1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,000
Hello everyone and welcome back to the Hostel Road Trip Podcast.

2
00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:08,000
The podcast that literally takes its show on the road.

3
00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000
Listen in as James Black and Bobby Dyer, owners of International Travelers House Hostels,

4
00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:18,000
travel around the country to learn about these great locations and incredible people

5
00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:24,000
that come together to provide a unique and exciting experience for travelers from all over the world.

6
00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:30,000
Welcome back to Hostel Road Trip Season 3, final episode.

7
00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:37,000
We are in the presence of what I would call a Jedi Knight of the Hostel Industry, Tom Dennard.

8
00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:44,000
Dinnered, sorry, dinnered at the Hostel in the Forest outside of Brunswick, Georgia.

9
00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:49,000
And we are so happy to be here. We had the opportunity to stay here last night.

10
00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:54,000
The sounds of the rain and the sounds of the forest, it was just beautiful.

11
00:00:54,000 --> 00:01:01,000
But we want to talk a bit about your personal journey as it is an inspiration to so many of us,

12
00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:06,000
including my business partner Robert Dyer. This was the first hostel he ever stayed at.

13
00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:13,000
And Vicki from the Not So Hostel who runs the American Hostel Conference, her inspiration as well.

14
00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:19,000
So I've been waiting to come here for years and I have to say it lives up to everything that people tell you about it.

15
00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:22,000
Just really a special and magical place.

16
00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:32,000
But Tom, tell us a bit about how in the 1970s you got yourself into this hostile business.

17
00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:34,000
It's funny that you call it hostile business.

18
00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:37,000
Right, that's even the sound right here.

19
00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:47,000
Okay, graduating from college and the thing to do was to throw on your backpack and take a trip to Europe.

20
00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:55,000
And in doing that, you bought a U-Rail pass which put you on a train.

21
00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:59,000
You could go anywhere you wanted to go in Europe, get on and off, you know.

22
00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:08,000
And everybody would buy this book, it was called Fromer's Book, Europe on $5 a day.

23
00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:14,000
This was in the 70s. You could actually do it.

24
00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:21,000
But anyway, so on the train and talking with people my age, they were all staying in hostels.

25
00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:24,000
I'd never heard of a hostel so I didn't know what it was.

26
00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:34,000
But anyway, when I started staying in hostels, I was totally enamored with the hostel idea

27
00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:42,000
and with young people getting together and you could learn some many really good travel stories from them,

28
00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:47,000
places they had been that didn't appear in my $5 a day book.

29
00:02:47,000 --> 00:03:01,000
So anyway, when I came home, I guess I was not only enthused but obsessed with the idea to have my own hostel.

30
00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:02,000
That's great.

31
00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:09,000
So I had one huge impediment, however. I didn't have any money.

32
00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:14,000
So that really presented a problem.

33
00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:19,000
I had the gigantic idea but no money to back it up.

34
00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:27,000
So I started driving all around looking for a place to put this hostel.

35
00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:38,000
And I was driving down Highway 82 out here and there was a big sign on property, 75 acres for sale.

36
00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:47,000
And I thought, oh man, I love that. I love the idea of the forest there and we can have trails and all.

37
00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:52,000
But I can't even afford one acre, much less 75.

38
00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:56,000
But I knew the guy who was the realtor who was selling it.

39
00:03:56,000 --> 00:04:00,000
And when I called him, he said, yes, absolutely.

40
00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:05,000
You can buy this because this guy will finance it 100 percent.

41
00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:06,000
Oh, great.

42
00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:09,000
And he will take annual payments.

43
00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:11,000
So you don't have to pay any money down.

44
00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:19,000
And then in a year when you have to make your first annual payment, you can just sell off some property because you don't need that much.

45
00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:22,000
I said, yeah, I like that idea.

46
00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:30,000
So before I knew it, I had 75 acres and hadn't put any money.

47
00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:31,000
Things are moving.

48
00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:36,000
Yeah, exactly.

49
00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:41,000
So, OK, where am I going to put my hostel on this 75 acres?

