|
|
Girl Scouts discover the world with hostels
Every year hundreds of Girl Scout troops choose HI-USA hostels as a safe, clean and fun base for a group trip, Service Unit event or STUDIO 2B destination. Our low-cost accommodations in Northern California range from a former boutique hotel in San Francisco to a stunning 115-foot lighthouse on the Pacific coast.
Hostels provide an opportunity for girls to meet people from around the world in a casual setting that encourages interaction. As they learn about other cultures and meet new friends, they develop leadership skills, overcome challenges and become more aware of the world and its people.
Our friendly staff members can offer troop leaders great tips on things to do in the area, transportation options, low-cost attractions and much more.
HI-USA and GSUSA have collaborated since the 1930s when our hostels began to provide Girl Scouts with fun and educational travel opportunities. Together we have helped generations of girls build life skills and promote understanding.
HI-USA hostels offer Girls Scouts many exciting activities and programs that are meaningful and fun. Our Discover the World patch is focused on intercultural exploration and budget travel to help girls become more engaged, caring world citizens. Opening Doors, Opening Minds promotes intercultural exchange and community service. Some of our hostels have full-time program staff to work with you on planning the perfect program to achieve your goals.
Discover the World Patch
Badge and Patch Work
Community Walls : Travel Stories
|
|
 |
 |
| Resources |
|
| Features/amenities at our hostels |
| · |
Dorms allow you to share the same room(s) |
| · |
Common spaces are comfortable and perfect for meetings or activities· Fully equipped kitchens and food storage areas provide an opportunity to cook together |
| · |
Locations near cultural and natural treasures make your programming come to life |
| · |
Program staff at some hostels can help you plan a program based on your goals |
|
|
| Learn more about hostels |
| · |
Today’s Hostel provides details about our rooms, amenities, cost, location and guests |
| · |
Our Hostels is a guide to all 10 hostels in Northern California — in words and pictures |
| · |
Groups covers our services to groups, including FREE group membership |
| · |
FAQ answers the common questions about reservations, quality standards and more |
| · |
About Us introduces you to our mission, history and Hostelling International brand |
| · |
Contact Us is a simple way submit a question to our staff (select Groups from the menu) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Discover the World Patch 
Created by girls, for girls, the Discover the World patch helps 11- to 17-year-old girls become more engaged, caring world citizens while quenching their thirst to travel the world. Created with the help of a troop in Maine that used HI-Boston as a base to study American history, the patch blends intercultural exploration and budget travel to help girls gain confidence in traveling and to instill a genuine interest in meeting people from other places and cultures.
To complete the patch, girls choose among activities that range from trip planning and interviewing international travelers, to participating in local volunteer projects. The patch criteria includes the following activities as guidelines:
- Stay at a hostel
- Create a travel budget
- Learn common greetings in another language
- Volunteer for a hostel-led community project
Many troops have discovered new ways to complete the patch by using the criteria as a guideline. HI-USA encourages troops to be creative when they go hostelling and only requires them to contact their local HI-USA council to discuss their idea and to get it approved. Here are two examples of troops that decided to take a different approach:
- A troop from Ohio visited HI-Chicago in preparation for a future hostelling trip to Europe.
- A troop from California incorporated budget preparations, meal planning and travel research while they stayed at HI-Sacramento, our historic William Mansion where the city’s Gold Rush past comes to life.
If you want to get your troop involved, Contact Us and we will tell you about the next steps (select Groups from the menu).
top
Badge and Patch Work
There are a number of badges and other patches girls can earn when you stay at one of our hostels. Use our hostel as a base for your own adventure or ask us if one of our staff members or volunteers might be available to talk with their troop about travel safety and budget planning. We have assisted troop leaders with a number of details to make their trip a success, such as coordinating informal travel talk with a few of our international guests.
A partial list of badge and patch opportunities:
- Around the World
- Celebrating People
- Citizens Near and Far
- People of the World
- Playing Around the World
- Travel Right
- Celebrating People
- Global Awareness
- Globe Trotting
- Local Lore
- My Community
- On My Way
- World Neighbors
- The Lure of Language
- Math, Maps and More
- Travel
- Understanding Yourself and Other
top
Community Walls
An Opening Doors, Opening Minds program
Our guests are interested in how people really live, how they think and what they do. HI-USA started Community Walls, an Opening Doors, Opening Minds (ODOM) program, to provide a taste of what life is like in communities across America. ODOM is an HI-USA initiative to provide young people with the tools they need to become better global citizens who influence international understanding.
HI-USA hostels across the country are partnering with Girl Scout troops (and other youth groups) to create displays about their hometowns. It is a fun project for girls to get their creative juices flowing and to share their thoughts with the world. All of the completed Community Wall projects are displayed in one of our hostels to provide guests with a unique local perspective about American communities.
Working on a Community Wall project helps girls to learn about their cultural community identity because they will think about questions like:
- What are the best spots in town to visit?
- What do people do for fun?
- Are there area traditions that make the town unique?
- What food is unique to the area?
- What is the local historical heritage?
If you want to get your troop involved, Contact Us and we will tell you about the next steps (select Groups from the menu).
top
Travel Stories
An Opening Doors, Opening Minds program
Tales of unexpected journeys, fascinating people and wonderful discoveries fill our common rooms after guests return from a day of exploration. HI-USA is asking guests how staying at a hostel impacted their life, changed their outlook or challenged their perceptions. These Travel Stories are then shared with the global community on our national HI-USA Web site.
This Opening Doors, Opening Minds (ODOM) program illustrates one of the ways HI-USA is working to provide young people with the tools they need to become better global citizens who influence international understanding.
After your trip and stay at a hostel, ask your troop to reflect on these questions. It will help them to understand what they learned about other people and cultures when they stayed at a hostel. Visit our national HI-USA Web site to read some of the stories our guests have already shared with us about ways that hostels impact society as a whole. Then add your own using the online form.
top
|
|
|
|
 |
