Hostels in Australia: Tips for newcomers
What to know before booking?
Living with other people is often not easy, especially when they have different lifestyles, ages, and cultures. For this reason, you must be open to leaving your comfort zone when you arrive in a different country.
In my case I decided to be a backpacker after I was 30, leaving a structured life to embark on an adventure without knowing what to expect.
As it was my first time being a backpacker, I dedicated myself to researching as much as I could, and carefully reviewed the comments of the people in the hostels I was looking for, from cleanliness to location, so booking.com was my best friend for the first year.
When I arrived in Melbourne at the beginning of 2019, I already had accommodation reserved for the first six days (in those years I paid 258 AUD), I wanted to be in a central place with easy access, that would allow me to move around the city freely and meet people, the room had six beds and only women, I wasn't adventurous enough to stay in a mixed room.
The room in the hostel was perfect, only women, to my surprise I was the only Latina since my roommates were Asian, so speaking in English was mandatory, if I wanted to talk to them.
Where did I stay, you ask?
My first hostel was Greenhouse Backpackers - Melbourne , it is close to Flinders train station, trams and the main streets, I stayed here for a few days and then I moved to another cheaper hostel near the Queen Elizabeth Market.
The new hostel was The Village Melbourne, we got a good discount since they were renovating the building, and we also realized that we could have better prices if we paid directly to the hostel.
At The village Melbourne , I was in a mixed room with a bathroom for only the people who were in the room, my companions in that room were my first family in Australia, although we were from different countries, men and women shared well, everyone was respectful and clean.
Hostels
Hostels generally have small spaces so you have to be very organized so as not to lose anything.
After spending 2 months living in Melbourne, it was time to start working and getting to know the country, so the next destination was Cairns.
Finding accommodation in Cairns was easy, however, due to economy, we booked into a hostel that we didn't like, the cleanliness and comfort, so we decided to spend one night and change to a hostel later.
In Cairns we discovered Why not backpackers which was super comfortable for us, we liked the rooms, the kitchen as well as having a pool and the ease of getting around the city since they had a van that took you from the hostel to the center of the city, with schedules determined so we did not spend on transportation.
We used this hostel several times when we traveled to Cairns, some hostels also offer to pick you up from the airport so I recommend you take a good look at what benefits you have if you stay in a hostel.
After working in the northern part of Queensland we decided to travel to Brisbane here we used another hostel Selina Brisbane in a six bed mixed dormitory, this hostel was good, it was central so we could do various activities, we stayed here for a few days and then we tried Couchsurfing We were lucky because the person who adopted us was super clean and tidy, his house was impeccable and the room we had for us felt like we were in a hotel.
Information on hostels
My last hostel as a backpacker was in Sydney, this time I was alone again and I stayed at Nina's Place Sydney , why did I choose it? because it was not that expensive, it was central, in addition to being close to the Sydney Opera House, I loved the location, but I really didn't like my room, maybe because I had been living in isolated places for a long time and the noise of the city overwhelmed me a little, however, it is manageable with earplugs.
Nina's was my last experience living in hostels in Australia, so I leave you with the following recommendations when looking for hostels.
Booking.com | Official site | The best hotels, flights, car rentals & accommodations
Tips
Check out the comments from other backpackers, they will always give you an idea of what to expect, generally the comments are true.
Check photos and location so you can move easily within the city.
Check if the hostel offers airport transfer | downtown
Check with the reception many times they have a discount by booking directly with the hostel and not using the search pages.
Check that the cleaning is rigorous (you don't want to be washing everything and drying everything in the dryer because there are insects)
Many of the hostels, backpackers leave their food to share with whoever needs it (it helps you save money)
Always have earplugs and eye protection with you, they will help you sleep when there are more people in the room.