50
00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:48,000
So literally, this was a Georgia swamp.

51
00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:59,000
You know, a lot of ponds and water and palmettas, a lot of oak trees, pine trees, cypress trees.

52
00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:09,000
And anyway, scouring the whole 75 acres, I could not find a place that was suitable for the home base.

53
00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:10,000
Yeah. Yeah.

54
00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:25,000
And so one day I was walking in the back of the property and as I was walking along the property line, I looked over and saw a spot that seemed sort of enchanting.

55
00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:30,000
It had a lot of oak trees around with moss hanging down from the oak trees.

56
00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:33,000
And it just looked like, hmm, I wonder what that is.

57
00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:39,000
So I went over and sat down by this oak tree and I meditated.

58
00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:43,000
And when I did, it was like, absolutely.

59
00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:47,000
I don't know what this place is, but it's very spiritual.

60
00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:55,000
It is a place where this hostel needs to be, but it was not on my 75 acres.

61
00:05:55,000 --> 00:06:00,000
So I had to go find out who owned this magical place.

62
00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:08,000
Yeah. So I went to the tax office and found this old crusty old farmer down the road.

63
00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:13,000
And so I was going to have to go and convince him to sell me his 15 acres.

64
00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:15,000
And this is Mr. Right? Mr.

65
00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:18,000
Yeah. That was his name. His street name was Mr.

66
00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:25,000
And so I went there and my hair was down to my shoulders and he did not like long haired hippies.

67
00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:28,000
But anyway, we got along pretty well.

68
00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:32,000
And long and short is he agreed to do the same thing.

69
00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:38,000
He would allow me to buy his 15 acres, make annual payments and no money down.

70
00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:40,000
So I had 90 acres.

71
00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:42,000
You had 90.

72
00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:44,000
And hadn't paid anything down.

73
00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:48,000
This is some dealing and reeling.

74
00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:52,000
So the next thing is, of course, I know nothing about architecture.

75
00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:57,000
So but I do have a neighbor who is an architect.

76
00:06:57,000 --> 00:07:03,000
And when he heard about what I was doing, he brought over pictures of a geodesic dome and showed it to me.

77
00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:10,000
And like I was saying earlier, but Minster Fuller had actually spoken to an audience on St.

78
00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:15,000
Simon's where I live and I went to hear him and and when I, you know,

79
00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:27,000
looking at the pictures of of geodesic domes, I knew immediately that's what it has to be because it just looks like it grew up out of the ground like a mushroom.

80
00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:33,000
Yes. Yes. So anyway, I did have to go to the bank then.

81
00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:35,000
Yeah. First stop to the bank.

82
00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:46,000
And get some money to buy these domes. But we found a company up in New Jersey and that sold geodesic domes.

83
00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:52,000
And they had two demonstration domes that they had erected on the property.

84
00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:59,000
So when I was telling them what I wanted to do with the hostel, they were really enthused about that.

85
00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:11,000
And they said they would disassemble those domes and bring them down here and send somebody who would instruct us about how to put them up.

86
00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:13,000
That's awesome. Yeah, I know.

87
00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:24,000
So we this weekend was the last is the last week of January 2019. Right.

88
00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:37,000
Yes. This guy came down with these parts of the dome on the last weekend of January of 1975.

89
00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:45,000
Look at that. So this weekend was the 44th anniversary of us erecting the dome.

90
00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:47,000
That's awesome.

91
00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:56,000
So anyway, we had one dome that was bigger than the other. One was 30 feet in diameter.

92
00:08:56,000 --> 00:09:02,000
The other one. Wait a minute. One was 39 feet in diameter and the other one was 30 feet in diameter.

93
00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:13,000
And so we got a bunch of my friends. We got some beers and had a lot of food and music, of course.

94
00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:20,000
And it was like the old fashioned barn raising. Everybody's singing and laughing and having a good time.

95
00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:23,000
And this guy's telling us how to put these things up.

96
00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:28,000
So anyway, we put the big dome up in one day in eight hours.

