Hostel Travel Journal
Our Travel Journal
Take a road trip with us! Hostel isn’t just a brand. We aren’t just here to sell our clothing designs, art and accessories. We're here to tell our stories, share our adventures, our failures and successes, both the good and the bad.
Hostel is a living, breathing entity that sails the dark seas of our memories, our lives and our futures, telling the stories of the people we meet and work with, the places we get to explore and the experiences we are lucky enough to have along the way. Follow our journey through the amazing locations we choose for our rollouts, the people we meet and the adventures ahead.
Here, we'll update you on what’s going on, where we’ve been and where we’re going to be, as well as company updates and plans for the future. Gonna be a wild ride, so much love to all!
Miami revisited - February 28th, 2026
A couple years ago… when Hostel was still a dream floating around in my head, Stephanie called to invite me to shoot a charity event in Miami. I hadn’t been since I was a kid, so I eagerly agreed. I had no idea what I was in for. Picture my socially awkward ass in ripped up jeans and a surf tee shirt, disheveled hair and a beat to hell fujifilm camera around my neck headed to a star studded white party, champagne flowing from the sky, huge diamonds being auctioned off for charity, beautiful people everywhere… I was a mess. Though I felt like I stuck out like a sore thumb, everyone was amazing. Accepting. Gracious. And I made some beautiful art with some beautiful people. Towards the end of the night, one of Stephanie’s friends came to grab us for a side adventure and I had no idea what was coming. We walked through a kitchen area that led through a back entrance to an outdoor bar and immediately walked through a private gate on an absolutely mesmerizing marina. before I understood what was happening, we were taking our shoes off and boarding a 104’, captained yacht. A handful of us launched and cruised the little Miami river until the wee hours of the night. It was an experience I’ll never forget, and one that in an odd way inspired me to push myself harder than I knew possible to bring Hostel to fruition. It was one of those moments that should have made me feel wildly out of place. Out of that league. But it didn’t. We were all just people. Wild and free having the time of our lives. I am grateful.
Passport to paradise - February 12th, 2026
It was the tail end of covid and cabin fever had set in pretty hard. One Tuesday afternoon, I got a call requesting a location shoot in Antigua, West Indies (yes, the one in the Caribbean) for a beautiful resort celebrating their remodel and new marketing campaign rollout, and of course, eagerly agreed. 9 models, mostly my closest people and I started mapping it out. Flights at that time were super cheap and we had full access to the resort and an amazing multi bedroom penthouse overlooking the Caribbean Sea, and I was all set…. Except for my passport. Thinking it wouldn’t take long, like a complete dumbass, I put it off until two weeks before our flight. I quickly realized that, due to COVID, even expedited passports weren’t a thing, so I had to wait until 72 hours before boarding and hope that I could get an appointment at one of the 4 main passport offices in the country, and as it turned out, only 12 appointments nationwide were available, on a call lottery contingency. The night before, I stayed up until midnight and started calling. First Chicago, then Atlanta. Discouraged as hell, I tried the Detroit office and got the LAST appointment on this side of the US. Being so close to flight time, and already on a shoestring budget, I had no other options than to take the Greyhound bus from downtown Louisville to inner city Detroit. I’d ridden greyhound before, in my early teens, but this time around, loaded down with a weeks worth of gear including all my underwater photography equipment and clothes for 7 days, a CRAZY timeline and no real knowledge of Detroit or what to expect in general, it was stressful AF. I got there late, almost immediately crashed in a shitty motel downtown and made it to my appointment on time the following morning. This being January, it was miserably cold.. but while I was waiting for the final go ahead and receipt of the actual passport, I got to explore downtown Detroit. Despite the cold, it was so freaking cool. The old back alley jazz clubs, the antiquated skyscraper architecture and the skyline… it transported me to another time. My adventure unexpectedly started early. And I literally made it to the Cincinnati airport with enough time to get through TSA, meet up with everyone, grab a cheap cup of coffee and board the plane to paradise. All foreshadowing of what would be the experience of a lifetime, the beginning of a new chapter, and a lay of the land of a place that has become one of my absolute favorite destinations. Though my entire lifetime has inspired this brand in one way or another, THAT trip planted the seed of where we are and were we want to be.
Miami,FL is the captivating city we chose for our first rollout. A place Colin and I hold close to our hearts and the obvious choice to initiate this crazy yet fulfilling journey. We're from small towns but, there's nothing small about where we plan on taking Hostel. We have a big dream, However it's an even bigger world. Come along with us as we explore the possibilities!
-Isabella
