During the Honors in Holland study abroad program we stayed in both Amsterdam, Netherlands and Copenhagen, Denmark. In both cities we were housed in hostels designed for travelers of all ages. The amenities in each were similar; however, each presented their own difficulties when trying to stay organized, especially sharing the room with 3 other girls (and for some of the boys with 5 other boys). Here are some tips for making the most of limited space and other difficulties faced in hostels:
- Our program was 4 weeks long (~30 days) and we were advised to expect to do laundry 1-2 times. With this information, I packed enough clothes for about 10 days, knowing that I would re-wear certain articles of clothing to make what I packed actually last about 13-14 days. My estimations we only slightly off as I ended up having to do laundry at about day 11 or 12 and at about day 23 or 24. I would strongly advise packing a lot of basics as these can go a long way in helping to create new outfits out of clothes that have already be worn. I brought some, but I did end up buying one or two more basic shirts along the way. Additionally, in regards to doing laundry abroad, our first hostel had laundry detergent included in the price of laundry, however, our second one did not. I would recommend bringing some sort of single portion laundry detergents (tide pods or detergent sheets) as the hostels charge excessively to buy detergent. The washers and dryers are also extremely small, so only expect to be able to wash less than 10 articles of clothing (less if you wash bulky items such as jeans or sweatshirts). The best way to ensure you have enough clothes is to stay organized! If you plan on re-wearing a certain article of clothing, set it aside in a separate bag or container as you don’t want it getting lost among other dirty clothes. Additionally, plan outfits in advance so you know what you need to set aside in what not, so you don’t end up having to dishevel your clean or dirty clothes looking for an item.
- The best way to organize your clean and dirty clothes in my opinion is packing cubes!! If you take anything away from this, please bring and use excessive packing cubes. In our first hostel, we stored our suitcases under our beds and had one large cabinet each for other storage. Packing cubes came in handy in this situation as it kept my suitcase from getting cluttered under the bed and also allowed me to store dirty clothes in the cabinet in separate packing cubes. This kept my clean clothes and dirty clothes from touching and also helped keep them separate so I knew what I had already worn. However, not all of my clothes were in packing cubes which became a bigger issue at our second hostel. Our second hostel had one large crate for each of us to store things in under the beds; however, these crates were not large enough for us to store our suitcases in so we had to take our clothes out of our suitcases and store our clothes directly inside the crates. One of my roommates had all of her clothes stored in packing cubes which made it super easy for her to unpack while staying organized, while the rest of us found it very difficult.
- In terms of staying organized with your toiletries and cosmetics, I recommend using a similar strategy of packing everything into sorted bags (e.g. hair products, oral hygiene, shower supplies, makeup and skincare). By keeping items sorted by their uses, it makes in much easier to take what you need out and leave what you don’t packed away. Additionally, I would recommend tagging your high-use bags/items with something bright or colorful that makes them easy to find within your luggage, so you don’t have to take everything out just to find one thing.
- My last tip is more for staying organized when going preparing for your daily classes or activities. It is helpful to have a smaller bag with your daily essentials that you can transfer to different bags depending on your needs that day. I used a small crossbody bag as my essentials bag as it was easy to carry and had lots of pockets to separate and organize things like my wallet, ID, public transport cards, hostel room key. With this bag, I was able to transfer it from my backpack to my tote bag easily depending on how much I would need to carry that day. This made it very easy to stay organized and keep track or important items. Additionally, we were often on a tight schedule so I didn’t have much time to transfer things between bags, so this tip made it extra quick and convenient.
Staying organized in such cramped spaces was still very difficult, but hopefully these tips will help you learn from my mistakes and make it even a little bit easier to settle into a hostel in an unfamiliar place!