Photo and Video Contests!

Give us your best shot and you could win a trip to Europe! The One World Many Views Contest is open to photographers and videographers of all levels. Share your hostel travel images and help us celebrate HI-USA's mission of intercultural understanding and stewardship for the earth. Contest closes September 30, 2009, so don’t delay! More information

Open Hostel Week:
August 23rd – 30th

Hostels all across the world will be opening their doors to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the hostelling movement. Join the party near you and celebrate travelers and guests from around the world. You’ll enjoy great entertainment, food and prize draws, including a chance to win an international airline ticket! More information

Dedication Of Northfield Site August 23 (First U.S Hostel!)

On Sunday, August 23, the site of the first hostel in the United States will be dedicated with a historical marker in Northfield, Massachusetts.

Isabel and Monroe Smith founded American Youth Hostels in 1934 with a hostel in Northfield. The Richard Schirrmann International Youth Hostel was named in honor of the founder of worldwide hostelling, who later dedicated it in 1936 when he visited the United States. The hostel served as the early headquarters of American Youth Hostels and hosted teams of staff, trip leaders and volunteers, many of the early luminaries of the United States hostelling movement. The hostel building at 88 Main Street no longer stands. The historical marker will assure the site’s recognition for generations to come.

The dedication ceremony will begin at 2:00 pm and is being arranged in cooperation with the Northfield Historical Society. Following the ceremony will be a reception at the nearby Centennial House Inn. We hope you will join us to celebrate this milestone in hostelling history, and share stories from years past! For more information, contact the HI‑Eastern New England Council, Karin Turer at (617) 718-7990, extension 23. Northfield is a charming community; we encourage everyone to make a day of it!

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Don't be Sleepless in Seattle!

HI-USA is pleased to announce the opening of a new HI affiliated hostel in the heart of Seattle. HI-Seattle at the American Hotel is ready to welcome guests from across the US and around the world! This newly renovated hostel in an historic hotel property is a great addition to the HI-USA network. Travelers will love its many amenities and fantastic location in the International District of downtown Seattle, just one block east of Union Station. Close to so much of the best that Seattle has to offer, HI-Seattle is ready for your next visit to the beautiful Pacific Northwest! For more information or to make a reservation. Click here.

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Special Celebrations:
You're Invited!

To honor of the 75th Anniversary of HI-USA and the 100th Anniversary of the worldwide hostelling movement, councils and hostels across the United States are hosting alumni parties and open houses to celebrate. Visit hiusa.org for a list of celebrations coming up during HI-USA Week on August 22-30. We hope you can join us! Find a celebration near you or make a special trip to another part of the country to visit a hostel and join the party! HI Anniversary Page

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Celebrate 100 Years of Hostelling with HI-Chicago

You are invited! HI-Chicago celebrates 100 years of hostelling with a free International Festival and Ice Cream Social on Wednesday, August 26th from 4:00-7:00pm. The party is free and open to the public. All are welcome, so bring your friends! Let us know you are coming. Drop by 24 E Congress Pkwy, in the South Loop, to check out the hostel, enjoy a big ice cream sundae bar, win a door prize and enjoy international entertainment. Entertainment includes: belly dancing, sitar playing, live Brazilian music, Japanese calligraphy, Zen meditation, a DJ spinning world beats, and an aikido demonstration. Also check out local fair trade vendors: Fair Earth, Maya Works, and Earth-Shoppe. Thank you to our door prize donors: Kingston Mines, Lonely Planet, Language Stars Language School, Greg Borzo, The Chicago Architecture Foundation, Hackney’s, Chicago from the Lake Cruises, Adler Planetarium, ComedySportz, Improv Olympic, and the Sears Tower. Find out more about the great nonprofit hostel, HI-Chicago, at our website, and become a fan on facebook. Enjoy your summer, and Happy 100th Anniversary to Hostelling International.

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Cycle Route 66:
“America's Mother Road”

Saturday through Friday, October 10-16, 2009
Sponsored by Alpine Shop

Where?

Miami, OK – Carthage, MO – Springfield, MO – Lebanon, MO - St. Robert, MO – Cuba, MO – Route 66 State Park, MO

What?

You ride, we drive and take care of everything else. Vintage Route 66 motels, mouth-watering diner & cafe food (breakfast and dinner), rest stops, marked roads, luggage shuttle, mechanical/SAG support, a commemorative ride T-shirt, and a charter bus ride to the ride start are included in your week-long cycling package.

How Many Miles?

335 (375 with Friday pre-ride)

Rediscover the "Main Street of America"

Coined the "Mother Road" in 1939 by John Steinbeck in his classic novel, The Grapes of Wrath, Route 66 symbolized a new positive outlook that spread through the nation's postwar economic recovery. Join us for a week on the road and see why people describe Route 66 as "an experience, a feeling, a perception, a taste of sight and sound, and a mystery that can only be resolved by driving [or in our case, riding] the pavement itself."

• Click HERE for more ride information
• Click HERE to purchase your tickets
• Click HERE to purchase a HI-USA membership

Ride Coordinator
Tim Almstedt (314) 814-4969 or talmstedt@moonlightramble.org

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