Where Did You Sleep Last Night?
In a world full of travel and fast-changing trends, it is no wonder the accommodation options presented to tourists seem endless. There is no shortage of sleeping location potential and it ranges from your bog standard classics like hotels, hostels, and Airbnbs (the last one being a bit contentious for more eco-friendly travellers, see alternative here), to the unique, original, mesmerising, and downright bizarre.
Recently in London, I decided to trial some of the increasingly popular sustainable sleeping options that are springing up in cities around the world. There are a range of types, spacing arrangements, and budgets but all with a certain sustainable aspect underpinning them. In an ever-changing world, where the desire to travel and explore is at odds with the urge and, if we’re being honest, the necessity to be more environmentally conscientious, these accommodations may be what we can expect to see more of in the near future.
I chose to compare the various accommodation models in a single city (with the sleeper train being the exception, for the obvious reason that it moved), for ease of comparison and uniformity of external factors that can make or break a holiday, such as variety of and access to food, consistency in weather, access to public transport, etc. I didn’t, for example, want to compare a luxury eco-hotel in a hot, sun-drenched metropolis in Greece in May and a houseboat stay in a dark, icy village in northern Sweden in February – my experiences, mindset, and abilities to formulate a fair comparison would be affected by numerous factors. Choosing a singular location, within a short time period allowed me to focus on the accommodations discussed and their pros and cons, more effectively and fairly. So with that being said, let’s explore what, I expect, will be where a lot of us will be sleeping during our future holidays.
Shipping Containers
This was a first for me. I know there is an entire student living setup in Copenhagen made entirely out of shipping containers, that the UK and US are using them to make tiny homes for the homeless, and that in Eindhoven, Netherlands there is a business centre made from them, so it seems only natural that some savvy hoteliers have made hotels out of them. Sleeping, locked into a steel box designed for sending cargo long distances by sea, is not necessarily everyone’s idea of a sound night’s sleep. But are they as uncomfortable as they sound?
I stayed in the SnoozeBox near the Olympic Stadium in London and there is one main question you need to ask yourself before booking your stay here. It’s not the expected: What’s the room arrangement? How many pillows are there? What’s the bed size? Does my best friend or romantic partner have to listen through a thin panel of frosted glass to every piss I take or bowel movement I have? The answer is yes, by the way – it brings you closer together. The imperative question is this:
Just how much do you love ABBA?
If it isn’t drunk-60-year-old auntie-at-a-wedding-off-her-tits-on-half-the-contents-of-the-free-bar level of loving ABBA, then you will need to mentally, physically, and emotionally prepare yourself. I, for one, thought it was one of the most incredible hotel breakfast and bar areas that I have ever experienced. That being said, my family’s agreed upon funeral song is Dancing Queen, so…
But back to the practicalities. Staying in a repurposed shipping container is never going to be the height of luxury; you’re in a metal box that, at one point in its existence, probably smelled like fish, and I think that is important for people to keep in mind. The layout was simple and functional, as one would imagine, but still managed to fit in a comfy double bed, a single bunk, a safe, two drawers, a mini hanging wardrobe, three small shelves, a port-style window, and a small bathroom consisting of an overhead shower, hand basin, and toilet – I’ve stayed in less inviting hotel rooms, for sure.
Although comfy, this is a built-for-purpose accommodation, and that purpose is to be a practical, short-stay sleeping solution, mostly to accommodate the audiences of the ABBA Voyage Experience show that is across the road. The public transport access is incredible, as you are across the road from the train and have close access to buses. As far as the sustainability aspect goes, the use of a pre-existing container requires less energy and fewer raw materials during construction compared to those required in building new hotels and accommodations, significantly reducing the carbon footprint and CO2 emissions.
If you’re looking for a luxury stay, this isn’t it. But if you’re looking for a uniquely sustainable holiday sleeping solution, then you could definitely do worse. I would certainly be happy to stay again.
Pods and Capsules
I think this might be the accommodation that divides people. Seasoned travellers will already be aware of sleeping pods and capsules, for those just starting to discover more alternative travel styles this may be something new. Fans will describe them as private, cozy, warm, cute; haters will describe them as coffins for the living. It’s all a matter of perspective.
