When it comes to planning, a primary concern of the traveling introvert or ambivert is forecasting how, when and where they’ll be able to pull themselves out of the picture for that all-important recharge time. How and where you’d like to spend your time alone is perhaps best determined by what you want your social hours to look like and how you prefer your down time.
There’s perhaps no more fundamental way to tailor to your specific needs and wants while out on the road than choosing where to stay. The combination of experiences you might find in one accommodation can be far different than in another. Generally, the better choices will be the ones that offer up a sheltered, low-octane recovery from the world of stimulus in which it sits.
As for budget accommodations, hostels are often one of the best choices you can make. Some come equipped with a quiet common room set right next to a small library for your reading pleasure, an acoustic guitar tucked away over in the corner, or comfortable couches and chairs sitting in nooks and crannies where you can carve out some quality time to just chill.
Other stays are never ending parties packed with people and stuffed to the brim with things to do, see, hear, feel, and touch at just about every turn. Looking to soak up every last bit of energy you can all night long with a big tall drink in your hand and a big giant pool spread out at the foot of a bar? Yes, you can find that too. You’re also probably a die-hard extrovert and can stop reading this post now.
For all the ambiverts out there, there’s often nothing better than finding a hostel with a perfect blend. Social yet quiet. Public but also private. Magic can happen in a place like this, if you’ll only allow it to.
If you’ve been lucky enough to find a hostel that strikes the perfect balance with respect to where you land on the introvert-extrovert spectrum, it’s likely that you’ll be gifted with the opportunity to meet and spend quality time with some wonderful people from all walks of life. The chances of meeting another like-minded traveler in a place like this will be significantly greater if you take the time to wander its hallways, cook in its kitchen, or hang out in its common room over the course of your stay. When you’re ready to bail, just slip away through the nearest escape hatch.
The dizzying array of choices in hostel stays can often be quite overwhelming. Providing there are vacancies, there will likely be many good picks once you’ve eliminated the worst from the pool. As luck would have it, how you define “best” and “worst” is likely quite different than the person you’re sitting next to on the train, whether you’re traveling together or not. Thankfully, this wide variety of tastes and opinions keeps us from chasing the same things in this world and helps keep the most popular places from becoming even greater fusterclucks than they already are.
As for my own preferences, when it comes to top picks in accommodations, it’s all about mood. As an ambivert, this can change by the day, hour, or even sometimes by the minute. My default position often centers around controlled opportunities to meet interesting people and spending quality time together to better understand an unfamiliar culture, learning new things, sharing an experience, or just plain old getting to know someone better as yet another important member of this single global tribe that we call humanity even if it’s only just for a brief moment in time.
However, if I set the excitement dial too high up and book a bed at a party hostel, I’m likely to blow several large fuses and melt down into a big puddle of goo before the evening’s over. I had to learn this the hard way and I’ve now learned to carefully meter out my energies over the course of my travels.
For me, there’s almost no better discovery than a nice chill hostel with a comfortable and homey common area that’s been well loved and cared for but also welcoming enough to be used by other guests during their stays.
The best of the best offer well-designed bunk beds equipped with essential features such as low occupancy bedrooms, privacy curtains, decent lighting, thoughtfully placed electrical outlets, secure personal safes, comfortable mattresses, quality throw blankets and pillows, noise deadening elements, conveniently located lockers, clean well-maintained bathrooms, and a large bank of generously sized shower stalls that check all the right boxes.
The cream of the crop include beautiful amenities such as well-kept outdoor pools, manicured gardens, atmospheric courtyards, outdoor patios, and/or rooftop decks, all serving as great spots to spend some down time so long as these features have not managed to attract the hard-core partying crowd.
It’s in these top-tier hostels where, if I want some alone time, I can hide behind the curtain of my bunk bed with some earplugs, earbuds, or a sleep mask for some much needed decompression time. If I’m lucky, I’ll have managed to score a private room somewhere on the property. In either case, when the timing’s right and fortune has been at my side, it’ll be a super short walk out to the common area where I can quietly relax amongst scattered guests, meet up with other travelers to chat, or head out the door with some people I’ve met down the hallway.
