Maximum travel value, minimum hassles…and a worldwide quest for great beer.
Category: AirBnB Reviews
I’ve rented short-term apartments for 17 years, but in recent years, I’m starting to feel like the AirBnB Queen! 10 countries, 3 continents and counting.
Gorgeous Bávaro Beach, Dominican Republic, in front of our condo home-for-a-month
We spent 2020 and then some sheltering in place with my high-risk parents. It was a beautiful place to stay and a privilege to be useful until we could all be vaccinated. But, after a year+ of being in one place with a lot of togetherness (plus doing all the shopping and 98% of the cooking), we were getting restless and everyone needed some space. First up were a number of visits to family and friends, then it was time to find somewhere new to light for a while. A search of places we could just live for a month (May 2021) with minimal hassles and no quarantine led me to the Dominican Republic. I’d only been once before to Samaná and that was ages ago. I found a beautiful 2-bedroom/2-bath condo at a great price on Bávaro Beach near Punta Cana. We were a go!read more
Dove Lake boatshed in Cradle Mountain National Park, Tasmania
I’ve been offline for some months, enjoying down-time with family and friends between travels. We wandered so much in 2019 (7.5+ months in total, including 12 countries and a couple of extended U.S. roadtrips) that I got behind on blogging. Also, I wasn’t sure I had much to add to the sea of info out there, and if I don’t think I can add something meaningful, I don’t feel compelled to blog just for the sake of it. That said, I do feel remiss about not sharing the awesome Tasmanian itinerary laid out for us by native-Tassie friends, Gail and Lyndon.read more
Viewed from Vitosha pedestrian street: A streetcar passes in front of the Sofia Courthouse. Sofia has one of the longest tram systems in Europe, some of the cars dating back 50 years.
I added Sofia, Bulgaria, on whim to the 8-night side trip I’d planned for us before our latest house- and cat-sit in Antwerp, Belgium. It was really a matter of “as long as we’re in the area (Bucharest, Romania), why not?” I didn’t know much about either Sofia or Bulgaria before then. Pre-travel research confirmed my general impression of a less-than-wealthy Eastern European capital, still recovering from Communism and still relatively new to the EU. As of the latest census I could find, Sofia has a population of 1.2 million people as compared to Bucharest’s 1.8 million. Bulgaria is both the poorest country in the EU and the fastest shrinking population in the world.read more
Bucharest viewed from Closer to the Moon rooftop bar
I admit I had low expectations of Bucharest. I’ve been to many former Soviet bloc countries and there are certain less-than-positive aspects to them all: the ugly over-sized Brutalist architecture (so often built on the site of historic buildings that would be a treasure now), abundant graffiti (which my dad plausibly chalks up to unleashed freedom of expression), and infrastructure and common areas suffering from the financial costs of Communism. Bucharest definitely has those aspects, but it still boasts a wealth of gorgeous French-style architecture, a picturesque old town, and lots of restaurants, cafés and bars (beyond the “drink till you puke” bars and strip clubs that some Eastern European cities use to entice westerners looking for cheap thrills). Despite some streets still holding onto that grubby party vibe and derelict buildings scattered amongst the pristinely restored, Bucharest has the feel of a city moving up and offers many charming streets, elegant boulevards, and cosmopolitan shopping and dining options at great prices.read more
I wrote this live-time in Vilnius, but wanting to focus on our current travels and a shortage of Internet time have me posting later:
We launched our Baltic adventure with a Belgium Airlines flight from Brussels to Vilnius. We cruised through the classic train-station-like Vilnius Airport, picked up our Addcar rental (far and away the best rent car deal I found in the Baltics) and–with only a short walk with luggage in the rain to our car–we were off. Things got a little snarled after that when none of my email servers would let me send or receive the emails I needed to make contact with our AirBnB hostess’ mother. We parked behind the pharmacy she’d used as a landmark in a typical Eastern European graffiti-covered alley/parking area while I messaged our hostess, Ruta, who was vacationing in Paris to let her know I couldn’t reach her mother. Meanwhile, David wandered around asking random strangers until he actually found a co-worker of Ruta’s mom and we finally got things moving. (If only Ruta had said her mother worked in the pharmacy, there’d have been no problem at all!) In minutes, we were settled into our lovely apartment. From that moment on, things flowed smoothly. We love Vilnius!
