This morning, I began thinking again about the hostel vs. hotel issue for Paris. My sisters and I will be in a nice 3-star hotel with a triple room. I've reserved a spot at the Young and Happy Hostel, in the Latin Quarter, for Saturday through Thursday (had already reserved a spot at the Formule One near CDG Airport for Thursday night so I'm already near the airport on Friday when I leave.)
My spot is in a 5-bed female only dorm room. Now I've been around, stayed in a dorm room for the majority of my college years and have done my share of camping and room-sharing over the years. These are total strangers in a large city in a foreign country. Gotta admit that's giving me a bit of a pause.
Thinking out the pros and cons - the pros are the inexpensive cost; the location; and the chance to meet new people. The cons though - maybe more noise than I'd like (though earplugs would solve that one quickly) and whether or not me (and my possessions) will be safe. I think my personal safety will be ok as long as I'm careful and use common sense. With the right locks, etc. to secure my suitcase, I have a reasonable chance of everything being ok there too. I'm not going to be carrying around my most valued possessions anyway (except for my Acer netbook and passport/money.) I do wish there were lockers in the dorm rooms, though, as I've read that many hostels do have. That would make me feel a whole lot better.
Anyway, found a website for cheap Paris Hotels. Spent an hour or two looking up the hotel, reading the reviews on the site, then comparing those reviews to TripAdvisor's reviews. As a general rule, the site's reviews were pretty positive and TripAdvisor's were much less so. You get what you pay for, I suppose.
Seems like for what I'm willing to spend, I'd probably be best off staying right where I've already reserved space. Not to decide is to decide, though. If I'm going to make a change it will need to be soon so I can still find space. If I keep putting off the decision, it must mean I should just stay at the hostel.
If anybody reads this and wants to chime in on their pros and cons, feel free!
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