Aloha travelers! The best thing about adventuring is experiencing new places, but the worst thing is leaving your comfy bed behind. Luckily, the fast-paced traveling lifestyle is only temporary and there are plenty of suitable home-away-from-homes.

I highly recommend booking your housing in advance. With flexible reservations, it's easy to cancel if your plans change unexpectedly. Pre-planning your housing gives you a place to propel yourself towards once you reach your new city and gives you the peace of mind that you have a bed for the night.

The two websites I use most often for housing on the go are Hostel World (hostelworld.com) and Airbnb (airbnb.com). HostelWorld was created in 1999 as the first website that connected hostels to customers, providing them with a secure click-and-pay feature. Although they initially only focused on official youth hostels, the site now also includes campsites, bed and breakfasts and budget hotels in over 180 countries. You can compare prices, see pictures and check reviews seamlessly. It's amazing.

Here's how HostelWorld works: go to their website and type in your destination, for example, Istanbul, Turkey. Then you select your dates and how many guests you have in your party. After you click “Find Hostels", your results will appear. It can be rather overwhelming because HostelWorld provides so much information. The first thing to look at is the price. If you have a budget, push the price range bar on the left-hand side down to your price range; the more expensive hostels will automatically filter out. Next, I recommend pushing the rating bar up to 85-100%. This is important because there are awful hostels for the same prices as very good hostels — it makes the game tricky.

Now it's time to dig deeper and check out individual hostels, and this part can be fun. Choosing hostels with hundreds of reviews and a high rating is a great sign because it proves that lots of people thought it was a good place to stay, not just a few. Reviews should not be overlooked; they are a key insight into what the hostel is actually like. Just make sure the review is within the last year or else it's basically irrelevant.

A few essential things to look for in the facilities for young travelers — 24-hour reception, free Wi-Fi, free city map, ceiling fan/air conditioning, linen included, towels included and lockers. The importance of 24-hour reception cannot be overstated. If you are arriving in a city where you don't know a soul, the hostel's phone number can be your lifeline when you tumble out of a bus at 3 a.m. after a delayed flight and have no idea where you are. These amenities are great to have and necessary for some: breakfast included, washing machine, airport transfers, common kitchen, housekeeping, luggage storage, currency exchange, and a bar.

Cancelation policies are something to note. Often, they are just one day but it is important to check. Staying in an extra large mixed dorm (12-24 beds) isn't as bad as it may seem. Whenever I stayed in them, I never saw a naked guy, didn't feel unsafe and slept just fine (trust me, you'll be tired from tearing up the town). HostelWorld offers 'Standard Flexible Booking' so you can use your deposit towards a different HostelWorld hostel if your plans change. I recommend choosing this option even though it's a hair more expensive.

My other go-to website for housing is airbnb.com. It's a bit bigger and broader than HostelWorld but with a different spin. With Airbnb, you can list or rent entire homes/apartments, private rooms or shared rooms in homes or apartments. They even rent castles! This means you can choose to stay in a Parisian woman's flat for a night or a month if you wish. It's more personal and makes you feel more like a local. This type of accommodation can fit better for travelers staying in one place for a week or more. Many properties offer weekly and monthly rates, which can be an awesome feature if you're looking for an internship in a different city. Last week I saw an adorable apartment in a great part of Austin, Texas for less than $1,000 a month, which is almost unheard of in the city.

All you have to do is go to their homepage (airbnb.com), select your destination, dates, guests and you can select the type of space you're looking for. Much like with HostelWorld, you can then add specifications to filter your results for price, bedrooms, bathrooms, beds, amenities, property type and more. An interesting option with Airbnb is that you can choose a neighborhood, which can be great if it's a city you're familiar with. They also give little blurbs about the neighborhoods if you're unfamiliar with them.

Since the reason for renting is much broader than with HostelWorld, it's hard to give advice on the most important things to look for because it would vary so much depending on your purpose. I always recommend looking for free Wi-Fi, A/C or heating and the cancelation policy. Always read the reviews. Airbnb is a great place to start feeling like a local in a foreign place for any size budget. If you're thinking about your next big adventure, start by checking out the housing options. It will give you a taste of the city and the fun times to come.