If like me you find hotel prices, and even Airbnb prices limiting the length of your travels or negating them altogether, why not have a look at hostels.

As soon as you mention hostels to friends, particularly if you’re an old bird like me, people pull a face as though you’d told them you like to eat your own faeces. And they’d tell you it’s not for you and you’d hate it.

I would never have afforded a month in Waikiki if I hadn’t secured one of the last slots available in the Polynesian Beach Hostel.

I’d looked at hotels and Airbnb, the cheapest was half as much again as the hostel and not as well equipped or positioned. I’d looked at camping, but really I’d have had to hire a car, that costs as much as a month in a hostel, plus buying all the equipment that I’d have to leave there, plus site fees and the inconvenience, it just wasn’t worth it. I’d also looked at Helpx, I’d done it before in New Zealand, if you don’t mind working to pay for food and accommodation it’s a good option. You can find the website at helpx.net. It’s free to view and only around twenty quid to join for two years.

I wanted total chill time, so booked the hostel and to be honest I also wondered if it was for me, but I can tell you yes, thus far it really really is.

Hostels, well first off, if you’re picturing a wooden shack, cold water, twenty to a dorm, shittin in a hole, like I did, you’d be wrong. I won’t pretend to know all about hostel life, I’ve only been to one, but I can tell you what I have found, being a newbie to the hostel in Waikiki. Lemon Road in Waikiki holds several hostels and they all operate similar to one another.