TheWills

this is more for those folks looking to head to Europe this summer and not book ahead for hostels.
Dont stress out about booking ahead doing it is great but if you dont get one done dont sit on the train for 4 hours to wherever you are going worrying about where you are gonna sleep. I reccomend a few things

1. Festivals and events totaly book ahead or else you better hope to meet a friendly local who will put you up....hey it happens

2. If you do just roll up and hit a hostel and its booked instead of saying thanks and heading out the door get them to call other places to see if they have vacancy. If not then ask where other hotels are since they always know about each other and where they are located it sure beats walking around aimlessly.

3. If you plan on partying or spending a weekend in cities like A-dam, Rome, Paris, Barcelona etc... and you dont book ahead, then do all you can to make it there by no latter then Thursday afternoon. The sooner the better, since hostel beds in these places ALWAYS fill up over the weekend, besides it takes 3 or 4 days to really appreciate these larger cities anyways. And if you just roll up on friday night I guarentee your sleeping on a park bench.

4. have a little extra money budgeted for cheap 1 or 2 star hotels, they are the equivilent of paying for a private room in a hostel 50 Euros a night maybe, for a room with 2 singles but if there are 2 of you then its only 25 a night, IN FACT!!!!! SOMETIMES these can be cheaper then such hostels as the flying pig in Adam, Hostels with a serious good reputation know they got it and they arnt cheap anymore ppl.

5. For small but popular towns, totaly book ahead, if these places only have 2 or 3 hostels and 2 trains coming in and out a day only then you really dont wanna get stuck there overnight without a bed cause you run out of options faster then you would in say Berlin. You cant even catch a night train outta these places. Mark my words they will bite you in the ass and you dont even see it coming. Usualy the hostels only have maybe 4 beds just tiny little places, but because its so damn popular just popping up on the backpacker trail maybe everyone flocks!

6. If all else fails dont get discouraged, usualy train startions and even better air ports are open 24 hours and you can find a quiet safe place to crash for the night, I did this lots and never had an issue....Heck I even slept on the beaches in spain for 2 weeks on a inflatable 2 man rubber boat I bought for 15 euros it was the greatest time ever. Only rained once. So dont get down on yourself and panic there is always somewherre to crash

7. Expect the hostels in the lonely planet to be full thats where everyone goes first. If they are roll up into a Internet cafe and check out Hostelworld.com or somethhing like that becuase they usualy have a better selection then lonley planet and the ones that are not in lonely planet are usualy always vacant! so dont dispare just hjead to a e-cafe!

8. And last but not least never forget about the night trains and sleeper cars!

Alright guys have a good time this upcoming summer and like I said dont freak out about where you are gonna sleep that will be the last of your problems if you follow my advice!!
Cheers and have fun