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I used to swear by hostels until I stayed in a $30 capsule hotel in Tokyo last month
Three years ago I was all about dorm beds for the social vibe, but that capsule had a private locker, noise canceling earplugs, and a real mattress, so now I'm rethinking my whole budget approach, anyone else find a cheap alternative that changed their travel routine?
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kelly.nora1mo ago
Wait, a capsule hotel had a real mattress? My back still hurts from that foam slab at the place I stayed in Osaka last year. Now I gotta find out if those are the standard or if you just got super lucky.
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hill.andrew1mo ago
Three nights in a row at the Capsule Inn Shinjuku back in 2018 and I swear my spine re-aligned itself. The foam slab thing you had sounds brutal, Kelly.Nora. My place had these weird semi-hard mats that felt like sleeping on a folded yoga mat after a hot class. The real mattress thing is definitely not standard, most of them are budget foam or that weird plastic stuff they hose down. I only found one other place in Kyoto that had an actual coil spring setup, and it was a newer spot that cost double the usual rate. Guess some places figured people might actually want to wake up without a neck cramp.
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Friend of mine stayed at a capsule in Shibuya last year and he said the same thing, got lucky with a real mattress setup but the one he booked in Kyoto was that hard foam you're talking about. @hill.andrew is right about the newer places charging double, my buddy paid like 60 bucks for the Kyoto one that had a coil spring and pillow menu of all things. He still talks about how the Shibuya locker was big enough for his carry-on but the Kyoto one barely fit his backpack, so even the storage is a gamble.
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