I blame my passion for travel on the exotic exchange students I met senior year of high school. Trendy and heavily accented, we use to hang out in the back of their American parents’ houses and exchange witty, sometimes unintelligible banter over drinks that they had been drinking for years back home. Legally, of course.

In my early 20s, I made it my mission to leave the continental US whenever possible. Why not see the good ole’ US of A, you ask? Because, as I told myself, I’d one day criss-cross the country in the family van seeing everything from the yarn ball of Iowa to the stone faces of Yosemite.

Once I started working post-college, I’d share my travel passion with folks older and wiser and in response I usually heard melancholy claims of “Do it now before you have real responsibilities” or “Travel while you can”. I never understood those claims, as travel and work never seemed mutually exclusive to me.

So, I continued to travel whenever possible.

What’s that – you have a buddy pass and want to go to Ireland for five days?

I’m in.

Planning on going to Catalonia for spring break?

Sicky sicky pow pow! Let’s see the snow of Andorra.

I truly believed that the time for “easy” travel – the days before wife, children (I’m not there yet!) and adult responsibilities – was within my reach and I intended to take full advantage of it.

And take advantage I did.

I managed to visit 40 countries within a five year span, an effort I’m still proud of today. But after a trip a few years back that took me through Eastern Europe, which found me bunking up with hostelers nearly a decade younger, I realized that my passionate for travel was evolving. I had experienced SO much in my trips to five continents but somehow I found myself less than fulfilled in a Krakow hostel, as I lay awake all night to sounds of youngins screaming as they went in-and-out of the thump-thump club across the alley.

Like a college football coach who lost one too many games and saw the end on the horizon, I knew my best hostelling days were behind me. On top of that, having had the chance to get so much of the travel “bug” out of me, I felt a burning desire to BUILD something enduring. Rather than just experience travel, I wanted to translate that passion and history into something I could show others.

Let me also preface these comments by throwing out a personal disclaimer. If I’m working, I’m a workaholic. If I’m travelling, I have to see EVERYTHING. My first big trip in Europe I managed to circumnavigate nearly the entire continent in 5 weeks. When I’m focused, I have to do it all. When I was in Thailand, I’d run into other people my age that had been on Koh Tao for months at a time. After 3 days on the island, I was bored. That’s just the kind of person I am.

So with this strange realization that I was getting on the north end of acceptable hostel age, I realized that I wanted to build a business that incorporated my passion for travel. My first attempt was a company that created travel posters incorporating all of the details of a great trip – itinerary, photos and maps. A great concept, but ahead of its time (I like to think).

More recently, I took my experience in the apparel world and launched Hostel Dog. Hostel Dog has been the sweet spot for me. With tons of experience in design, digital marketing and web development, I don’t know why it took me so long to start the company. T-shirts aren’t brain surgery, I’ll be the first to admit, and the greatest byproduct of Hostel Dog has been the chance, no the excuse, to talk frequently with you guys, my fellow travelers. Hostel Dog for me was the confluence of all things I am good at, both professionally and personally.

With the launch of Hostel Dog I realized that it really is possible to take your passion for travel and infuse it more into your work life back home. Again, I was reminded of my thoughts years before about them not being mutually exclusive.

Based on my experiences over the years, I’ve come up with five possibly intelligent reasons on how you too can meld your professional and travel world just a bit more.

1. It’s all about framing: travel and work aren’t mutually exclusive. Realize that it’s possible to combine both successfully.

If you’re waiting to travel, figure out how to incorporate work into your upcoming trip. If you’re home after travelling, look for unmet needs for other people that are passionate about travel, like you.

2. Find professional support groups nearby to find others with complementary skills and vision.

Meetup.com is a great place to find a segment of folks interested in the same things you are. Your greatest strength is your knowledge of the travel world. Use Meetup.com to find the complementary skill sets you need to launch your business.

3. You’ve been to places and see things that most people can only dream of. Find a niche in the travel world and fill it.

Are you a lawyer who plans on travelling? Use your travel experience as a launch pad into a position in the international law field. Or even better, while travelling, set up meetings in law offices around the world and just start a conversation. Conversations never hurt.

4. Learn the basics of the digital marketing world.

When you’re away from home or if you’re building a travel-flavored business from home, communicating via blog, website, Twitter or Facebook is your most realistic means of communication. Learn the basics and don’t be shy about asking for help.

