💃🏻 Clubbing with Hostel Roommates

Notes: I am not encouraging anyone to club. I'm only sharing my experience to help people who have been considering going clubbing but are too afraid. During the time I went out I did not drink.

Disclaimer: This blog is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be considered as advice. There may be a few (or a lot) grammatical errors. Use/apply at will. This post is not sponsored. None of the links provided are affiliates.

During my second visit to Miami, I decided that I wanted to try out “clubbing”.

The first time I visited Miami I didn't want to go out. My hostel roommates at the time invited me to go out with them, but I decided to stay in. Initially, I was scared because I never had gone out clubbing before and was afraid of what could go wrong. Looking back, who would have known I actually would enjoy going out, meeting new people, and dancing?

I scheduled a wakeboarding session that I didn't want to miss near Hobbie Beach and decided it would be smarter to stay in.

I've been to house parties and regular parties while in high school. Private school parties are wild. However, I never entered a club.

During my second visit to Miami, I decided to stay 8 days. When I got to my hostel I met my roommates.

I felt comfortable with my hostel roommates. To this day we still talk through Whatsapp, Instagram, and occasionally we send each other TikTok videos.

We all came solo as females for very different reasons but we all had a comparable mindset: We wanted to have a good time and enjoy our trip. Remember you define what a good time is for you- you don't have to stick to what everyone's definition of "fun" is or participate in other people's definition of "fun".

During my first visit to Miami, I still had a great time because I did things that I wanted to do: wakeboarding, visiting the beach, and exploring Miami.

The night I decided to stay in, I thanked my roommates for inviting me to go out with them but told them that I would stay in. I scheduled a wakeboarding session that night (If you go with more people it is cheaper but I saved enough before my trip to book the session alone). The next morning I woke up early and got ready. To this day it was one of the best moments of my life. I got to take my first wakeboarding and wake-surfing lessons by myself.

Wakesurfing = You hold on to a rope and once you're up you release the rope and try to ride the waves made by the boat.

Wakeboarding = You hold on to the rope and you don't let go.

I wakeboarded near Hobie Island and after my wakeboarding session, I walked to Hobie Island Beach Park and relaxed on the beach.

Tip: Find a hobby or create an itinerary that excites you and go do it. You do not have to stick to the mainstream idea of what people do when they visit a specific city (i.e.: Vegas, Miami, etc.) - unless you want to.

You can create your fun. Even if you and your hostel roommates are not on the same page you can still choose to enjoy your time by yourself and do activities that you always wanted to do or try while on vacation. You can also meet people in your hostel or while traveling (just be safe and always use travel safety precautions). When you're on the same page and don't feel like the connection is forced or ingenuine you make room for real connections and the possibility of an adventure with people you just met.

Back to clubbing with my hostel roommates during my second visit:

One girl was Ukrainian, studying and living in San Francisco at USF, another girl was from the UK who came to visit a friend but eventually came to Generator Miami, and the other girl was from Peru.

On the other hand, I found myself in Miami for the second time that year with no idea that I would be making memories with my roommates. I came for a job interview.

I don't remember how but my roommates and I ended up going to the beach together the day we met. We talked about everyone's evening plans. We were all open to going out together that night. When we left the beach, we did our own thing and met up later that night to get ready.

As I mentioned before, the first time I came to Miami, I was scared to go out. I had a lot of instilled fear from my family and other people in my life, but I realized anything is unsafe and I didn't want to live in fear, remorse, or regret of not doing what I wanted to do. To this day, I don't regret it.

I decided to go out with them and just made sure to prepare myself if things went sideways.

Things I did:

Kept my location on 24/7 with trusted family members and friends.
A backup plan (see below).
Let my trusted family/friends know that I would be going out.
Stay relaxed. After all, in life we all make mistakes but I rather learn and improve than over-worry about things that are outside of my control, haven't even happened, or will ever happen (mindset). Something that has helped me is praying. If you want to know the benefits/effects of prayer you can read this article.
Have a greater "WHY" and not allow the fear of failure or things going wrong to stop me from living/enjoying my life.
Do your best to take action to prevent bad situations (within your control and that don't make you overthink).

My backup plan was that if the girls got too crazy I would:

Uber out by myself.

One of the girls suggested going to Wynwood (Miami's Art District).

Wynwood is a neighborhood in Miami filled with clubs and bars. It's still slightly unsafe (if you're going alone at night). It's important to do your best to always stay in well-lit areas, not walk around alone past midnight, and be aware of your surroundings at all times.

A helpful article: https://www.wikihow.com/Be-Confident-and-Safe-when-Going-Out-Alone

I know it's WikiHow but the tips are things that I have done that have helped me stay safe.

On our first night, we went to Pilo's Tequila Garden (in Wynwood), right across from Dirty Rabbit and several other clubs.

Note: Every club is different but at Pilo's, they charged us a $25.00 entrance fee (cover charge). In the clubbing "dictionary" this fee is known as Cover Charge - to this day I don't think this is the most effective term to define a clubbing entrance fee) and you could use it to purchase whatever you want (food or drinks) inside Pilo's.

