“Imagine” author Jonah Lehrer describes how creative moments happen, and how to cultivate them, especially for the workplace.  Citing brain science and research studies, Lehrer concludes that there are different kinds of creativity and (happily) we all have some form of it.  The challenge is to unleash it.

In the chemistry of creativity, travel is a potent catalyst.

Research shows familiarity is an enemy of creativity.  Years and years of deadening routine and conventional wisdom can undermine the fresh, “outsider” perspective necessary for innovative thinking.

Young people early in their careers are seen as “natural outsiders” – a creative advantage particularly in fields like poetry and physics, where most important works are accomplished by the age of 30.

Yet studies show outsider creativity isn’t a phase of life, it’s a state of mind.  New and different surroundings can freshen minds, loosen cognition and spur insights regardless of age.

Lehrer confirms what seasoned travelers know: sitting on the Left Bank with a café’ au lait and croissant can relax the mind, or stimulate it, depending on your mind-set.  He takes it one step further: if creativity is the aim, we should bring our most vexing problems with us and cogitate.  Tackling them when we are away from the places we spend most of our time increases the likelihood of finding solutions.

Why?  We are “outsiders” when in foreign lands, challenged to make sense of new ways and cultures and not encumbered by our daily conventions and routines.  As we become more immersed in others’ mores, customs and cuisines, well-entrenched patterns of thinking recede.  Errant ideas, previously suppressed, are brought to the surface.

The benefits of travel carry forward when we return home.  Seasoned travelers are found to be more accepting of ambiguity and more alive to subtleties.  Creative connections, otherwise masked, can be more readily uncovered.

The creative process is seldom effortless, and certainly no vacation.  But travel is one notable way to help lubricate it.

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HI-USA APPLAUDS NATIONAL TRAVEL AND TOURISM STRATEGY

CEO announces commitment to elevating student and youth travel

May 10, 2012:  Statement from Russell Hedge, CEO of Hostelling International USA, upon the release of the announcement of a National Travel and Tourism Strategy:

    “The National Travel and Tourism Strategy announced today by the Obama  Administration is an important step towards leveraging travel as a cultural, economic and educational force in the United States.  In particular, this Strategy has the potential to widen the numbers of young people who have access to travel, and the educational and social benefits that travel brings.

    “Of the 100 million international visitors the Strategy projects to arrive in the U.S. by 2021, youth travelers are a core demographic needing specific focus.  Travel by 18-30-year olds is a large and growing travel segment, making up approximately 20% of all international arrivals worldwide and expected to grow by more than 50% by the year 2020.

    “Hostelling International (HI) USA is the nation’s largest student and youth travel accommodations provider and stands ready to work with the Administration in achieving this goal.   As a nonprofit organization, we are focused on using travel to promote understanding and cultural exchange, and we are encouraged to see multiple points of alignment with our mission in the Strategy.

    “The HI-USA network includes more than 55 hostels across the United States, which host more than one million overnights annually.  As the US affiliate of the International Youth Hostel Federation, HI-USA has connections with more than 90 countries worldwide.  We look forward to sharing our organizational strength to help reach Strategy goals.”

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Check out our submission to the US Travel and Tourism Advisory Board.  Our message: youth travelers, ages 18-30, are important envoys for intercultural exchange and their travels pack an economic punch.

HI-USA is evolving a more expansive definition of hostel that encompasses community as well.  And as we are increasingly successful, American Heritage will need to revisit that definition, as it did for “mouse” (rodent -> computer device), “twitter” (a slight chirping sound -> an online networking site), and “swipe” (to steal -> to pass through an electronic reader).

Our idea is a simple one.  Travelers who want to learn more about the locality they are visiting can themselves become a community asset.  How?  By interacting with community members.   HI-USA believes conversations between visitors and local residents can result in deeper knowledge and understanding for both.  And we are promoting it through hostel programs and activities that bring together travelers and local residents.

Yet an innovative HI-USA regional chapter asked itself, why stop there?  Last weekend I was invited to make the welcoming address at a community-focused peace conference organized by the HI-San Diego Council.  Or to be more specific, a peacebuilding conference.  

