Oh yeah… 10 years of “Hostel Taormina Homstel”
What can I say, 10 years … so many feelings overlap in this moment of writing, so many thoughts, so many memories, some disappointments, but above all so much hope.
I think of the first moments when I thought about opening a hostel in Taormina. “Taormina! are you crazy? A hostel can never function in a place like Taormina” -they told me-…
And I, who in life have always made friends with adversity, fed myself from the NO’s.
Dreaming and then realizing gave and still gives me strength.
In these 10 years “I have given the opportunity” to thousands of people, young and old, to fall in love with our “Pearl”, to savor the tastes of our land, but also, to create an “extra”, alternative movement circle, which there would never be. And please allow me these few lines to “Honor” my work, which is not just this, but sweat, illness (luckily overcame), commitment, dedication, love, and passion.
Not just mine, of course, because I would never have succeeded alone in all this.
So, thank you, everyone, for a little or for a long time have contributed to reaching this goal. Whoever reads it will know well that was part of it and I give my gratitude to you.
Remember, some say 10 years could be few, but believe me: lived like this, with this intensity, are really a lot.
Everything has passed, acquaintances, true and lasting friendships, family, stories, and loves, mine and of many others who by fate have been found or lost.
For this reason, I thank all the guests with emotion, and I stress the word guests because they’ve never been customers, to be welcome to our “family”, in our first “Homstel” in the world!
As in all stories, there is the sad and disappointing moment, in this case, it was not caused by our lack or wrong ways, but by something much greater that has upset the whole humanity, from the point of view of health, but also economic. And I too was forced to embark on a ship full of economic uncertainties, with considerable difficulties, still struggling to overcome, to try not to sink this ship that for 10 years made me travel with love and passion …
Precisely for this reason, the last item listed was hope, the one I have and that I do not want to lose so that this ship can and will be able to navigate in calmer waters and bluer skies.
Thanks
Francesco