Maneuvering into parallel parking. Typical back side of an Eastern European apartment: crowded, graffiti-covered and a touch run-down. But it’s an awesome perk to have free parking in the heart of old town! (Graffiti tends to make Americans think “crime,” but I’ve not found that to be the case in former Soviet bloc countries and think of it more as pent-up freedom of speech coming out. I always felt perfectly safe in Vilnius.)Our lovely AirBnB apartment in Vilnius
Our apartment is just off Gedimino prospekt, a wide, elegant avenue lined with baroque buildings filled with high-end shops, cafes, restaurants and more, it’s the Champs Elysees of Vilnius. A few blocks down, Gedimino ends at the spectacular Vilnius Cathedral.
Vilnius Cathedral
The newly-restored Grand Dukes’ Palace Museum nestles right behind the cathedral. The museum preserves archaeological ruins of the palace under glass walkways at its lowest levels.
The archeological portion of the Grand Dukes’ Palace Museum
Higher floors house collections of armor and artifacts and recreate period state rooms.
Throne room in the Grand Dukes’ Palace Museum
The palace tower offers views of Vilnius and the castle tower and three crosses on the hill above the city.
Old Vilnius stretches its cobblestoned streets north of the cathedral. We loved just wandering the surprisingly large Old Town. Crazily capricious spring weather had us ducking in and out of cafes and churches as sudden rain or snow descended in the midst of a sunny day!
The most grim museum of Vilnius is the Museum of Genocide Victims, more commonly known as “The KGB Museum.” The museum occupies the former KGB headquarters just off Gedimino prospekt.
In addition to exhibits and photographs memorializing victims and resistance, restored cells and an execution chamber offer a glimpse into the terrifying world of a KGB prisoner.
KGB prisoner processing room
Two cells with sloped floors designed to be filled with freezing water and a single stool-sized raised disk in the center. Prisoners in nothing but underwear were forced to stand on the stool or in ankle-deep icy water for up to 5 days. They could not sleep or they would fall into the water.
Cell designed to be filled with freezing water
I found a chilling video in the execution chamber hard to watch as prisoner after prisoner was sentenced then dragged into the room, shot in the head, and their body shoved out an opening in one wall into a waiting truck.
KGB execution chamber
Vilnius has overtaken Budapest as Europe’s most affordable capital and we found prices to be very reasonable everywhere we went. We tried classic Lithuanian food at the schmaltzy but fun Bernelių Užeiga very near our apartment on our first night, enjoying hearty food, beer and a local music duo.
Bernelių Užeiga is a popular place with locals as well as touristsHome-style Lithuanian cooking at Bernelių Užeiga
On other evenings, we ventured out for higher-end fare at Bistro 18 and stylish The Town on Gedimino prospekt.
Dessert at The TownThe Town promotes meats, but we found their fish to be very good as well
David, of course, had to check out a local beer bar and we enjoyed our visit to Alaus Biblioteka a/k/a “the Beer Library.” It’s a unique venue with a good selection of beers from all over the world although we were disappointed to find they did not know much about the Lithuanian “kaimiskas” farm beer that we were particularly interested in trying. They had one beer on tap we were told was a kaimiskas, but we found it to be unremarkable and nothing like the beer we finally got to try a week later when we drove back into northern Lithuania from Latvia.
Alaus Biblioteka, the Beer Library
Alaus Biblioteka uses old library tables and chairs is a cosy place to drink beer, but we found veggie potato chips (cold and like chips straight from a Terra bag back home; fine from a bag, but not restaurant-level) and a shepherd’s pie to be underwhelming.
All in all, we loved Vilnius itself and it offers some really worthwhile and easy daytrips as well. More on those later.
I’d really just planned a peek at Kuala Lumpur en route to Cambodia, but we ended up loving this city and packing in more than I’d dreamed. I can’t start this travelogue without a nod to our spectacular AirBnB apartment. Located in central Kuala Lumpur, near 2 light rail stations and a monorail station, this brand new building is ultramodern, staffed with lots of helpful people, sporting a great view from the floor-to-ceiling windows in the 2-bedroom/2-bath apartment, a spectacular rooftop pool and more. All this for $65, all-in. We loved it!
