Rome has over 100 hostels and budget accommodations. With so many options it becomes difficult to select the right place to stay. In fact, many hostels in Rome require a minimum stay of at least 2 nights. The typical backpacker approach of, “I’ll stay one night, if I don’t like it, I can find another hostel,” doesn’t work with Rome.

Rome is an old, ancient city, in which every square foot is priceless. Keep in mind that most hostels and budget accommodations will be in old buildings and space is in short supply. Rome hostels tend to be small.

Selecting your Rome Hostel:

• How far is the hostel from a metro station? What is in walking distance?
• Are the bathrooms unisex? Will I have a hot shower?
• How big is the kitchen? How many individuals share that same kitchen?
• What are the amenities? Is there a place to hang wet clothes to dry?
• What type of security is offered?  24-hour front desk?  Lockers?

These are great questions to ask before committing yourself to a hostel. In fact, our first mistake occurred after booking a hostel in Rome. Justin and I later found out that they did not have security lockers, or lock the rooms. This was a huge concern.

However, after arriving, checking in, seeing our beds, and chatting in Italenglish, we discovered that an individual sits at the 24-hour front desk monitoring who comes and goes. In fact, after staying out past 10pm (which we did), we needed to hit an entry button on the front door. Then they would verify that the two of us were currently checked in, before pressing the automatic release on the door. Our hostel in Rome was so secure, that we couldn’t believe we had so many previous concerns.

We loved the Color’s Hotel & Hostel in Rome; they even had a rooftop terrace. This offered a great place to relax with a cup of coffee in the morning as we enjoyed the beauty of Rome. The terrace also doubled as a place to hang our laundry to dry. Fortunately, the covering provided keeps Roman Pigeon poop from meeting your fresh and clean threads.  It proved to be a great hostel in Rome.

The Color’s Hotel & Hostel was the perfect location and accommodation for us. We selected our hostel and got lucky. This is a big part of finding a hostel in Rome. Some locations are amazing, while others lead to nights you don’t want to remember. Reading online reviews can be helpful. Try hostels, hostelbookers, hostelworld and hostelz. The reviews can be less accurate than we wish they were.  At the same time, these websites provide information on location and nightly rates.  Sometimes it costs extra money to book through one of these sites.  See if the hostel has their own website.  The hostel booking websites are a good place to start.

Other than that, travel is about risk! Know what you want to do in Rome and then decide where you want to stay, and book it! If you are really adventurous, find a hostel when you arrive. However, in the high season (Mid-May to early September) you might want to book ahead so you don’t sleep outside a Gelato shop near Trevi fountain.

I am not typically a night club person but from time to time the draw of loud techno music and good vibes will keep me dancing all night. A hostel bar flowing with free awful beer, however is not really my thing. So, like any good culture snob when I found myself at a hostel with the “we give you free beer to keep the party here” night, I showed up long enough to taste the awful beer and confirmed that partying with the free beer crowd was not for me. Then, I headed up to the top floor kitchen to make a sandwich. (Unlike many people, I really really like sandwiches. I enjoy experimenting with different tastes and flavors in order to find out what combination of ingredients bring out the best tastes. Some people find it disgusting. I think of it as art.) If a hostel bar is giving out free beer and everyone in sight is bumping and grinding their neighbor, chances are an alternative gathering of minds is occurring somewhere else in the building. In this case, that location was the kitchen. Now, this “alternative” gathering was just as drunk as the free beer party (in fact, most participants probably drank several free beers and than wandered away from the bad 80’s music and scary girls) but instead of riding each other around the dance floor they were eating and talking and laughing about everything.