97
00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:32,000
And then the second day, we put the little dome up in four hours.

98
00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:37,000
So all of a sudden I had two geodesic domes.

99
00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:48,000
And anyway, so we had taken the big dome and divided it into little rooms so that you could have little private rooms around the perimeter.

100
00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:54,000
But the interior would be open and we'd have bunk beds there for groups.

101
00:09:54,000 --> 00:10:03,000
So anyway, we had the kitchen, the office. We had a toilet facility out back and the bedrooms.

102
00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:06,000
But how do you get people to come to your hospital?

103
00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:09,000
And what is this hospital organization back then you joined?

104
00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:12,000
It was called the American Youth Hostel Association.

105
00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:14,000
It doesn't exist anymore. OK.

106
00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:20,000
And so but it was a year or two before they would put you in print.

107
00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:27,000
They would put us in. And the reason is the closest hostel to this was Washington, D.C.

108
00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:28,000
Oh, you're my love.

109
00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:31,000
So no hostels in the South.

110
00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:33,000
First hostel south of the Mason Dixon Line.

111
00:10:33,000 --> 00:10:34,000
Exactly.

112
00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:45,000
Good for you. So anyway, the people we didn't have anybody to come to my hostel.

113
00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:51,000
It's like a friend of mine said you gave a hostel and no one came.

114
00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:55,000
If you build it, they will not come.

115
00:10:55,000 --> 00:11:00,000
But it was discouraging, to say the least.

116
00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:06,000
So my means of marketing, of course, this is long before Internet computers and so forth.

117
00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:13,000
So my means of marketing was to get in my pickup truck and go out on Highway 17,

118
00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:17,000
which was the main highway from New York to Miami.

119
00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:20,000
R95 had not been built at that time.

120
00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:24,000
And so I was driving up and down looking for a cyclist.

121
00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:28,000
And if I saw a cyclist, I would pull up in front of him and say, look, hey,

122
00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:30,000
I've got a hostel. I want you to go to this house.

123
00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:32,000
You don't even have to pay.

124
00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:35,000
I'll put your bike in the back of my pickup and take you out.

125
00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:37,000
That's beautiful. That's direct marketing.

126
00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:41,000
If I'm ever seen it, I pull them off.

127
00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:49,000
So anyway, our first hosteler was from Brunswick, Maine, and he was cycling to Key West.

128
00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:54,000
And so I had grabbed him, nabbed him, whatever, and brought him out here.

129
00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:56,000
And we have a picture of him.

130
00:11:56,000 --> 00:11:59,000
I saw it in the book. That's so cool that you snapped that shot of him.

131
00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:00,000
Yeah.

132
00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:09,000
So anyway, for the first few years, you'd go for days and days and days without any guests.

133
00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:16,000
But then eventually, with the American Youth Hostel Guidebook,

134
00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:23,000
a lot of people came, but they were all, I don't mean but, and they were from other countries.

135
00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:29,000
And so we had a lot of Europeans, a lot of Australians, South Americans.

136
00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:37,000
And if you look at our picture board, which has a picture of every manager from the beginning till now,

137
00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:41,000
all of the first ones for about the first 15 years were from other countries.

138
00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:47,000
And that was a good time at the hostel because we'd have dinner at night,

139
00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:53,000
and I'd sit around talking to all of these people who were touring America for the first time

140
00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:58,000
and listening to all of their complaints about America, all of which were true, of course.

141
00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:01,000
Yes.

142
00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:05,000
But anyway, I loved that time.

143
00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:10,000
And then in the 90s, the Americans learned about it.

144
00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:11,000
Yes.

145
00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:14,000
And that was good and bad.

146
00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:17,000
The good was they came in droves.

147
00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:21,000
So the money situation seemed to get better.

148
00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:23,000
Correct itself, yes.

149
00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:30,000
But they came for the reason of looking for a good place back in the woods

150
00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:35,000
where nobody could see them and they could party and have a blast, you know.

151
00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:36,000
Yes.

