I have been traveling on the cheap for a long time now. I started when I was in my early 20's and it is something that I have been doing for a while now. I am no longer in the "dorm phase" of my life because I feel kind of creepy when I stay in those especially if there are young women around in mixed dorms. I also kind of appreciate my own personal space. If you are in your early to mid or even late 20's, this can be a wonderful way to be kind of forced to meet people and I highly recommend it. Once you get a bit older though I think that you have kind of overstayed your welcome as far as this sort of lodging is concerned and you should probably look at other options.
There are certain markets where dorms will be the only thing available and if you end up in that situation then I say go for it.
Some of the more popular party areas will actually have age restrictions on their dorms, and that doesn't feel good to be told that you are too old to stay in them. This has never actually happened to me because I opted to exit the dorm scene on my own before it became a factor.
There are a lot of other cheap options that don't involved dorms in most countries all around the world though and for the most part they are wonderful places. However, if you travel long enough you are extremely likely to encounter someone that has lost most of their marbles along the way. This is part of the fun I guess because it simply makes for an interesting story later, but sometimes these encounters can almost seem borderline dangerous.
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In the rather mediocre film "The Beach" starring Leo DiCaprio, the character Richard happens to have a rather unruly next door neighbor in the cheap hostel that he is staying in. The guy's name is Daffy and he introduces himself to the floor that he is staying on by screaming as he enters, kicking doors, shouting at people behind the doors and eventually ripping the netting off that is between his room and Richard's. Richard ends up befriending the crazy person and the crazy person is the only reason why Richard finds out about the beach in question in the first place.
As insane as this situation might sound or as improbably as it may seem, these sorts of encounters, while rare, do happen in hostels.
You see, the reason why you are paying damn near nothing to stay in a very cheap and simple room is because the establishment likely doesn't contain the sorts of features that a real hotel would have like thick walls, good locks on the doors, or 24 hour security. I have stayed in many hostels where there were some unruly or loud people staying there and if you can't get them to be quiet by persuading them to do so nicely you don't have much of a choice to either fight them or just deal with it. There is no front desk to call to intervene. Many of the places I have stayed in around the world didn't even have anyone at reception after a certain hour at night and that is just the way it is. You have a key or a card that grants you entrance to the facility as well as your room but other than that, you are on your own.
I have only had bad experiences with other guests in hostels a handful of time in many years but you always remember the bad ones. In one of these situations there was a couple that was staying down the hall from me that were either fighting one another very loudly or screwing very loudly. They clearly didn't care about anyone else that was staying there and a bunch of people complained about them the next day and they were kicked out of the hostel. A few days later I saw them being kicked out of yet another hostel and I think this is just how selfish this duo was: They simply do not care about anyone else around them. They were not physically threatening, they were just extremely inconsiderate. As it turns out I found out later that they were both drug addicts and they were getting into trouble all over the country that I was in during their search for heroin. That explains a lot.
Another time there was a horrendous drunk that was staying in the same hostel as me that would have a mental breakdown every night he would return home extremely drunk. This guy was always losing his key or locking his key in his room and rather than just go and sit in the lobby until morning like a sane person would, he was running up and down the hallways shouting for people to let him into their rooms. I, like most of the other people staying there simply ignored him but one quite large person who was staying there had had enough of his shit and beat him up in the hallway, knocked him out, then put him in a chair downstairs. I could hear people applauding this intervention but it was just a couple of hours later when the drunk chap was back at it again. He obviously was kicked out of the hostel the next day and the police were actually involved because apparently he had broken a bunch of stuff while he was there as well.
The idea of really cheap travel, especially in countries with access to cheap and pure drugs such as central America, most of South America, and to a lessor degree Laos, these people tend to stick around for a long time not to enjoy the sites, but to get discounted heroin and other opiates. In my years of traveling I can spot these people from a long ways away.
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Don't let these very rare moments in my very long period of international cheap travel dissuade you from attempting to travel on the cheap though because 99% of my experiences have been really good ones. Just know that there is an off chance that you will end up in a hostel with a drug addict or a very inconsiderate couple or a drunk. They are all over the place but just more noticeable when the walls are open aired and made of plywood that doesn't go all the way up to the ceiling.
The goods still outweigh the bads in backpacking in my mind, and it is something that I really think people should experience at least once in their lives.
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