The extroverted Texan busker belted out song after song, acapella, to laughter and jeers while hostel staff workers complained about their jobs and passed on rumors (I hear the free beer is so bad the company could not even sell it to the Australians. So, their giving it away here). Meanwhile the Canadians were telling Natalie and I we sounded Albertan (from the province of Alberta) and a Mexican guy, who did not look Mexican, introduced himself as “Senior” while putting jalapenos in his Corona. Eventually the Texan left and returned reporting that the free beer line was to long. In his jolly disappointment he started singing the American National anthem. Natalie and I joined in with gusto while everyone else appeared confused. Soon enough, the lone German in the room (an oddity in itself as New Zealand is practically bursting with German backpackers) started singing in German. I assume it was the German National Anthem. This was rather funny, until he started making the “Heil Hitler” arm motion of the 3rd Reich. Then it was just awkward.

Given the opportunity, I would prefer to spend an evening with a group of locals  instead of a gathering of hostel rats,  but both groups can provide valuable insight into different cultures.

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Now we have a plan! I spent most of yesterday in my pajamas sorting through places on maps, looking into various forms of transportation, and mixing up dates on the calendar to create a starting route.

Justin and I have fallen in love.  Not only with one another, but with New Zealand.  We have both dreamed of going to New Zealand for a long time.  In fact, it was where we really wanted to go on our honeymoon, but we went to Belize instead.  We could afford to go to Belize, while New Zealand has always seemed out of reach.

So out of reach that we spent the past several months discussing ways to get to New Zealand.  We even explored the possibility of crewing a yacht.  However, our transportation decision was made upon the discovery of reasonable air fare from London to New Zealand (as long as we leave on November 1st…I know we are missing Guy Fawkes Day in London Remember, remember the 5th of November).

The Recap

Where do we begin? -> Italy

Why? -> My brother is getting married in Italy

Any other Italian adventures? -> Yes – visiting the small town Bagnoli Del Trigno where my grandma was born…with my grandma and grandpa (AWESOME!!!) and hiking and enjoying Italy with our good friend Cup.  We end our time together in Padova where Cup will then live for a month (or a few years).  Padova is west of Venice. 

Once our Italian travel plans solidified we were left with the following question

• - “How do we get from Venice (around Oct 17/18) and end up in London by November 2nd so we can fly to New Zealand?”

Going to London the Long Way

I had everything sorted out, and had planned a wonderful path for us.  As I was attempting to book a series of flights on RyanAir it suddenly became apparent that I wasn’t fast enough. The flight from Barcelona to Madrid wasn’t 10 euros anymore. Now Justin and I would have to pay 95 euros per person.  A few of the other flights I wanted to book had also gone up in price as well.

Wait a minute! I spent a leisurely hour or so, selecting the flights and formulating a plan. Why did my plan fall through so quickly?

The only option was to redesign our plans, destinations, dates, and everything. We are backpacking. We do not have a specific place to be, so it doesn’t really matter where we go or how long we stay. I applied our flexibility to the problem. At the same time, I had to keep the time crunch in mind.

I found new hope upon finding the first flight we would take from Venice to Paris. Only 20 euros! Alright, this is good! Then I found another at the same price from Paris to Barcelona! Then Barcelona to Dublin at 20 euros again! Finally, Dublin to London, again for only 20 euros!

Just as I was realizing, that I had our “new transportation plan”, Justin (also on his computer) mention he had a cheap flight from Venice to Barcelona. I immediately responded by saying, “Great! But I figured all the flights out. I’ve got em! Only 20 euros a piece for all of our flights, but we need to book them right now.” Both of us still in our pajamas teamed up and booked all the cheap flights with RyanAir. That last click with the mouse was a victorious moment. I don’t think people realize that a couple can fly around Europe without spending a lot of money ($170 for all of our flights). Compared to purchasing rail passes, we have been able to save hundreds of dollars with our inexpensive flights.

Overall, I never imagined that Justin and I would ever have the opportunity to visit these cities. It doesn’t even seem real yet. We have already begun trying to brainstorm ways to afford to stay in each of these cities.

googlemaps

HELP US SLEEP AND EAT:

Do you have a friend or family member that lives in one of these cities? Could we crash on their couch for a night? Know of a great hostel in one of the cities we plan on visiting? Is their something we must see or do? Know of a good market to buy food to cook? How about a good place to eat vegetarian food? Any opportunities you know of to volunteer?