Our building’s lobbyThe Petronas Towers from our building’s rooftop pool
We found the city to be super-cheap and public transportation easy to navigate. We opted for a street food dinner the first night, and were blown away by our 16 ringgit ($3.84) dinner-for-two. David “splurged” on an additional 24 cent pound cake dessert. Choosing our spot by the size of the crowd and the friendliness of the owner, we pointed to the dishes we wanted, then sat outside at communal tables. It was hot and humid (and we did spot a rat at an adjacent patch of dirt and weeds), but the food was good, very plentiful and we felt like we’d dined like locals.
16 ringgit dinner-for-two
The next morning, we hopped the subway for Central Market, browsing the stalls and pausing for a quick Malaysian lunch in the market, before wandering the market streets of Chinatown and a Chinese Buddhist temple
Chinatown marketBuddhist temple in Chinatown
We realized early on that there’s some sort of glitch in Google Maps when it comes to KL local trains. Google claims that every ride, no matter how short or how few stops will take “55 minutes.” We learned to ignore the travel estimates. For example, the ride from the Central Market stop to KL Sentral station for our 1:15pm appointment to go up the Petronas towers took less than 10 minutes.
City of contrasts: the monorail at twilight
The change from grubby, bustling China Town to the ultra-modern downtown area and the swank Petronas Towers was startling. The difference in pricing was also jarring. It cost 80myr ($19.17) to visit the skybridge and top observation floor, not horrible by home standards, but a fortune in light of the cost of our local meal, transport, the markets, etc. KL is a city of huge contrasts. It was fun to visit the beautiful towers and something not to miss in KL. [If you don’t buy tickets online, you can be stuck in a long line. Although the online website claims you can’t buy tickets online less than 24 hours before, we found that not to be the case. Just create an account and proceed, and you can buy a ticket if there’s an open time slot.]
Skybridge between the Petronas TowersView of the 2nd tower from the observation floor
Discounting Google Map’s grossly exaggerated travel time estimate, we set out for the sleeper hit of Kuala Lumpur: Batu Caves, a 25 minute, 2.60 ringgit ($.64), air-conditioned commuter train ride out of the city. [Note: the trains for Batu Caves only leave every 45 minutes during the middle of the day (every 15 minutes later on, and maybe earlier). Check the schedule before you pass the styles or you’re in for a hot wait by the tracks.] The caves are the site of numerous Hindu shrines and are a unique and exotic locale, offering free admittance. The main two caves lie at the top of a steep flight of stairs over which a huge golden statue of the Hindu god Murugan stands. Unfortunately, restoration is going on, so some of the beauty (and silence) was marred by construction work. It was still fascinating, with ongoing services, open to the public.
This guy made anyone complaining about the stairs look like a weenie!
Loud drums and clanging cymbals in the upper cave signaled the beginning of a ceremony. A curtain was pulled back to reveal monks, tossing flowers and waving oil-fed candelabra. David joined a blessing ceremony, receiving a white mark on his forehead with the blessing (after making a small donation).
Macaques roam the caves and surrounding areas, on the lookout for treats. Tiny babies clung to their mothers as they darted across the floor, snatching food offerings from the shrines and following visitors. They’ll steal, if you don’t keep belongings close. We found them pushy, but not particularly aggressive.
The main cave at the top of the outer flight of stairsLooking up toward the smaller of the two main caves from the larger caveMacaque at Batu Caves with KL in the distance
Batu Caves was a highlight of our stay in Kuala Lumpur. It’s an easy trip and fun to see the contrast with the city. The commuter train lets you off very near the entrance to the sight. Go!
View of Seoul Station and beyond from our well-located, but unauthorized AirBnB apartment
We had our first unpleasant AirBnB experience in Seoul and it had very little to do with the apartment itself. Two days before we were to arrive in Seoul (and just as we were about to begin our much-anticipated, Internet-free stay at Beomeosa Monastery, ie., with no time to make other plans), I received an email from the owner of the apartment we’d booked in Seoul, “Mr. S.” Mr. S wrote to touch base regarding handing off the keys, etc…and to tell me that “if any persons (police man) ask you regarding the you come to here through the airbnb, then pls DON’T SPEAK for airbnb will be appreciated…so you can say that this room is your friend’s room for you.”
