An Australian woman backpacking through Europe says her experiences in hostels are making her ‘ageist’ towards older females who ‘snore’ and have ‘no respect’ for other people.  

In a lengthy TikTok video, Lucy Holz claims ‘older women’ are the ‘worst’ to be around when it comes to sleeping in a shared space. 

The young traveller booked female-only hostels both for safety reasons but also because women are less likely than men to snore at night. 

However, she’s learnt that this isn’t the case for older women who have kept her awake through the night by snoring, making noises, and even blow-drying their hair at midnight. 

‘I really hate to have to say this, but I do. Staying in hostels is making me ageist,’ she began. 

‘I’ve been staying in a lot of hostels lately and I specifically selected female hostels, which are more expensive [and] they shouldn’t be. 

‘Other girls were telling me you should always pick the female hostel not just for safety but also for snoring because women don’t tend to snore as much as men do.’ 

Lucy added how she ‘doesn’t fall asleep very easily’ and earplugs ‘don’t work’, so snoring ‘really effects’ her sleep. 

‘While women may not snore as much in general, I’ll tell you who does snore, old women,’ she continued. 

‘It’s got to the point where I see an older woman walking into my dorm room and I’m like, ‘Oh my god, why are you here?”

Lucy complained that older women don’t just snore, but they tend to be ‘so disrespectful’ towards other people in the dorm. 

During her final night of staying at a ‘horrific hostel’, she claims a middle-aged woman had a shower at midnight then proceeded to blow-dry her hair and wake everyone up. 

Lucy claims the woman kept making noise while climbing into the middle of the three-bed bunk. 

‘Like, girl! You’re in a shared space!’ she said. 

‘Anyway my towel was hanging up on one side, not in her way whatsoever.. she takes it off, throws it onto my bed, like…. awesome. 

‘And of course, as I suspected, she f***ing snores. I was just not built for the hostel life. It’s tarnishing my view of middle-aged women. 

‘I will not be the same person when I return from this holiday.’ 

Within 24 hours the video exceeded more than 176,000 views and others agreed older women tend to be inconsiderate in hostels. 

‘I had an older lady in a hostel wake up at 6am, turn on the light and do a full workout routine,’ one wrote. 

‘And no phone etiquette, they’re always watching videos and TikToks [at] full volume,’ a second said. 

‘Literally! just left a hostel in Switzerland and an older lady was yelling on phone calls late night and early morning every day,’ someone else wrote. 

Another joined the conversation and said: ‘An older woman straight up TOOK someone’s bed at 10pm when they were out bc she wanted that bed more. Moved all the person’s stuff and everything.’

One person said a middle-aged woman kept turning the air-conditioner off overnight while staying in the humid Australian rainforests.  

Another said: ‘I stayed at a hostel in Madrid and an older lady turned on the lights at midnight, then blasted TikTok at like 1am and also snored like crazy!’

One person encouraged Lucy to speak up in future.  

‘You need to be assertive and tell them when they are doing things that are inconsiderate… cause God knows they will tell you on the reverse,’ she said.

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Leaning over the side of a four-by-four safari vehicle, it’s tricky to hold your camera steady. We are in the Mara Naboisho Conservancy in Kenya and can hardly believe our luck, having just chanced upon a cheetah and her two cubs who have taken an interest in us.

It’s a little alarming how close they get, especially when they stand up on their hind legs and begin gnawing at the wing mirror. My nine-year-old daughter is sitting in the back with her father, who is holding our four-year-old son tightly. It is only when one of the cubs looks as though it’s about to leap in that our guide, Lenkume, turns on the ignition to frighten the cheetahs off.

Lenkume tells us that a young cheetah did once jump into his truck, landing on an American tourist’s lap and ripping her jeans with razor-sharp claws.

You can’t help wondering, is going on a safari with young children really such a good idea?

Absolutely, is the answer. A safari holiday has always been a dream and when I heard that Great Plains, run by wildlife conservationists and filmmakers Derek and Beverly Joubert, now offer family-friendly safaris we raided our piggy banks, as it’s not cheap.

