Backpacking Holidays & Travel Guide

Hostels and backpacking go hand in hand, but the nature of both backpacking and hostels around the world can vary drastically. Having hit the hostels in Europe, Australasia, Asia and America, the place that inspires me the most to recommend and reminisce about is the States. A country that is so vast, diverse and plentiful, the merits of hostelling really come into their own. These can be enjoyed whether it is your home country or by foreigners too.

On an extensive hike across America, aboard the Greyhound bus and shacking up in hostels, I was on a tight budget. As a result, these four tips are all based around being kind to your wallet!

Free Food

Americans love their food, we all know this! Despite generous portions, and the relative good value of eating out in America, I was notching up a hefty weekly food bill. Nevertheless, the hostels soon stepped in to help me out with offers of Free Food. It’s a standard feature of hostels the world over that cooking facilities are provided, but I wasn’t coping too well with this for 2 reasons:

Firstly, due to the sheer number of things to do in America’s vast cities (and a certain level of laziness) I was none too keen to get back early every day to muscle in on the home cooking scene.

Secondly, I also found that as America generally doesn’t sell food items in small quantities it was quite expensive buying food from shops and then having to throw a lot away as I couldn’t carry it from one location to another.

Hence, the offer of free food at several locations along the route was much appreciated. This ranged from an epic weekly free BBQ in Brooklyn to daily breakfast, lunch and dinner in Miami!

Local Culture

Okay, we do already have a food section, but talking about local culture whilst using New Orleans as a reference point, then ignoring foody nights at hostels such as boiled crayfish night would be a crime. When hostels offer cuisine that taps into the local culture it usually isn’t as budget as the free food options some hostels have, so it also isn’t usually free (yet another reason for not being in the free food section!).

Aside from food, hostels in the States are great at tapping into the local culture by virtue of their locations and discounts. The hostel I stayed at in New Orleans was located plum on Canal street, therefore offering access to the historical tram line and it had some great bohemian décor. These back street addresses may sometimes be away from the glitzy and glamorous city locales, but they are often nestled in the cheaper, livelier and more culture orientated addresses.

Great Nights Out

Nights out in America can be expensive or difficult to select without any local knowledge. The cities are vast and therefore can be costly to get across or home from on nights out. The hostels tap into these identified areas of difficulty, and can escort you to the best night haunts whilst often negotiating great discounts. They achieve this by going to clubs on certain nights out and generating a large lively crowd that clubs find appealing.

This can give you access to clubs in the States that normally charge hefty entrance fees, and queue jumping can occur in parts of America which makes it often impossible to get into the best clubs despite how deep your pockets are. If you aren’t a ‘somebody’ or one of their tag-alongs then you can forget getting into your club of choice without the help of the hostel. On one of the hostel nights out in San Diego, we went to the club early to get a cheap stamp, then back to the hostel to return later so we could get in free. This also turned out to be one of the flash roof top bars in the city, which resulted in a stunning night! Therefore, local knowledge and strategies like these can really come in handy.

In House Entertainment

By bus America took exceedingly long to get across. This often resulted in some overnight journeys or very early leaving times to fit in with the Greyhound schedule. My ability to power through on travel passion alone waned somewhat after the East coast, so a couple of nights in did start to feature. The hostels in the states really came through here, as the American love of a good time really shone through in what the hostel workers (many were Americans, unlike other countries) were prepared and capable of hosting.

Karaoke was a regular feature in San Francisco which is always right up some people’s street. Movie nights (in the case of San Fran they had an actual cinema room) can give you some welcome time with the TV screen and a quieter alternative. If your party spirit is still burning bright then you will love the regular cheap stay-in and-party nights that hostels throughout the States host as well.

America really did deliver when it came to hosteling. A lot of this is likely due to the competitive hostel scene in the most popular locations, but the well organised approach and variety of services and features on offer was prevalent throughout my trip. Coast to coast, wherever you travel in the States, the hostel scene will enhance the amazing travel experiences to be had here.

Author Bio – Matthew has recently completed an extensive round the world trip. He now blogs about his travels in 2011 whilst planning his Flights to Australia to explore the West Coast in 2012.