Similar to conversations with taxi drivers, a hostel conversation is renowned the world over. Where are you from? and where are you going? Tend to be the required questions we should all ask our fellow hostellers when staying in any hostel and in any country in the world. Unfortunately as I don't have breasts, and have legs that could frighten the crows, the conversation seems to stop there. Most people staying in the hostels here are very nice people but I was surprised to find that so many of the backpackers and travellers are eighteen or thereabouts. I don't know where I would have got the funds to travel at that age but I think it’s a good thing that so many young people these days are able to get out there into a bigger world outside the safety of their hometown box.
You have to hit lucky sometimes with the hostels you stay in especially when it comes to who you are sharing a room with. Both hostels I have stayed in so far my fellow roommates have been fairly quiet of an evening, which means when you desperately need to, after a long flight, get your head down and get some much needed sleep; however this may also mean that trying to get people to talk and strike up a conversation can be a challenge. Talking with three guys I met in my first hostel, which was the big Wakeup hostel in Sydney, they seemed to strike lucky with a good balanced room. They told me that everyone was very friendly and immediately they all seemed to get on well and headed out together as a room on their first night. In my case on arrival at the hostel and moving into my room I spent around half an hour trying to talk to a guy in my room, trying just to get something out of him with no avail. For the three days and nights I spent there I didn't get to know anyone in my room as we seemed to just be like passing ships in the night, which can happen in hostels.
Now everyone is different and people are travelling for all sorts of different reasons so we haven't got to worry too much about things, don't immediately think that because the people in your room are not talking to you it's your fault, or it's something you have said. Sometimes it's simply that the people are quiet or restrained. Remember also that we will meet people from all over the world in hostels and that those people will have different cultures and their own ways of communication. Some people from one country may be louder and more talkative than another from a different country.
If we remember the fact that people are different then we won't lose sleep worrying over the fact that we are not meeting people or that no one is talking to us. Remember to do your own thing as that is what you are travelling for. The more places we get to the more chance that we will bump into interesting and inspiring people and the times we don't then we know that we are confortable about spending time alone and doing the things we want to do.
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