Hosteling International

HI-Baltimore
I have officially relinquished my duties at Hosteling International Baltimore. I started at the Baltimore hostel in summer 2013. My friend Mike and I visited the hostel to learn how to volunteer with HI. The GM at the time told us to stop by and help out whenever we wanted. We visited a couple of times hanging out with the guest, updating the event board, and helped with cooking and cleaning. Mike, Thom, and I eventually moved out to Los Angeles where we were getting high, swimming in our apartment's pool, and enjoying the West coast life. Thom and I eventually grew tired of it and both moved away. Thom went back to Baltimore, as I went to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I lived with a woman named Joy for a month, but got homesick and missed my hometown. I didn't have much money left, but with the money I did have I bought a bus ticket back to Baltimore and arrived Thanksgiving Day. I was really broke and needed a job fast! I emailed the volunteer coordinator informing them I was back in Baltimore. She informed me HI-Baltimore just recently hired a new GM and was looking to hire. I was very relieved to find out. I was called in to for a job interview on my birthday (December 5th). I was hired right then in there.

The overnight shift

My first 6 months were terrible, I couldn't of been anymore poor. I had no money at all. I was working the weekend overnight shift. I was exhausted, I was going to school during the week. Times were very rough for me. I met a lot of unusual people when I worked the overnight. The most memorable one was Clark Sullivan (Free Man Clark). A man around the age of his 60's, in a wheel chair, wearing clothes he personally told me he found in a dumpster. While I was working the nights he would tell me stories about how he's been hacking the government computers since he a teenager/ He would talk to me about partying and djing. One night I hosted an open mic night at the hostel. All the guest arrived in the lounge and played our house guitar and piano. Meanwhile Free Man Clark started filming all of us on his live stream podcast. Some guest started feel uncomfortable so I told him he had to stop. He hid the camera and continued. It was my turn to play guitar, I played some classic The Shaky Experience tunes. The next thing I hear is loud thumping from the basement. I had no idea what it was. I looked over and Clark's wheelchair was there, but he wasn't in it. The guest and I walked down in the basement. We found Clark djing in the basement. It was one of the craziest things I ever saw. We all started partying, there were beers in the fridge, we had a foosball table and dart board. It was a lot of fun, everyone enjoyed themselves.

Events

After working the overnights for half a year I was drained and knew I couldn't do it anymore. I talked to my boss about doing activities and events full time. She told me she couldn't pay me full time for that due to the hostels budget but she allowed me to do event coordinating part time. I started off with doing 2 hour tours around Baltimore, showing guest around the coolest parts of the city. I also would do pub crawls. I took them to Lithuanian Dance Hall, The Crown, Brewer's Art, Xs, etc. It was awesome! I was getting paid to drink with travelers. It was fantastic. Although I knew I needed more hours so I started working morning shifts after some of my coworkers left the hostel I picked up their shifts.


Hostel Shows!

I adopted the idea of the hostel shows by starting my own podcast, I hosted the first and only episode of It's On With James Lane featuring Surf Harp. The segment went well, but I was more interested in the idea of the space being utilized for more of the public. I created the first ever hostel show January 2015, featuring Jack Topht, Frank Hurricane, and Pelvis Presley (live debut). It was an instant hit and  musicians reach out to me regularly from that point on. I had acts such as Known Ghost, Them Animals, Raindeer, Slam & Wallace, The Shaky Experience, Skull Theft, etc. perform. The hostel shows started getting media recognition from City Paper, BmoreArt, and The Bitter Scenester Podcast. Kind Bar started donating free boxes regularly to the shows. The last hostel show ever was June 2016 City Paper came out took pictures and posted the hostel flyer in their featured flyer section in the paper. The shows were designed for hostel travelers and Baltimore locals to come out and enjoy music together. It was a successful run and a proud moment for me to able to bring people together.

Free stays

When working for Hosteling International you're given the privilege of staying at any of the 4000 HI's in the world for free. I stayed at NY, Seattle, Portland, Richmond, Philly, DC, as well as a few others completely free. It's an incredible advantage. The last time I used the opportunity was staying in Philly with my girlfriend in June 2016. It was awesome, we drank at Lucha Cartel, ate at my all time favorite vegetarian restaurant Govinda's, and walked around Magic Gardens Philadelphia. It was always amazing visiting different cities and staying in them for free.

Perks
During the time of working at the hostel. I was given plenty of other astonishing gifts. My boss gave me a $250 watch, bought me Orioles tickets, and Orioles t-shirt, paid my entry for this years Polar Bear Plunge, and St, Patrick's Day 5K, paid half of my cost for my Baltimore Half Marathon entry fee, paid for us to become CPR and CTA (Certified Tourism Ambassador) certified as well as many other things. We also were given the opportunity to stay at HI-Baltimore for free whenever we needed.

Miscellaneous
The hostel is always changing. It's a building originally made in the 1850's, that has come a long way. While I was there I turned the hostel into a Baltimore BNote bank where you can exchange US dollars to BNotes and vise versa. A man named Chris came in once and exchanged $300 US to $330 BN for a documentary he was working on to live off only BNotes for a full week. It was incredible thing I'm glad I got to be a part of. I was interviewed and put on the front page of The Daily Record discussing the new denominations of notes and the currency now being exchanged at the hostel. I was in international planning groups with other hostel to curate projects to help better our hosteling mission. We were able to do a lot. The hostel was always a place where you were able to make it what you want. The only thing is you just have to put effort into it for it to become a success.

The End

I am truly grateful and gracious for everything Hosteling International has done and given me. It has been one of the most amazing opportunities for me that I will always cherish and love. The first ever time I stepped foot in a hostel was in Toronto, Canada. I bused there by myself and stayed at HI-Toronto December 2009. I immediately fell in love with the idea and wanted to create and experience for everyone else the way I felt about it. I believe I accomplished that goal and did what I could do better everyone's experience at HI-Baltimore and learn the values of traveling and travelers.

CP link
http://www.citypaper.com/photos/bcpnews-end-of-2015-hostel-show-in-photos-20151211-photogallery.html

Bmore Art link
http://bmoreart.com/2015/04/bmore-music-picks-baltimore-music-concerts-and-events-april-14-april-19.html