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Pack Your Impact with Hostelling International USA

Hostelling International USA (HI USA) recently launched a new initiative to help travelers maximise their social impact, called Pack Your Impact. 

We asked Netanya Trimboli – HI USA’s Communications & PR Director to share some more information about the program and how members of the Travel Massive community can get involved.

HI San Francisco hostels marching in the Martin Luther King Jr. parade with guests and members of the community.

What is Pack Your Impact all about?

It’s time to Pack Your Impact!  

Pack Your Impact is all about helping travelers maximize their social impact while minimizing their environmental impact before, during, and after their travels. Our focus overall is on experiential sustainability. We want people to realize that sustainability isn’t a separate thing; it’s part of how you travel and your overall experience. And it creates a more impactful journey.

What’s so exciting about it?

We’ve just launched The Traveler’s Scavenger Hunt along with numerous other resources and activities on our site. This app-based game is a fun way to explore any destination – including where you live – while also supporting the planet. We’re running 5 separate games, each with its own prizes, spaced out through the rest of 2017.  The first one just started on May 15, and runs through June 19, so check it out!

What inspired you to create Pack Your Impact?

2017 is the UN’s designated Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development. Since our hostels are sustainable by design, this is a great opportunity to change the way people of think of sustainability as it relates to travel.

HI USA is a nonprofit organization, and our purpose is to create a more tolerant world, so meeting new people from diverse backgrounds is always at the center of everything we do. Our interactive resources offer insight on the types of activities to look for, suggestions for connecting with locals, and helping you get off the beaten path.

But no one is going to do these things if they’re not fun, right? If you visit www.hiusa.org/packyourimpact, you’ll see just how fun sustainable travel can be.

How can someone help or get involved with your project?

HI USA has a great history working with Travel Massive across the country.  Many of our hostels host Travel Massive meet-ups (like the White House Travel Blogger Summit Mixer), and, of course, tons of our staff are individual members.

To get involved with our initiative, visit www.hiusa.org/packyourimpact for our recommendations to incorporate sustainability into your next travel experience.  If you’re in between travels, these are some fun and conscientious ways to invigorate your travel spirit at home:

1. Quiz: How to Save the Planet Based on Your Travel Personality

Find out which of 5 travel personalities you fall into, then receive tips pack your impact before, during, and after your travels based on your style.

2. The Dinner Party
When you ask 3 friends to dinner, and each of them invites someone no one else knows, you end up with a diverse group of people, similar to what you might find in a hostel dining room.  Break the ice with HI Cards, a conversation-starter deck of cards.

3. The Traveler’s Scavenger Hunt

Now through December, we’re hosting a series of 5 app-based scavenger hunts that support social and environmental responsibility. And you can win prizes, such as overnights and packages from our partners.

Do you have any tips for aspiring do-gooders who want to give back or start their own social project?

Amazing things happen through networking. I actually got the idea for the Scavenger Hunt at a karaoke bar, chatting with someone I just met at a HI USA event. And every time I attend an event, whether, through Travel Massive or an organized conference, I walk away with new people I can’t wait to work with. The more people you talk to, the more ideas you’ll get and the more you’ll find that people want to help you with your cause. I’ve found that most people enjoy being helpful, but you need to put yourself out there and start the conversation.

Scavenger hunt participant Jumps For Joy in front of a HI Canada hostel.


Thank you to Hostelling International USA for supporting this week’s Travel Massive feature. Stay in touch with Hostelling International USA by following them on Facebook and Twitter


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