Let us know your ideas or advice for the places we plan on traveling to.

It’s true.  We made our first backpacking mistake.  Justin and I are beginning our budget travel adventure in Rome arriving on Wednesday, October 1st.  Back in late March we sent a few emails to The Colors Hotel in Rome and made reservations for 3 nights.  We booked two beds in a room with 6 beds total.  Yes, this means that up to 4 absolute strangers will be sleeping nearby.  Not a big deal…this is part of budget travel.

Two days ago, it occurred to me that I should see if The Colors Hotel will allow Justin and I to use an “extra” locker for our little suitcase.  You see, with my brothers wedding happening in Italy, the inspiration to our kick-start, we need to bring a suit (for Justin) and a dress for me.  As one can only imagine, these items are not compatible to a backpack.  Therefore, we plan on bringing the little suitcase and my mom (Justin’s Debbers-in-law) has very kindly accepted the responsibility of taking the little suitcase back to the states for us- once the wedding festivities are completed.

Basically, The Colors Hotel emailed me and informed me that there are no lockers.  This was our first mistake.  We found an awesome place to stay.  [NOTE:  I am still excited to stay at The Colors Hotel.]  However, our mistake was that we never asked about lockers, we assumed.  Now we have no place to lock our little suitcase or our 2 backpacks filled with all of our nomad backpacking stuff.  Is it safe to leave it in the room we are sharing with 4 strangers?  Has anyone stayed at The Colors Hotel in Rome? Do you think Rome is safe?  Should we pay extra money for the private double room, at The Colors Hotel?  I love how bright and colorful it looks, but dare I ask for another accommodation recommendation?

Justin and I made our first mistake, what do you think we should do?

Three current solutions I have explored:

1.  Ship our stuff to the castle – DHL will charge us $327.46 for a 30lb package from Detroit, MI to Perugia, Italy

2.  Store it at the Rome Train Station (they got rid of lockers after 9.11 and now have a type of luggage check in)  I calculated the cost of storing our luggage (which is charged on a per hour bsis), the shuttle from the airport to the train station and a cab ride from the train station to The Colors Hotel – $101.25 total – we will leave Rome on Saturday, October 4th and take the train to Perugia for my big bro to tie the knot.  So technically, it’s not completely inconvenient.

3.  Get a private room with a double bed instead of the 6-person dorm room experience.  We would pay an additional $183 total (an extra $61 a night).

Those are the 3 solutions I could think of.  What do you think?

Will it be safe for Justin and I to just leave all our stuff in the room we are sharing with 4 complete strangers?  Maybe it will be?  It just makes me nervous because it’s so close to my brothers wedding date and we will just be beginning our travels.  I would like to avoid having anything (or everything) stolen.

We made our first mistake.  Now what?

THE FOLLOW UP:

We stayed at the Colors Hotel & Hostel in Rome and everything worked out perfectly fine.  No problems!  Super safe, clean, and in a great location.  Although their are no lockers or any methods of securing your belongings, the front desk was attended 24 hours a day.

However, we still brought locks with us, all around the world!

We were able to check out some of the usual St. Augustine sights. The most popular, Castillo de San Marcos, the original fort the Spaniards built upon creating the first town in America. I was most impressed at how much we were able to experience for FREE because of the Pirate Hostel.

Captain Conrad, the hostel owner helped us to park for FREE a few blocks away on a residential side (Riberia Street). We were also able to eat Pirate pancakes for FREE. Go to the St. Augustine Lighthouse for FREE. And the Farmer’s Market was FREE. Conrad gave me a couple FREE grapefruits picked off the tree behind the hostel. And my absolutely favorite FREE element of our time in St. Augustine was “The Old Trolley Tour”. A couple from Colorado that is biking from the Keys all the way north to Bar Harbor, and stopping in Boston for their daughters college graduation in May. They bought tickets ($21 per adult) the day before (good for 2 days), and they gave us their extra passes, since they were biking north continuing on their journey. Justin and I had a great time hopping on and off the trolley for FREE. We were educated about various parts of the city and learned a lot about the history. At one point, we even hopped off at the Sans Sebastian Winery for some FREE wine tasting.

