windows to be sure they are working properly.

Inquire about the following;

• Do they have hot water?

• Are any of the meals included in the price of the accommodation? Which ones?  Are other meals available?

• Is there a day or evening curfew?

• Are the rooms all female or co-ed?

Have a Good Feeling about the Place?

If you don't feel good about a place, have a weird feeling from the proprietor, feel uncomfortable about the physical lay out of the place, (no fire exits, locks don't work) rooms are dirty, bathrooms stink, and the type of people staying their are not your type of friends, then LEAVE!

Do not stay in a place where you do not feel comfortable and safe.  Trust the feeling that you have.  Don't blow it off as being silly or unjustified.  Don't let someone talk you out of how you feel or what you are sensing.  Another hour of looking around for a place you feel good about is worth it.  Those feelings of insecurity and flight are there for a reason, honor them and be true to yourself.

Excerpts from Katie�s soon to be published book, Window on the World, Straightforward Advice for Today�s Woman Traveler.

To contact the author - katiecooney@sprynet.com

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