5. Take your professional aspirations on the road: partner with an outdoor apparel or travel business that needs pictures of their products in natural settings.

I spent a summer at Eagle Creek Travel Gear and we offered free gear and cash to a passionate traveler in exchange for photos of gear in subways from around the world. Those photos made their way to the website and in tons of company marketing materials.

Ultimately, I have been successful in bringing my travel passion into my work life because I am constantly looking at ways to incorporate it. Begin to think of your travel experience as a valuable asset and you’ll soon find yourself writing down business ideas left and write.

Good luck!

Garrett
HostelDog.com

Check out the original post on SpunkyGirlMonologues.com>>

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Hostels in the US are like showers in the rain forest – they’re great if you can find them, but you better not plan on them being there when you need them.

The country’s largest cities have hostels aplenty. If you find yourself in NYC, you’ve got a nice selection to choose from. The same can be said about a few other of the country’s largest cities, Chicago and Los Angeles included.

But outside of these megalopolises and off the international traveler path, travelers need another option. With the average hotel outside of a backpacker’s budget, what’s a backpacker to do?

Priceline.com is the answer.

If there was a traveler’s cheat sheet, Priceline would be at the top of the list. If you’re not familiar with the service, it allows customers to offer prices in a hotel bidding platform at significant savings. With prices at rates normally 50% normal price, it’s a fantastic way for travelers in large groups in expensive cities (like New York) or smaller groups or independent travelers to find a place to stay when they travel off the beaten path.

And by off the beaten path I mean everywhere outside of New York, Chicago and LA.

Enter Garrett’s Guide to Priceline for Backpackers. Here are some basic rules to live by:

1. Be patient and plan your purchase weeks ahead of time, but a same-day purchase is possible
2. Test the city market first via Priceline.com. Go to the non-bidding area and localize the neighborhood you’re interested in to get a sense of available hotels.
3. Transportation – know how you’ll get around once you’re there.
4. Parking Fees – In big cities, nice hotels typically have overnight parking fees of $15 or more ($50 is possible on Michigan Avenue in Chicago). Be aware of this if you have a car.
5. Once you have a sense of the hotels available in town, start bidding at the HIGHEST star rating you would like. If you don’t get a bid, you can go to fewer stars, but not the other way around.
6. Your first bid should be 40% of the average price for that hotel. If this is WAY too low, Priceline will warn you that your bid has absolutely no chance.
7. Make your bid. If you don’t succeed, travel down the “quality” funnel if you don’t mind going down to save some cash. You’re trying to save cash, so only bid $1 more for each star (Priceline requires you raise your price by SOMETHING, so $1 gets you approval).
8. If somehow you exhaust your options without a successful bid, come back 24 hours (or more) later. Rinse. Repeat, with a slightly higher price.
9. 9. Priceline offers great prices because you pay AHEAD of time. Hence, there’s no refunds. Ever. Well, almost. I think the only time I’ve ever been offered a refund was when a friend’s brother jumped out of a window and broke both ankles. Unable to attend, they offered a refund.

Let’s look at a possible scenario:

Jose and Laurence, travelers from Europe, make the decision to see what American skiing’s all about. With plans to visit Salt Lake City, hotels are plentiful but at an average rate of $80 plus tax, things aren’t looking pretty.  They also plan to arrive via airplane, sans car.

Jose pulls up Priceline.com and focus your efforts on downtown a week ahead of time. Jose spends some time getting a sense of the neighborhoods in Salt Lake and the average hotel price for each. If he doesn’t get downtown, he can venture to outer neighborhoods if he’s willing.

Going into the Bidding Platform, Jose clicks on the 3 STAR (always go as high as you can) as he sees average price is $90 in town. If he gets it at 40%, he’s looking at $36 plus tax, which may be $10.

Jose approves his bid for downtown, $36. And then, he waits.

Priceline chugs and chugs. Poof. He got it!

Jose got a 3-star hotel, downtown, for $46 total. This is the final price, no questions ask.

But What About the Hostel Experience You Say?

Yes, being in a hotel means you won’t have hostel happy hour, shower with other folks or get woken up in the middle of the night when Joe and Christine start taking their clothes off. But hey, YOU have to determine what you’re ok with.  Sometimes nice linens at no extra cost will seem appealing.

