Billie's Backpackers Hostel — Hotel in Alaska

My reservation was 'canceled' but I was still in the system, I am not sure how that works but I was still able to get a bed. But I am unable to leave a review on Hostelworld. I arrived after-hours and there was a note for me on the front door with directions to my bed. Although I had reserved the gazebo, Billie was thoughtful and thought i should spend the first night in the main house which I completely appreciate. It was cozy and I slept really good. The hostel is cozy and cute. The next day, Billie saw me, asked me for my name and then asked me to follow her to pay for my stay. Did not introduce herself or ask me anything, simply asked me cash or card and did not even give me a tour. I then moved my stuff to the gazebo to my proper bed that I reserved. And let me just say, I regretted staying in there. I stayed in Fairbanks for a week which is more than enough but I did not know at that time. And in the summer, it is daylight 24 hours, I had a hard time sleeping and I did not come prepared with an eye mask. During the actual day, the gazebo felt like a greenhouse. It was SO warm in there! Therefore, the door stays open which invites insects and bugs and flies :( There's also less space to put your stuff compared to the main house. The gazebo was also dirty most of the time, I think it was eventually cleaned after a few days in which i did NOT appreciate my stuff being moved. I don't think it was disturbing much but I hated that my bags, which were dirty, were placed on the bed which I tried so hard to keep clean since I like to shower before bed and stay clean. It was a bit hard at first to socialize and make friends. The people I met were a bit awkward, which there is nothing wrong with that but as a solo traveler, I like to connect with others. When I finally made a friend, we chatted away for a long time in the main house upstairs. No one was in bed in the area we were in. Yet, Billie came in as she was assisting another guest, and told us there is no talking even though that rule was never relayed to us. We made our way downstairs near the gazebo where there is a small space for socialising -- we were walking there when Billie stopped us and told us we were not allowed to talk there either. It was only 9 PM. She said people in the gazebo were sleeping and sent us to the other side of the hostel in the far corner. My new friend and I continued our conversation for another hour and decided to then head to bed. I went back to the gazebo where I was staying to find that only ONE person was in bed and was still wide awake. Mind you, the night before, there was a HUGE group of people at MIDNIGHT talking loudly in the area and I hard time sleeping. I let Billie know and she said she tried telling them to keep it down but they obviously did not listen. I did not find it fair that there was a group that stayed past midnight being loud and I couldn't even talk to ONE person at 9 pm. Billie and her friends (I am not sure who they are) also smoke a lot in the area between the gazebo and house; and it was horrible for me to walk from the gazebo to the house through cigarette smoke. I cannot stand the smell and I was always worried that the smell will linger on my clothes and hair. It's a nice hostel if you're staying one or two nights but honestly, i would have rather stayed in a hotel. The friends I made at the hostel were the only ones who made my stay bearable. Ah, and the...

After reading multiple wonderful reviews online, I decided to reserved a room at Billie's.

The hostel seem quaint and homely when I first arrived despite a urine stench that encompassed main-living area. My first impression of Billie was actually quite nice and everything that the reviews said she was. She reminded me of a nice little grandma. But little did I know, she was anything but.

The trouble seem to have stemmed from a simple mistake. I miscalculated my stay by a night. I arrived early in the morning on Thursday (3:00 AM) and was staying until early Sunday (4:00 AM), so I told Billie I was staying for three nights. She promptly told me that it I was staying for 4 nights and not three. I sincerely apologized MULTIPLE times for my mistake and paid her right away for the fourth night. I didn't give much thought into it since I assumed that it wasn't a big deal since I corrected my mistake right away.

However, Billie apparently did not share my thoughts. I came back early my last day and fell asleep. When I woke up I heard Billie and her "friends" talking about me under the assumption I was out. She told her little buddies that she hated me because I tried to cheated her out of a night. That I was trying to get away with not paying. They then talked about how horrible a person/guest I am and how I should have find somewhere else to stay if I wanted to get a "free" night. Her friends/neighbors went as far as suggesting throwing my stuff out. Mind you, I did paid for a fourth night and would have high-tail out of there if I knew what she thought of me. She interacted with me a total of 5 times and each was less than a 5 minutes talk. I didn't even stay the at the hostel for a full night because I met up with a friend. And yet, somehow she knew I was this horrible cheating person (even though I paid).

I was going to endure her bashing and stubbornly stay there for my money sake but after she opened the door to private room to check on my stuff, I felt throughly threatened. Hands down one of the worse experience I have EVER gone through. I packed my bags and promptly left right after.

Get this, she had the audacity to call me dear, asked why I am leaving early, and wished me a safe trip home when she clearly knew I heard all of her vicious words about me minutes before I walked out. I would never believe this was the same woman who bashed me for hours before I didn't hear it myself. The same woman that conspired with two other men to throw my stuff out hours before.

I left the hostel in the middle of a -7 degrees night and 7 hours before my flight in tears. Billie is one of the most vicious woman I have ever met. There are several different hostels in Fairbanks, please choose somewhere that doesn't have an owner that is as cruel as Billie.

Additionally, the urine smell is nauseating. You will be also be told not to talk if you stay in a...

I don’t think I’m saying anything new by suggesting that hostels can sometimes find a way to throw even the best laid and well-researched plans of a visitor, awry. You can spend endless nights planning and even several days traveling across the globe, all for the day-to-day gameplan to crumble upon meeting and meshing with fellow travelers who just “get” you. It’s in these moments of spontaneous magic that I’ve had some of the best times of my life. This past week was absolutely no exception.

This dynamic being unique to traveler’s hostels, is why they will nearly always be my accommodation of choice. When done right, I find they attract the most curious among us - the charismatics of the world. The well-traveled, the experienced, the wanderers, and sometimes those just seeking a different way of life. These are my people; the ones I love to be around the most. I’ve learned so much, from so many just like this – through late night and early morning conversations, often with legs hanging off a kitchen counter - as the minutes and hours tick by.

For this trip I’d planned to be solo trekking and snowshoeing through the wilderness of a remote national park, within a couple of days of arrival at the hostel.

I never did make it out there.

As I write this on the eve of my departure from Billie’s and my flight home to the lower 48, I’m instead cultivating an indescribable joy for the memories that I’ll be leaving with, catalyzed by a series of unlikely coincidences that brought the group of us together in the first place. I can always plan another solo backpacking excursion, but it's moments where chemistry, timing, and personality align and intersect so well, that simply can’t be willed into existence. It takes a special place like this with some luck sprinkled in for...