On The Road, hostel that led the cultural movement in its local area

It was the middle of the night, and Alberto was lying, stretched out on his bed. He couldn’t sleep. It was one of these nights in a row when he just laid down, staring helplessly at the ceiling, with one thought, or rather a question crossing his head. 

When will he be able to hit the road again?

And if you think this is one of these classic tales when you quit your 9-5 job and travel around the world – You don’t know Alberto’s version. Follow along.

Alberto was an engineer, working in Brazil from 6 AM till 8 PM every day. 

The thing is, you see, in his 20s, he traveled a lot. He used to live in Dublin, Zurich, USA, and Barcelona. Hitchhiked to Poland for a rock festival with a Polish friend. He knew there’s more to life than work all day, closed in an office. 

Not that he didn’t like his work. He did. But truthfully, he couldn’t stand the lifestyle related to it. Working at least eight hours a day, going home, sleeping, and repeating it all over again.

“At a certain point, I was like, really, what is this? That’s how my life will be? Every day waking up at 6:00 AM, getting home at 8:00 PM. I could only think about how I would make my next trip? Will I be able to ride my motorcycle down to Patagonia, which I’ve been planning for years? I was like, really, my life is over now. I can’t keep doing this.”

So he did something else instead.

He opened a hostel. And spoiler alert: Alberto had no idea what he was getting into.

 

Place where you feel like a traveler without changing places

 

Alberto (with the hostel sign) and the “Choque de Cultura” group (source: Facebook)

 

Hostel On The Road opened its doors for guests in 2016 in Alberto’s hometown, Florianópolis, on the Santa Catarina Island in Brazil.

He rented a building in front of the beach, in a touristy city, where he was born. 

“At the beginning, it was an astronaut idea. For a long time, it was something far away like, whoa, it should be nice to have a hostel,” – says Alberto.

Working in a hostel or having one is one of a few situations when you feel like a traveler yourself, without changing places. As Alberto puts it, “places go around you with people who are around you. It’s somehow a way of traveling or living this traveler’s life.”

Today with his partner, they have two hostels in two localizations: the first in Playa Campeche and the second in Lagos nearby.

 

Jack Kerouac, Beat Movement, and hostels

 

Meet Alberto – creator of On The Road hostel

 

On the Road was inspired by Jack Kerouac’s book with the same title. While Alberto knew he wanted a hostel connected with books, he first thought about Brazilian literature. However, when he stumbled upon “On the Road,” he knew this was what he was searching for. 

The book itself is about a trip, so it fits like a glove to a hostel. However, there’s more to it than a story of a journey. You see, this book is just a piece of something bigger: the Beat Movement, also known as the Beat Generation.

The Beat Generation was an American social and literacy movement, started in the 50s. It’s deeply related to bohemian artists’ communities, who were expressing their alienation from what’s conventional in society.

“These people were rebels for the times they were living in. They were teachers in the university and writers. After the war, there was this idea of the American dream: get a family, get this beautiful furniture for your house. And they were like, no, that’s not us. We want to travel, do what we want, experience new things, be gay, lesbians, meet new people. 

They opened space for young people, and they were the seed of the hippie movement. Before there were no clothes or music for young people. It was the start of R’n’B, jazz, and then rock and roll. Something really tailored to young people. They are a seed of every young movement, even the punk in the 90s. Kurt Cobain was working together with William Burroughs – one of the guys from the Beat movement. 

In the end, they were the first to say that our lives don’t need to be the way they are saying. I just want to do something different. Is that wrong? – they were asking,” – explains Alberto.

 

 

On The Road team with Liniker e os Caramelows band (source: Facebook)

 

 Sleep in the themed rooms

 

But On The Road is so much more than literature inspiration. You will not find TV here, but a hostel filled with books and vinyl. Plus, each room represents a different writer from a Beat movement. 

So you have Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Diane di Prima, Neal Cassady, and Gregory Corso rooms.

Plus, you will see photos from the Beat movement times across the whole hostel.

“Some people don’t notice, and some people really like it. I like when they ask if it’s because of the book or why “On the road”? I tell them the story and everything. And they’re like, whoa, really? I like it. 

If you check our Instagram, you can see that sometimes people say, oh, I got to know about the book and your whole story. 

I also like when someone arrives and says that when they found on Booking.com “On the road,” and saw a room called Jack Kerouac, they wanted to go to this place” – says Alberto.

The hostel that pioneered the cultural movement in the local area

 

Once you enter On The Road, you will notice shelves filled with thousands of vinyl, which you can listen to. Hostel overflows with music. No wonder – Alberto is a musician too. 

