I had always been hesitant about staying in a hostel, mainly for three reasons:

1. I am not fond of dorm-style living (especially because I enjoy my alone time and unashamedly talk to myself a lot)

2. I’m not the best at meeting/interacting with new people (3 cheers for social anxiety yayy) and

3. It always seemed unsafe.

Well, all of my hesitancies about staying in a hostel dissipated after I stayed in one for a couple nights.

I was planning a solo trip to San Francisco in late February and quickly learned hotels and Airbnbs were wayyy too expensive for a gal on a budget, so I decided to finally overcome my fears and booked a six-night stay in a hostel. After reading reviews for a few different places and comparing facilities and prices, I decided on the Green Tortoise Hostel. I definitely made the right choice.

The Basics: Prices & Facilities

While a hotel or Airbnb would have been well over $600 for six nights, my stay at the Green Tortoise was just a little over $200. This included a room with 3 other gals, free breakfast, free wifi, free luggage storage, a free sauna, and a lively common room filled with instruments and games like pool and ping pong.

As for the facilities, the room I was in was small but comfortable. I stayed in a 4-person room with 2 bunk beds (thankfully I had the bottom bunk), and each person had a locker for their suitcases under the bunks. We each also had access to an outlet and a light. In addition, there was a sink, a couple mirrors, and a fan in case the heater ran too hot during the night. The rooms were cleaned every day around 11 a.m.

There were a multitude of bathrooms outside the rooms that also remained very clean. Initially, the bathroom situation was another big worry of mine—I was anxious about the cleanliness and how to move everything I needed back and forth from the room to bathroom. However, once I got settled, I organized all of my toiletries and bathroom essentials (soap, towel, shower shoes, makeup, etc.) in a single bag so everything was easy to just grab and go instead of digging through my suitcase every time. Also, as I mentioned, the bathrooms were always pretty clean. After staying in a few hostels since then, I can confirm that bathrooms and rooms are kept relatively clean 24/7.

The common room was sometimes a little messy with people eating and working, but that space was cleaned often as well. There was also a large kitchen connected to it where people could store food and cook their own meals. In addition, the hostel had a couple coin washers and dryers, a vending machine, and towels/locks for sale. I felt I had everything I needed for a comfortable stay.

Meeting New People

The Green Tortoise Hostel was certainly a very social hostel. Since February, I’ve stayed in 3 more hostels and haven’t had quite the same community experience that I had there. Meeting people in hostels really depends on 1. The activities/facilities a hostel provides (sometimes hostels have bars where you can meet people), 2. The people that happen to be staying there (it’s certainly easier to talk to other solo travellers than trying to wiggle your way into a group travelling together), and 3. Your willingness to introduce yourself to strangers. The third is (in my opinion) the hardest part to overcome.

Thankfully, the Green Tortoise hosted nightly activities for guests that cost $15 or less, so it was a breeze to meet new people. These events included bar hopping, eating at local restaurants, going to stand-up comedy shows, and playing games of mafia in the common room (if you don’t know what mafia is, it’s kind of like Among Us but in-person and seated in a circle).

I, as a socially anxious person, was able to make friends with people from all over the world, ranging from Germany to Colorado to Canada. We would often say hi to each other in passing or meet up in the evenings, one time staying up until 4 in the morning just chatting. I also was able to chat with my roommates a bit, though most came and went very often so I only saw them briefly a few times. I only had one roommate that was there the entire time I was there, so it was nice to have a go-to friend.

My Experience

Due to plane delays, I didn’t make it to the hostel until 2 a.m. However, I let the hostel know I’d be late and they were very accommodating. I felt bad entering the room full of sleeping people and trying to quietly put my things away and get ready for bed in the dark, so I tried to organize myself in a bathroom beforehand and shove my suitcase in the locker before hopping into bed.

My first day in the hostel, I was anxious as heck. After waking up before all of my roommates and getting ready for the day, I went to the common room to get breakfast, and I had no idea where to go at first. There were a lot of people in the kitchen chatting and making breakfast, and even more sitting at tables in the room eating, talking with newfound friends, or working on laptops. I was overwhelmed to say the least. I pretended to act like I knew what I was doing, and eventually I figured out where to go and made a masterful breakfast: a plain bagel with cream cheese and jelly. I found a seat in the corner of the room and ate alone.