152
00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:38,000
And so that went on for a while.

153
00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:42,000
And while we were making money and able to pay this mortgage off,

154
00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:49,000
I realized, you know, that time that I came out here and sat down by that oak tree,

155
00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:52,000
this is a spiritual place, you know.

156
00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:57,000
If you want to party, we got Daytona Beach, Myrtle Beach, you know.

157
00:13:57,000 --> 00:13:59,000
There are plenty of places to party.

158
00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:06,000
And while I'm not against partying, I just felt like this place needs to be different.

159
00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:08,000
It's not supposed to be the identity of it.

160
00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:14,000
Yeah, so toward the latter part of the 90s, we changed things around

161
00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:23,000
and made this place 501C3 and as an educational place to teach the guests

162
00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:30,000
about the environment and sustainability, conservative conservation.

163
00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:31,000
Yeah.

164
00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:39,000
And so we have evolved from there to where we are now, where, of course,

165
00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:43,000
we get our problem definitely is not advertising.

166
00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:48,000
I mean, we have over 17,000 people on Facebook.

167
00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:49,000
Wow.

168
00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:50,000
Yeah.

169
00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:53,000
So we get a lot of people here.

170
00:14:53,000 --> 00:15:00,000
But in my opinion, they're coming for the reason that I want them to come here.

171
00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:01,000
Back on course.

172
00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:02,000
Yes.

173
00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:03,000
Yes.

174
00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:08,000
So the thing I hear, which to me is full payback,

175
00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:14,000
is when people will come up and tell me, you know, this place has changed my life.

176
00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:17,000
And when I hear that, I know I've done something right.

177
00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:18,000
Yeah, yeah.

178
00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:25,000
But let me say this is if you ever want to do anything different like I did,

179
00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:27,000
number one, you have to be crazy.

180
00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:28,000
A little crazy.

181
00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:29,000
You're going to be a little crazy.

182
00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:33,000
Every single person would do what I did.

183
00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:39,000
And the other thing is every person, all my friends, my family,

184
00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:41,000
you are the craziest.

185
00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:45,000
That's the biggest fool thing I've ever heard of.

186
00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:46,000
You know what?

187
00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:48,000
You will never make a penny out of that.

188
00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:49,000
And you know what?

189
00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:50,000
They were right.

190
00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:51,000
Yeah, yeah.

191
00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:53,000
I have never made a penny.

192
00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:54,000
OK.

193
00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:55,000
You put it all right back into it.

194
00:15:55,000 --> 00:16:01,000
And I think of anything that I could have done with my life that would have been more rewarding.

195
00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:02,000
Yes.

196
00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:06,000
Because the people who come here are just really good people.

197
00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:09,000
They're people that I want to be my friends forever.

198
00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:10,000
Yeah.

199
00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:18,000
And we just have very good managers, good staff, and just a good atmosphere.

200
00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:19,000
Great energy.

201
00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:25,000
Well, it's like every person who comes here gets a big hug.

202
00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:26,000
Yes.

203
00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:29,000
You don't get that at Holiday Inn.

204
00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:30,000
No, no, no.

205
00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:33,000
You'd get a hashtag me too problem.

206
00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:41,000
So some people, they're a little bit skittish about being hugged.

207
00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:45,000
But it's a welcoming place.

208
00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:49,000
And we have a sign out in the parking lot that says, welcome home.

209
00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:50,000
Yeah.

210
00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:52,000
And it does feel like that.

211
00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:53,000
It does.

212
00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:54,000
It really does.

213
00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:55,000
It's a very peaceful place.

214
00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:56,000
Yeah.

215
00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:59,000
So I'm very, very happy about what we've done.

216
00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:00,000
And the evolution of it.

217
00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:01,000
Yes, absolutely.

218
00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:05,000
And evolution means three steps forward, two steps backwards.

219
00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:06,000
Yes, yes.

220
00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:08,000
And that's the way it works.

221
00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:12,000
But I mean, you know, we've had our problems here and there.

