Used to book hostels on the fly now I plan 3 weeks ahead

Back in 2019 I would just show up in a city like Lisbon or Bali and walk into the first hostel that looked okay. No bookings, no research, just vibes. That totally stopped working last year when I got stuck in Medellin during a festival and slept in a hammock for 3 nights because everything was full. Now I check booking patterns and plan at least 3 weeks out for any popular spot. Has anyone else had to switch from spontaneous travel to planning like this?

2 comments

2 Comments

sarahhart1mo ago

I actually kind of miss the chaos of rolling into a place blind (but maybe not the hammock situation, yikes). I still travel with a pretty loose plan most of the time, just scope out a couple of backup hostels before I land so I'm not totally stranded.

richard1371mo ago

Are you finding that the planning takes some of the fun out of it for you? I completely get why you had to change though, three nights in a hammock sounds awful. I've had to do a similar thing after getting stuck a couple times, and it feels like we all had to grow up a bit with travel.