T Minus 13 and counting -- Housing

T minus 13 -- Housing

“Home is where I lay my head”  Metallica, 2009

“Home is where the heart is” American idiom

“Home is wherever I’m with you” Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, 2009

The search for the elusive ‘home’ is never easy in song and even harder than when you are traveling.  Beds are not the same,  pillows are definitely not the same and the sounds are strange.  Nonetheless, the search for the comforts of home while away from home,  continues.

In planning for our  great adventure, we discovered a variety of options for housing while traveling.  Some we knew from first-hand experience and others from hearsay.  Some of the options we considered, some more briefly than others.

Camping – Showed its face but did not make it in the door.  Youthful exuberance permitted this to even make our list;  Experience and age removed it almost as quickly.

Hostels – An interesting choice that has some really exciting features along with some that are not so much.  Staying in a hostel involves the chance meeting of some interesting people but also sharing space.  The majority are like dormitories where you get a bed but share baths and common areas. Many are locked up during the day and may or may not have secure storage for luggage.  Of the several we examined online, many had age limits; you needed to be under 35. We do not qualify.  Shared bath...Really? Those were out also, as were those with bunk beds.  

Hotels – Since we have considerable experience with hotels, we recognize that they are not all equal and so we began to read the reviews.  Brand name hotels as well as boutique establishments were considered.  There is an old adage that if a person is dissatisfied they will tell 20 others while a satisfied customer will tell no one.  Hotel reviews by previous guests are like that and with the availability of on line communications, it may be more like 200 to 0.  I use zero for the good reviews because some negative reviews read as if they were written by Edward Hyde,  of Jekyll and Hyde fame,  while good ones appeared to be written by hotel staff and managers. 

Apartments - Short term furnished apartments are readily available in a wide range of prices. The cost seems dependent upon size, their modernity and their location and proximity to transportation; newer, larger and closer in to major cities, the higher the price.  An apartment offers a kitchen, often very small, in which breakfasts and those often needed late night snacks can be prepared.  Generally, apartments are for longer term, over 5 days, stays.  One cautionary note from a travel information site was to be sure that linens and towels were included.  We were well advised as several units did not include these as a part of the initial booking.  Generally, these could be obtained at extra cost.

A major assist to us in locating suitable apartments was found in at www.Housetrip.com.  This website has a wide variety of apartment listings for several cities.  The site includes photographs of both interior and exterior for the units. City maps are provided to give an idea of proximity to attractions and transportation.   From our experience, the operators are responsive to questions and act as a renter-focused intermediary with the apartment owner.   Following our booking a reservation, we received emails from apartment owners welcoming us and providing directions, physical addresses and best transportation methods to use, and telephone numbers for later contact.

As we planned our trip details, we opted for a combination of some hotels and some apartments.  For our longer term stays in Paris and Rome, we found one bedroom apartments close enough to city centers and transportation which were affordable.  For our shorter stays, 1-2-3 days,  in other locations we elected to use affordable hotels that appeared to have some standards of quality.

Air transportation and housing, check, check.  We are quickly moving toward  final plan details.