222
00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:21,000
But overall, in 44 years, we definitely have evolved to where I want this place, what I want this place to be.

223
00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:29,000
And I think that's really interesting how you talk about how even in our short time of being open for six years at ITH,

224
00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:36,000
we experienced a bit of the same thing where we started because we felt it was spreading peace through knowledge of culture and this beautiful thing.

225
00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:40,000
And then sometimes the party can hijack that mission and movement.

226
00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:42,000
And it can become blurred.

227
00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:49,000
And then you can find out that, you know, your baby is different than what you thought it was going to grow up as.

228
00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:52,000
And I think it's important to know that you can always get that back on track.

229
00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:54,000
If you step in, it's never too late.

230
00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:56,000
And you can get it back on the right course.

231
00:17:56,000 --> 00:17:57,000
And you clearly have.

232
00:17:57,000 --> 00:17:58,000
Yeah.

233
00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:01,000
We hope you're enjoying this episode of the Hostile Road Trip podcast.

234
00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:07,000
We're taking a moment now to talk about a great service called WorldHackers.com.

235
00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:12,000
WorldHackers.com is actually how I got my start with the Hostile Road Trip podcast.

236
00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:19,000
WorldHackers is a great service that connects travelers looking for a place to stay in a new city with the hostels who need their skills.

237
00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:25,000
You can do anything from house cleaning to reception to media and marketing and so much more.

238
00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:31,000
With a reasonable fee of $50 a year and a little bit of courage, you could find yourself anywhere in the world.

239
00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:37,000
For more information, just go find Grandpa Carlos surfing on the West Coast somewhere between California and Mexico.

240
00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:41,000
If you're having trouble finding him this way, he might be taking a siesta on his surfboard.

241
00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:46,000
If that's the case, scream to the heavens, Grandpa Carlos, we need you.

242
00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:48,000
And he'll be sure to answer the call.

243
00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:52,000
But if all else fails, just check out WorldHackers.com.

244
00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:57,000
That's W-O-R-L-D-P-A-C-K-E-R-S dot com.

245
00:18:57,000 --> 00:19:01,000
And now we bring you back to your regularly scheduled program.

246
00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:07,000
Now, from the time of the original two structures, how many other structures have we built out over the years?

247
00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:13,000
Well, we built tree houses and our guests mainly stay in tree houses.

248
00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:14,000
Where did you stay?

249
00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:15,000
We were in a tree house, weren't we?

250
00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:17,000
Do you know the name of it?

251
00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:19,000
The Peacock Mustard.

252
00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:20,000
Oh, you were in Peacock?

253
00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:21,000
Yeah.

254
00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:22,000
Sure.

255
00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:27,000
We have, of course, all the tree houses have names and they're all different.

256
00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:31,000
But people love staying in tree houses.

257
00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:33,000
Yeah, you feel like a kid again.

258
00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:36,000
It brings back your old boyhood and girlhood.

259
00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:38,000
Yeah, it was so much fun.

260
00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:41,000
Yeah, so yeah, that's very popular.

261
00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:47,000
And we've built, we have eight, I think, no, we've got a new one, nine, I think, tree houses.

262
00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:55,000
And then our staff, we have six cabins for them to stay and the manager.

263
00:19:55,000 --> 00:20:03,000
And but we try, it's very difficult to for us to to get off of electricity.

264
00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:05,000
I really wish we could.

265
00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:12,000
But we don't have any sunlight back here because we've got all trees and all forest.

266
00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:15,000
And all these trees are my friends.

267
00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:17,000
Yeah, you don't want to lose that.

268
00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:20,000
I do not want to kill my friends.

269
00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:23,000
Yeah, that makes sense.

270
00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:26,000
So so we do have electricity.

271
00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:28,000
I'd love to be off the grid.

272
00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:29,000
We're not.

273
00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:34,000
And but but basically we try to teach environmentalism.

274
00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:41,000
And the way we do that really is by the way we operate this place because, you know, everything's recycled.

275
00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:48,000
Of course, we have composting toilets, we compost all food scraps, everything.