Hmm. This was a first. I was, in essence, being asked to lie to foreign police to cover for an unauthorized rental apartment. No way was I comfortable with this and I would not have booked the apartment if I’d known. I really resented being put in this position, especially when I didn’t really have time to look for an alternative.
I researched AirBnB en route to Seoul via the KTX train’s wi-fi and discovered that a 2015 lawsuit had ruled that AirBnB rentals must be registered with the government. I now suspected that Mr. S might have avoided that registration.
When we arrived in Seoul, Mr. S met us as promised in the underground subway walkway which connects Seoul (train) Station to the building where the apartment is located. He handed off the keys, but when I expressed concern about his email regarding police and asked him to accompany us the short distance on to the building, he refused, leaving us to deal with any problems on our own. He apparently thought our odds of getting past “tourist police” better without him, but we had nothing to do with the situation and I thought it was pretty chicken of him to leave us to our own devices. Mr. S told us the riskiest part of this whole venture was when we went through the building with luggage (so he didn’t want any part of that). He dropped by the apartment 10 minutes after we were in to deliver the wi-fi hotspot he’d promised and extra blankets, so it wasn’t as if he had some pressing appointment that prohibited him from walking in with us.
On our 2nd night there, we went to explore the top floor gym and discovered a sign saying that all AirBnB rentals were banned in the building (apparently a building-specific internal rule) and could be subject to being reported to the police. “Great.” Even if Mr. S had registered his apartment with the government, it looked pretty clear that he was in violation of the building’s own rules. The next morning, we saw a similar sign on the front door. Unfortunately, we were past AirBnB’s 24-hour after check-in deadline for reporting problems that might void the whole deal and stop payment to Mr. S. From what I read, I believe it was he who was potentially in violation of laws and/or building rules, not us, but it was very awkward and uncomfortable nonetheless.
In the end, we decided to live with the situation and hope for the best, since we were already moved in and only had 2 nights to go after seeing the posted signs. Happily, we were not confronted by police or building staff. I did report the situation to AirBnB and explain the facts on the ground in my review of the apartment and Mr. S so that others would be advised. (I was surprised that no one else had mentioned the authorization problems in the many positive reviews for this apartment. Either people ignored the situation, or the signs–and Mr. S’s proposed dealing with police–were a new development.) There are other AirBnB hosts offering apartments in this same building, though, so I hope AirBnB takes some initiative here.
I intend to keep using AirBnB as apartments are often better suited to my travel needs than hotels, but I will more closely scrutinize local laws. I’d like to see AirBnB alert its users when there are potential legal problems in a city or country so that users can ask the right questions of owners. AirBnB must be aware of the legal challenges its faces in different cities and countries (as covered in numerous newspaper articles), and I’d appreciate a heads-up for those of us who use the service. A simple alert from AirBnB when I search a potentially-problematic location would be greatly appreciated.
The apartment itself was pretty much as shown in the AirBnB photos. I had some quibbles with supplies, but the location was excellent. (It shares a brand new high-rise building with a Sheraton Hotel, and is connected to covered shopping, subway and the huge, modern Seoul Station.) Had it been an authorized rental, I’d have given it and Mr. S fine marks.
I spent nearly two weeks in Croatia with my sons years ago and the place I’d always regretted missing was Plitvice National Park. As far as I was concerned, Plitvice was #1 on my list for this Croatian vacation with David and now, as our trip neared an end, we were finally going to be there…and it was storming. Not just light rain, but a downpour. Aaargh!
The weather in Zadar had been overcast with occasional drizzle, but cleared to sunny the morning we set out on the drive to Plitvice. It’s an easy 2-hour drive from Zadar to Plitvice and the scenery is beautiful as you head into the mountains and cross over impressive bridges spanning wide inlets of water.
As we climbed higher into seriously rugged mountains, the weather began to deteriorate.
