Sep 12 2007
A Refreshing New ‘Top 10 Hostels’ List
A couple days ago the Guardian published an article on their website called Top 10 Hostels Around the World. I opened the link fully expecting to see the same 10 ‘best’ hostels that have been bantied about on other websites for years.
Most of the places mentioned on these sorts of lists are huge, spotless, and full of amenities with a hotel feel at a hostel price. To most people this would seem like a good thing but to me these places are backpacker factories in the business of separating travellers from their money any way they can. Huge, purpose built, hotel-like hostels are clean, fun and usually well-located but they’re big business and lack the soul and character of smaller, owner-operated places.
So I was pleasantly surprised to find a new list consisting mostly of smallish hostels, each with a seemingly unique atmosphere. I know the list is a good one because my favourite hostel, Backpack Guesthouse in Budapest, comes in at number five. This hostel is about as far away as you can get from my hated backpacker factories and it’s really encouraging to see such a small, unimposing place make a list like this.
I haven’t been to any of the other hostels but I’ve heard of a couple. Lists like this have to be taken with a grain of salt because everyone has different tastes, but based on the inclusion of my beloved Backpack Guesthouse I will definately be booking myself into these other hostels the next time find myself in the neighbourhood.
I did a wee write up on a few of my favourite hostels (so far) which might be worth a read if you love a great hostel as much as I do.
Looking for feedback: So that was my first travel-related post and I’m curious about whether you guys think it fits in with the theme of the site. I’m not into writing blow by blow accounts of my travels but have lots to say about backpacking in general and plan to compliment the nerdy parts of this site with a bit of nomad stuff. What do you think… can travel stuff and web stuff live side by side on this blog?
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I've been travelling since January 2008 living off earnings from the web. Follow me as I bum around Asia and beyond, getting up to mischief and working online as I go. 
Hey Kirsty - seems to me you are on the right track. If it helps to make the site interesting, and draws people here then way to go. Personally, that is what is really interesting - the whole concept of being able to do all this web/blogging stuff while exploring the world and not being tied down to one specific location.
I think just a blog on the web stuff alone might tend to get a little dry. But combine it with the backpacking /travel/nomad aspect, and it puts a twist on it that makes the site that much more interesting. And that is afterall the name of the game right?
Anyhow, just my $.02 -
My favourite hostel is Travellers House in Lisbon. It’s quite small and business like, but the staff there put on tons of events to try and generate interest. It’s fantasic!
I was in Lithuania a couple of years ago and had my first experience of hostels. I suppose the hostels were nice as hostels go but I just think I’m too old for them, it got tired waking up several times each night as new backpackers checked in, turned on the lights and made their bed. After getting cought in a massive downpour on my way to another town I turned back and checked into a hotel, and considered it money well spent (mind you this was Lithuanian prices) having a king size bed and a room all for myself.
The notion was further enforced when a week later when I was alloted a very crappy bed at another hostel and got my back in a twist. And again a week after that when I was shook awake in a hostel in Rotterdam and asked to stop snoring.
As to feedback, like you say this is your first travel related post and it is at odds with most on your blog. A good post none the less, but it could be more relevant. F.eks. did you try the internet connection at the hostel you stayed on, is there any mention of what the internet situation is like at the other hostels?
P.s. my best travel experience was when I slept in the woods in Denmark. I arrived in this cute little town only to realize that I could only afford 2 days in a hotel (no hostels) so I went and found a big old tree a few miles out of town to shelter me from rain, camouflaged my sleeping bag (branches and stuff) and spent my nights there. It was great!
I agree that the travelling combined with earning from the web will make my site a bit different and hopefulyl more interesting. Over at the Working Nomad site I never used to like his travel posts… I wanted to read about website stuff and working on the road, not about what food he ate and how his bus ride sucked and I’d rather not have those types of posts on my site. Making sure my travel posts tie into working is a great idea and I think I’ll aim to do that.
I think once I hit the road I’ll start a pure travel blog for photos and updates for friends and family because I don’t think that sort of stuff belongs on here.
Webjourneyman, thanks for the 3 posts but I’ve edited them into one!
I’m a die hard lover of hostels but I know what you mean. I think I might be growing less and less fond of dorms but there are usually single rooms available. I love the social aspect of hostels and don’t like that Asia doesn’t really have them. Woods in Denmark sounds like good advice - that place is expensive!
Travel blogs are a dime a dozen, so are making-a-living-from-internet blogs. But blogs who combine the two are few, and I’m still kicking myself for not starting one when I had the idea and let working nomad beat me to the punch. Then again, what am I dong here, why am I not working on my thing instead of spamming your thing with comments?
Profit from other peoples procrastination, now there is an earner!
Haha, ya there’s a point. I think there’s plenty of room out there for this type of blog so get to it and stop loitering around here!
I guest blogged over on WN for awhile partly because I was still over a year away from attempting the working nomad thing but mainly because I was too lazy to work out how Wordpress worked! Procrastination is the devil.
To be honest I think this post is totally relevant.
You said in your first post that this blog is about making money online and travel, so i don’t see the problem really
I think the travel stuff will ad a nice twist to things
Really enjoying the blog so far Kirsty, all the best
First, a belated congrats on the site — well written and interesting stuff.
The ten best hostels in the world and not a single place in all of Asia??!! Seems odd.
Your site is very informative, and the candid way you’re presenting it is extremely inspirational. For a few months now, I’d been trying to discover the bloggers’ world. My motive was to promote our retirement home/apartment/dorm in the Philippines. However, I came across a few sites that made me think it might just generate money. Then…I stumbled in your website some information that validates my intuitive perception of the bits and pieces I gathered along the way. Thank you, and if you happen to visit the Philippines…you are most welcome as a guest in our place. It could not compete with hotels, not really a hostel, but I try to make it safe and comfortable since it is my family’s haven. — CC/xzyllardrums.com
Cecilia do you know I actually booked a flight to Manila last week? How funny! I’m heading to the Philippines one-way on January 9th to start my travels. I plan to spend a month or so there so I will for sure try to stop by and say hello!
I’m so excited that I got through…but as I’ve said earlier in my other resonse, I don’t even know how to get the RSS to work. I couldn’t find this again until today when I had to open all your other posts. I don’t belong to this computer generation society, just trying hard to find a way to retire before retirement… and it’s a hurdle to understand new sets of vocabulary that Webster might not even care to include in another century. If you email me, I can give you some emergency contacts. I’m not sure if I can have my blog running before the end of the year. My sister would love to have you there in Quezon City, Metro Manila.