When we travel – especially in Europe – we tend to stay for 2-5 weeks. Even when both of us were still working, we found that it worked great to mix vacation days with part-time work. If you’re employer is flexible – and you can show you are still able to get the work done – it’s a win/win.
Once we’ve selected a destination, I get to work on locating a rental. If our stay is less than 10 days, we go with a hotel. If we’re over 10 days, our online platform of choice is usually Airbnb.com because it is the easiest for me to navigate and compare. Below are some of the things I’ve learned along the way to find a clean and comfortable rental that will have all of the things we want/need.
- If you can, select the +/- days for your stay. This shows you how adjusting your trip even by a day or two might make it less expensive or open up a rental that may have otherwise been unavailable.
- Next, select the filters that work for you.
- I always choose “entire home”. We aren’t good sharers.
- For amenities, I select a kitchen, air conditioning (unless we’re traveling outside of the summer months), Wifi, washer and dryer. If we’re traveling in summer, I might also select pool. If you have a rental car, you might want to consider free parking. A kitchen and washer/dryer are game changers for longer stays. You don’t have to eat out for every meal and you can travel lighter because you can do laundry anytime you like.
- To hedge our bets on quality, we typically select “guest favorite”. We might miss out on a newer rental, but I’d rather count on something tried and true. I want lots and lots of excellent reviews.
- After I’ve selected all of our filters, I then choose Show map to zero in on a desirable area. When you are traveling to large cities (e.g., London, Paris, Amsterdam), this is extremely important. Do your homework and pick an area of the city that works for you. For example, when we’re in London, we like to stay in Chelsea near Kings Road. In Paris, I like the third and sixth arrondissements, but as long as you are in a lower numbered arrondissement near the Seine, you’re good. In Amsterdam, I try to stay near the Herengracht canal.
- Look at the pictures very closely to ensure a quality rental. It’s a good sign when there are lots of pictures from several different angles. A floor plan is even better. If there isn’t a floor plan, try to ‘piece together’ the pictures to get a better idea of the layout. One time, on a trip to Paris, I was desperate and didn’t take the time to do this. While we made a joke out of it, it was a bit of a shock to realize the entire kitchen was the size of a small shower and it was attached to the bathroom. I could have taken one step and still have been able to cook dinner, wash our clothes and take a shower. Not ideal, but we survived. Just a lesson learned.
- Play with your length of stay, if you have that level of flexibility. We are fortunate that we don’t have limits on how long we can travel, so when I find a few rentals that I really like, I see what type of discounts they offer for longer stays. We often receive 50% off when we book for 30 days. Some places even offer discounts for week long stays.
- Don’t be afraid to send the owner a message before booking. Ask pertinent questions (e.g., what is and isn’t available, do they have strong Wifi, where is the parking located, what is the nearest train station or grocery store). Sanibel Island in Florida is still recovering from back-to-back hurricanes Ian and Milton. Before booking our stay, I asked the owner if the pool was ready. She replied very quickly (which is also a good sign) and let us know that the pool was not yet ready, but she would give us an additional discount and offered tips for pool options nearby.
Bonus tip: If possible, get to know the owners of the rental – especially if you hope to return. We’ve made friends with rental owners in the US and abroad, and once they know you are good people who will take care of their rental, they may offer you future deals. We’ve returned to our beloved Bruges so often, that we now just text the owner and ask him if he needs any gaps filled. He offers us a great deal and we feel like (and hope) we are helping his business too. This also avoids the Airbnb.com fee.
What to do if your stay doesn’t match your flights – Once we’ve found and booked a rental, my husband gets to work on our flights. Again, flexibility is key. It is often a big money saver to fly to your destination a day (or two or three – seriously, I’m always trying to extend our trips) earlier and/or leave later and bookend your longer-term rental with a one-night stay at the front and/or back end at a hotel nearby the airport. We do this almost every time we fly in and out of Amsterdam. We love the convenience of the Citizen M located just outside Schiphol. You can easily walk the short distance to and from the airport and it’s a very reasonable, yet nice hotel. Alternatively, we collect Marriott and Hilton points, so sometimes we are able to book a free night or two.
If you find you have several extra days, and have the flexibility, book a side trip. We’re traveling to Belgium in May and have three extra nights at the end of our stay, so we did a little research and booked a hotel in Utrecht, Netherlands, to explore a destination we’ve never visited. It’s just a short train ride from Schiphol, and the deal we got on the plane tickets made it affordable.
Please don’t put off traveling and always stay as long as you can. Spending just one or two nights somewhere is like scratching the surface, and if you’re moving from city to city every few days, it’s exhausting. Because we’re able to book longer stays, we learn so much more about the area we are visiting and we also tend to meet more locals who actually remember us when we return. I hope that’s a good thing.
Best,
Lisa