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Slept in a $19 hostel dorm in Lisbon instead of a $140 hotel room and honestly I'd do it again
I always swore I was too old for hostels. I'm 34, I like my own bathroom, and the idea of bunk beds with strangers sounded like a punishment. So when I planned 6 nights in Lisbon back in March, I almost booked a private room for $140 a night. Instead I grabbed a bottom bunk in a 6 person dorm near Baixa for $19 a night and put the $700 I saved toward a train down to the Algarve. The first night was rough, guy above me snored like a chainsaw and someone came in at 3am rattling a plastic bag. But by day two I had a crew, two Aussies and a nurse from Toronto, and we split taxi rides and ate at places I never would have found on my own. The front desk guy marked a cheap seafood spot on my map that ended up being the best meal of the whole trip for 11 euros. I still wear earplugs now and I book the top bunk on purpose so nobody stomps over my head. Has anyone else flipped on hostels later in life, or did you try it once and swear it off for good?
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jamie_webb6711d ago
So what made you pick the top bunk on purpose, is it just the stomping thing or did you figure out something else about dorm life that nobody tells you before you try it? I ask because the earplugs part makes total sense but I'm wondering if the top bunk thing is really about control, like you get to decide when you climb up and nobody's tossing and turning right under your head all night. Also curious if the crew you found on day two was pure luck or if you did something to make that happen, because I've stayed in places where everyone just stared at their phones and nobody talked. Did the train down to the Algarve end up being worth blowing that hotel money on, or was that the real win of the whole swap?
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