Traveling Life Led Her to Hostel Job

Sara L. Gaffney prepared herself nicely for her role as manager of the San Clemente Youth Hostel, where domestic and foreign travelers can find low-cost housing.

First, the 27-year-old Nebraska-born woman educated herself at Bach Luther College in Iowa and Mankato State University in Minnesota, earning both bachelor’s and master’s degrees. During that time, she also spent a year at the University of Nottingham in England on an exchange program with Luther College.

“That was the first time I had spent that much time away from my home and family,” said Gaffney, one of three siblings. “It helped build my confidence. Traveling was a neat adventure.”

During the trips, she stayed in youth hostels that dot the continent.

She later held an internship at the Washington American Youth Hostels office, which oversees 220 youth hostels in the United States. Her job in San Clemente was the result of a friendship made at the Washington office.

“A friend told me of the opening and I applied, and here I am,” said Gaffney, who said she plans to stay at least another year at the Orange County hostel.

With those years of education, traveling and meeting people, Gaffney believes that some day she will put all that experience to work in her own bed-and-breakfast inn. But not a regular type of inn and certainly not in California.

“If I did get a bed-and-breakfast inn, I would call it alternative lodging,” said Gaffney, who was raised on a farm and ranch and would just as soon return to that type of environment to set up a business.

After living in some big cities, including New York City, Gaffney developed a distaste for noise and pollution.

“I prefer fresh, country air” she said. “I’m Midwest born and raised. There is an emptiness here, and the people have different values than mine. It doesn’t have what I need.”

Her bed-and-breakfast business would need open space since her inn would feature such activities as backpacking and hikes into the mountains, something a city setting couldn’t provide.

In the meantime, Gaffney is learning more about people from the diverse foreign and American clientele that seeks out hostels, partly because of the $9-a-night lodging fee.

“This job is building my confidence because I can show I can run a facility like this and do something with it,” she said. “In my other jobs, I always had a boss; and in this one, I’m the boss.”

As the boss, she also has to deal with people who are not travelers and sometimes not welcome.

“We get the homeless and other people looking for a cheap place to live,” said Gaffney, who notes that there is a seven-day stay limit. “It’s hard to turn people away, but this is not what we are all about.”

She is also trying to change the image of the hostel. “Some people think of us as being kind of a flophouse in the community. In the past, young people stayed too long,” she said.

Besides providing lodging for travelers, the hostel also promotes an Elderhostel program for seniors that includes classes in colleges and homes as well as a program for schoolchildren on weekends. Those programs are held during the hostel’s slow time from January through April.

“Besides enriching their lives, it helps both the young and old benefit from each other,” she said.