Where I stay during my travels had expanded and evolved over the years. I stay with friends when visiting or when going with them when they go home to their hometown, then hotels, pensions, B&B’s, and rental houses and apartments. My choices depend on where I’m going, whether I’m renting a car or taking public transportation, traveling with friends or family, and of course, the budget. I also came to some conclusions along the way.
In Ireland, it has to be B&B’s outside of Dublin. Parking almost always is provided and to make the most of Ireland, you have to drive. Going to the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, California, it’s best to rent an apartment or a house since hotel room rates goes through the roof during the tournament. A Motel 6 room will cost very close to $200/night when booked way in advance and goes over $200/night the closer it gets to the dates of the tournament. That is, if you’re lucky enough to find a room.
In other countries, much of my choices depend on the number of people traveling and whether we’re renting a car or not. It’s way more economical to rent an apartment when there are 3 travelers or more. Since I also only pack clothes in a carry-on size suitcase, having access to a washing machine in one of the rentals is definitely a plus.
While I use expedia, booking.com, and similar sites to search for hotels and sometimes B&B’s, I always make my reservations directly on the hotel’s website when available, For apartments/houses, I favor HomeAway rather than Airbnb although it seems to be becoming more common for owners to list their property on both sites.
Our rented cabin in Yosemite one summer. It was the first and only time I’ve seen a pot belly stove.
Our apartment in Nice was huge and air-conditioned. It was a 2-bedroom, 2.5 bathroom place. There was also lots of space in the living room, dining room, and kitchen area.
Chateau de Vedene is a B&B in Avignon. The walls of the tower is almost a foot thick. I don’t think anyone would have heard us had we screamed blue murder. The view was gorgeous though. And, while the bathroom was really cute, we ended up splashing water all over the place.
Our bed and breakfast in Kilkenny was a farmhouse. Very quiet and peaceful.
My favorite breakfast was in our Kerry B&B. We were late checking in which turned out to be a good thing. Instead of a triple room, we ended up with 2-bedroom suite.
Travels, musings, and such......... 