I love this new world of travel! I'll be honest, I'm not too adventurous. So whenever I rent on airbnb I go to places that have previous positive reviews. I think my best experience was in London...a nice studio in Belgravia for 90 pounds a night! Clean, quiet, and landlord left us a bowl of fruit and a bottle of wine. I use whenever we go to Montreal as well. We are trying to get it together for a villa near Nice for a family vacation but so far haven't found the right one.

I look for food tours in different cities and always look at Tripadvisor for activity ideas. I rely a lot on tripadvisor and cruisecritic for our cruises as well.

You can invite me along anytime ;)

Lake house....we made an offer on the weird one, but the sellers were too firm on their price. We are finally working with a realtor (good - he's an awesome guy, very experienced and honest, we've used him before) and he didn't like the look of their septic, well, all the boring stuff. I was very disappointed that we didn't get it :(

FIL and husband are now really interested in a log house nearby. I feel like a huge party pooper but I'm just not that into it. I'll go look for a link.

This post was edited by robotropolis on Wed, Jan 7, 15 at 8:31

Everyone likes this one but me...it's been for sale since 2006 though! (But has come down $100k in that time).

It's very comfortably in budget, I will give it that. It's a small lake and it has an ultralight aerodrome on it, which could be interesting but I'm not a huge fan.

Here is a link that might be useful: Log home

This post was edited by robotropolis on Wed, Jan 7, 15 at 9:22

I would say you are failing to be adventurous, it's only wise to want to have reviews to rely on! I have not yet used AirbNb but I'd like to. It's a little tough with a family of 5, tho.

Tripadvisor is a godsend. I use it all the time.

BTW, I found a woman from eatwith who does fabulous vegetarian meals, and it looks like she is within walking distance of our LA hotel! (or at least biking distance!) I am going to contact her and see if she will do a meal for our family; we are all excited about it. We might even make into something participatory. Thanks so much for the link!

As for the lakehouse, the porches are very charming and I like the log walls. It looks quite new and in good repair. I know it does not pull at the heart strings quite like the other, but OTOH, especially with a home that is often unoccupied, maintenance issues can loom large. You will have many happy memories wherever you go, I am sure!

You can get nice big houses on airbnb and vrbo...definitely also for the boutique experience as well as budget traveller. Here's an example in Hollywood (although I know your trip is planned, just for example) four bed Hollywood home with small pool. Compared to a luxury hotel, there are disadvantages....no 24 hour concierge to let one in (so it's a bit of extra effort to liaise with property manager), no restaurant on site, no butler bringing me cocktails at 4pm (I miss you, Shangri-la Bangkok), having to make one's own bed and do the dishes. But you get the privacy, the residential neighbourhood, and the uniqueness.

I may have to learn to love the logs. Father in law said he'd actually bring friends/colleagues to this one which means he really likes it and I want him to use it.

You'll have to tell me about your eatwith experience! There are no chefs around here but I think it looks so interesting.

This post was edited by robotropolis on Thu, Jan 8, 15 at 6:32

Wow! I can hardly wait to hear about your experiences with eatwith. I wish there were some participants close to me.

Robo - I took the plunge on AirBnB (more info in my LA vacation thread). Fingers crossed!

That's exciting! I won't say what can go wrong...in travel the answer seems to be, "Everything!" But you have a great backup plan and I think it's likely you will enjoy the experience.

Speaking of travel, I just decided to head to Jamaica for the first time with some friends in April! We are staying off-resort, off the beaten path in a small B and B in Westmoreland parish (from Airbnb). My friends are arranging the trip and it may be adventurous even for me, but I'm hoping I will enjoy the experience. It's a type of travel I would not be able to do with husband or parents in law.

This post was edited by robotropolis on Mon, Jan 12, 15 at 6:43