(Greetings from the authors: We are almost at the end of our three-week driving tour of the south island of New Zealand, probably the most beautiful country that we have visited. We decided to share with you some of the awesome sights we have been seeing on this trip, though the pictures do little justice to the reality.)
Choosing the Accommodation
Ah!
This is an important—and tough—job, at which Jan has become an expert.
There are so many issues! Size, amenities, Wi-Fi, surroundings... Any missing item can spoil your holiday.
After the ‘hub’ is firmed up, the specific place has to be found. Ideally, it will have:
- A decent-sized bedroom, with reasonable closet space and some room to move around
- A proper-sized, fully equipped bathroom
- A sitting area with space for setting up our laptops
- A kitchen, or a ‘k-ette’, with a microwave, cooking hob, usual appliances and a table to eat from
- A smart TV (needed for Netflix)
- Strong WiFi (a 'must' for us)
- Parking
- Nice views, if possible
Sometimes, we land up with two bedrooms or a studio apartment with everything in one open area. It doesn’t really matter, as long as the various components are all there. It is important to ensure that they are there, else you’ll suffer for multiple days.
Yes, there are photographs of every accommodation, often as many as two dozen, on the Airbnb website, and they do show you what to expect, though photographs can be deceptive. The photos do help a lot because, if you go through them carefully, you can identify what is or isn’t there.
And there is always the unexpected.
In a rural Airbnb in Sweden, we were horrified to find giant spiders appearing in the evening. They were the size of quarter plates! There were many in the bedroom, including a few crawling upside-down on the ceiling just above the bed.
The hostess told us that the spiders were harmless, and that she had tried everything to keep them out, but nothing had worked.
Harmless, perhaps, but we didn’t want to stay and check it out. As you can expect, we somehow survived the night and left early the next morning, foregoing two days of pre-paid rent.
But sometimes you get a very pleasant surprise, like a whole stack of complimentary food, wine and other goodies.
The Airbnb Host
We have found the greatest possible variety of hosts (i.e., landlords) at the Airbnb places where we have stayed.
Some hosts are completely absent. You get a passcode for the front door, a list of dos-&-don’ts and an emergency number—that’s it.
A host might also be very much present, living next door, or even in another part of the same house. (S)he could meet you, show you around the house, offer helpful tips (good grocery store, or a 'must' see spot), and act like a real host.
Some hosts can be extra nice!
After a lovely time at the pod in Poolewe, Scotland, we set off for Portree, Isle of Skye, 170km away. We were fairly close to Skye when the hostess of the pod called us to say that we had left a backpack behind.
It contained some important stuff, and we had to retrieve it. But it would take us three hours to get to the pod, and nearly four hours to get back, because the roads are winding and narrow, and speeds have to be low.
Our hearts sank, but we started back.
Then she called again to say that she would meet us halfway, which saved us three hours of driving, but she had to drive for three hours to get to the meeting point and back to her home.
A great AirbnbB, and a super hostess!
In New England, USA, we stayed at a lovely place on the bank of a river. One evening, our hosts took us for a long boat ride on the river in their big motor boat—a beautiful journey in the long twilight of an autumn evening.
Generally speaking, the host will check you out a little bit. As you might expect, Airbnb has a system for the host to review and rate the guest, and your host would certainly have looked up what other hosts have said about you in the past. If the host likes you, (s)he might venture to chat for a while, or offer you a cup of tea.
But, normally, the host will just leave you alone.
Laundry
As with everything else, this calls for a bit of common sense, and some compromise. You can’t carry too many clothes, nor can you manage with too few.
We have zeroed in on about seven days’ worth of clothes, with a bit extra in the small clothes side (underwear, socks, etc.).
Many Airbnbs provide a washer and dryer. Jan tries to arrange to stay in one of those around day six or seven, so that we can wash all our clothes at one go with minimal effort, and become fully stocked again.
At a pinch, there is always a local laundromat—usually on the main street.
Food
This is the BIG one, which often causes a dilemma for people.
Not for us, fortunately!
Let me start with what we don’t eat—greasy food at Indian restaurants. Heck, we get enough of that back home!
We eat what the locals eat, such as bangers and mash at a pub. Mostly, however, we cook in our apartment, using stuff we don’t easily get at home, such as fresh salmon.
Our normal meals are: a big breakfast cooked at home (eggs, sausages and other yummy stuff), a mini-lunch—usually a soup—at a café, and a big home-cooked dinner fairly early in the evening.
Mind, our dinners are never elaborate—one main dish, buttressed by fresh salads, coleslaw, etc. from the supermarket
Then, our favourite programmes on Netflix!
Things can be a little problematic if you are a vegetarian because restaurants or take-outs won’t suit you. You can subsist on cheese, fruits, salads, etc; but the best option is to cook. Just pop into any grocery store, and you will get plenty of fresh vegetables. Not much by way of spices, though, unless you find an Indian store.
Here again, having a car makes things so much easier. Non-perishables, like cheese and jam, can be bought at the start of the trip, used as we go along, and carried around in the car.
We make one big trip to a supermarket when we arrive at each ‘hub’, stock up on perishables and load them in the fridge, and we are good for the next several days until we move again.
(To be continued….)
(
Jan and Amitabha Banerjee are retired bankers living in Kolkata. They travel the world in their golden years and write about their journeys in their personal travel blog.)