276
00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:59,000
And incidentally, the shower back in the staff village is heated by decaying compost because it creates so much.

277
00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:01,000
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

278
00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:10,000
And so, I mean, we're doing a lot of things that that we can teach our guests by them seeing what we do.

279
00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:15,000
Yeah. And somehow that is a better teacher than lecturing.

280
00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:16,000
Very much.

281
00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:17,000
Oh, I would agree.

282
00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:19,000
We have organic gardens.

283
00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:20,000
Yeah.

284
00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:22,000
For them to see it and then to be able to practice.

285
00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:23,000
Yeah, exactly.

286
00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:25,000
Yeah, I agree with that completely.

287
00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:27,000
Now, what about the swimming hole?

288
00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:29,000
And then there's also a fishing pond, right?

289
00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:30,000
Well, yes.

290
00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:34,000
And then there was a big mouth bass that was thrown in from one to the other back in the day.

291
00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:36,000
I like that story.

292
00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:43,000
So you dug out your own pond and swimming hole, right?

293
00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:48,000
We did. And that was that's the pond directly in front of the dome.

294
00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:58,000
And then a couple of years later, we had a swimming pool that we dug and cemented it in and had a pool.

295
00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:05,000
And I don't know if you noticed when you got here last night, it was a lighted area right before you get to the domes.

296
00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:06,000
Yeah.

297
00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:07,000
The swimming pool was there.

298
00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:11,000
And if you notice, there's a pole with a rope swing.

299
00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:14,000
And that's where we used to swing into the pool.

300
00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:15,000
Nice.

301
00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:18,000
But we have a lake back.

302
00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:19,000
OK.

303
00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:24,000
And everybody who comes here loves the lake and they all want to swim in the lake.

304
00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:30,000
And they say the water in the pool is too cold, which it is.

305
00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:32,000
Our well is 750 feet deep.

306
00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:33,000
Wow.

307
00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:36,000
And that brings up some pretty cold water from the aquifer.

308
00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:37,000
Yeah.

309
00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:48,000
And but anyway, we had a swimming pool and we have the fish pond and then the lake behind, which is very, very popular.

310
00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:49,000
Yeah.

311
00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:53,000
We have a sweat lodge back there and every full moon we do sweat lodges.

312
00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:54,000
Oh, that's great.

313
00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:55,000
Yeah.

314
00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:57,000
And I don't know.

315
00:22:57,000 --> 00:22:58,000
This is a good place.

316
00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:00,000
Oh, it's a place I love to come.

317
00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:16,000
Yeah. Now, one thing that I thought was interesting with your staff and your guest structure is as a person who's in the hostiling myself and on both sides, but I love to go and stay at places and I love to see people come stay with us.

318
00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:19,000
You would instantly think you'd never want to leave here.

319
00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:21,000
You would never want to leave here.

320
00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:30,000
And then that is that the reasoning in the Genesis behind the staff being at a three month max. Yes, so that you'd have some fresh energy.

321
00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:35,000
I mean, what about turning it over the staff every three months the manager every six months.

322
00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:37,000
Yeah, you get fresh energy coming in.

323
00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:41,000
Yeah. And, you know, when you do this 24 seven.

324
00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:44,000
It's, you know, it's a tough job.

325
00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:45,000
It's tough to keep those energy levels.

326
00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:52,000
And to keep that energy up. We have that turnover and it really works. Yeah.

327
00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:56,000
Is it tough sometimes though when you have someone that's so passionate.

328
00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:59,000
Listen, we're just this week. Yeah.

329
00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:10,000
This guy came up to me with tears in his eyes, saying, I'm leaving the hospital. I said, Why are you leaving? He said my three months are up. I said, No, I don't want you to leave.

330
00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:20,000
You're such a great worker and we love you so much. And he said, Well, you know, my time's up. So I'll come back and visit.

331
00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:24,000
But anyway, we did that happens. They respect it. You respect it. Yeah.

