I’m not sure anyone really loves staying in hostels. They very a great deal between them. Some are nicer, some are cleaner, some are considered “party” hostels, some have age limits, and some don’t. 

I’ve stayed in a fair amount of hostels in both South America and Europe and they have all varied greatly. One hostel stay during Argentina’s “low season” was so quiet that my traveling companions and I shared the place with maybe 20 other people when its capacity was in the hundreds. While staying in Rome, my friend and I seemed like the only people who actually got up early to go see the sites instead of just sleeping all day just to wake up and drink at the bar downstairs. 

 Out of all the hostels I’ve stayed at, I’ve never had such a worse experience than my first hostel here in Dublin. It wasn’t necessarily the hostel itself (although I could have done without the ‘self closing’ doors). It was the other people in my room. I’m not a huge partier. I’ll have a few drinks, but I do not choose to spend my money on travel just to stay out all night and get wasted. That’s not why chose to come to Ireland. Everyone else in my room on the other hand did.

I stayed in a 10 person mixed dorm with two groups of friends who only came to Dublin to drink. Now I’m not just assuming this, they came right out and said it. I get it. Ireland is known for drinking but there is so much more to Dublin than it’s pubs. Anyway, I believe that when staying in a shared accommodation there is certain level of courtesy that needs to be extended to the other people in the room. Maybe lets not stay up until 4 in the morning talking and flirting loudly with the other group of friends. Isn’t that what a pub is for? I was the only solo travel in the room and they could have cared less that I was in the far bed trying to sleep.

Yes, I know, I chose to stay in a hostel but I always come prepared. I sleep with earplugs and an eye mask. I assume that I will be woken up a few times during the night or the morning with peeople coming in and out. I am prepared. I was not prepared for two straight hours of a party 5 feet from where I was trying to sleep. 

So guys, the next time you stay in a hostel, can we please try to remember that there are other people in the room too. Thanks.