With the concept originating in Osaka, Japan, the world’s first pod hotel was The Capsule Inn which opened in 1979. Since then, these wee sleeping cells have gained popularity around the world, offering a functional and efficient sleeping solution. Some tourists try them because of the complete lack of light and unparalleled privacy offered by being locked into a box, while others use them for their efficiency and affordability, and others simply try them out of sheer curiosity. No matter why you choose capsule accommodation, it is guaranteed to be an experience.
My stay at Komo Pods in Hackney was my first time sleeping in a capsule; I had often weighed up capsules as an option on my travels but just never got round to trying them. I went in with mid-level expectations; I expected to get a London £45 worth of sleeping comfort – an ok mattress, a decent but not great shower, and a fair bit of noise from other guests.
What I got was an extremely comfortable mattress, great shower (temp and water pressure were excellent), and very friendly, quiet guest-mates. The common spaces are absolutely fine for doing a bit of remote work, although maybe not virtual meetings; the bathroom setup was more than adequate, but, like any shared loo situation, avoid peak times as most guests seemed to be professionals travelling for work or tourists who are keen early-rising site-seers; but the lack of fresh air and ventilation in each capsule makes things a bit sticky and stuffy and, if you’re a sleep-with-the-window-open kind of sleeper like me, this will probably affect your sleep. Although a fan is provided in each pod, I woke up a sweaty mess.
The sustainability aspect of this hotel is two-fold; one, the compact design and nature of these hotels leads to the use of less land and less general and water waste; two, the bed-only pod means that you do not stay in your room - you go out, explore, and spend time and money in your travel destination – thus learning about the local community, customs, and culture and putting back into the local economy by shopping, eating, and drinking while out and about.
The capsule did exactly as it was designed to do, offered a place to sleep, shower, and shit without any fuss or frills. I would definitely put them on my list of go-to sustainable accommodation options when I’m travelling in the future.
Eco-Hotels
This accommodation is one that messes with me quite a bit. On the one hand, as a sustainable travel writer and advocate I relish the idea of all hotels and hostels being fully eco-friendly and sustainable. However, with most eco-hotels the price is enough to fucking floor you. My fucking God. You would have to be Him to afford it. Particularly in major cities like London, which is know for being pricey, the hotels that meet the high standards and stringent criteria to officially and legally call themselves eco-hotels can be arse-clenchingly expensive.
I genuinely believe that the only way to be truly sustainable is for most people to have access to it. At the moment the majority of fully sustainable, eco-hotels (and we’re just using London as the example, here) are predominately for the wealthy few who can afford an average spend of £385 (€457 or $498)* per night. In reality, a sustainable night’s sleep is relegated to the budgets of the 1% of earners, and seeing as they see private jets as necessities, I’m not convinced they give a shit about eco-friendly accommodation.
However, for research purposes for this post, I did stay in one of London’s slightly cheaper eco-hotels for 2 nights – I made it a gift to myself and I only cried a little. Preferring to call themselves a hometel, a hotel that functions like a home, Room2, is changing the face of eco-accommodation, making sustainable travel cozy, stylish, and more accessible. I stayed in their Chiswick location. I fell in love.
Its claim is that it is the world’s first fully eco-friendly, sustainable hometel which it backs up with B-corp certification and a slew of green accolades and awards. Essentially, it is an eco-wanker like me’s wet dream. Everything in it is sustainably resourced from the hand soap, to the hemp bags provided in each room so you can shop at the local markets, to the linen, to the café that only serves locally-sourced food – the entire thing is green, green, green. They even have a gym and laundry – which was a surprise to me upon arrival – that is completely free to use for guests.
If I could live here, I would. But, I suppose that’s the point. I couldn’t fault it and I’m not even being paid to say that. Highly recommend, I just wish these sorts of experiences and stays were more financially accessible to more travellers and tourists. Maybe one day.
*Price calculated based on a one-night, weekend, off-peak season stay for one adult in a standard room in the top 11 Eco-friendly, sustainable hotels in London; I would like it officially noted that I did maths to calculate this shit. I don’t do maths. This is how much sustainable travel means to me.
Sleeper Train
This is an old-fashioned choice that’s having a bit of a resurgence amongst the eco-tourist community. In years gone by, the sleeper train was the setting of murders to be solved by cunning Belgian detectives, the backdrop for songs about freezing precipitation in classic Christmas films, or the tiny space in which elite secret agents battled to the death – all highly entertaining and dramatic scenarios. The reality of travelling by sleeper, as they’re called, is slightly different, and your best approach is probably not to romanticise the media-portrayed ideal with which you will be familiar.
