How to Choose where to stay.

i-fink.com - written by teens, for teens

How to Choose where to Stay! (A'hem...as you can see, we're in the middle of writing this...pics coming real soon!)

Things can get pretty confusing, especially when you don\'t know the layout of the city you\'re going to. We just planned a trip where we stayed in eight countries, so we got pretty good at working out how to choose where to stay. Here\'s our tips!

Budget: The first step is to know your budget. Do you need to stay in cheaper places or can you afford to lash out? If you\'re on a low budget you might want to splurge for one or two nights just for that taste of luxury. Many hotel chains have their own \'club\' that you can join often for free, this will give you points, discounts or both, handy if you\'re touring around. If it\'s an expensive city you\'re staying in, think London, Paris, Moscow, New York, Tokyo, you can always look at staying a bit out of the city where it\'s cheaper, but check transport costs, it might work out the same once you factor train tickets in.

Some places are so fabulous that they are part of the holiday experience, other places are just somewhere to rest your head before heading off somewhere else. Know your itinary and what time you\'ll be getting there.

Don\'t miss out on staying in hostels either. Brilliant for your gap year, but check for \'family suitability\' if going with the rents. IYHA is the original Youth Hostel Association for young walkers and cyclists. You have to become members but because of it we\'ve stayed in fabulous locations, old castles and vast period homes.

Location: Will you be visiting a range of places over a period of time or just passing through for a night or two?
If you have a car, you\'ll need to check they\'ve got parking or that parking is nearby and cheap. If you\'re travelling by bus or train, you\'ll need to be close to the stations. Make sure it\'s not in the \'dodgy\' end of town as often stations are.

Hotel vs. Apartment?
Sometimes confusing. Basically when you stay in a hotel, you get a bed (dur!), bathroom, tv etc, \'usually\' a kettle & a few teabags, coffee etc. Your beds will probably be made each day and your room given a bit of a clean and tidy. Towels are provided & are replenished if you need. There\'ll be a restuarant for all meals which you pay for seperately. Sometimes breakfast is included. Hotels are brilliant if you want a real holiday...especially for your mum who won\'t have to worry about cooking, cleaning etc. Plus...forgot something, need a late night snack, spilt a drink on your sheets... then just call room service!

Apartments will provide you with beds and usually cooking equipment, crockery and cutlery, tv, fridge and bathroom. You do the cleaning, you make your own beds, there\'s no room service and you need to cook your meals. What\'s actually included in the apartment varies a lot, so make sure you check. Some might just have a microwave others will have no fridge. Apartment standards vary a lot!

Transport: Train and bus are great if you\'re going from city to city, but not much use if you wanted to get off the beaten track. Check out all the student bus and train passes, but some can end up being more expensive than renting a car if there\'s more than two of you as you can then share fuel costs. Short of time - coach tours are actually good value, low stress, low effort. Planning is half the fun, but sometimes you just don\'t have the time. There\'s plenty of adventure tours available too so you combine a bit of luxury with something more exciting. We haven\'t done a tour so can\'t tell you more than this really.
If you look online for budget car hire, you\'ll find it. But will it be such a good bargain when you turn up and they don\'t have the car you want or you break down and you can\'t get help. Stay with the bigger names and check the web for deals.

How to check?
Never make presumptions! Always, always check the fine print. If somewhere doesn\'t say whether breakfast is included - email them. There\'s loads of ways you can check up on a place too. Just hop onto one of the hotel review sites like Trip Advisor, feed your hotel\'s name in and read what others have thought. Though....take them with a pinch of salt. We\'ve stayed at fabulous places which had bad reviews just because a pen was bent, the taps gushed too forefully or the carpet was the wrong colour. There are idiots everywhere and some of them write hotel reviews! Also, remember some places will write their own good reviews, but on the whole, we found the reviews useful.