Travelling tips

I haven't had too many backpacking experiences to share but I thought that Ill share my little acquired knowledge with you guys because it might just come in handy one day.

Planning

As mentioned in my previous post, the best website to hop on to search for backpacker hotels would be www.hostelworld.com. It's very user-friendly. After you choose the country and the city you'll be travelling to, a list of hostels would appear, ranked by its 'availability', 'rates' or 'price'. By default, the page will list the hostels rank by availability. These hostels are not necessary the best rating ones. So what I usually do is, after I briefly scan through the list of hostels, I will then click on the 'rates' link. 'Rates' are the scores independent customers would give the hostel they have patronised. Even though those hostels do not appear on the 'availability' page, it does not mean that there are no available rooms. It might just be that certain specific rooms are not available (for example, 8-bed female dorms are available but 6-bed female dorms are not available).

Next, check the reviews given by the customers. Ask yourself these questions:
- How many reviews have been given? (was it 5 reviews or 500 reviews?)
- Why did this particular customer rate the hostel badly? Look at the comments. Is it because there are bed bugs? Was it the inconvenient location? Was it because it was simply 'not fun'.

After you have done your preliminary research, try googling the hostel name. Perhaps the hostel might have its own website and usually its slightly cheaper for you to book directly from the hostel rather than from hostelworld.
On the flip-side, hostelworld offers this 'cancellation refund' whereby you pay a few dollars extra and they will refund you the full cost if you decide to cancel your booking.

Things to bring
Many hostels offer bedsheet and linen. However, to be safe, you might prefer to bring your sleeping bag or even just a silk sleeping bag liner.
- Bring a padlock. Most hostels offer lockers in the room to store your stuff but they might not provide a padlock.
- Bring a torchlight. If youre planning to have a big night out and come back late into the night, it will probably not be a good idea to turn on the dorm light as there might be other people sleeping in the room. A torchlight might come in handy.