Latest news with #FionaStrack
Daily Mail
02-07-2025
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE I thought I got a great deal when I booked a $7 hostel... then I saw where I'd be sleeping
A woman who thought she got a great deal while booking a $7 hostel was left horrified when she saw where she'd be sleeping. Fiona Strack, 25, originally from Germany, has been traveling full-time since August 2024. While backpacking across the globe over the last year, she has become no stranger to booking cheap accommodations in a bid to cut down costs. When she came across a listing for a hostel in Manila, Philippines, on a popular booking website that was a mere $7 for one night, she was ecstatic over the low price. It had good reviews and the pictures looked 'okay,' so she went ahead and booked it... but as soon as she walked into the hostel, she immediately regretted her decision to stay there. It looked more like a dog kennel or a jail cell than a hostel, with harrowing bars on the outside of each bed. Her sleeping quarters consisted of a small mattress sitting on the floor, a pillow, a thin blanket, and a fan. It was caged in with walls around it and a metal gate that could be locked from the outside or inside. The bathroom had a detachable shower head, a faucet to wash your hands, and a toilet with no toilet seat. 'I booked it online via a popular booking website, the reviews and the pictures were okay so I just thought to just go for it,' Fiona explained exclusively to the Daily Mail. 'I walked in and immediately thought, "This feels more like a dog kennel than a hostel." It was cramped, dark, and honestly a bit shocking, but It was fully booked.' While Fiona said she considered leaving at first, she explained that it was late and she was exhausted from a long day of traveling. In addition, she knew it would just be for one night so she decided to grin and bare it. 'I absolutely considered leaving and I probably would've if it hadn't been so late at night and I had not been so tired since I just arrived after a long travel day,' she dished. '[Also] as a low-budget backpacker, it's not really an option to double pay for one night.' She said she 'tried to make the best of it' and used humor to cope. She took a video of the unwelcoming accommodations and shared it to Instagram, under her username @ where it quickly went viral. 'When you budget backpacked a little too hard,' she wrote in a text overlay as a clip showed her covering her mouth in shock, before she turned the camera to show off the hostel. 'Still not sure if it was a hostel, a dog shelter, or a prison,' she joked in the caption. 'But hey, $7 a night and I had Wi-Fi, electricity, a fan, and a clean towel.' Fiona told the Daily Mail that she was 'so tired' that she 'immediately fell asleep.' But she said she was left tossing and turning most of the night out of fear someone might lock her in her little cubicle. She added that she did not have a 'restful night' and was extremely happy to leave the next morning as soon as she woke up. 'Knowing someone could easily lock my door with another padlock from the outside, let me wake up after every single noise I heard,' shared the backpacker. 'It wasn't [really] dangerous though, just extremely uncomfortable, loud, very hot (no AC, just a fan) and kind of surreal. '[Thankfully], I had a linen sleeping bag and noise cancelling headphones what made it bearable.' In the end, she said she hoped that sharing the incident online will show others the realities of backpacking. 'I posted [the video] to share the chaos of real budget travel,' she explained. 'I never expected this kind of response. I'm overwhelmed (in a good way) and grateful people connected with the rawness of it.'
New York Post
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Budget traveler reveals inside of $7 per night hostel: ‘That's just prison'
It cost $7— but it was hardly seventh heaven. German backpacker Fiona Strack has shocked social media after sharing footage of an ultra-cheap hostel that she stayed in during her travels to Manila in The Philippines. 'Still not sure if it was a hostel, a dog shelter, or a prison' she wrote in the caption, 'but hey, €6 (USD $7) a night and I had WiFi, electricity, a fan, and a clean towel.' Advertisement The viral reel posted to her account, @ detailing the hostel's tiny sleeping space, shabby bathroom, and padlocked metal door — has racked up over 32.5 million views in just three days, and commenters expressed every emotion from shock to horror to slightly guilty amusement. 'May this never ever find me,' one commenter wrote. 'Baby, that's just prison,' said another sympathetic viewer. Advertisement 4 'For 6 euros, this isn't bad,' justified one commenter. Instagram/@ 4 On her Instagram, Strack identifies as a solo traveler and a 'digital nomad.' Instagram/@ 'Typical New York 1 bedroom,' quipped one commenter. 'Ma'am, you're crate training,' joked a user, while another said, 'Not the human kennel…' Advertisement Many commenters were also concerned that the influencer had mistaken the bidet for the shower head, but unfortunately for curious viewers, that was among the only details she didn't share. 4 'I'd rather not travel and stay home instead. I really don't understand why people want to travel the world like this,' said one critic. Instagram/@ 'I am so glad that my level of budget hotels is four stars and up. I'm not compromising safety, a good night's rest, a private bathroom and shower, and room service just to save a few bucks,' argued a particularly detail-oriented traveler. 'I'd rather this than a tent in the woods or sleeping in my car,' replied one wallet-conscious Instagrammer. 'It's not bad for one or two nights to save money.' Advertisement 4 Strack travels across the world with just a few bags to her name. Instagram/@ Despite the jokes and pity from commenters who were horrified by the budget hostel's appearance, Strack seems to be no stranger to the unexpected, particularly where travel fails are concerned. The influencer has been traveling across Asia for the past year, and has documented her adventures in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, among other locales. While she shares some undeniably beautiful sights from her travels — pink sand beaches, vibrant city streets and verdant forest hikes — Strack is also brutally honest with her followers about her lifestyle. 'Unfortunately, I'm not sponsored and I'm not traveling from daddy's money,' she explained in another recent video. 'I just work. I'm a low-budget backpacker, so I don't need a lot. I always try to find a job or volunteer project in the place I'm at, and sometimes I work in exchange for food or accommodations,' she shared. Strack also added that she works in social media management for a German company, and works about 15 hours a week on that job. It's enough for Southeast Asia, she says, but not for everywhere, so staying in a budget hostel like the one in her viral reel is sometimes necessary. While the travel influencer may have expressed a little bit of apprehension while she navigated the dingy hallways of the €6 accommodation, her latest posts see her spirits lifted after what the Internet supposes must have been a 'traumatic' hostel stay — snorkeling in clear blue waters with turtles and catching bright orange sunsets in the Philippines aren't bad pick-me-ups, after all.
