An early rise of 8.00am to chop firewood whilst on holiday, was quite a shock to a fellow young traveler such as myself, but not half as much as the shock I received minutes earlier, when the hostel warden walked the halls at 7.30am ringing his bell to get everybody up and out of bed. So they could complete their daily chore before breakfast.
This was a situation I faced in a Youth Hostel I stayed in, on the West coast of the USA back in 1992. It was quite common in many hostels that you had to preform a small chore as part of your permission to stay. Could you just imagine this happening in today’s modern hostel? There would be a bloody riot, that’s my guess. How times have changed!
The Beloved Hostel Chore Is Now A Thing of The Past
Although these regimented days are now all but behind us, and the word youth has even been removed from the name of the foundation. Originally focused towards the younger generation, and aptly named the ‘International Youth Hostel Federation’. Hostels now open the doors to everyone, and have changed their name to ‘Hosteling International’.
For the young independent traveler or backpacker of today, the ease of finding quality budget accommodation in many of the worlds most popular destinations is an easy task. You just flip through your guidebook, or scour on the web to pick one of the many available opportunities, but things were not always quite as easy as this.
The Hosteling International logo has gone through many changes and variations over the years, but is a well recognized symbol to the independent traveler. (R) Trademark
Not so long ago, the choices of quality budget accommodation were allot more scarce, and they were not always located in the most convenient of locations either. There were no free shuttles to local transportation hubs.
No in house tour operators, sharing a wealth of knowledge on the destination, offering tours, excursions and actives to an array of possibilities. There was yourself, your back pack and your standard issue IYHF sleep sheet. Although there’s one thing that hasn’t changed and that’s and the stock standard multitude of bunk beds.
The hostel movement has grown and evolved exponentially in the past 20-30 years. I believe hosteling has played a major role in the emergence of independent budget travel, and opened many a beaten path to the mass market. Youth Hostels definitely played a major role in my early years on the road throughout Europe and North America, in the early 1990’s.
Richard Schirrmann Started The Youth Hostel Movement Back in 1909
From their humble beginnings in Germany back in 1909, the hosteling movement quickly spread throughout Europe from where the Youth Hostel Federation was formed in 1932. It continued to spread it’s wings across the Atlantic to North America and onwards to Australia. Hosteling has continued it’s international growth into a huge worldwide association, spanning over 80 countries.
International Hostelling now has over 4000 hostels the world over, with the average number of overnight stays per year now over the 30 million mark. With numbers like these, they even begin to dwarf some of the worlds major hotel chains. Throw in a listed membership base of over 3 million people, and it all adds up to big business. The latest figures estimating that hostelers pump US$1.4 Billion into world tourism revenues.
A young and inexperienced traveler (1992). Check out my brand new backpack. It didn't stay that color for long.
Originally starting out as a place where German school teacher Richard Schirrmann was able to give residence to young students. It’s hard to believe the youth hostel was formed just over 100 years ago.
The centenary of the first permanent hostel (Alenta Castle in Germany, as pictured at the top of this post) is due in 2012 and the whole movement of hosteling has come along way in the last hundred years.
The hostel now comes in many varieties and over the years I’ve stayed in light houses, ships, sports stadiums and all manner of heritage buildings the world over. The modern hosteling movement has now seen it fracture into a wide variety of independent franchise’s of backpackers, and boutique hostels, as well as the traditional ‘Hostelling International’ variety.
There’s no doubting that staying in a hostel is an extremely social atmosphere. I have many fond memories of my stays in various parts of the world. There’s only one aspect I don’t miss from my hosteling years.
Anyone who’s spent time in a hostel knows only to well, that the poor chainsaw snorer soon becomes an outcast of society. Not that we discriminate here at DigiDrift, but I have been accused of several midnight toe twisting episodes in order to get some shut eye.
Your Thoughts and Comments
Hostels played a big part during my early years of travel. I’m keen to know if the younger traveler of today enjoys them as much as I did? Are there any older travelers out there, who remember the old chore system, and have some interesting tales to tell?
