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Australia is pretty good for backpackers: plentiful cheap hostels, Woofing is big, plenty of short-term work for backpackers (agriculture relies on it), many people ride-sharing, large chunk of tourist industry caters specifically to budget travellers. The biggest complaint is that things are expensive compared to Asia. Things in Australia are spread further apart, so if we can do it so well why can't the US?
For two people traveling together, you can almost always find a hotel cheaper than a hostel. Even if traveling alone, the slightly higher price for a hotel is worth it, for lockup security of your belongings, and freedom to come and go at all hours, not to mention the privacy. The few exceptions would be the USA and a few fashionable European capitals. In the USA, some hostels are nearly impossible to get to because of the absence of public transport. Estes Park, Colorado, comes to mind. The old hostel on Carondelet Street in New Orleans was one of the most dangerous hostels in the world to try to get to after dark.
My favorite hostel was in Khartoum, Sudan, where it consisted of a couple dozen army cots on the front lawn (there was a fence around the property---it never rains in Khartoum).
For two people traveling together, you can almost always find a hotel cheaper than a hostel. Even if traveling alone, the slightly higher price for a hotel is worth it, for lockup security of your belongings, and freedom to come and go at all hours, not to mention the privacy. The few exceptions would be the USA and a few fashionable European capitals. In the USA, some hostels are nearly impossible to get to because of the absence of public transport. Estes Park, Colorado, comes to mind. The old hostel on Carondelet Street in New Orleans was one of the most dangerous hostels in the world to try to get to after dark.
My favorite hostel was in Khartoum, Sudan, where it consisted of a couple dozen army cots on the front lawn (there was a fence around the property---it never rains in Khartoum).
But for one person, it is more than 'slightly' more expensive to get a hotel usually.
Not to mention that a lot of people like the social aspect of hostels.
I would consider the U.S. generally unfriendly to backpackers because of the whole transportation issue. However, if you have a mid-range budget, and want to rent a car, the U.S. is probably one of the best countries to travel in terms of value and bang for your buck. That's why so many Germans, Brits, etc. come here and rent cars and go on road trips around Florida or the Western U.S. They can eat at much lower prices than in most of their native countries, stay at hotels (outside of cities) for much less and with many more amenities, and rent decent cars at relatively low prices (unlike the rental cars in Europe, which are usually cheap manual transmission econoboxes that would be deemed unworthy of any serious market here.)
I've never been there, but I have a feeling that Africa south of the Maghreb is very backpacker unfriendly. Actually, some of the countries there are unfriendly to any kind of tourist.
For two people traveling together, you can almost always find a hotel cheaper than a hostel. Even if traveling alone, the slightly higher price for a hotel is worth it, for lockup security of your belongings, and freedom to come and go at all hours, not to mention the privacy. The few exceptions would be the USA and a few fashionable European capitals. In the USA, some hostels are nearly impossible to get to because of the absence of public transport. Estes Park, Colorado, comes to mind. The old hostel on Carondelet Street in New Orleans was one of the most dangerous hostels in the world to try to get to after dark.
My favorite hostel was in Khartoum, Sudan, where it consisted of a couple dozen army cots on the front lawn (there was a fence around the property---it never rains in Khartoum).
It depends. In major U.S. cities, hostels are almost always cheaper than the cheapest hotel. The same goes for many European countries, but in Spain the hostales (NOT to be confused with hostels) were just as cheap as the youth hostels, and Morocco was the same, although you get what you pay for for a <$10 / night room in a major city (e.g. public squat toilets).
why backpack when I can get a regular hotel room for 8 bucks per night in Chiangmai. New Mitrapap Hotel
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