When we exited the truly impressive Sveti Rok tunnel (over 3.5 miles long!), wind buffeted our car to the point I was getting a little nervous despite the excellent, wide highway. Thankfully traffic was light. By the time we neared Plitvice Jezera, the skies had opened up and we pulled into the parking lot of our AirBnB apartment in the driving rain. Our lovely hostess awaited us in raincoat and hood and we left our luggage to dash inside, umbrellas held high.
Despite that inauspicious beginning, the next day dawned bright and clear and all we could have hoped for for our day at Plitvice. I was as excited as a child!
We got an early start, planning to park at the Hotel Bellevue near Entrance 2 to the park and avoid the less-convenient, paid parking designated for the park. As we turned in a guard stopped our car, asking where we were going. I just looked bemused and answered we were going to the Hotel Bellevue, of course, and he waved us in. Instead of turning left into the main hotel parking, we drove to the end of the short street and parked, near the pedestrian path into the park. This put us not far from a ticket office and park bus stop #2 (“ST2” on the map below). Perfect!
Our AirBnB hostess, Jelena, was a font of knowledge and she’d given us a park map and laid out an optimum walk for us. We followed all her suggestions and could not have been happier. Day tickets to the park were 110 kuna apiece (about $17 each). We caught the park bus (included in our tickets) heading toward Entrance 1 and got off at the bus stop #1 (“ST1” on the map below) to walk along the water (on our left) to view the largest waterfall Veliki Slap (literally “Big Waterfall”) on the far bank.
Park map posted near Entrance 2 ticket building/bus stop
The path to the waterfall itself was closed, for which I was just as glad. I was happy with the view from the opposite bank and, once I saw the scattered nature of Veliki Slap and a building at the summit of the waterfall, I was even less interested in going. I’m a waterfall junkie of sorts and have been to the top of lots of waterfalls, but I was fine with missing the top of this one. Maybe it was just me. Anyway, there was so much I wanted to see in the lower lakes and we headed back to continue the route Jelena had recommended.
An early view of Veliki Slap
We hiked down to the water, making our way along the water (now on our right) and past another four wide waterfalls before crossing over to the far bank where Jelena had told us to catch a boat at P3 (also included in our tickets).
View of wide waterfall from above
At water levelCrossing the waterBoat approaching the dockOff the bow of the boat
We got off the boat at P2 (see map above) and began an amazing wander through seemingly-endless waterfalls.
We spent several hours hiking the park. We found it to be a moderate hike, with occasional steep stretches and some dirt paths getting narrow and muddy from the previous day’s rain. Plitvice Lakes National Park is so large that we never felt crowded and while we did see other people (and there was a fair-sized Asian tour group at the boat stop) we also had plenty of space to take in the incredible, tranquil beauty of the park.
We ended our hike at bus stop 3 (“ST3” on the map above) where we caught the bus back to ST2 where we began our day. From there, we walked the short distance back to the national restaurant “Poljana” for lunch. It’s located just by the Hotel Bellevue with lovely views of the park. Unfortunately, we found both the food and service to be inferior to its sister national restaurant, Licka Kuca, near Entrance 1.
You can check out our 2-bedroom/1-bath AirBnB apartment at: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/4699728?sug=50 At $75/night and a 10-minute walk to the park (in good weather), it’s a deal worth considering, especially so if you need two bedrooms.
If you’re new to AirBnB and want to give it a try on this or any other apartment, you can use my referral link which should get both of us $30 in AirBnB travel credit: http://www.airbnb.com/c/tcuthrell Let me know if you have any questions.
The listing for our AirBnB apartment in Zadar billed the place as “Fifi apartment.” The name conjured images of a French poodle or maybe even a can-can dancer; definitely female, in any event. When I emailed and WhatsApp’ed with contact Andrej, however, he let me know, in passing, that Fifi was male. Oh. Andrej said “Fifi” spoke little English, hence Andrej’s role as spokesman, but that Fifi himself would meet us. The apartment included secure on-site parking, a big plus for an apartment inside the old town. Andrej told me that Fifi would be waiting for us by the city gate and lead us to the parking since. Despite the advance info, we were a still a little surprised the first time we saw “Fifi:” a big man of late middle age in a black leather jacket. As promised, he was waiting for us, on foot. When we offered to drive him with us, he declined and proceeded to walk ahead of our car, leading us into the old city, past the open-air market and to the electronic gate to our apartment.