Don’t leave that American Heritage Dictionary just yet.   Look up “peacebuilding” and you get an even more indeterminate result: “no word definition found”.  

And so HI-USA finds itself out in front of a quite unintentional push for semantic change. 

Yet we are in good company.  The United Nations uses peacebuilding, along with peacemaking and peacekeeping, in a taxonomy that gives context to its global efforts.  For the UN, peacebuilding involves actions that solidify peace and avoid relapse into conflict.  Peacemaking brings hostile parties to agreement, and peacekeeping is actively maintaining a truce.

In the aftermath of World War II, hostels were part of classic, post-conflict peacebuilding.  Governments and nonprofits rebuilt war-torn hostels as places where young people could mend transcontinental relations.  In the time sense, hostels have become places where destructive stereotypes are addressed through conversation and exchange, before conflicts ever emerge.  Now, as then, travelers can return home peacebuilders in their own right.

At the San Diego conference last weekend, the event took a community focus on peacebuilding, bringing together both local and national personalities.  The keynote speaker was former Iranian captive/backpacker Josh Fattal, who shared engaging stories and insights about his imprisonment.  The 50 or so attendees actively participated in a day-long format designed to encourage discussion and dialogue. 

As HI-USA further advances both hostels and peacebuilding, we can look to an unlikely yardstick for our success: future revisions to the American Heritage Dictionary.

But many did more than hope.   Hundreds and hundreds of you helped by expressing your support online. 

In all, almost 900 people from near and far shared their own stories on the value of the Austin hostel and the importance of hostelling.   Imagine at the City Council meeting, when local advocates could present pages and pages (over 60 in all) filled with personal statements in support of the hostel.   It was an extraordinary moment for hostelling.

We are grateful to the Austin City Council for their affirming vote, and the hostel‘s neighbors for their continued backing.   And of course, a big round of applause for local staff and volunteers who worked tirelessly for a positive outcome.      

Many thanks to our wider hostelling community which conveyed its passion and commitment online and aided the efforts of local supporters.    It’s a success story for today’s world.

It started 40 years ago when the HI-Golden Gate Council worked with the National Park Service to establish the hostel at Point Reyes National Seashore. It’s a beautiful park about 30 miles north of San Francisco on Highway 1. At the time, it was the council’s first hostel, and an early national example of a joint project between a government agency and HI-USA. Today, more than half of HI-USA’s nonprofit hostel network involves a government collaboration of one form or another. And at Point Reyes, the hostel has flourished and so has the National Park Service partnership.

The original hostel building serves about 8,000 overnights annually, with guests each year from dozens of countries. The addition provides precious new capacity, four rooms with five beds each, meaning more people will have the chance to experience the park, and will get to know each other in the friendly, shared atmosphere that only a hostel can deliver.

The new building is a special one. It was constructed to “green” building standards, and will soon be the first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified hostel building in the United States. This means photovoltaic solar panels, a highly reflective roof, certified lumber and plywood for construction, recycled insulation, countertops and flooring, and drought resistant plants in the surrounding landscape.

The staff is special, too. Hanna Morris has managed the hostel for 10 years, and worked closely with NPS to help make sure the project happened smoothly. She and her colleagues deliver a hostel stay experience that is consistently rated by guests as among the best in the entire HI-USA hostel network.

And let’s not forget about the National Park Service and the California State Coastal Conservancy. NPS managed design and construction of the project, with both jointly furnishing funding.

Here’s what Cicely Muldoon, the park’s superintendent, says:

“We are very proud of this project. With our partners at Hostelling International USA, we are delighted to offer a new, affordable family-friendly, environmentally sustainable facility at the seashore.”

And Danielle Brumfitt, executive director of the HI-Golden Gate Council:

“With this addition we continue our commitment to world understanding and conservation through travel, and are proud of our partnership with Point Reyes National Seashore in doing so.”

Congratulations to Hanna Morris and her staff, the HI-Golden Gate Council, the California State Coastal Conservancy, and of course, the National Park Service for a terrific addition to our nationwide hostel family!