What did we pay for?

The pirate hostel – $40 total with tax ($20 per coed dorm bed)

Castillo de San Marcos – $12 ($6 per adult for a one week pass)

Sangria at Taberna del Gallo – $10 ($5 per glass) an awesome 18th century authentic tavern, no electrical lights in the whole place (all candles) and one local, a 50-something year old woman even busted out with an old sea shanty (a pirate song).

Pizza – $13.25 at Pizzalley on St. George’s

Total – $75.25 – backpacking in America is the most expensive global locations to navigate.

Daily expenses depending on the region of the world can vary. The most expensive places to travel range from $65-125 a day. The middle range of regions will vary between $35-65 per day. And the lowest price range to travel within (developing countries) can range between $15-40 a day. These facts were all taken from The Rough Guide to First-Time Around the World.

Overall, it makes me really excited to see how many random FREE adventures we may participate in as we live as nomad backpackers. I know we will have to pay for stuff all the time, but our experiences in St. Augustine proved to us that with only minimal effort, we were able to receive a great deal from the generosity of others. It’s very inspiring and makes me want to have a generous spirit as well.

So what was the hostel like anyway?

Well, Saturday morning I woke up. And I made my way across the coed dorm to the bathroom. I suddenly noticed that two guys were cuddling in a lower bunk together. At that point I looked around and noticed that all the bunks that were empty (the day before it was Lewis, Justin, myself, and a guy in a tropical shirt), now had guys in all of them. Well, I ended up being the only woman in the coed dorm. But I felt safe because Justin was there.

As I was showering I realized I forgot soap. So, I ended up using a bar of Dove that I believe came all the way from England. I showered in my flip flops as (just in case) I don’t want foot fungus. Overall, it was a stretching experience. It was a reminder of how parts of backpacking will just suck. However, I am hoping that the gross bathrooms, smelly guys that snore, and all of the other unpleasant elements of hostels will be tolerable because of the experiences and adventures that traveling offer will offer.

As for Justin, he stayed in a hostel one time in Newfoundland while on a disaster relief trip to help people in a small village that had recently flooded. He knew everyone in the dorm style sleeping room he stayed in. We realize this is not typical.
This brings me to the question, “What is a typical hostel experience?”

I don’t think staying at the Pirate Haus Inn and Hostel in St. Augustine, Florida will be the typical hostel experience either. The Captain sent me an email of confirmation explaining that we could pay with Visa, MasterCard, Cash, Silver 8 Reales (Pieces of 8 ) and Gold Doubloons. As long as they don’t make us walk the plank.
Actually, it sounds like it is going to be a great time. Even the famous All-You-Can-Eat Pirate Pancake Breakfast is available from 7 – 9:30 am. The hostel experiences we have today, this evening, and tomorrow morning should prove to be simple (not even a language barrier) and rather luxurious.
The major element of luxury will be our point of departure and return. We will be leaving our apartment in Winter Park, Florida, and driving two hours. We won’t have lived out of a backpack for the last several months. We will most likely have clean clothing packed, while during our travels as nomadic backpackers we will easily encounter times in which we have items of dirty clothing within our packs.
With departing from St. Augustine on Saturday, we will return to the permanency of an apartment set up with our personal belongings and the familiarity that goes with our location and lifestyle in which we currently live. I will go to work all day Sunday and return to the life of a barista. Not to say that I couldn’t take my skills and work as a barista somewhere else in the world, but departing hostels to return to apartments and jobs the next day will not be a part of our nomad backpacking lifestyles.
Do I think going to this hostel in St. Augustine will really prepare us for our travels more? Well, I don’t think it will help us much. But I do think it will help us to gain confidence and begin to imagine what our daily lives may look like within 5 months or s