San Diego Hostel Worldpackers Review

Let me set the scene: it’s summer of 2022, domestic travel is starting to open back up. You’re a 24 year old girl who lost almost 2 years of her 20’s to Covid, recently self-employed as a freelance social media creative who has this newfound desire to travel and experience the world.

Then one day, you come across this company called Worldpackers, a work exchange program that allows you to volunteer with hosts around the world doing work like housekeeping, reception, or even social media in exchange for free accommodation.

Disclosure: This post does contain affiliate links. That means if you purchase using my link, I will receive a commission. I only share and promote companies I truly adore and use myself.

It sounds too good to be true, or not real at all, but it also sounds exciting. After a little bit of research (honestly, not that much I’m a very trusting person) I said ‘what the heck’ and purchased a membership, built my profile and started applying. At this point in my life I hadn’t done much traveling outside of a few family vacations, roadtrips to Canada and a brief study abroad to Barcelona my senior of year of college, 3 years prior. I knew I wanted to do my first experience in the US. I was mostly certain this ‘Worldpackers’ was legit, but on the off chance it was a scam, I felt better about being in my own country.

A majority of the experiences are in other parts of the world and although I am adventurous enough to want to travel on my own…I still wanted my first volunteer experience to be easy, safe, and in my comfort zone. It didn’t take long to find that there were a plethora of options in California with dozens of experiences that not only had a lot of reviews, but were highly rated as well.

I started applying to a few social media jobs in San Diego and San Francisco. All the jobs had similar questions on the applications, like to describe your social media experience (and provide samples), about your travel experience, and what you hope to get out of volunteering. Within a few days I had some responses. (On Worldpackers hosts have 4 days to respond to your application, otherwise it will expire).

I had a lovely video interview a girl, Meg, at an experience I really wanted in San Diego and a few weeks later, I got the approval from Meg for my first experience to start almost exactly 2 months later.

The experience was at the Gaslamp Hostel located in the Gaslamp District in San Diego, which was walking distance to Padres Stadium, Coronado Island, and a short bus to the San Diego Zoo and other beaches, perfect!

Worldpackers Experience Details

Like most experiences, the amount of hours for this job was described as 25 hours a week, and during that time I would take photos and videos, make graphics, write captions, etc for their social media channels. They had some content they knew they wanted, but the rest I could come up with the ideas myself. To my knowledge, I was the first person to do this social media job, so even though there were specific hours listed, it was a learning experience for both of us and I definitely didn’t work a full 25 hours a week for them. They also had ‘party promoter’ listed, which wasn’t really enforced but I did attend a majority of the activities anyway.

If you’re new to Worldpackers and haven’t browsed other experiences yet, don’t be freaked out by the ‘additional fee’. It’s really just a security deposit that you’ll leave your space as clean as you found it, and if you do, you’ll get that money back. I’m actually surprised more experiences don’t have that fee.

In my experience helping the Gaslamp Hostel with social media, as long as I provided regular content, they were happy. This hostel is pretty large and has a lot of volunteer opportunities. I can’t speak much about the other positions, but from what I saw when I was there, the other jobs have a standard schedule where you will be working the full 25 hours.

Regardless of the job, every volunteer gets a bed in a team dorm (they actually didn’t have a bed in the team dorm for me so I was in a dorm with other guests which was so awesome, I made so many friends!), free breakfast (nothing crazy they provide cereal and toast, coffee, etc) but also free laundry and tickets to events. This is the minimum for most other Worldpackers experiences as well.

Gaslamp Hostel location and Accommodation

This was the 3rd hostel I had ever stayed at, and the first in the US. The previous hostels I had stayed at were in Portugal and were clean, well-maintained and dare I say upscale for what I had thought hostels to be. I really didn’t have much to compare The Gaslamp Hostel too, but I was coming in with high expectations. And they were definitely met. The property was clean, maybe a little outdated, but had a certain charm that was undeniable. It was cozy and colorful.

