What Travel Stars Are Saying About
HI-USA
Travel writers, television personalities and on-line journalists are all stepping forward for Hostelling International USA in its 75th Anniversary Year. Here's what travel luminaries on our Honorary Anniversary Committee say about hostelling:
2009 holds a special meaning for the youth hostel movement. One hundred years ago a German school teacher, Richard Schirrmann, established the first hostel. And seventy five years ago, an American couple, Isabel and Monroe Smith, brought hostelling to the United States. It is in their collective vision that today we share success: Hostelling International, a London-based nongovernmental organization now serves more than 80 countries, and Hostelling International USA, a United States-based nonprofit delivers more than one million hostel stays annually to travelers from around the world. Together we serve a worthy ideal: to promote global peace and understanding through hostelling.
Edith Arnoult-Brill, President - Hostelling International International Youth Hostel Federation
“Hosteling is a "must" for everyone at some time in their life because it is so social. You'll meet people from all over the world; share stories, advice, food, music and clubbing (or sightseeing). Hosteling makes travel affordable to everyone.”
Marybeth Bond, Travel Author and Journalist, Founder of Gutsy Traveler
“Mark Twain once said "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." For young people to have the experience of traveling the world in a safe and economical environment, such as that provided by HI-USA, is to launch the life-long pursuit of peaceful co-existence amongst those with whom we share the world. Tourism is a powerful force for peace and for protecting the world for future generations to enjoy.”
Bea Broda, Broadcast Travel Journalist and President of Society of American Travel Writers
Hostelling holds a special value to travel and tourism. The hostel stay offers an opportunity for those of limited means to travel widely and to gain a better understanding of other peoples and cultures. It is that higher purpose the International Institute of Peace Through Tourism promotes world wide, and Hostelling International USA delivers daily through its network of hostels and its programs.
Louis D’Amore, President International Institute for Peace Through Tourism
Do you remember the three “Rs” from your school days? I have long championed a fourth “R” and that stands for roaming. There is no finer way to develop as a global citizen than to experience different cultures and engage with new people. Hostels help make this a reality. The benefits of a fully formed worldview are best afforded by a lifetime that embraces travel, in the U.S. and abroad.
Roger Dow, President and CEO U.S. Travel Association
”Hostelling means more than a cheap bed; it places its guests among other high-spirited, intellectually-curious people. It alerts them to community events; it directs them to where they can experience the authentic life of the places they visit; it fosters conversations and friendships between people of different backgrounds and countries. It’s like the ancient Greek “agora”, where debates and discussions are the chief activity. And now that hostels are available to people of all ages, they bring about the best kind of inter-generational contact. In a life of travel, I’ve visited hundreds of hostels. And you know what? I pity the people staying in those faceless first class hotels!”
Arthur Frommer, Travel Writer and Magazine Publisher
“For anyone who thinks they can't afford to travel, hostels can spell the difference between staying home and seeing the world. But hostels are not just about saving money. They're about community: breaking bread with kindred spirits, sharing adventures and connecting with cultures in an authentic way.”
Janet Fullwood, Travel Writer and Former Travel Editor Sacramento Bee
“Nothing is more powerful than travel -- it tears down barriers and builds bridges of understanding and tolerance. But as I've come to learn, great travel is not about cost, but value, not about destination but experience. Hostelling is all about value and experience and the people you meet along your way.”
Peter Greenberg, Travel Writer, award-winning travel host and resource for tv, radio, and numerous publications.
“When I started traveling, right after high school, hostelling made the world accessible and affordable. Hostels were wonderful places to connect with fellow artists (in Amsterdam), learn about hidden museums (in Paris), find out where the best retsina was flowing (in Athens), and even encounter a spell of romance (in Delphi). Those experiences were my passport into the global community. They made me realize that the world is made of stories, not places — and helped shape my career as a writer.”
