Skip the small talk: These 17 questions will help you befriend backpackers and have in-depth hostel convos

Meeting friends while travelling is easy. But as seasoned backpackers know, there’s a certain script that kicks in about five minutes after you drop your bag on a bottom bunk. So, where are you from? How long are you travelling? Where to next? It’s not that these questions are bad. But they can be grating once you’ve been on the road for a while.

Hostel common rooms are built for connection. Mismatched couches that feel like an old friend’s basement. Communal pasta nights that are nothing fancy but feed your soul. An unspoken casual dress code that means sweat pants and an old hiking shirt are the perfect attire to introduce yourself to new people in. And yet, we default to the same safe prompts, over and over.

Thankfully, most travellers are up for more than small talk. You don’t leave home, cram your life into a backpack, and land in a room full of strangers from all over the world because you’re craving surface-level chats. You’re here for stories. For the slightly (completely?) unhinged late-night chats. For the conversations that stretch past midnight and make you miss your bus the next morning.

These 17 questions are designed to move things past the basics and into territory that’s deeper and way more engaging. Toss these out casually or turn it into a low-stakes game. The point is that nobody’s eyes will be glazing over answering these and you’ll hopefully attract a few others to your table.

1. What's something about your hometown or home country that more people should know?

Maybe there’s a relatively unknown food festival or people know it as the capital of one thing while locals really know its soul lies in a secret something else. 

2. If you could get a free flight somewhere tomorrow, where would you go? 

This is the: “If you won the lottery, what would you buy?” but for travellers. Free flight? In this economy!? Imagine.  

3. Name somewhere you've been that you'd go back to in a heartbeat?

Because every true traveller has that one place that really made an impact. 

4. What's a habit or practice you saw elsewhere that you admire?

Lunch breaks that are actual lunch breaks… and last two hours.

5. What's one piece of advice you'd give to your younger self *or* a newbie traveller?

Definitely end that situationship to go to Colombia on a one-way ticket.

6. Fess up: What's the dumbest travel mistake you've ever made?

Travel just brings on that fish-out-of-water feeling and you have to lean into it and just laugh at yourself. We all have those moments that are so painful or embarrassing at the time but we know will be funny later. This ice-breaker chat in the hostel common space is that time. So what was it?

7. Who is the most interesting person you’ve met while travelling and why?

Hostels are one of the best places to meet people (we could be biased but still…). We want to hear all about past travel connections from the person who switched between languages so easily to the one who you swear must have a record deal by now.

8. Do you have a story about an unlikely connection you made during your travels?

It could be a best friend, a partner, or someone who you still travel with today. Let’s hear all about the meet cute. 

9. Tell me about a funny error you made in a language that isn’t your native tongue.

We all put our foot in our mouth at times. That happens even more when trying to remember the right words and conjugations in a second or third language. Luckily, those make for hilarious stories later. 

10. Who has been your strangest travel companion?

In a good way or a bad way. Travel is one of the best ways we get to know ourselves, the characteristics we like, and who we are (or aren’t) compatible with. 

11. What’s the oddest or most original tour you’ve ever been on?

This one has to prompt endless conversations around the dining table. You might have been on an amazing three-day tour of the jungle or scenic mountains somewhere. Or maybe it was a creepy crypt, a dark walking tour, or a ghost walk in the middle of the night.

12. Tell me about a non-touristy activity you did that totally made your trip.

A lot of us say that we want original, off-the-beaten-path adventures so talking about past ones helps us get creative and shake up our itineraries now. 

13. We all have an embarrassing hostel moment. Tell me yours.

Snoring louder than the clanging bells of a historic church next door might be yours. Falling off the top bunk and waking the whole dorm might be your travel partner’s. Let’s go around the table now…

14. Describe the best or most intriguing cuisine you've tried while travelling.

I want out there. I want romantic. I want heartwarming. I want surprising. Give me the details. 

15. Name a place you'd like to visit that you don't think gets talked about enough.

Even if it’s non-descript. Even if it has a bad reputation and even (or especially!) if it’s your hometown!

16. What's a common travel practice you think people shouldn't bother with?

No judgement either. This prompt is just to open our minds to sharing opinions and spending our time on what could be more meaningful. 

17. Whether you bought it, made it, or found it, what’s the most valuable travel souvenir you currently own?

This one is open-ended for a reason. Look, we’ve all bought the magnet, mug and key chain but maybe at the end of the day, your travel journals are what hold value. 

If even one of these questions turns a polite chat into a story you'll still be laughing about in six months, it has done its job. Hostel common rooms are temporary by design, but the right conversation can make them feel like something more. Best case scenario: you convert a passing hello into an evening involving deep-belly laughter, tomorrow's tour and even travel meet-ups down the line!