332
00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:30,000
But they're always welcome to come back as guests. Oh, yeah. As we just met a former manager on the trail. Yeah. Yeah.

333
00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:41,000
And then also from the booking standpoint, as you know, you're you've got this interesting membership program, but you can't book out more than a month in advance.

334
00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:50,000
Tell us a bit more about how this works out. How's the well, of course, we have you have to make reservations to come here because I mean, especially on weekends, we fill up.

335
00:24:50,000 --> 00:25:01,000
Yeah. And and I'm not sure that I know how to answer that.

336
00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:06,000
It. Ask me that question with the system you have with.

337
00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:10,000
Yeah. Is it true that they can't make a reservation more than a month in advance?

338
00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:20,000
Well, I'm not, you know, I'm not sure that I can answer that. OK, that leads into something I haven't mentioned.

339
00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:25,000
OK, we have a board of directors who operate and make all the rules for the hostel.

340
00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:34,000
We have 12 people on our board. All right. And and everyone except me has been a manager of the hostel.

341
00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:42,000
So they they know past managers. OK, that's cool. And not one person is paid anything.

342
00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:49,000
They just do it on the the board, the staff. We do give the manager just a slight gratuity.

343
00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:59,000
But people volunteer to do this. And you know, to me, that is the secret to the success of this hostel.

344
00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:04,000
There are so many hostels. In fact, the great majority of the hostels are for profit. Yeah.

345
00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:16,000
And it makes a difference because the fact that we are nonprofit, the staff is willing to contribute not only good work, but their talents.

346
00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:22,000
We have so many artists that come here and paint these wonderful paintings for the tree houses.

347
00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:27,000
And and they're willing to do that knowing that nobody is making any money out of this.

348
00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:35,000
Not anybody. The board meets at the truck stop and we all pay for our meal.

349
00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:40,000
So anyway, I think that that is one of the secrets to this hostel success.

350
00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:45,000
I would definitely say so. You can definitely feel it in everyone's focus and energy and attention.

351
00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:49,000
A lot of times when you start to mix money in it ruins things. It does. Yeah.

352
00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:56,000
Well, I can understand because I get so many people who call me or come here and want to know they want to start their own hostel.

353
00:26:56,000 --> 00:27:02,000
Yes. And I always encourage everybody. Yes, definitely. We need to have more hostels. Yeah.

354
00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:10,000
But anyway, what would you have for some advice for those new absolutely encourage them to do it.

355
00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:18,000
But but none of them are as crazy as I was. They have to make a living.

356
00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:22,000
Thanks again for listening to the Hostel Road Trip podcast with us.

357
00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:26,000
We want to take a second to talk about one of our sponsors that keeps the road trip alive.

358
00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:35,000
That is the International Travelers House Hostels located in San Diego at three locations, Big Bear Lake and Newport, Rhode Island.

359
00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:41,000
International Travelers House provides a unique experience at each one of their locations with great staff,

360
00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:50,000
great food and tons of connections to the local community so that you can have a great time vacationing, traveling through or staying for a while.

361
00:27:50,000 --> 00:28:00,000
If you want more information on ITH, check out ITHhostels.com to check out videos, pictures, blogs and direct booking to our locations.

362
00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:04,000
Thank you again for listening. We hope you enjoy the conclusion of this episode.

363
00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:14,000
Now, on the side of you doing this project, not only are you a lawyer, which is an amazing fact that I found out just by staying here, you're also an author.

364
00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:21,000
Have the books been inspired by your time here? Is that a big part of your material that you gain?

365
00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:35,000
Well, I taught a hiking class at our local college here for 20 years and took the students on the Appalachian Trail and many different places out west and in other countries as well.

366
00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:47,000
And so my wife owned a travel agency and that made it very nice because I could travel and did travel a lot.

367
00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:57,000
And of course, we travel together a lot. But when she goes on a cruise, which I refuse to do, I go to the mountains and go hiking.

368
00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:04,000
So so so many of the books that I've written or travel books are books about my experiences in traveling.

369
00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:09,000
That's awesome, which you can find inside of your common room there.