The Austin hostel is a partnership with the City (like in many other communities).  The building is located in a city park on scenic Lady Bird Lake.  Over the years, about a quarter of a million overnights have been hosted in the 47-bed hostel.  However, the current agreement with the City of Austin to use the building is about to expire, and we are in the final stages of trying to renew it.

I flew down to Austin in early March to be part of the City Council meeting when the renewal was being discussed.  It was heartening to feel the support from many Council members.  And it was inspiring to see talented volunteers working behind the scenes to preserve the hostel.  (More on that in a future blog post!)

The City Council decided at its March meeting that, before making a final decision, an administrative hearing should first be held on the continued use of the building as a hostel.  Our local volunteers are now gearing up for that hearing, to be held on Monday, April 5.

It’s important that from far and near, we show our wide support.

Here’s how you can help.

Register your support by signing your name on this on-line form.  Local volunteers are aiming to present a lengthy list of supporters to the City Council before the hearing.

In addition to listing your name, you’ll have the opportunity to share in your own words why you are a supporter.  Grab it!  Let the City Council know why you believe hostels are special.

Help save the Austin hostel.  Show your support today.

Yet it’s not always easy to deliver.  In a world swirling with diplomatic accusations and nationalistic finger pointing, cutting through the media fog can be impossible while gazing at a screen.  In-person, one-on-one conversations can be the best way to dispel misleading, destructive stereotypes.

Enter travel, and hostels.

Travel offers entry into countries, and hostels entry into conversations.  Among independent travelers, “hostel” is a sort of code … for a welcoming place where people are interesting, beds are less expensive, conversations are plentiful and minds are open.  It’s a place made up of common rooms, group kitchens and dormitory sleeping, so guests expect interaction.  When respect is present, understanding follows.

Yet sometimes, citizen diplomacy needs a nudge.  And that’s what HI-USA did along with a handful of Hostelling International associations from other countries in the aftermath of September 11th.

Enter IOU Respect.

The program brings together college-aged youth from Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia, and France, Germany and the United States.  Our staff help guide young participants to get those sometimes-complicated visas necessary to cross national borders. Our hostels are the perfect venue.  And our skilled facilitators help make the two-week program a valuable one.

How valuable?  From two past IOU Respect participants, in their own words:

“The international friendships … make me realize that we are all just people at the end of the day and that our differences are simply what make us unique, not incompatible.”

“We debated, questioned and disagreed about some of the most important issues of our world, while still being able to end the day sharing a meal, busting moves on the dance floor, or jamming under the stars.”

IOU Respect delivers on the promise.

Enter, you!

The 2012 IOU Respect program is coming to the HI-Chicago hostel on July 8-20.  If the program interests you and you are between 18-23 years of age, you are invited to learn more.

IOU Respect is a terrific program deserving of your support.  You can help to underwrite the cost of this innovative, hostel-based program that builds dialogue and promotes understanding among cultures.  Contribute today!

Respect depends in part on being given the chance to exercise it.  Travel enables the opportunity, and hostels deliver on it.

With the President’s announcement, key government agencies and working groups have just 90 days to develop initial recommendations for a national strategy to spur domestic and international travel and tourism. From all accounts, the precious time is being used wisely, starting with reaching out to travel stakeholders and inviting their input.

On February 23rd, HI-USA shared its views on the emerging initiative with the US Travel and Tourism Advisory Board, a working group charged with developing policy recommendations. Our message: youth travelers, ages 18-30, are important envoys for intercultural exchange and their travels pack an economic punch.

Here are the arguments we shared on behalf of our core audience:

•  Youth travel is a large and growing travel segment, with the current 190 million trips per year worldwide expected to grow by more than 50% by the year 2020.

•  Youth travelers receive a lifetime benefit from their travel experiences.

•  Youth travelers spend more than other travelers, mainly because their trips are longer.

•  Youth travelers benefit local economies, because they usually travel independently instead of on organized tours.

Then yesterday, HI-USA submitted A Youth Travel Agenda for America, in response to an invitation for policy ideas. The 15-point action agenda describes how the Federal government, working with states, local communities and travel-related organizations, can increase the opportunities for foreign youth to visit the United States, and for young Americans to travel abroad.

