Author	Message
Phillygirl Guest	# Posted: 8 Oct 2005 23:35:59 I'm not sure if this topic belongs here exactly, but I guess it's related to travelling on the cheap . . . How safe is it to leave your belongings in a hostel? Obviously, I'm trying not to bring anything too valuable with me, but I don't want to carry everything around with me all day, and I'd a little rather people didn't take my supplies . . . I'll be staying in a hostel in France for awhile, which I've never done anywhere before (having slept in abandoned buildings and on boats, but never in a hostel . . . ) and don't know what the precautions are. Do you trust the lock-up rooms or lockers in these places?? Do you take your own locks?? Thanks!

RobN Moderator UK	# Posted: 8 Oct 2005 23:54:52 Depends on the hostel - some are better than others, some aren't that safe at all. A lot of youth hostels have lockers, so a padlock would be a good idea - though I remember once the padlock that I had (which I bought from a youth hostel in Australia) was too big for the locker in a different hostel (also in Australia). In general trust the baggage rooms, but some are better run than others where bag tags are issued so you have to match up the tag stubs to the tag on the bag. It's difficult to generalise with hostels in certain countries as well - for example, I felt much safer and secure at the youth hostel (Hostelling International) in Boston, than I did in Washington DC - also I felt safer in the YHA in Glebe (Sydney, Australia) then their summer hostel in Newtown. So you need to take the hostels as they come really - I tend not to expect any problems, but I try to take cautions so I don't invite any problems.