And that’s it. Welcome to Garrett’s Priceline Secrets for Backpackers.

Now venture forth and see this great country!

I recently was featured by Briefcasetobackpack.com. Check ‘em out!

Here’s my interview in full:

It’s often a dream come true when you can combine your passion with your work, and that is what Garrett Schemmel has done with his website:Hostel Dog – Travel Inspired Apparel.

Garrett graduated with a degree in industrial design but has also been very interested in sketching and graphic design. And then he caught the travel bug, which set him on a path combining the two passions. Garrett shares with us how he has been able to successfully bring his two passions together to create a business he cares about.

When were you first inspired to travel?
My fascination with all things international probably started when I was a senior in high school and became great friends with the exchange students at my high school. They just seemed different. It’s hard to say what exactly it is that made them fun to hang out with, but I built great friendships there that lasted past high school.

I got to be great friends with a guy from Brazil, named Eduardo. Still friends to this day, he made his way to my house through a roundabout means and ended up staying for six months. Three years into college, I made the decision to go visit him and his family in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. That’s when I got a real taste of international travel and being fully immersed in the local culture. Every minute of every day was me being surrounded by folks from “Belo” and I had to learn quickly what it meant to live in a foreign culture.

But what really kicked off my travel habit?

I went to college in Atlanta and was lucky to have a hand full of friends who had co-op positions with Delta. Luckily, my friends were adventurous and it wasn’t uncommon to hear them fly to Santiago, Chile on a long weekend to go skiing in between classes (they flew for almost free).

Travel is difficult at times not because of the cost, but also because it is hard at times to find a travel partner with the same passion and desire to spend every free moment seeing some place new. This group of friends was the foundation for my travels for the next three years. I traveled Europe, South America, Asia and Australia/New Zealand with the friends I made in college.

How did your travels inspire “Hostel Dog”?
I’ve spent a great bit of the past four years as the design and marketing lead for an apparel company. I love design, apparel and travel and for some reason it took me until 2009 to realize that I should combine those passions. Building off these experiences, I launched Hostel Dog with an aim of capturing the unique experiences of the independent backpacker. As someone who loves to travel myself (41 countries and counting!), I thought there really was a void out there for allowing travelers to show that passion on a daily basis.

The hardest part about Hostel Dog is gauging the travel messages that are appropriate for the travel audience overall. Everyone can get behind concepts like “Hosteler” and “I’d Rather be Travelling”, but the niche concepts based on unique geographic experiences have been the tougher sell.

How do you use design to inspire others to travel?
Hostel Dog designs/t-shirts are an avenue to embrace travel further as a lifestyle and not just a one-time experience. Just because you went to Europe your third year of college doesn’t mean that you can’t travel again for three months. So many folks want to travel extensively but write it off as something that’s too difficult.

I want Hostel Dog shirts to be a constant, visual reminder that YES, you can get out and see the world.

We love Garrett’s designs and style and look forward to a future career break-inspired t-shirt from Hostel Dog!

Check out Hostel Dog’s Travel Inspired Apparel and find him on Facebook & Twitter. You can see read some of Hostel Dog’s favorite travel bloggers in one place at Read Travel Blogs.

HostelDog.com is THE place for apparel inspired by the unique experiences of the independent backpacker.

Whether laughing about the hostel experience or inspired by the freedom that is cubicle-free living, joining Hostel Dog’s newsletter is the way to get discounts on gear as well as hear from travel bloggers that you know and love.

We look forward to having you onboard!

- Garrett
Founder, Hostel Dog

Sign up for the HostelDog.com Newsletter>>

UPDATE:

Thanks everyone for giving your feedback! With your help, we’ve launched three designs for RTW travelers:

Men’s 1: http://www.hosteldog.com/rtw-long-haul-around-the-world-shirt.html

Men’s 2: http://www.hosteldog.com/rtw-world-around-the-world-shirt.html

Women’s http://www.hosteldog.com/rtw-long-haul-around-the-world-shirt-womens.html

———————————-

#RTW and #RTWsoon folks – we’re rolling out our first shirt that’s an ode to around the world travel.