In the 45 days since the President’s announcement, momentum is building towards a promising new national travel and tourism strategy. And HI-USA is working hard to see the interests of the youth travel community are well represented. I’ll keep you posted as progress continues to unfold.

As tourists and travelers ourselves, we seldom consider the impact our spending has on the places we visit. It’s stunning. Tourism is the USA’s biggest service export. Over $134 billion was spent in this country by foreign visitors in 2010. That’s a lot of USA jobs. And that’s the President’s point.

The President’s tourism development plans include the welcome step of reducing or eliminating tourist visa paperwork. Paperwork is a bane of our daily lives; you take a vacation to escape it, not complete it. Simplifying tourist visa requirements can attract more foreign travelers, which in turn will deliver more USA jobs.

18-30 year olds are an under-recognized powerhouse in our travel economy. Youth tourism worldwide is estimated to account for 20% of all international arrivals. That translates into a lot of spending and economic growth.

With it, comes an exciting opportunity for a non-partisan, national youth tourism policy agenda. It’s about recognizing the worthiness of student and work visas for foreign students coming to the USA, and reciprocal arrangements for Americans going abroad. It’s assuring that twenty-somethings (who spend less per day, but travel longer) aren’t unintentionally compromising their safety in their quest for affordable lodging. And it’s also about leveraging the educational value of student travel through a dynamic USA version of the Gap Year.

Here’s the point. Youth travel and tourism is uniquely about economics and education. Every dollar spent by a twenty-something traveler (and there are plenty of them) has the same spending power as a dollar spent by someone else. Yet student-aged expenditures are more likely towards a greater purpose: studying abroad, learning a language, volunteering, gaining world perspectives.

One of the year’s biggest happenings in USA youth travel will now take place in Boston on June 22nd, when the third largest hostel in the United States (after New York City and Chicago) celebrates its grand opening. With Boston’s Chinatown and the Theater District just around the corner, it’s not hard to imagine hostel guests flocking to the scores of nearby restaurants, retail stores, and entertainment venues. It’s a living example of the economic case for travel and tourism, powered by twenty-somethings visiting the city for experience and learning.

International tourism makes a difference to all of us. As policy agendas of all political pedigrees emerge during this election year cycle, let’s make sure youth travel is part of the conversation.

I was in Chicago for two days on a separate mission: to interview candidates for a regional vice president job for the emerging new HI-USA.  Yet, in the short time I was there, I too had seen the transformation of the hostel dining room into a gallery of expansive MLK-themed murals by student artists who had used the floor-to-ceiling windows as their canvas.

Above: Student mural at the HI-Chicago hostel.

Why would a hostel have these murals celebrating the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King?

Dr. King believed that people’s lack of understanding of each other creates a fear in the “other”, which fosters prejudice and injustice.  Our hostels are one small but powerful answer.

Our hostels attract travelers of widely varying backgrounds and cultures.   They enable the sort of conversations that break down destructive stereotypes and build understanding.

Our hostels are a mixing bowl of peoples and cultures from which informed world perspectives rise.

Of course, beyond remembrance, Martin Luther King Day is a day of service.  Dr. King’s idea of a vibrant, multiracial nation united in thought and action is evidenced each year by hundreds of thousands of Americans coming together to volunteer in community projects around the country.

That’s why HI-USA hostels in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Washington DC support groups doing community work during the 40 days of service with free overnight stays in the Great Hostel Give Back.  Other examples of hostel projects abound: collecting used coats for community residents in San Francisco, working on a watershed restoration project in Portland, Oregon, collecting art supplies for a local charter school in San Diego, and sponsoring college students for a leadership seminar in Columbus, Ohio.

About last year’s Great Hostel Give Back, a group leader from Flint Corps at the University of Michigan-Flint said:

 “The Great Hostel Give back is an extraordinary program.   Without it, our group would not have been able to afford this trip.  The hostel was the perfect environment for our group – the hostel community was welcoming, receptive, and the perfect space for sharing of ideas.  Successful service requires reflection and sharing – all of which occur in the hostel on a daily basis.  The intercultural makeup of the guests provides opportunities for cross-cultural dialogue.”

It’s all about fostering understanding.