karen

I know most of you guys don't stay in hostels when you travel abroad. However, I'm still in my poor, restless college years and I want to travel. I could stay at a normal hotel, but I would like to eat while I'm on vacation! <BR> The plan is a backpack adventure through Europe. Start in London, move down to France, maybe over to Germany, down through Italy and hopefully Greece. <BR> The cheaper I can stay, the more I get to do and see, right? I'm a little confused about hostels in general though. Do I get my own room? Can I share it with only my friend? Do I have to run down the hall to shower? Are they safe? Any advice you guys have for a poor college kid would be great!

kate

From what I know of hostels, the room and bathroom all depend on how much you pay and how good the hostel is. Hostelling International has a web site and they are all over the world. I know they have rooms for just two and some have their own bathrooms. Then they have rooms like dorms with bunkbeds and those would not be what you would like, I think.<BR>Check out their site and see if they can give you more info.<BR>Good luck!

kate

http://www.iyhf.org/home_gb.html<BR><BR>This is Hostelling Internationals Site.

Russ

Karen: Hostels are great places to meet other travelers. I use them quite often for this reason and to save cash. Although the HI hostels are all affiliated, the customs vary a lot by country. Some have an assortment of single, private rooms, doubles, triples and quads; some of the older places still have 8-10-bed (and more) rooms. Germany has hostels roughly every other square mile, it seems (600+, many in castles) while Greece has just a handful. Most HI places are pretty clean. the downside is that many accommodate large groups of school kids on outings (the bulk of their sales, in many cases!) and these kids can be noisy. <BR><BR>Private hostels are another matter. <BR>Standards vary a lot, and sometimes the places are drug dens. You'll meet people, but maybe not the right ones.<BR><BR>Anyway, you can e-mail me if you like with your destinations and I can tell you of any recommendations I might have.<BR><BR>I suggest that you be careful about locations - some are right where you want them, near the old town and the station, but a lot of hostels are on the fringe of the towns they're located in. It's often better to find a private B&B with a central location (usually for close to the same price) than to be bussing out to Siberia and back just to sleep.<BR><BR>National HI hostel organizations:<BR>Germany: www.djh.de<BR>France: www.fuaj.fr<BR><BR>Russ

lily

Karen,<BR><BR>I think hostels overall can be a very positive experience. There are definitely good ones and bad ones. A good site to check out is hostels.com. They have an extensive directory of European hostels. Many can be booked online, I did this last summer and it was a great help! Some cities I wasn't able to book ahead, but I've never had a problem finding a room. <BR><BR>If you have enough of a head start in planning, you will find that many hostels have private single or double rooms, many with their own bathroom. I did this in Paris when I was ready for a "break". However, if a hostel doesn't have a bathroom, sometimes a room may have a sink and mirror, which is very nice and you can do a quick wash-up that way.<BR><BR>However, don't shy away from dormitory style rooms, you will meet wonderful other travelers! Allow yourself some flexibility, and be willing to compromise - you will have a terrific time.<BR><BR>If you would like suggestions for hostels in Italy, France and Germany please let me know!

Fred

Our son stayed in hostels all over western Europe. Most were very fine. Really no problems. There are dormitory hostels, small room hostels - even hostels in Chateaus. Be careful - some hostels have curfews and door is locked at a certain time - you'll be locked out.<BR>To get information, first, join American Youth Hostels - call (202) 783-6161- or go to: http://www.hiayh.org/home.shtml - they have hostels all over the world.<BR><BR>Here are some hostel sites on the internet go to: http://www.fuaj.fr/oldindex.htm<BR>http://www.fuaj.fr/a~frame.htm <BR>http://www.paris.org/Accueil/Foyers/<BR>http://www.eurotrip.com<BR>http://www.hostels.com<BR>For Paris information go to www.anamericaninparis.com<BR>