Warning: be prepared to haul your luggage up a huge flight of stairs right after you walk in. This is normal as hostels are usually above other businesses, in this case the Gaslamp Hostel is above two restaurants. Speaking of, the location is right in the heart of the Gaslamp district (hence the name) on one of the main streets so you can imagine it can get loud especially on the weekends. The room I stayed in was right above the street so the noise was definitely noticeable, but it wasn’t horrible. If you’re staying in a hostel you should always pack earplugs! Those did the trick for me, and being in such a prime area is worth a little noise.

The hostel itself is pretty large with over 20 rooms on two floors. There are a few private rooms and then 4-6 bed dorms, female, male, or mixed. I stayed in an all female 6-bed dorm. Each bed comes with a locker for storage and there is also space under the bottom bunk. Because of the layout of the building, the rooms are all different sizes but I had been in most of them and they were all a decent size with room to move around and breathe even if all the beds were full. The rooms are decorated in themes like day of the dead, the San Diego Zoo, Comic-Con, and so on.

Again I can’t speak to every single room, but I was happy with mine. The beds are all twin sized (unless you get a private room) and don’t expect it to be the most comfortable mattress you’ve ever slept on, but you’ll be able to get a goodnight sleep. The hostel also provides towels and laundry for all guests, and volunteers.

Now the bathrooms. There are two shared bathrooms, one on each floor. They are co-ed bathrooms, which it’s so funny to be in the bathroom and watch a guy come in and look confused, or vice-versa. It takes a little getting used to, we are all human! Each bathroom has 3 toilets and 3 showers, all with full doors, so no short stall doors or anything, so there is plenty of privacy. Housekeeping cleans the bathrooms every day so there is an hour or so each day when there might be a line for the bathroom.

The hostel also has other spaces such as the kitchen and common room available for guests. The common room is small but mighty, with couches, chairs, a tv for people to watch shows or sit on their laptop. In the evenings most hostel events are in the common room were guests play beer pong, card games, or congregate before taco Tuesday. There is a rather large kitchen in the back of the hostel with a little loft area with even more seating. There is a communal fridge and storage space for groceries as well. Because I was staying for a month, I did make use the kitchen and store food, where there is an honor system that if the food is labeled, and that guest hasn’t gone yet, it ain’t yours to take.

Worldpackers Host review

I mentioned earlier that I had my initial interview with Meg, the hostels assistant manager. I can confirm that Meg and I became friends and she even came to visit me in NYC when I moved there a few months after this experience. Meg was kind and welcoming, bringing all the volunteers and guests together. The owner of the hostel was also involved but mostly with the other volunteers. I will admit, I was definitely intimidated of her but she was fair, hard working, with a dry sense of humor. Her and her husband had bought the hostel from the previous owners and made it into the backpackers hostel it is today, they were also once backpackers themselves. They value the volunteers as much as the guests, having high standards but also being flexible and understanding.

The Gaslamp is one of the most rated Worldpackers hosts in the US, which is why I keep telling people it’s the perfect choice for your first Worldpackers experience!! If you want to be in a location where it’s easy to get around, you can make friends with other volunteers, and with a trustworthy host, you’ve found the one.

Conclusion

Worldpackers job aside, staying at the Gaslamp Hostel was one of the best experiences of my life. To this day, I haven’t had another hostel experience like it. Not only is San Diego such a beautiful city with so much to do and gorgeous weather, I was so blessed to have come in contact with so many amazing people. Over the course of 4ish weeks I made memories with strangers from all over the country, and even other parts of the world.

I think I just got super lucky, that everything lined up the way it did. Although, my other Worldpackers experience was also great, this is one I’ll never forget.

Worldpackers brought me into the world of budget travel, and slow travel. I know it’s not for everyone, but it is for me, and for that I am grateful! As of the time I am writing this I have my 3rd Worldpackers experience confirmed…stay tuned!

P.S I have a $10 off code for anyone who wants to sign up with Worldpackers! My DM’s are always open if anyone has any questions or concerns.