Are you planning staying in a hostel? Then this post is for you. I’ll tell you the six essential items you need to pack that will make your stay a thousand times better.
Hostels are a great, they are excellent to save money and meet fellow travelers. And not just that, they often offer cool activities and amenities. There are hostels with free beer nights, wine and cheese nights, tours, bar crawls, beach gear including surfboards, bicycles, ping pong tables, pool tables, game nights, cooking nights and all sort of nights.
The thing is that hostels are not like hotels where you know who you are staying with and all their quirks. In hostels you don’t get to know your roommates until you enter your room. You’ve got a 50-50 chance, they may be really nice or very insensitive.
Headphones / earbuds
You have no idea how many times headphones have had saved my life sleep allowing me to sleep the valued hours needed to overcome the jet lag quick.
Of all the nights I’ve stayed in hostels, about 65% of them I’ve had to sleep with headphones on. Either by music on the rooftop bar, people on the floor above, roommates coming back from partying at 2:00am or 3:00am, or the worse, someone snoring in all night long.
Guys, you don’t know how loud can someone snore until you stay in a hostel. Headphones / earbuds won’t only will help you sleep in hostels, but in airplanes and buses too.
Like the time I went to Europe and was seated beside two children that spent the whole flight taking turns crying their hearts out. To then sleep the next two nights with a roommate who snored like you can not imagine.
I flew over night, so without the headphones I would have been sleepless for three straight nights. That isn’t fun when you are traveling and short of time.
Relaxing playlist
I don’t know about you, but I can’t sleep with Rock or Electronic music. I have a several playlists downloaded on my mobile and always make sure that one of them has ambient tracks and soothing sounds. Although it doesn’t matter what genre is as long as you can fall asleep listen to it.
Sleep mask
This is another very important item you must not leave if you want to sleep well. Most people are considered and will prepare everything so when they come back late at night won’t bother you as much, but there is always this one or two jackass that will ruin your night. Along with the headphones they will make the essential sleep kit.
Travel Adapter Plug and Multi Plug
Lets be honest, most of the things in your bucket list you’ll only have the opportunity to do or visit them once in your life. So, don’t let a stupid battery to stop you from capturing those once in a life time memories.
Also, while is always fun to wander around in a new place taking in the views, smells, and sounds without time restrictions, that’s not always the case. Most of the time we are against the clock and because of that you will need google maps and your mobile fully charge to hit all the spots in your list.
Normally, hostels don’t have enough power outlets for all the guests. I’ve been to hostels where you there is one power outlet per bed, and in others I’ve had to share one power outlet with three other people. And the common areas, which is the other area where you can charge your electronics, are usually crowded.
To avoid any inconveniences, bring your own multi outlet and ask fellow travelers if they don’t mind you connecting it so both can have power. And even when you have a power outlet for yourself chances are you’ve got several electronic devices to charge. I have a four outlet wall tap with two USB ports which is perfect for all my electronics. If you’re doing an Eurotrip, you’ll probably need a travel adapter like the black one in the photo above. I used it in London, Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam to charge my laptop, mobile phone, and GoPro, all at the same time and it worked perfectly.
Flip-flops with rubber straps
Ok, let’s start explaining why you need flip-flops and then why robber straps. There are hostels where bathrooms and showers are nice and clean, like a 5 star hotel, but others won’t be like. And still, you should always shower with flip-flops to avoid any foot diseases which isn’t ideal when you are traveling. Also, after walking all day you need to let your feet breath.
Why rubber straps? Well… If the straps are in fabric, they’ll get soaked and will take forever to dry, and if your are in a cold place is not fun to put them on wet.
Something important that you may not think about is having to put them in your suitcase with the straps still wet. Good luck to you when you open it in your next hostel and have to tell your roommates that you don’t have a dead rat and are just your flip-flops. Hahaha.
Lock
When traveling and especially when staying with strangers you need to keep your valuables secure. Many hostels offer free lockers. Some of them are keypad locks, but others require a padlock. If you don’t have one, you can usually rent one for $2.00 to $4.00 USD. But why pay when you can save money for fun things, every penny counts.
Buy one from any hardware or department store before your trip. You can find them from as low as $3. I always have with me a combination lock, so I don’t have to worry about losing the keys.
Remember to take a photo of the combination with your mobile and then scratch it off.
Do you have any hostel stories?
Let know in the comments below.
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j ⋀⋁ i e r ✧ ☽
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