Jeff Greenwald, Travel Writer, Performer, and Co-founder of Ethical Travel
“HI-USA empowers and encourages Americans to see and learn about the world, and makes the USA accessible and affordable to many foreigners -- especially from less wealthy places -- for whom it would otherwise be out of reach. HI hostels aren't just cheap places to sleep. Hostelling requires us to trust and share with people from around the world, and that lesson in trust and sharing may be its most important contribution to peace and understanding. HI is for everyone. I'm almost 50, and I often stay in hostels even when I'm on an expense account.”
Edward Hasbrouck, Travel Author and columnist
“One of my favorite HI-USA hostels is Fort Mason in San Francisco. I’ve stayed there a number of times. A friendly atmosphere, very affordable, in a park setting, close to Fisherman’s Wharf, with a view of the Golden Gate Bridge. How can you beat that? HI-USA and its international affiliates have played an immeasurable role in enabling young and adventurous people from around the world to explore their own and foreign countries, by creating warm, welcoming, affordable, safe lodgings, which also offer great opportunities for guests to get to know each other.”
Lucy Izon, Author, Syndicated Travel Journalist
“When it comes to travel, I am a firm believer in hunting out new experiences, getting outside of your comfort zone, and blazing the unbeaten path. It's what my philosophy "NOW" (No Opportunity Wasted) is all about ... hostelling epitomizes "NOW" by opening up a world of opportunity and offering the chance to connect with other like-minded adventurers. As I say on The Amazing Race, ‘The World is Waiting For You!’"
Phil Keoghan, Host of The Amazing Race television series
“When surrounded by a hostel full of people who are happily sharing meals and chores and bedrooms, plus fresh travel intelligence and snatches of Road Wisdom, I always find my own Better Self emerging. I find it easy to imagine that on the day he performed his famous kindness, the Good Samaritan had just checked out of the Jerusalem hostel and was on his way to the one in Jericho.”
Brad Newsham, Travel Writer and Founder of Backpack Nation
"Like many young travelers, I got into hostelling because it was a cheap way to travel. What kept coming back, however, was the ebullient social environment that hostels provide. For me, travel is about people, and hostels are a great way to mix in with travelers of all backgrounds and nationalities. To this day, some of my best friends from around the world are people I originally met in hostels. Even when I can afford more luxurious lodgings, I still find myself gravitating toward hostels, since the experiences I've had there are so much more fun and life-enriching."
Rolf Potts, Travel Author, Columnist and Blogger
“By making travel affordable, hostelling connects people with people all over the world. And by doing that hostelling is far more than a good budget tip. Without hostels, my first trip would have been Europe Through the Gutter. Instead, it was Europe through the Back Door...a life changing experience that carbonated my world. For that I owe HI-USA and it’s European affiliates a huge thanks.”
Rick Steves, Travel Writer and renowned PBS TV host
“After a day of exploring the world, there's nothing better than letting the world come to me at the local hostel. I've stayed in hostels across the world and find the vibrant cultural exchange far more rewarding than a 5-star hotel."
Scott Stoll, Author and round-the-world cyclist
“Staying in a youth hostel in Cologne, Germany, when I was 16, taught me what up till then I’d only hoped would be true – that traveling was how I wanted to spend the rest of my life. In truth, it launched my career.”
Catherine Watson, travel journalist, author of "Roads Less Traveled" and "Home on the Road." Former Travel Editor Minneapolis Star Tribune
“I’ve been fortunate to spend almost my entire life travelling and founding Lonely Planet Publications is a big reason my ‘countries visited’ list was past 140 last time I counted back. No trip is bigger or better than our first trips and one of the reasons I love Hostelling International is that it’s so often a stepping stone to those first big travel experiences for young travelers. It’s travel that connects us to the rest of the world and its people, that turns words on a page or images on a screen into reality. Travel has never been more important, ditto for HI!”
Tony Wheeler, Travel Writer and Co-founder of Lonely Planet Publications