Inspired by the RTW acronym, we’ve got two questions for you in the survey below – which design do you like more PLUS

Once we have a handful of phrases for the back, we’ll send out a new survey and let folks pick the winning phrase. The winner gets a FREE shirt plus their phrase on the final shirt!

If you have a second, I’d love to hear your thoughts on how to make it better. Here are a few questions to get you thinking (you can drop your response in the comments area below – thanks!)

- Do we need to include “Around the World” text on the back so those not in the know…are in the know?

- What color shirt would you like to see the design on – navy, brown, white, light brown, red?

Fellow travelers,

We’re working on our first Paris shirt, which is an ode to the history, style and mysticism that is the city of lights.

We’re stuck between two designs and it would be a huge help if you guys weighed in on your favorite. Do you mind?

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Hi guys! We’re putting together some contest ideas for the next few months and we’d love your thoughts on which contest prizes you like most.

Thanks for taking the survey!

Use code POLLHELP to get 15% OFF Hostel Dog gear until February 8, 2010.

Visit the Hostel Dog STORE>>

Copyright Pica 2010

Product Development: New Eire (Ireland) Passport Stamp Shirt

We’ve made it down to two shirt colors and we need your help to improve the shirt. The design is built upon a 1930’s Ireland Passport stamp. The back features the word “EIRE” up top with a celtic symbol referenced from the passport, all with the focus on capturing the essence of Ireland, a travel destination many of us love.

Which design is your favorite?

Check these out and let us know what you think of the shirt colors and the design.

Here’s a detailed shot of the shirt:

Winter has officially rolled in snow and ice seem to be covering the country in an immovable white blanket. As the temperatures dip, there’s actually a lot to be excited about – skiiers are plowing through fresh powder, snowmobilers are driving through mounds of soft snow and mulled wine fans are imbibing their warm, tasty creations.

“Mulled Wine”. Sounding like a victimized wine, snatched from home and forced into servitude, mulled wine was originally created by Northern Europeans as a hardy winter drink. Dating back hundreds, if not thousands, of years, mulled wine is a category of wines fortified with brandy and seasoned with unique spices and best served piping hot.

Mulled wines are as interesting for their taste as they are their tradition. The oldest documented production of Gluhwein, the winter drink of Germany, is attributed to Count John IV. of Katzenelnbogen in 1420. Not confined to the borders of Deutschland, mulled wines can be found all across Europe. When traveling, mention these names and be served a hot, tasty drink:

Vin Fiert (Romania) Izvar (Moldova) Glögi (Estonia) Vin chaud (France) Grzane wino (Poland) Svařené víno (Czech Republic) Греяно вино (Bulgarian) Glögg (Sweden)

Sweden, and the rest of Scandinavia, has elevated the drink to a cultural phenomenon. During the holiday season, Glogg parties are a way for friends and family to reconnect. Like your traditional red wine, mulled wine should be drank in moderation. Combined with the addition of spices, sugar and fortifying brandy, over-indulgence is ill-advised. It seems many in Sweden have learned it the hard way>>

Mulled wines are actually really easy to make. With the same basic playbook as a simple stew, bring your red wine to a warm temperate before adding sugar, spices and brandy. The exact recipe depends on the country, but our favorite is the German version – Glühwein. Featuring a few more ingredients than those of neighboring countries, you can find most ingredients already in your kitchen. A few items you may need to go to the store for – mace, cinnamon sticks and allspice. Check our out our recipe below. This recipe fills 4 regular bottles of wine, a good practice is to store the extra wine for future drinking!

German Glühwein Recipe – Our Favorite!

Ingredients

• 3 L of red wine ( 4 regular bottles or 2 uber-large bottles. We recommend Cabernet Sauvignon for its robustness)
• 1 pint brandy
• 1 cup sugar
• 6 cinnamon sticks
• 12 cloves, whole
• 1/8 tsp allspice
• 1/8 tsp mace (unusual ingredient, but necessary – don’t skip this!)
• 2 oranges, sliced
• 1 lemon, sliced

Directions

1. Pour the wine into a large pot and begin heating over low heat. DO NOT BOIL!
2. As it begins to warm, add sugar, spices and brandy (everything but citrus). Stir until dissolved and let simmer for a few minutes.
3. Add the lemon and orange and allow to steep for an hour until flavor is well infused.
4. Serve hot.

Note: This recipe serves 12-15.