If you’re planning your first backpacking trip, wondering whether you’re going to be able to sleep is valid. A lot will depend on you and what kind of sleeper you are. For example, whether you are a light sleeper or a heavy sleeper. Even if you are a light sleeper, travelling can be super exhausting with long days hiking or exploring and nights when you have a few drinks and don’t go to bed until 3 am, so you may sleep well most nights anyway. Regardless of whether you are a light or heavy sleeper, there are a few things you can do to make your sleeping arrangements more comfortable.
Choosing the right hostel for you
Probably the most important thing which will affect your sleep is choosing the right hostel for you. I have a whole post about the types of hostels and how to choose the right one for you here.
So now that you’ve hopefully read my post about the different types of hostels, this language shouldn’t be unfamiliar. If you are someone who is a light sleeper, opting for flashpacker hostels may be a good option. Even if you don’t go for a Flashpacker hostel, read the reviews and see if anyone complains about the noise from the street or the beds being uncomfortable. I generally try to choose hostels that have a privacy curtain or are pod-style.
Also, important to keep in mind if you are booking a party hostel, there is probably going to be a level of noise. Whether it’s the sound of music from the hostel bar beneath where you are sleeping or drunk dormmates making noise at 3 am. A good alternative is to stay at a nearby hostel that is quieter. Then, go to the party hostel bar for a night to make friends.
Why you need a post-check-in routine
This tip is both for you and your dormmate, so you’re not waking up your dormmates. When you first check in to a hostel, regardless of your plans for the day, take 5 minutes to set up your bed. What do I mean by this? The bed (should be) already made up with sheets and blankets, but you want to get all your bed stuff ready. For example, I get out my sleep shirt (pyjamas), toothbrush, toothpaste and skincare and pop them on my bed. I also plug in my phone charger and fill up my water bottle and leave it on my bed. If you use earplugs or an eyemask, this would be a good time to get them out.
If the bed doesn’t have curtains or the curtains don’t cover the whole bed, I’ll make my own curtains! Using my sarong, towel and sometimes even carabiners if needed, I’ll tie/ tuck these around my bunk bed to make it as dark as possible, like a pod bed. This works best on a bottom bunk, but you may be able to do it on a top bunk if there is some form of frame.
Why do this as soon as you check in?
Because plans change and you might meet people at the hostel at one thing leads to another and you come back at 3 am from the bars. If you haven’t unpacked your bed stuff, you’re going to be rifling around your bag, looking for everything. Potentially you wake up your dormmates at 3 am (they won’t be impressed). Or potentially, you say f*ck it and climb into your bed in your clothes. You wake up in the morning dehydrated because you didn’t fill your bottle, with your phone on 5% because you didn’t get your charger out, and just generally feeling gross that you didn’t wash your face or clean your teeth.
To eyemask and earplug or not eyemask and earplug?
I’ve seen a lot of travel content creators posting on Tik Tik about how you “must” have an eyemask and earplugs if you’re staying in hostels. I really don’t think this is true. It really depends on you and how you sleep at home. Some people find sleeping impossible unless they are in complete blackout darkness. If this is you, then yeah, it might be a good idea to bring a good quality, comfortable eye mask. Similarly, some people are really light sleepers and will be woken up by every little noise. Again, if this is you, bringing earplugs or even noise-cancelling earplugs might be a good shout.
But I really don’t think everyone needs to go out and buy expensive noise-cancelling headphones or an eye mask. I bought these things when I first started travelling and staying in hostels, and honestly, I rarely use them. If you’re used to hearing traffic noise from the street when you sleep back home or if you don’t have blackout blinds at home- you’ll probably sleep better in hostels than you think.
There are also other things you can use instead of an eye mask. I’ve used my sarong or flannel shirt on a night bus before where there was an annoying flickering light. Similarly, if you have AirPods, you can use them to cancel out any noise while you sleep. My main tip would be to think about how you sleep in your regular life at your own home and consider whether you need to buy an eyemask or earplugs.
What if someone wakes me up?
Someone will inevitably wake you up at some stage staying in hostels. You will also probably wake someone up at least once (hopefully accidentally). You are staying in a shared room, and people have different ideas of what is respectful dorm behaviour. Some people just don’t care and will make heaps of unnecessary noise at 3 am when they’re drunk. Someone else might come in late and trip over someone else’s bag, making a loud noise because they were trying to avoid turning on the main light and waking everyone up, but they ended up waking everyone else anyway. Okay, that one was a real anecdote from me being a bad dormmate in Canggu (I really didn’t mean to wake seven people up!).
The other thing that can happen is that someone in your room is a snorer. Not a light purr kind or snorer. The kind of snore that sounds like a combination between a chainsaw and a lawn mower. It will happen at some stage. Everyone in your room will probably be grumpy about it. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot you can do in that circumstance- snorers have rights too. This is where noise-cancelling headphones may come in handy, again depending on how light of a sleeper you are.
The importance of being a good dorm mate
While we’re talking about how you are going to get a good night’s sleep in a hostel, it is important to make sure you’re also thinking about the quality of sleep of your dormmates. The more considerate everyone is of each other in hostels, the better sleep backpackers will collectively get. Hostels are shared spaces, and you cohabitate with people with different schedules and sleeping habits. It is inevitable that you will get woken up, and you will wake someone else up at some stage. Just try not to be a d*ck and think of others, and you should be fine. For more specific tips, I have a full post on hostel etiquette and how to be a good dormmate here.
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