Gram’s Place Hostel

Gram’s Place hostel was a great experience for my first official American hostel experience.  Hostel and America aren’t necessarily two words that go together.  The word hostel tends to be more associated with backpacking in Europe or the phrase “While I was in the Peace Corps”.  Believe it or not, there are plenty of amazing places to stay here in the U.S. that fall under the category of hostel. 

I was displaced for a night in Tampa so I went and checked out Gram’s Place.  While I was there, I got to see how eclectic an American hostel can get and how it really takes the shape of the people who are currently staying there as well as every other person who has stayed there before them.   It was only a night, but I got a chance to meet some great people.  Two of them, Jo and Valoree, you’ve now met.  I also got to meet a British man who just got done traveling much or northern South America who I may see here in New York this week.  

I also had a great conversation with the live in/ work exchange woman from Rhode Island.  She was a free spirit who seemed to have lived everywhere at some point and definitely loved having that freedom in her life. If I would have stayed one more night, I definitely would have got more details in her story.  I can only imagine.

The owner took it over after his brother, Mark Holland, passed away.  Mark named the hostel after Gram Parsons.  If you’re unfamiliar with Gram Parsons, he was an extremely influential musician who created the Byrds and was quite involved with Emmylou Harris.  Being that the hostel is named after him, it is not unexpected that there is commonly live music being played at the hostel.

Here are a few pictures that I took while I was there.  I didn’t get many, but these still display the greatness of this location.  When travelling our country and you’re looking for something adventurous and inexpensive, don’t disregard our hostels; You may find that it fills a void you didn’t know was there.

 

Valoree at the Hostel

On my last morning at Gram’s Place hostel, I got a chance to meet Valoree.  She is about to embark on this phenomenal research project and I got a moment with her to share it for us.  She was gracious to share a lot of her knowledge with me so for that I am thankful.  Valoree, please keep us updated when you get back from South America.

If you want to learn more about this project check out their link.