A hostel worker told me to stop booking private rooms and it saved me $400 on a 2 week trip through Portugal

I was planning a solo trip to Lisbon and Porto last spring and kept looking at private rooms in hostels. They were like $50-60 a night. An older guy at the front desk of this hostel I was checking out overheard me complaining about prices and said 'just get a dorm bed and a sleep mask, nobody cares about privacy when they're broke.' Honestly I thought he was being rude but I tried it. Booked a 6 bed dorm in Lisbon for $18 a night. Bought a $6 sleep mask and earplugs. Met a group of travelers who showed me this free walking tour that covered stuff the expensive tours miss. Saved enough to take a train to the Algarve for 3 days. Has anyone else found that dorms actually work better for solo trips than you'd expect?

3 comments

3 Comments

hollyl255d ago

Dorms are basically a cheat code for solo travel but you have to accept that you're trading privacy for experience. The real hack is finding hostels with pod style beds where you still get your own curtain and light, those are a game changer. Did you notice that the people who complain about dorm life the most are usually the ones who never actually try it with a good sleep setup? That $6 sleep mask probably paid for itself ten times over in saved cash. How did you handle the morning routine though, did you find yourself waking up early to avoid the bathroom rush?

ninaowens5d agoTop Commenter

Oh man, the bathroom rush was my nemesis at first. I started bringing a little toiletry bag with me to the shower so I could do everything in one go instead of going back and forth to my locker. And honestly, I just accepted that I'd be sharing sink space with strangers and kept my routine to like 10 minutes max. Dry shampoo became my best friend on those mornings when the line was out the door. Also, having a quick breakfast bar stashed in my bag meant I could grab coffee and eat on the go without fighting for the kitchen. It's all about lowering your expectations and embracing the chaos a little bit.

the_mary5d ago

My buddy Dan used to get so stressed about hostel mornings he'd just sleep in his car at the trailhead instead. Tried it once myself and woke up with a raccoon staring at me through the window, nope never again. Honestly a granola bar and some dry shampoo beats fighting a raccoon for your space any day.