370
00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:24,000
After you check in, you can see all your books there. But one cool thing I want to bring up for other hostile operators out there and something that I'm going to take as an insight from you is that awesome book that you have typed out on a typewriter and inside of a wooden case.

371
00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:42,000
And it's amazing the story of your hostile and how you came up with the idea and the early struggles and then some fascinating stories ranging from Bob Seeger's roadies coming in to having the psychic come in and further instill that this is a very special place.

372
00:29:42,000 --> 00:30:07,000
And I think that's really important for listeners out there and hostile operators that as your operation evolves and you might not be there as much. It's important for the guests and the staff to know how you got started, why you got started, what the purpose of us being here is, because a lot of people can hijack that when you're not here and they can redirect the energy in the wrong way.

373
00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:21,000
That's a great thing that you did there. Incidentally, that story that I wrote while hostile is incorporated in my first book. So that story is also in one of my published books.

374
00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:24,000
Outstanding. Yeah, but it's just a great way.

375
00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:34,000
We just had a meeting of the board this weekend. And our discussion was this hostile 20 years from now, 30 years from now.

376
00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:37,000
That's how I wanted to close the discussion. Where are we going?

377
00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:49,000
How we want this place to remain the same. It would kill this place to make it grow or to build more tree houses and bring more people in.

378
00:30:49,000 --> 00:31:09,000
That's the beauty of this place is it's relatively small so that we would like to have accommodations of maybe 20 people during the week and 30 people on the weekends, but they stretch it a lot because we have these great programs on weekends.

379
00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:19,000
And so they will accommodate 40, but we don't want any more than that. In fact, that's too many because it loses something. Intimacy.

380
00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:29,000
Right. That's one of the beauties of this place is interaction with the guests and getting to know each other and sharing stories.

381
00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:41,000
We talked about that at Vicki's conference last week in how there's a sweet spot in hostels and 25 to 50, but no more than 50 because once you get above 50, you start to lose the intimacy.

382
00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:45,000
It's much more difficult to control the energy and the mission and the flow.

383
00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:59,000
And I think myself included a lot of times when you get started in this, you can get bad advice from bankers and accountants and people that tell you, oh, you should expand and you should do this and you should double up here and should put more over there.

384
00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:02,000
And they can make you lose your special sauce.

385
00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:05,000
Well, I mean, they're profit oriented. Yes.

386
00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:15,000
And this place is not profit oriented. The only thing we want to do is make enough money to sustain us and to maintain the place and keep it going into the future.

387
00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:19,000
Because like I said, nobody gets any money. Yeah.

388
00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:30,000
This place. Yeah. You can tell that the the troubles of money have not intertwined into this place. That's correct. Yeah. Yeah. It's kept its spirit free. It's the root of all evil. Yes, it is.

389
00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:38,000
Well, Tom, just thank you so much for taking the time to sit with us here today and share your story.

390
00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:55,000
And and hopefully we can do justice and getting the word out there more about this place so that not only can people come experience themselves, but then hopefully they can take it and put it into their experiences and put it to their new hostels and learn from a Jedi Knight, as I called you earlier.

391
00:32:55,000 --> 00:33:17,000
But thank you so much, Tom. And thank you so much listeners from the Hostel Road Trip podcast. We have successfully finished up season three. It was a wild time on the road, but we look forward to hitting the road again for season four, southwestern US and continuing to highlight all these great, genuine, authentic hostels that are out there.

392
00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:23,000
So you can have the experience before the experience is gone. Stay tuned for more.

393
00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:34,000
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. That was awesome. Yeah. All right. Thank you. So it was really an honor to be here, man. Well, it's an honor for me to have you here.

394
00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:45,000
Yeah. And your staff is also loving and welcoming and so nice to us last night. Yeah, it was great. Yeah. Well, they do that to everybody. Yeah, you can tell you were not treated. No, no, we were.

395
00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:54,000
I just saw others come in and get the same thing. Yeah. And it was an absolute pleasure. Yeah.