For Dirty Rabbit, during the time we visited there was a $25.00 charge.

When we entered Pilo's at Wynwood they guided us to the small seating area where you could get drinks and sit down to order. In front of the seating area was the tiny dance floor.

Pilo's has a small dancing area but it's extremely fun when it's packed (personal preference). I don't recommend going on Sundays unless there is a special event or you don't mind it being empty (compared to Friday/Saturday nights).

When I went on a Sunday alone it was quite empty.

If you want to know what it was like to club alone for the first time (in Miami): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtvIwKB-7TA

Once we finished, we went to the dance floor and they put on Latin music ALL night! A lot of recent urban Latin music (Bad Bunny, RAUW, etc.).

I don't know about my roommates (because they didn't understand the lyrics... lol) but I think it's fair to say it was a good time! We all danced and had a great time together.

At the end of the night, we met some guys from New York City.

I asked one of the guys where he was from he said "New York" with his thick New York city accent.

I told him, "I figured. I love New York. Y'all are so cool!"

He said, "Yeah, we're built different." and proceeded to spin us in circles.

I bursted out laughing. Thankfully, the music was loud enough that you couldn't tell.

We exchanged Instas with them and to this day we still talk - platonically.

My hostel roommates and I went out several times after that within that week!

Places we visited:

Grails - Cool urban sports bar. - Not a lot of people were there during the time we visited.
Pilo's Tequila Garden
Dirty Rabbit
F1 Miami Free Event
Pilo's Tequila Garden (again) - I went the second time alone.

There are other places you can club besides Wynwood, some places are near the main tourist spots in Miami. However, something I noticed based on my experience trying to get into other clubs outside of Wynwood is that clubs in Wynwood are much more mature (Dirty rabbit seemed to attract more young professionals and older individuals than Pilo's - during the time we visited. Most of the clubs I visited in Wynwood seemed to be filled with young professionals, tourists, and people in their mid to late 20s-30s - this is based on the time we visited, and the dress code is more lenient.

When my hostel roommates left I was left in the room with a new hostel roommate. We went to the pool area together and one guy from our hostel invited us to go to the club with him. We decided to go and the club was more strict with the dress code.

The club was not in Wynwood but near the Flamingo/Lummus area in Miami Beach. The club seemed a little more mainstream/touristy. They asked us to wear dresses, no sneakers, etc. The guy from our hostel was super dressed down so they didn't let him in. He wore cotton shorts and a regular t-shirt. We weren't going to go in without him so we Ubered out and walked around Brickell (a district in Miami with shops, bars, and beautiful city tall city buildings) and took pictures.

Tips:

Have a backup plan.
Stay safe. Don't drink more than you can handle or drink at all. As for me, I prefer not to drink at all. That night at Pilo's we got invited to go to VIP by a guy. He came up to my hostel roommate and my roommate told me he asked if I wanted to go to VIP. I said "Me?!". He grabbed my hand and escorted us to his "VIP" section. He gave us drinks and poured them, but I didn't take them and just gave them to my hostel roommate. Don't force anyone to drink and don't be afraid to say no.
Trust your intuition/gut feeling. There is no such thing as perfect timing and occasionally it can be hard for me to trust my gut (because I've been wrong many times), but sometimes you have to "safely" take a risk (take safety travel precautions, use reason, and focus on what you can do (within your control) to stay safe and still have fun- avoid taking drinks without seeing your drink being made, don't walk alone in dark alleyways, don't trust people easily, stay in a group where you know the people, allow trusted family/friends to have your location, let trusted friends and family members know your itinerary plans, and with who you're with, etc.).
Don't allow fear to control you or stop you from going to the places you want to go, just be safe.
Focus on the controllable.

In summary: I decided to go out with my hostel roommates in Miami because I had a backup plan if things went south. Something that helped me, personally, was prayer. I prayed that everything would be okay. I didn't want to live with the what-ifs. I went for it. They seemed genuine and trustworthy and I had an exit strategy if things felt unsafe or unwelcoming.

Some things I did before clubbing:

Watched a YouTube video from a female who had experienced going out by herself several times.
Make sure you read the Uber's/taxis license plate number and they pick you up DIRECTLY from the club.
Read safety articles (please verify these articles for credibility).
I know I said this a lot but for me, prayer worked. I prayed for good hostel roommates and they ended up being one of my favorite hostel roommates that I've gotten. It felt like a family. So never doubt the power of prayer or even try it out - if you're open to it.

If you have any questions or have any tips for other solo travelers, leave them in the comments. :)

Links/Resources:

Where I stayed:

1st night- Ukiyo Hostel

The rest of my stay- Generator Miami

How to Stay Safe While Clubbing
Where I went Wakeboarding: Gator Bait Wakeboard & Wakesurf School of Miami LLC

✈ YouTube - Charline Oro

✈ Workouts & Travel Group Chat

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