I’ve been solo traveling for about 15 years and I’ve almost always stayed in hostels. Cheap, social, easy way to meet people. I’m pretty introverted and even I’ve made long term friends that way.
But post covid, something feels off. Prices are higher, but the quality is worse. Clean hostels are getting harder to find, partly because a lot of places rely on volunteers instead of actual cleaners, and partly because people just don’t clean up after themselves anymore.
It feels like a lot of travelers have forgotten how to share space. Tons of entitlement. People do whatever they want, then get annoyed if anyone else does the same. Weird behavior has always existed, but now it feels constant.
Maybe it’s younger travelers who missed some social development during covid. Maybe hostels just tolerate bad behavior to keep beds full. Or maybe I’m just getting old.
Either way, I’m getting pretty burnt out on hostels. Which sucks, because hotels aren’t exactly in my budget and hostels used to be such a big part of why I loved traveling.
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