ok...I leave for Shanghai in 4 days and it will be my first time out and about by myself...now, I was thinking that I could just arrive in Shanghai and then get a hotel or hostel, but I've been told by friends and family that I am indeed crazy if I think I can just show up and expect to have room the first day..

so...can anyone give me suggestions as to if I should book my hotels right now?!?!...there are so many to choose from and the cheapest seem to start around $30 USD

or should I just check myself into a hostel right away...either by booking them now or, as I had hoped, be able to room at one with no problem

thanks for any help guys

:aikido:

Hi, welcome to Travel Punk first off!

As it's your first time out and about by yourself, I would maybe book for your first night. That way, you're not getting to a strange city with the uncertainty of not having anywhere to sleep. Chances are that if you didn't book, you'd be fine and find somewhere, but do you really want to take that risk on the first night?

If you just book the first night, if you find that you don't really like the hostel/hotel that much, you can always move on to somewhere better!

Have a great time.

I absolutely agree. I can't imagine anything worse than being jet lagged in a strange city, carrying your stuff around looking for a place to stay.

Don't forget you can use hostel booking tool on the main page to search for somewhere to stay

Good luck on your trip

:cheers:

Always. Book. Ahead. lol It's just safer in the long run and your probably going to be dead tired when you get there. You'll want a place to sleep asap lol

thank you guys....I've booked a single room at the Shanghai central hostel for 3 days...just so I can get my footing in a new city..

so..hopefully it will all work out when I arrive at 7pm at night with no surprise...i'm new to using any online booking service, and even though I have my doubts about the hostel engine on the front page, I've decided to give it a shot...do i pay USD or local currency when I arrive at the hostel??????

count down: 3 days, 14hrs, 39ish minutes

The booking on the front page is A class.. I've used it many times so no worries there..

and I would assume you pay local currency when you get there... I can't see them taking US, but if there's a website or something you can check out it should say something on there about what currency to use.