The hardest part of the whole endeavor is knowing how and where to find that beautiful hidden gem. Several recommended practices may be helpful in this regard and may be land you in just the right place.
Top Ten Recommendations for Finding the Perfect Chill Hostel
Start with the name of the place. Pick apart the individual words or taglines. Delve deeper if you spot any of the following clue-ins: Hideout, Hideaway, Haven, Home, Cultural, Neighborhood, Unplugged, Comfy, Eco, Sleep, Stay, Rest.
Study the reviews and look for adjectives that describe a peaceful scene: chill, relaxing, quiet, mellow, clean, nice, kind, comfortable, beautiful, cozy, and even “dead.” Gravitate towards those.
Take special note of reviews from people who’ve actually taken the time to meet and gotten to know hostel staff on a more personal level during their stay. Do they speak highly of them? These types of meaningful connections can be quite memorable and rewarding and often don’t happen in party hostels.
Pick apart the photos. Look for guests of all ages. Keep an eye out for smaller crowds, soft lighting, calming color palettes, nice furnishings, fully furnished kitchens, well-stocked libraries, a wide variety of dispersed seating areas with furniture that seem well taken care of, nice artwork or other things of interest populating the common spaces, potted plants and flowers, a common room that looks like it’s free of heavy scuffing or hard-to-wash furnishings, and a general lack of things that might draw the party crowd (big screen TVs, swimming pools, pool tables, bars, dance floors, karaoke machines, etc.).
Look for amenities that’ll help one settle into the right frame of mind like small private bedrooms, cubbyholes, or capsules, scattered reading nooks, rooftop gardens, small outdoor patios, maintained laundry facilities, secure storage for your valuables, sufficient space to keep your belongings organized and accessible, well thought out accouterments in your sleeping area, clean and thoughtful layouts in the bathrooms and shower stalls, curated artwork, turntables and vinyl collections, magazine racks, yoga mats, complimentary things to borrow or use such as umbrellas, bikes, and fully stocked complimentary laundry facilities with helpful assists like free detergent or places to line dry your clothes.
Keep an eye out for photos that may reveal extras like common spaces with stunning vistas, inspiring artwork, resource libraries, complimentary non-alcoholic beverages, and sometimes “house journals” where people have found the time, space, and inclination to write nice notes, advice, and other creative works for the owners and other travelers to review at their leisure (the hostel from which I’m writing this post has tens of such journals scattered throughout the shared spaces of the facility, not to mention the ones in each bedroom).
Listen to word of mouth. Other travelers you meet during a stay in a hostel that you’ve found to be of your liking may offer up other suggestions as to similar places. Wisened backpackers will have built in enough flexibility in their itineraries to alter their routes so as to stitch in as many of these great places as they can into their overseas wanderings.
Analyze a hostel’s location. Is it in the quieter part of town? Is it out in the farmlands? Close to single family residential housing? Or is it situated in a high rise building in a busier more central location? Be mindful of those that are only a few steps away from Party Central Ground Zero. If you enjoy some peace and quite, keep a safe distance away from such places.
Read the house rules. Look for such saving graces as quiet hours, lights-off times, cleaning closures, curfews (or other inconveniences imposed on those getting back super late), footwear restrictions (e.g., slippers required), and other rules that might scare off certain types.
Last but not least, scrutinize the list of hostel-sponsored activities. Gravitate towards places that promote activities like meditation sessions, educational classes, cultural tours, language exchange, hiking circuits, or the like. Run away if you see advertisements for happy hours, pool parties, swimsuit contests, drinking games, karaoke competitions, and other similar events. And for goodness sake, if you see offers for free drinks at check-in (of the high octane variety), hightail it and search for something else.
Happy Hunting!
