Hostel travel & safety
Use your judgement
Self-explanatory? Perhaps, but still worth mentioning. Listen to your gut. In addition to metabolic activities, it’s a surprisingly good advise-giver. If you have an odd feeling about a person or a location, be overcautious than sorry later.
Don’t try to be a hero, keep yourself safe. In a rescue course Riitta was taught that first and foremost you need to make sure that you are safe and remain so before you can help someone else. Just... don’t be a dumdum.
Generally, every country’s official government website offers an overview of the level of security in different destinations and things you need to prepare for. This can range from currency, weather conditions, solo travelling, insurance, medicine, transport, political climate & updates on current events that might affect your stay. Take a look before your trip. If your home country doesn’t offer this information, you can always refer to the UK or US government’s travel advisory pages. Also note that your insurance coverage might depend on this official travel advise.
Make sure you check the reviews of hostels as well as information available about the area you are potentially going to be staying in. Social media, Google and Reddit can be your friends here.
Remember that these are just guidelines, and while some might seem unnecessary in some locations, they can be quite vital in others. There are as many different traveller personalities as there are people, so do as much research as you need to feel confident arriving to your destination.
Valuables
If you don’t have one already, always get travel insurance before travelling. Your future self will thank you later. Most minimum coverage travel insurances will cover hospital bills if anything happens to you, but check what the insurance includes. You can also decide to extend your insurance to other aspects, like your belongings, which we definitely recommend. We’ve lost and/or broken more than one phone while travelling, and the insurance has definitely paid off.
Research
Keep your valuables discretely hidden at all times, and never in easily accessible places like pockets that don’t close and bags without zippers. In some places, it might even be risky to walk around with your phone in your hand (Riitta almost got her phone stolen while taking pictures of the scenery - and people could even get aggressive trying to rob you). When you travel with a bigger backpack, it is handy to have a small purse/fannypack that remains in front where you keep your valuables. If you are in an are that can have petty crimes, don’t take your passport with you when walking around except if required by law (or keep a picture or a paper copy of it/ a separate ID instead), and keep some cash in your hostel locker, some in your wallet and some outside of your wallet (in a pocket or your bra). If you have several bank cards, also keep them in separate places.
Staying in a hostel has its challenges for keeping your things safe. Make sure to always have a lock with you as most hostels offer drawers/cabinets for your things. Some of these cabinets might be quite small and only fit your valuables while the rest of your stuff stays under or close to the bed, so only travel with essential valuables.