First comes three days in the Chyulu Hills National Park staying at the Ol Donyo Lodge, before taking a 45-minute flight to the Mara Naboisho Conservancy in Maasai Mara, where we have three nights at Mara Nyika camp.

It’s an ambitious itinerary over a week (flying initially to Nairobi), so when we touch down in the golden fields of the Chyulu Hills, we head straight for the bush.

Dan, our guide, comes to the small plane with our very own Land Cruiser, complete with a well-stocked fridge, picnic table, chairs, two pairs of binoculars and a Canon camera. These extras mean you don’t have to use up precious luggage allowance (15kg per person in a soft bag is all allowed on the small internal aircraft) and you get to keep all the images on a USB stick.

Everything you might need, from wet wipes to sunscreen and insect repellent, is included and because the camp does your laundry free of charge you can be frugal with packing. A fleece, layers you can peel off during the day, a scarf to wear over your mouth on dusty roads, proper shoes, a cap and good sunglasses are the essentials.

Itineraries are personalised and ours includes breakfast in the bush next to a lagoon with hippos and crocodiles, as well as sipping gin and tonics in the four-by-four at sundown while watching lion cubs rolling in the long grass.

A thrilling night-time safari is also thrown in. We use infra-red torches to observe packs of hyenas and lions, while stars high above the landscape provide the most wonderful light show.

Great Plains offers an all-inclusive kids’ club, which means that when the children are tired or bored, there’s plenty for them to do at the camp.

Activities include archery, spear-making, learning how to make a fire, pizza-making and watercolour painting in the log hide-out overlooking a watering hole. The latter is the only source of water for 40 miles and attracts myriad wildlife, including zebra, impala, elan, monkeys, baboons and lions.

Horse-riding is offered, as are visits to Mbirikani, a local Maasai village an hour’s drive away. Here, we are welcomed by village elders and invited into their homes – huts made from cow dung.

There is no running water and no electricity. But with the help of a translator, we are given a real insight into local life. And it’s humbling.

On another day, a trip into the bush to see the work of the Big Life Foundation is arranged. This is an anti-poaching organisation working with the Kenyan government. Bloodhounds, named Bonnie and Clyde, work with park rangers to track down illegal poachers.

There’s so much to do – and it’s so educational for the children – that it’s tempting to be out adventuring non-stop, but it would be a shame not to enjoy the camp, too.

Each of the six lodges at Ol Donyo has its own butler service, plunge pool, ‘star bed’ (on the roof) and great views of the 300,000-acre conservation area. The food is excellent and there is a varied children’s menu for young explorers.

It might seem as though the luxurious experience is unmatchable but our stay at Mara Nyika proves this wrong. Nyika means ‘great plains’ and the camp is surrounded by acres of lush grassland where elephants roam at eye level to the stilted tents.

We opt for one of the newly refurbished family tents that boast two huge bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms complete with copper roll-top baths and walk-in showers, and a huge balcony where we enjoy breakfast with the monkeys.

This is a more exposed camp than Ol Donyo and we receive a safety briefing on arrival. No one is allowed to leave their tents at night and there is also round-the-clock security.

No two days in the Maasai are the same and we marvel at the vast number of animals. The ‘Big Five’ are here and, while we don’t encounter any rhino, we catch sight of the other four – elephants, lions, leopards and buffaloes.

The children have been given a wildlife tick list and we have hours of fun ticking off the names of all the magnificent creatures we have seen and learning their collective nouns – a troop of ostrich, a business of mongoose, a school of hippos.

Perhaps most magnificent of all is getting to see a leopard and her cub, while our son George falls in love with the warthogs and insists he wants to take ‘Pumbaa’ home. It’s hard not to think of the Lion King and the Circle Of Life – we’ve always loved the Disney hit, but nothing beats seeing Simba for real.

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By Neirin Gray Desai For Dailymail.Com

Published: 09:42 EDT, 29 May 2023 | Updated: 09:42 EDT, 29 May 2023

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