The incredible thing about the sleeper train, to state the obvious, is that it is travel and accommodation in one, making it one of the most environmentally friendly and sustainable travel and accommodation options, especially for those who want to see multiple cities in one trip. The biggest thing that I have against the sleeper trains, and I’ll just come out with it right away, is that they are not cheap. Even though there is the illusion of saving money by sleeping while you travel, the reality is that the sleeper train from London to Glasgow for a single person on an off-peak, non-weekend travel day is going to cost you at least £200 – if you like to be horizontal while you sleep.
There is a marginally cheaper way to travel by overnight train, however, and that is to get a seated ticket. I know this is not the adventure you’ve seen on TikTok and Instagram where the influencer get to sit in the in-station lounge complete with showers, food, and complimentary drinks before they board early and head into their sweet, sweet cabin with bed and private toilet, but keep in mind that most of those travel influencers are not shelling out for their own ticket and you, most certainly, are. But does a seated sleeper ticket give you the same experience?
No. Absolutely not. Not even fucking close. And this is not a throw-away statement that most travellers and tourists could get to own their own with a simple application of logic – sleeping sitting up is not as comfortable as sleeping lying down – but rather, this is based on my testing of this hypothesis on the Caledonian Sleeper from London Euston to Glasgow Central.
Let’s start with the basics and realities of the sleeper train experience:
My seat-only ticket was £94, one-way; by comparison, there were normal, non-sleeper train tickets on the regular London to Glasgow service for earlier that day for £57
The train departed at 23:45 but standard ticket holders can board at 22:30, with arrival in Glasgow at 7:30 and de-boarding allowed up until 8:00
I had to buy train station food and eat it on a bench outside the station (luckily we were having a bout of warm weather) as at this time of night (when the sleeper trains are scheduled) all the restaurants are takeaway only
There are no bins in London train stations due to security risks so you have to carry your rubbish about with you while trying to simultaneously manoeuvre your luggage
You will feel cramped, have a sore neck, will be sat next to someone who doesn’t understand the concept of personal space or next to someone who hates the fact that you exist (this was the lucky draw I had), suffer from a full numbing of your arse, and experience fleeting but sharp thoughts about dying of Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT)
The sleep problems you have at home will now be shared with strangers – drool, talking in your sleep, sleepwalking, sleep paralysis, or all of the above; while slumbering, I drooled steadily and profusely into my own hair and it became clear why my seat-mate did not enjoy my close proximity to her
All in all, although not the most comfortable of options, I did enjoy the novelty and adventure of the night train experience – but if you’ve read my previous work, you will know how much I love travelling by train. It was different, eco-friendly, and good practice for longer overnight train journeys that I have planned later in the year. I think people should try it for the experience, but perhaps if you can, budget for a cabin and sleep horizontally, as nature intended for us humans. Your body will thank you.
Final Thoughts
Each of the accommodation options tested had their good points and their bad. Honestly, I would be quite happy to stay in all of them again, and, due to my job, that is almost a certainty for me. However, I will note that as a travel writer and someone who has had more than a decade working within the tourism industry, I am more accustomed than most to staying in various holiday accommodations – from the crème de la crème of Swiss hotels to some absolute shit heaps, and I have slept soundly in them all.
The focus here was to help others who are at various points in their journey to travel more conscientiously find ways explore more sustainable options and actively start to seek them out when they travel. All of the property types mentioned above have an element of sustainability at their core. Some repurpose old, unwanted objects that were destined for overfilled landfills, and through a decision to reuse rather than source new building materials they drastically lessen the carbon footprint that come with constructing holiday accommodations. Others, are focusing on altering our perceptions of what a holiday accommodation really is, encouraging spaces to be nothing more than a comfortable place to sleep but not one that you would wish to spend daylight hours in, forcing travellers to explore local communities and put back into them financially. Others, combine the travel and sleeping aspect making a far less devastating impact on the environment with lessened carbon emissions.
As with anything in life, there is no such thing as perfection, and the same is sadly applicable to the world of eco-friendly, sustainable accommodation. Ultimately, the main point to is to try; do your wee bit to be more sustainable when you travel, and push yourself to explore alternative, unique, and more sustainable places to sleep when you’re travelling.
Have fun exploring and, as always, happy travels!