By Liz & Josh of Peanuts or Pretzels
Traveling around the world, we get the same question from our friends and family, “How do you afford to travel to so many places?” Well the answer is simple to us, but maybe hard to believe for others. While saving up money is obviously important, it’s more about how we choose to spend our money during our travels.
Lodging can take up a big portion of your travel budgets, but it doesn’t have to. We choose to shift our dollars to the fun stuff by cutting back on our accommodation costs. We do this by choosing to stay in hostels. Yes, even as a couple.
Hostels have evolved, they aren’t all dorms full of party animals!
When people think of hostels they may think of people in their 20’s partying all the time and staying in dorm room style rooms all over the world. Well, that is just not the case any more. While there are still some “party” hostels out there, more and more hostels are catering to couples, and even older travelers. Many hostels are even embracing the concept of becoming more and more like boutique hotels.
With amenities that vary widely, you may even find more at a hostel that at a cheap hotel. Plus, you get the added bonus of the social atmosphere, which we love! So hostels are not just for solo travelers. And they are an awesome way to save a huge chunk of money during your travels!
Being married doesn’t mean we have to stay at a B&B
Just because we found awesome travel partners for life, and choose to travel together, shouldn’t relegate us to having to stay in boring chain hotels or cheesy B&Bs during our travels. We are still the same fun-loving, adventurous, social travelers that we always were. And as a traveling couple, we still want a budget friendly alternative to higher priced accommodations. Of course, each hostel is different and has its own style. And that’s part of the appeal to us. But naturally, this means that some establishments are better suited to couples than others. The great thing about a hostel is that they are all so different, giving you a wide variety of room types & amenities to choose from depending on what matters most to you.
Save money traveling as a couple
Overall, we would rather save money on our lodging in order to spend more money on the fun stuff during our travels. For us, the means the experiences along the way…outside the hotel
room. Honestly, we could stay at a 5 star hotel with amazing amenities right down the street from our home. But that’s not why we are traveling halfway around the world. So to us, the accommodations are less important.
While some people loathe the idea of sharing a room with other people, we don’t mind it. To us, sharing rooms with fellow travelers is part of the experience of traveling. Not only do we enjoy
meeting other people, but usually other travelers are full of helpful tips! Plus when you think about it, you may only stay at the hostel for about 6-7 hours at night to sleep, while you spend
the rest of your time out exploring. So why spend a lot of money on a fancy room?
If you can suck it up and get along with people for a few hours a day, then you can save a LOT of money to do a lot of fun stuff during your trip.
Ok, Ok…There are private rooms, if you must!
If ultimately you just can’t get past the idea of sharing a room with other travelers (or hate the idea of sleeping without your significant other), then don’t worry, many hostels do have private
rooms. It will cost you more than sharing, but you are guaranteed some privacy as well as saving a bunch of money over a regular hotel room.
Even for us, having a private room can be nice. The freedom of being able to throw your stuff around is refreshing for any traveler who has been staying in shared dorms for a while. But
having a private room is especially nice if we have been traveling for long periods of time and are exhausted. So occasionally, we do splurge on the private hostel room.
Hostels give more options than ever for traveling couples
Every hostel is a different experience. As 20-somethings and single, we loved staying in hostels for the fun and social atmosphere. We were able to make great friends, and even find travel
partners to go explore with. And now as 30-somethings and married, we still enjoy the experience of a hostel.
Even though our needs and travel tastes are slightly different, overall, the concept of a hostel is still appropriate. With the wide variety of hostels out there, and room types available, hostels
give couples travelers more options than ever for planning their trip. And this means you can do more on your trip for less money, which we all love.
So don’t let anyone tell you otherwise: cool (and travel savvy) couples stay in hostels too.
About Liz & Josh
We’re married travelers who have a passion for exploring the world, and for sharing it with others on our blog, Peanuts or Pretzels. You can count on us to find the “fun” in just about anything. We are always up for laughter, a good adventure and a bit of geocaching! Being the curious people that we are, we love learning and experiencing new things. After all, isn’t that what life is all about? Our goal is to help our readers discover their love for travel and inspire them to plan their next adventure.
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