They organized jazz nights and invited local bands for small concerts right from the start. In fact, it was the first place in town where you could come, have a drink and listen to live music. Fantastic opportunity to mix locals and travelers!

As Alberto likes to say, he started a cultural movement with his hostel in this area: 

“When we started here, this neighborhood was growing. It’s the place that is growing the fastest on the island. It changed a lot in the last five years – something I had never seen in my life before. When we started, there were no bars around or clubs – nothing. Our parties would just be incredible and huge, like 150 people. And it was so nice. It kind of started a cultural movement in the area. We would always call an artist to show paintings or drawings or tattoos and have the band at the same time.”

While 2020’s pandemic stopped a bit that dynamic, he hopes soon they will be able to come back on track. 

 

 

Take a sip of your favorite drink, find your vinyl and listen to music (source: Facebook) 

Come as a stranger and leave as a friend

 

If you ever visit On The Road, you can expect a comfy bed for a good night’s sleep, a nice shower, and a cozy ambiance. There’s a kitchen, music, pool tables, a swimming pool, and friendly people to talk to. 

Alberto explains that “it’s common that people here get to be friends, and they keep in touch. This is one of the nicest things about hostels. I see people talking on Instagram, commenting on the photos, saying: Hey, I’m coming back next year. Let’s meet there again.”

 

He didn’t expect it, but…

 

While one might think he knew what he was doing when he decided to open a hostel, the truth is Alberto didn’t have hostel experience beforehand. 

He worked in coffee shops, restaurants, and theaters but not in a hostel. So as you can imagine, he had no idea what to expect. 

In fact, he had quit his engineering job, thinking he would travel more and get more holidays with a hostel. 

Well, that didn’t go as planned.

“Since the opening, I haven’t taken vacations, and I work much more than I used to work when I was an engineer. So the reality is I work much more. But it’s a different kind of work. 

Now I’m looking through my windows and seeing the sea. Sometimes drinking a beer with a guest is part of work, and I can go to the beach and be there for half an hour every day if I want.”

 

 Live music is an important part of the On The Road lifestyle (source: Facebook)

 

The biggest lesson ever

 

Learning how to delegate tasks and manage his staff is one of the biggest lessons he is still catching up with.

“I think it’s not that you can do things better yourself, but having control over everything. When you delegate it to someone, it’s not under your control anymore. I’m starting to understand better how to work with people like a boss. Your staff always expect you to have a decision. When I was in the reception, I did the same work. If something breaks, they look at me and say, what do we do now? I don’t know.”

“This is the hard thing – taking decisions and managing people. Like, keep your people happy, but don’t be artificial. So I try to be myself. When you take some things personally, don’t take them too personally. 

It’s tough. This involves understanding that people don’t think the same, so they will have decisions different from yours. You have to accept it, understand it. 

You’re asking them to make decisions, and I have to support them in every decision. This is kind of like not having all the control to yourself anymore. And I think this is the most difficult. That’s probably why I didn’t start it before, but now I have to because I want to be out for a couple of months next year.”

That’s right, Alberto finally plans to take a holiday next year. That’s why he hired a manager, now in training, to ensure his well-deserved break goes uninterrupted (though those working in hospitality know-how rarely “uninterrupted” happens).

 

Yes – this hostel has even its own liquor (source: Facebook)

 

“I think that traveling is about meeting people, not just places, but people.”

 

“Nice thing about traveling on your own is getting to know people, sharing anything, or meeting someone that is going to say something to you that could change your life. I think that’s one nice thing about the hostel. It’s a place where you exchange ideas.”

Hostels in Brazil are a few places where you can see people from different walks of life being together. You see, society in Brazil is very divided, and there are huge differences between each in terms of economics and the standard of living. But surprisingly, in hostels, these differences disappear.

“It’s a democratic place. I’ve seen it: a physics doctor here talking with a local guy who is my age, and he was taking care of a building his whole life. This kind of meeting doesn’t happen in Brazil because we have a divided society. The difference in salaries is so big that I don’t see my gardener in the restaurant. 

Well, I do, because I live around here with the same people. 

But for example, my dad doesn’t see his gardener in a restaurant, in a supermarket, in the shopping center, in the streets ever, because they go to different restaurants, different supermarkets. 

The guy gets the bus, and my dad doesn’t. So it’s all separated. And these meetings happen at hostels.”

 

Hostel is more than a bed – it’s one of a kind experience

 

Alberto’s and On The Road story shows that you don’t need to have everything figured out when you want to open a hostel.