After I finished consuming both my food and myself in my phone to not look so alone, I headed back upstairs to gather my things and start my first day of adventures. When I got back to the room, my roommates were all awake and getting ready for the day. We all introduced ourselves and chatted a little bit about where we were from, how long we’d been in San Fran, etc. They were all lovely people, and I found that there are 3 go-to questions to start a conversation in a hostel:

1. Where are you from?
2. What brings you to this city?
3. How long are you staying?

No matter what, at least two of those questions were asked in every conversation I had with people at the hostel. So, good to keep in mind if you have no idea where to start a chat.

After our exchange, I headed on my way and enjoyed the day to myself. I got back to the hostel by early evening to participate in the night’s activity.

By the second day, I felt like a pro. I went down to breakfast in the morning and confidently made a makeshift breakfast of plain oatmeal with peanut butter and jelly and acknowledged a few people I’d met the night before, though I still sat by myself. I didn’t actually eat breakfast with others until the last day I was there.

That night I participated in the evening activity again and met even more people, and I started to feel more and more comfortable as I settled in. By the end, I felt at home, and all of us kept lamenting about how we didn’t want to leave. Again, I haven’t quite had an experience like that in a hostel since then, but this shows how quickly you can find a temporary family in hostels, even if just for one evening.

The entire time I felt very safe and secure. I always locked my personal belongings in my locker, but at no time did I feel like my roommates were untrustworthy. Of course, there will always be people that break that trust and steal, so that’s why I stayed on the safe side just in case. The building itself was also secured at night, with a pin code to get in after 10 p.m.

In terms of noise, it honestly wasn’t too bad. Again, this was a social hostel, but most of the noise was downstairs in the common room away from the rooms. The most noise I heard was from a homeless person yelling down the road at 7 a.m. If people came and went from the room while people were sleeping, they were usually pretty considerate and tried to keep as quiet as possible. Of course, that’s a little hard if it’s 6 a.m. and they’re packing to head to the airport, but being woken up is just something to expect in any shared living situation.

I didn’t stay in the room itself a whole lot because I spent my time exploring the city, and in the evenings I was participating in the night activities or hanging out in the common room, but it was a nice reprieve to rest there for a little while if I needed a break from walking/adventuring before the evening.

My Takeaways and Advice

Put yourself out there. Everyone is in the same boat in terms of not knowing anyone and feeling awkward at first, so sometimes you have to be the one to initiate conversation or involve yourself in group activities. Some people I met had already made solid connections with other guests, but they were more than willing to accept more members, including myself, into their short-term friend group. If you want a subtle way to sit in the common room and assess the situation, bring a laptop/iPad to do some work, or even just scroll on your phone and use the common room as an excuse to not be in your room.

Bring these essentials: a padlock for lockers, a towel (microfiber is thinner, absorbs well, and dries quickly!), shower shoes, and bag for toiletries. Hostels will typically have locks and towels for sale/rent, but it saves you some money if you’re able to pack them with you.

It’s okay to take time to yourself – it’s necessary! Enjoy quiet moments in your room in the middle of the day if you want, especially because there’s usually no one there mid-day. Taking time to refuel your social battery is important when you’re around people 24/7.

Don’t be ~that~ person. Be considerate of the people you room with, the common areas, etc. Clean up after yourself in your room, the kitchen, and the bathroom. Also, don’t talk on the phone at 12 a.m.! Even if you think you’re being quiet, in a silent room full of “sleeping” people, we can hear everything (this happened two nights in a row during my most recent stay in Iceland. Don’t be that person!).

See what activities and amenities your hostel offers. If they have activities, join! Or, if they have a bar, grab a drink and find people to converse with. The people at the front desk will also be more than happy to suggest things to do, places to go, or restaurants to eat at.

The idea of staying in a hostel can be intimidating, but once you do it, you find all your hesitancies were for naught. Of course, my experiences do not reflect the experiences in every hostel, and sometimes things do go awry. But, hostels are traditionally very safe, clean, and wonderful places to stay for cheap when you’re travelling.