The first glimpse of the parking area was a tad grim: an enclosed courtyard with worn, grafittied walls, scattered trash, weeds, and laundry hanging from various windows. Oh well, I’d seen similar in Russia and elsewhere and the photos of the apartment were pretty, the reviews solid.
Sure enough, we found the apartment to be immaculate and fresh-smelling, a cleaning lady just finishing up as we arrived. The decor was funky-fun with all the amenities as expected.
Funky high-heeled chairs in the bedroom
Fifi gave us a quick recommendation of nearby restaurants in limited English, then showed us the front door to our building, opposite the courtyard. The location was fabulous, an easy walk to all Zadar had to offer, with restaurants, shops and the market square mere steps away. The apartment was quiet and comfortable at night with all the amenities we required: washing machine, full kitchen, a/c, flat screen tv, etc.
At $68/night, all fees and taxes included, we were very happy with this deal.
You can check it out at: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1964470?sug=50
If you’re new to AirBnB and want to give it a try on this or any other apartment, you can use my referral link which should get both of us $30 in AirBnB travel credit: http://www.airbnb.com/c/tcuthrell Let me know if you have any questions.
Our apartment wish list in Split presented some challenges: We needed parking, but we wanted to be near the pedestrian old town. As always, I wanted value for our money (plus wi-fi, a washing machine, charm, a quiet place to sleep, a good host…). We really lucked out on all fronts in Split and ended up with one of our favorite AirBnB apartments to date…with a tiny caveat I’ll get to below.
Our host Vlatko was very responsive from the moment we booked. As promised, he was waiting in the street for us with his little boy when we arrived from Dubrovnik to “hold a parking place for us.” This was the first inkling that the billed guaranteed parking might not be so guaranteed; that caveat I mentioned. The parking turns out to be sort of a first-come–first-served affair at the end of the dead-end street on which the apartment sits. David did his usual awesome job of maneuvering our bigger-than-expected rent car into the snug parking. Vlatko explained that there was “usually” parking and, if we happened to come back and there wasn’t any parking, we could just park in the paid lot next door and then look down from the apartment window until a free space opened up and move the car. Hmm. Not how I wanted to spend my time in Split. Despite this potential hitch, we actually didn’t have a problem getting free parking on our return from our one daytrip to Krka, Trogir and Solin.
The apartment itself is brand, spanking new and charmingly decorated. The building is old and has been in Vlatko’s family for generations, but it has been entirely remodeled with high-end appliances and fixtures in the kitchen and bathroom and good linens on the bed. A full-size washing machine was only a week old, still sported a sticker and required a quick turn of a spigot to get the water flowing for the first time. There’s a small restaurant across the street, but otherwise this is primarily a short, residential street and all was quiet at night save for one persistent bird.
A pretty little park lies across the street that intersects the opening to the apartment street. The walls of the old city abut the park. The walk into the old city is no more than a few minutes.
On the last day during breakfast, I looked out to see a vehicle wedging itself into the deadend parking area of our street. Two couples had been inside, but now one man drove and the other directed him into an ever-more-stuck position. Their wives circled the vehicle, the wife of the driver finally wrapping her scarf around a short pole so that her husband could literally bump it as he reversed then move an inch or so forward as he tried to maneuver his way out. From my vantage point, it was clear that the man giving directions was directing the exact opposite of what should be done. I called David over to the window to witness the show and after watching a few minutes, he couldn’t resist calling down. It turned out the people below were from Canada so “hooray!” English would work. David took over directions and soon got them out of their dilemma, being proclaimed a hero by the ladies below. I couldn’t resist snapping a photo, so here’s a clear shot of, not only their predicament, but also the free parking situation (ours is the black car to the far left) and the paid parking just up the steps:
At $86/night, all taxes and fees included, the apartment fit my definition of value, taking into account typical rates for Split.
If you’re new to AirBnB and want to give it a try on this or any other apartment, you can use my referral link which should get both of us $30 in AirBnB travel credit: http://www.airbnb.com/c/tcuthrell Let me know if you have any questions.
