How to Travel Cheap & Green: couchsurfing vs. hostel

30. Nov, 2009 13 Comments

Boston skyline at sunset, viewed from the Boston Common park

The first time I visited Boston, I stayed in the HI Hostel on Hemenway Street. I moved on after just a few days, but loved Boston and wanted more—so I circled back through later in the summer, staying with a couchsurfer the second time around.

What was the difference between the two experiences, and which would you choose? Here’s how they stacked up.

(Not familiar with couchsurfing? Find out more here.)

	Couchsurfing	Hostel
Cost	FREE. Stay in somebody’s house for free, that’s how couchsurfing works. If you’re a good guest, you’ll buy your host some food or beer—not a bad price for multiple days’ lodging.	$40/night. Outside of couchsurfing, this is the cheapest lodging in Boston.
Location	VARIES. I was lucky enough to find a host who lived right by the Boston Common, and if you play your cards right you can do the same. Lots of the available crash spaces are either in the middle of town or near a metro line—but to get a good spot, you’ve got to have decent references on couchsurfing.org, and start contacting potential hosts at least a week before you plan to arrive.	CENTRAL. The Boston Hostel is right in the middle of the cheese: near the Back Bay Station, walking distance from everything.
Eco- Impact	GOOD. By staying on somebody’s couch instead of a hotel, you eliminate waste from laundry, cleaning and power. By sharing space with a friendly soul, you use only slightly more electricity and water than they’d be using on their own.	VERY GOOD. Most hostels (Boston included) pack people into 6-bed dorm rooms, greatly reducing waste of resources. Hostels around the world are actively working to “green” their practices, which means they’ve all converted to energy-saving bulbs and appliances and have laid out concrete action plans to increase sustainability.
Safety	GOOD. Couchsurfing is safer than it sounds, thanks to couchsurfing.org’s userbase. You can vet any potential host or contact simply by reading the reviews left by other surfers. If you deem them trustworthy, you can decide which of your possessions to leave safely locked in their house—and which you’ll keep with you at all times.	OK. Most hostels do a fair job of protecting their occupants—but with tens of thousands of lodgers coming and going at all hours year-round, perfect security is a tall order. The Boston hostel provides secure lockers for your stuff, and keycard-protected rooms—better security than many other places I’ve visited. As always, your travel safety is your own responsibility.
Experience: The Good	Couchsurfers are excellent hosts by nature. The CS community is surprisingly strong: most American cities have weekly meetups, and hosts will often take their guests out to meet other locals and surfers. It’s not uncommon for CS hosts to take their guests sightseeing, and at the very least, couchsurfing gives you the opportunity to meet other people who are smart—and free-thinking, and generous—enough to appreciate the value of sharing resources. The resulting conversations are predictably fascinating and educational.	Hostels are the hands-down best way to meet people from all over the world. You’re almost guaranteed to share your dorm room with a German, an Aussie, and a Brit. Boston’s hostel is better than most: you can only get good Internet access in the common areas, which means there’s a constant crowd of people in the dining room and lobby. Add to that a free breakfast, and it’s practically guaranteed that every single hostel guest will spend some time hanging out, sharing experiences and stories. Hostel employees are very knowledgeable about the area, handing out maps like candy. There are daily activities—tours, shows, pub quizzes—all designed to make guests feel comfortable and help travelers get to know the city. It’s almost impossible to stay here without making a personal connection. While I was eating breakfast one day, a vaguely familiar person sat down across from me and started up a conversation. It took about thirty seconds for me to recognize him as Raymond, a colleague and friend from San Francisco. He’d just started working in the Boston area, and was staying at the hostel while he looked for a new apartment. Small world, indeed.
Experience: The Bad	My host in Boston was a great guy, a law student who went out of his way to host couchsurfers almost every day. I enjoyed his company, but man was his bathroom filthy. In the two nights I stayed with him, I never worked up the courage to use the shower. His couchsurfing.org references had all attested to his positivity, but nobody had mentioned the layer of grime over everything. A few minutes into our first conversation, my host casually mentioned “the homos,” and that they were stalking him. Turns out he was from a culture with less tolerance toward homosexuality; one day in the gym locker room, he got hit on by a dude, and that was enough to convince him that he was in personal danger. “The homos” were a recurring theme of conversation during my time there, though he was otherwise a very reasonable person. I chalked it up to a cultural difference, teased him about it a little, and let it slide. You get what you pay for.	Let’s face it: this ain’t the Hilton. Spoiled travelers and old-fogey types beware: you won’t have a moment to yourself here, and you’ll be sharing a room with five potential snorers. There’s a strong chance that your roommates will stumble in at 3am stinking of booze, and undoubtedly somebody will need to get up at 4:30 to catch an international flight. Word to the wise: EARPLUGS. Approximately 80,000 people stay in the Boston hostel each year. The cleaning staff does their best, but wear-and-tear is part of the experience. Like I said, this is the cheapest lodging in Boston; you get what you pay for.
Overall	Couchsurfing is great if you’re adaptable, openminded and friendly (note: if you don’t have those qualities, you probably won’t enjoy traveling much anyway.) But it’s riskier and sketchier than paid lodging: if you’re a professional who requires more security and reliability, go for the hostel.	The Boston hostel is one of the best I’ve visited. It’s designed for young international travelers, which guarantees a lively atmosphere. But this hostel also guarantees clean, hospitable lodging and decent security, which makes it an excellent deal for $40.