During my last trip to Goa I had decided to stay in a backpacker’s hostel instead of a hotel and I have come back with some wonderful experiences, few of which I will be sharing here. But before that, let me confess why I opted for a hostel over a hotel.
The main reason was because I was travelling alone this time and was on a budget, I needed a cheap but descent place to stay. My experience with budget hotels had never been great so a hostel seemed to be the only option for me. This however was not the only reason. I also wanted to meet other like-minded people from various places who unlike most of the Indian travellers, travel for experiencing cultures and places.
After some quick research I booked myself at the Red Door Hostel at Anjuna for a couple of nights.
The Place
It was a very conventional hostel-like atmosphere right from the word go and save for one or two guys I noticed that most of the people staying there were more or less my age and were very friendly. There was an open kitchen for anyone who wanted to brew his cup of coffee or cook a quick-lunch. The hall with a big TV running a Hollywood flick seemed to be the place to socialize there. I felt at home in no time.
The Sleeping
The six-bed mixed dorm which I was put-up in was clean and spacious. It was my first experience staying in a dorm and I was not sure how comfortable I would be on the privacy part but I felt absolutely fine about being there. The only concerns that I had were sorted as soon as I secured my camera and associated accessories in the locker that was given to me, like everybody else in the hostel.
The people
My other five room-mates were quite an interesting bunch and it was wonderful to hear about their experiences in India. The most interesting of all of them was this British girl whose name I sadly don’t remember. She wanted to experience India from the ‘inside’, the small-town India and had taken-up teaching in Aligarh for three months. Stories of her experiences about things she had taken for granted back home all these years vs how most of them were a far-cry there in Aligarh were quite intriguing.
Over the next two days, I met quite a few other travellers staying there and spent hours sharing each-other’s stories with them over countless beers while fitting myself in one of the sofas in the hall. I can never imagine experiencing anything like this in a conventional hotel.
The Parties
The lawn-parties that started late evening carried-on till early in the morning and even though I am not a party guy, I enjoyed watching others dance to the tunes of trance from the slowly swaying swing in the lawn. Try doing that in a hotel and you are sure to invite a lot of complaints from almost everyone around.
The Over-all Experience
I liked the easy-going nature and the experience of being like-minded people and company of the friends that I ended up extending my stay there by another day which I wanted to spend exploring south Goa.
So overall, it was a great all-round experience which I would definitely like to experience again. So much so that the next trip I and Ruchi go on another trip I will also keep the private rooms at any backpackers hostel as an accommodation option. This will give us the best of both worlds, our personal space and the hostel-experience.
Have you stayed in a backpackers hostel or are you planning to stay in one? Leave me a comment below, I would love to hear from you.
I do agree with you… we all look for cheap hotles to stay but it becomes touristy and commercial… the guy on the hotle reception is not a guide or a local to tell you places to visit etc and no personal touch… also facilities like small room, tv, its closed not open and free vibe which is very not cool for travellers like us who like outdoors. Homestays are much more lets say nice, personal touch, can see various people etc… what you experienced is indeed peaceful… travel experiences, and people from all over the world sharing stories(: … at the end of the day what I remember about the travel is the time I had there… for ex, a slipper repair guy at Mysore who repaired my sipper for Rs 10 and spoke awesome english or the cook in the homestay at Stay@Matungu… he kept looking at my Mom as she kept asking for sugar in the coffe when he thought she was diabetic…she was not but told so because she wanted to wear slippers inside the homestay premises which was not allowed… or the autoguy at Yercaud who made our day taking us around Yercaud and showing us around (: and he even told his stories … or the auto guy at Jog Falls who took us around and got us a ride at the Tavenkere dam which was dangerous since we did not know swimming and it was raining!! , no PFDs … I also remember the families who came for tea and they are part of my memory(: … it does teach you a lot about appreciating diversity, respecting others, help others, be good to others and relax too… I was not happy staying at hotles in Pondy or Yercaud… there was nothing at night to do but sleep(: …anyway… would have prefered a open style accomodation to relax, not a closed concrete to come and sleep and be in isolation. In Mysore too was in isolation at night at concreate rooms and fight over a bottle drink with the managars…altogether not cool… and those guys if you avail their taxi services charge up whatever sums they want!! and it’s a budget hotle ha!! … better forget hotles and like travelling and exploring… and you travellers together are a joy together by itself(:
Now this certaily catches my attention. I have never stayed in a hostel before. Lets see, this gives me some courage to try it out. But not sure when!
Mridula mam, I am sure you will like it. The Indian hostel chain Zostel also looks pretty good & colourful. I hope to try that sometime soon.
Wow wonderful experience. Unfortunately I havent stayed in any hostels before. But i would love to stay in such a hostel. First i need to travel solo though 😉
Guess what, start from somewhere near. Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand are fantastic places to get a feel of the hostel accomodation.
AND, you don’t need to travel solo to do that. Hostels do have private rooms for couples as well 🙂