AIRBNB SHARES
The view from my Airbnb in Venice
I utilised Airbnb for the first time on this trip. For those that don't know it, it's basically a more evolved version of couch-surfing, leasing out shared rooms, private rooms and even whole apartments and houses.
On my part, private rooms seemed a great way to sleep on the cheap and meet some new people who were locals and knew the area well. It worked really well for basically the whole three weeks, where I stayed in private rooms in Paris, Berlin, Vienna (with two separate apartments), Venice and Rome.
PLUS - I averaged AU$40, including $250 for 3 nights in Venice. So I'd say that's a win regardless. Three of six had breakfast included, so I could stretch my single bag of muesli for 3 whole weeks! The locals I stayed with knew what to see and what not to see.
MINUS - I had a few panics when I couldn't (a) get into or lock the apartment in Paris, (b) find the apartment in Venice, (c) unlock the apartment door in Rome at 11:30 at night. Fortunately they were all circumvented by either myself or someone else before I reached panic attack stage.
ENTIRE AIRBNB APARTMENTS
The experience of a Swiss ski chalet
Our (mostly) weapon of choice when the two or three of us were together. We stayed in places all over the place, from the coast of Italy to the middle of nowhere in France. We averaged about $45-50 per person per night, be it only dad and I or all three of us.
PLUS - We got to use the facilities of entire apartments, and cook our own meals - we didn't have to eat out every night. We came across some fantastically furnished apartments. THE SWISS ALPS! My gosh that chalet was incredible. If we ever go to Switzerland again, we will likely be back. $30 per person per night, in a place like that, is an experience in itself.
MINUS - There were again some hair-raising moments when we couldn't get into apartments or lobbies. Some were a bit on the expensive side for my taste too, but they were certainly cheaper than anything we could find in terms of hotels.
HOTELS
We mostly used hotels when mum was with us, and sparingly during my time with dad - Airbnb apartments were often very cheap for two single beds. Usually the hotels we used were on overnight stops from A to B, where mum wanted to use hotels more frequently.
PLUS - Management is usually there, so there are no dramas trying to get into places. Most of the places we stayed at were flexible with check-in and check-out times, so we could sit in the lobby after if we needed more internet access, or if it was only a short day we could check in early.
MINUS - It was very much a chore coming up with meal ideas that didn't require any cooking - the quality of our meals definitely went downhill, with the notable exception of Strasbourg, where we had an Appart-Hotel, which had full cooking facilities. Quite expensive for three people too - the Hilton in Croydon, near London, was a major disappointment for the price we paid. Often internet was also either not included, outrageously expensive, or very, VERY slow.
THE UPSHOT?
Next time (if I actually want to travel with the folks again) I think we will continue to use AirBNB. At the end of the day the convenience of being able to cook your own meals was really useful for us. When I was on my own, I loved being able to talk to the locals and get their opinion of places to see.
I used Trivago to compare hotel prices, and it proved useful more than once, where we were able to get a price $10-$15 cheaper than on Booking.com for instance.
I've learned that I'm prepared to pay about $15-$20 more per night to stay in an apartment in the city centre. Paris was OK because I was still fresh, but I really didn't like having to commute into the city from an hour away. It saps the motivation.
Join me for my next "that's a wrap"!
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