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Post by alice810 on Mar 10, 2009 12:39:45 GMT -5
I will travel Europe for one month in this summer from late August to the end of September. Should I book all the hostels in advance? If so, I gotta book 12 hostels that is pretty troublesome. What I fear is if I start booking them on the road, I may not able to find somewhere to sleep or I have no choice but staying in expensive hotels.
Anyway, I will book the hostels for August since it is peak season. But I dunno about September. Please give me some advice!THANKS!
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Post by Libby on Mar 10, 2009 19:03:24 GMT -5
I'm travelling in May and found two hostels I wanted to stay at were full. BAck in 2005 I also travelled in May, the shoulder season, and found three hostels were full. I had my accomodations booked back before Christmas to ensure I would get as many of the places as I could.
So yes. You should book your hostels in advance or risk ending up in hotels or in bad hostels.
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Post by alice810 on Mar 10, 2009 20:18:40 GMT -5
Thx a lot!since some people recommend me to book the hostels on the road, so my trip will be more flexible. but really, i dont want to sleep on the street or end up in hotels.
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Post by Eagle on Mar 10, 2009 23:53:45 GMT -5
alice810,
Although it's a lot of work and removes some spontaneity, I'd recommend pre-booking your Hostels, especially in August (PEAK travel season). However, I've found that September ("fall shoulder season") can also be very busy so pre-booking would be advisable then as well. To give you an example, when I was in Siena in late Sept. 2006, I encountered two girls in their 20's who had arrived in town without pre-booking. There were NO accommodations available, including the Convent (I know because I called them to check). Given the circumstances, the girls said they would "probably just get a bottle of Wine and sleep in the streets". Not a very good solution, but possibly it seemed like a good idea at the time.
I always pre-book my accommodations, but also travel with one or two Guidebooks so I have listings for budget Hotels in each location. It's good information to have at hand in case there's a "problem" with my reservation and I have to look for something else.
Happy travels!
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Mikul
Senior Travel Member
Posts: 82
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Post by Mikul on Mar 11, 2009 2:07:15 GMT -5
I am traveling this summer and have already booked all of my hostels. If you decide to change your itinerary, you usually can cancel your request with out much trouble. If you book through a company like HostelWorld, you generally are out the 10% deposit.
This past summer, on my last day in Europe I arrived in Paris from London at 11PM. I didn't have a place to stay, as I thought paying for a room for only a few hours was a waste of money. I exited the Paris Gare du Nord train station and wandered over to McDonalds and hung out until they closed. I had to leave, along with some other English speaking backpackers. Together, we found a bus bench a couple blocks away and slept there until about 5AM. Actually, they slept and I stayed up keeping an eye on all of our stuff. That experience just added to my trip and gave me a good story to tell. Just don't do what they did and say "bonjour" in a fake French accent and stereotypical laughter/grunt to everyone that walked by.
Anyways, I had to wait with them for a few hours outside and later caught a taxi to take me over to a train station so that I could catch my flight home.
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Post by alice810 on Mar 11, 2009 11:47:18 GMT -5
Thank you so much. I've made up my mind to pre-book all the hostels cuz I dun wanna sleep on the streets and stay awake the whole night. I just wanna enjoy. Anyway, I have checked the price and availability of the hostels only. I will start the booking in April. I hope there will be still a few rooms left.
You guys are very helpful. BIG HUGZ*
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