>>2812113
The whole premise of the question is asking for gatekeeping, it's begging for it.
In most hostels I've been to, there is always at least one middle-aged guy, last time I even befriended an Australian guy who was in his early 70s (super healthy tho, I thought he was in his 50s). As long as you don't go to touristic places where college dudebros binge-drink on the beach during summer, nobody gives a shit.
Americans have this unhealthy cult of youth, "oh no I'm 22, my life is over now", a youthful vivid life consisting solely of posting videos on TikTok and not being financially independent, you people are fucked in the head. Old people have interesting stories to tell, unlike 22 yo kids.
Then there are people who say "there is a hard threshold, once you are 24, you want your own hotel room for such and such reason", well perhaps, or perhaps not.
I can't afford a solo hotel room in Europe every night if I want to travel for a long period of time, so I share a room with a snoring old man, and I don't care. In the morning, I can befriend people and sometimes it leads to interesting situations, or I end up going places I didn't plan to go to.
The only real problem is when you start flirting with a girl and both of you want to have sex for a night, I had the opportunity last time but messed it up because I didn't want to bother the rest of the hostel. I could've rented an hotel room for the next day, but by then her feelings faded away and we only remained friends. For me that's the real downside of hostels.
Otherwise hostels are a good opportunity to meet interesting people. Some people even stay in hostels for long periods of time, have a job and all.
>>2812160
>I want to jack off in my room after intensive hikes.
You do it in the shower in between check-out and check-in times, when most people already took their shower and are outside or eating. As long as you are silent and aren't taking too long, nobody cares, it's a shared secret that everyone does it.
