Hostel report.
Hostel living has its ups and downs but no two hostels are ever the same. Some are small and cater for those that want a quiet time. Others are mega hostels, with hundreds of people and a bar. Others lie in between. It's difficult to tell when booking, so you rely on people reviews, and you don't know until you get there.
Smartplace, in Paris, was quite small and made for those who only want a place to sleep, though its proximity to Gare du Nord train station makes the area very noisy due to traffic.
Stayokay, in Amsterdam was the exact opposite, a mega hostel consisting of three, multi-level, dorms and a (small) bar. The first day the place was full of poms for some dudes bucks. It was quiet, a change from Paris. Can't remember any one I stayed with there. Oh, it had free breakfast too.
Heart of Gold, Berlin, was right on the sweat spot as far as size goes, big enough that it has a bar, but not so big that it become impersonal. They had a BBQ each evening so you could have a cheap bratwurst if you wanted, the beer was cheap too. The courtyard was the place to meet people, the number of people I talked to there are to numerous to count. The only downside was that it was hot as balls in Berlin that week and the room don't have aircon. Bathroom and showers were outside the rooms too, but they had enough that there wasn't a problem finding a spare shower.
Hostel One Home, Prague. This place was awesome, smaller than Heart of Gold, but bigger than the hostel in Paris, with only about 40 beds. Every morning breakfast was available for a small fee and at night they would make a home cooked dinner for everyone for free, the meals were good too, had pasta a couple of times and a goulash once. You knew the names of the staff and nearly everyone staying there. Each night there was always some sort of pub crawl going on, the staff not on shift would come out and get drunk. People not on the pub crawl would bring drinks back to the hostel and drink around the table. I didn't want to leave that place but I ran out if stuff to do.
Greg & Tom Beer House Hostel, Krakow. Slightly bigger than Hostel One Home but wasn't as personal as Hostel One was. They had a bar/restaurant downstairs and offered a very good restaurant meal for free, breakfast came at a small cost. I usually try and find places that are close to the city centre, but this place was perhaps to close. Our window open onto the main krakow market street and was only quiet in the early hours of the morning. They held events each night, starting in the restaurant. Their main goal was to get you absolutely blind smashed. You'd pay 20 z (about $7AUD) and they'd feed you vodka shot after vodka shot. Since Polish vodka goes down like water you didn't feel it till you tried to stand. If, somehow you could still stand then they took you pubs and clubs. First experience with a truly mixed dorm, with the pervious hostels "mixed" usually meant "guys", as there are female only dorms too. Walking around in your underwear in front of two Americans girls, a French girl and an English girl takes some getting use to. Lastly, their showers were shit, water leakage from the shower onto the floor meant you couldn't put anything on the floor, but there wasn't anywhere else to store clothing etc. so you had to get creative.
This hostel in Budapest is different again, i've only been here a night, so i'll leave my thoughts till later.
