That Hostel Horror Story

Every person in their life should have at least one Hotel Horror Story.  The worst story of staying in a hotel for me was when I went to Disney World in Orlando, Florida and we came in the room to find a take-out salad in the drawer with the Bible.  Now that’s disgusting and my horror story for South Korea is less so.

The story is less filled with horror, and more filled with annoyance and my need to complain.  For those of you who don’t know, a hostel is basically a backpackers paradise.  It is where mostly young people stay while traveling because it is a cheap form of a pillow under your head for the night.  Since this is my first time abroad, I thought I’d check out what the hype was.

We arrived in Seoul at 4AM, way too early for my time but since not used to the time change yet, relatively okay.  (I traveled with one of my friends from school, Raquel.) Both of us carried 4 months worth of suitcases, which is not ideal at a hostel.  (Like I said, backpackers paradise).  I knew this going in.  There have always been those rumors, or fictional books chiming how everyone should at least try a hostel once in their life time.  So I did. (Pic: me at the airport, just arrived at Seoul!)

Since we arrived so early, I borrowed a phone from a nice woman and proceeded to call the hostel- after about the thousandth ring, she picked up.  I explained the situation and she was glad to keep our suitcases before check-in while we went and explored the area.  I’m not about to name the hostel because I did meet some cool people there but still, my experience with hostels are over.  I will not be staying in one ever again.

When we arrived, there didn’t seem to be anyone working there.  We dragged our suitcases up the stairs and after talking to some girls, found that the woman sleeping on the couch was, in fact, the one who I had talked on the phone.  She woke up enough to tell us where to put our suitcases and then swiftly went back to sleep.  Mind you, she didn’t check our paperwork, nor IDs which I thought was odd.  We had reservations but I thought it strange because we could be anyone in the world.  She did not know us by our faces.

After the day of exploring and getting lost, we were ready to sleep forever since we were both so jet lagged. We arrived during check in time- check in time was 3PM (why so late? Probably because she likes to sleep the day away).  And guess what? She decides then to tell us that we can’t stay there that night due to an overbooking.  She suggested another hostel close by that was almost the same price.  She paid the difference.

We dragged most of our luggage to the other place and slept the rest of the day.  In the morning, even though given the option to stay there the remaining two nights we had reserved, the woman in charge of this hostel promptly, yet quietly, kicked us out.

Thus we moved back to the original hostel and spent the rest of the nights getting eaten by mosquitoes.  Is it the worst place I’ve stayed at? No.  However, considering I’m sure most hostel stories don’t end up like this, I wanted to share.

Let me tell you: I’ve had the hostel experience.  I think I’ll stick with regular hotels from now on.  At least, Motel 6 will always leave the light on for me.