When I share with people that I often stay in youth hostels when I travel, they say, I thought those were for 18-26-year-olds. Well not anymore. They now attract people from 18-80 years of age, and it doesn’t matter if you’re single, you’re sporting your spouse or you brought your family
When my children graduated from high school, I took each of them on a trip. I wanted them to be educated on the joys of traveling on a budget hos(styling) it. My daughter and I stayed on 42nd Street in New York City for less than $45 per night. My son and I stayed at a hostel in downtown Chicago for around $30 per night. But hostels do not only offer an inexpensive place to stay. They also offer exotic experiences.
Over the years, I have stayed in a teepee on Vancouver Island, Canada, a chuck wagon on Vashon Island, Washington, a Ship in Stockholm, Sweden, The Big Tent in Heidelberg, Germany and a bungalow in Bali just to name a few. The prices range from as little as $5.00 per night to $50.00 or more per night depending on what part of the world you are traveling to and if you are willing to share a room and a bathroom or if you would like your privacy.
Hostels also provide cultural entertainment as you will meet people from all over the world and if you allow yourself the opportunity to connect with others in conversation you can experience an adventure of a lifetime.
The key is to be flexible. The best adventures I ever had is when I didn’t plan anything. I got up the day of, met someone during breakfast, shared ideas of places to visit and we said yes to sharing a ride or exploring a destination together. I recently experienced a kick scooter tour through Singapore. When you are traveling alone its fun to have the opportunity to share your experience with others.
My most recent Youth Hostel episode granted me a trip to Art in Paradise a 3 D museum in Chiang Mai with an Australian chap named Darryn. I said yes to an adventure and the two of us set off on foot site seeing our way to the museum. The trip to the museum gave us the opportunity to take some great pictures for each other.
The next day I joined a group of four random guests from the hostel all from different parts of the world and we hired a driver for an all day excursion. All six of us squeezed inside a 4×4 extended cab pickup truck and away we went on a 4.5 hour drive to see the White Buddhist temple, visited the Chiang Rai Mai Hill Tribes in Chiang Rai and we took a boat ride down the Mekong River to the Golden Triangle where the waters of Myanmar, Thailand and Laos merge . We later docked the boat to shop the village markets in Laos. It turned out to be an adventure of a lifetime
The White Temple
Chiang Rai Hill tribe
Boat ride on Mekong River
Infused Cobra venom whiskey for sale in the Laos Market
I highly recommend checking into a hostel and if you are one of those people who tend to plan your trips, try something different and say yes to exploring life on a whim. You too just might have a novel experience you will never forget.