As you know, travelling can be expensive. However by using Airbnb and staying in one of their properties instead of a hotel can save you a lot of money!! I had talked to a few other food bloggers who had used airbnb and everyone seemed to have had a positive experience.

Accoording to Wikepedia, As of 2012, the company had 250,000 listings in 34,000 cities and 192 countries. I also learned that it’s a privately held company based out of San Francisco. Interesting.

I downloaded the (free) app and then you search the city you are travelling to. (in my case, I was looking for a property in Barcelona).

Here’s what you need to do:

-read the reviews carefully

-read the details carefully

-look at the photos carefully too

I did this for HOURS and then finally selected “Central Garden Entrance Suite. Here’s the description that sold me (ps the reviews and the price sold me too)

This Suite Apartment is recommended for couples, families and friends who value privacy and central location at an affordable price without compromising comfort.

At 35m² this suite resembles a small hotel room with the added benefits of a kitchen. It is located in a very clean and well maintained building with a unique “Garden Entrance” in a vibrant part of the city centre (7 minutes walk to Las Ramblas). 

This suite has a kitchen with everything you need to prepare simple meals using fresh ingredients from the Sant Antoni market at your doorstep (or the Boqueria market a 4 minute walk away), there is also a microwave to make a quick meal. It also has a private, modern bathroom with a spacious shower and a bathtub. There is also a washing machine in a seperate room shared with 4 other studio’s/suites where you also can hang up your clothes. Furthermore the suite is fortunate to come with a large balcony to enjoy people watching in the streets below..

Just steps away is the renowned meeting place Els Tres Tombs- an excellent spot for Tapas accompanied by a glass of locally brewed Moritz beer. With Ronda Sant Antoni at your doorstep, La Rambla a short walk away and the increasingly trendy and multicultural neighborhood of El Raval around the corner, Sant Antoni is a convenient and exciting place to stay.

I made a request to stay there and then heard that my request was accepted. WOOT.

I thought that having an entire apartment for $79 a night was a great deal!  I was also super excited to have a unit with a kitchen but only used it once. (can you believe?)

Perfect.

 My dream came true as I was able to shop for fresh shrimp  and garlic at the Boqueria market and then come home and make myself a little snack!!

Airbnb is so addictive that I find myself scrolling through photos DREAMING of my next travel adventure.

I would definitely be using Airbnb on future trips. My host answered all my questions (and there was more than one!!) and the property was spotless, in a great location and a price that I couldn’t beat.

PS for fun it’s even neat to put in the city you live in – to see what comes up!!

Happy Travelling!

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Not only do I collect china but I collect postcards too.  I’m guessing that this collection started when my mom became a travel agent back in the early 1970’s and went on a lot of trips. (I think those days are long gone for travel agents). Plus my best friend in grade school and high school, travelled 4 times a year with her family. That’s a lot of postcards just from her (and I’m ever so grateful).  So between my mom and my best friend – I started to collect postcards.

Naturally my grandparents sent me some postcards too as did a few other friends who knew about my postcard collection.

Here’s one of my favorite postcards. There is a line in this postcard that says “I thought you would like to take it to SHOW AND TELL NEXT WEDNESDAY”

Isn’t that hysterical!! Disclosure:  Im 47 years old…which means that I’ve kept this postcard for a long long time! (by the way – I am NOT  A HOARDER)

I also love this postcard that just has exclamation marks. Clearly my friend was bored of writing me postcards about the same thing i.e The weather is great, you would like it here, blah blah blah.

Every once in a while I pull out this basket of postcards and will look at the stamps, the varieties of countries, the photos, and the dates. I wish I could frame these postcards but its hard to do coz I like to look at both sides of the postcard!!

Now that everyone is always sending emails and texts – I still ask friends/family to send postcards. There is something special about these little cards that I enjoy. Can’t put my finger on it – but I like collecting them.

What do you collect? I know from the comments on my previous post – that many of you collect china too!! But what else do you collect? My friends’ parents collect menus of restaurants that they have visited  while travelling. They are then framed and displayed on a big wall. I LOVE THAT IDEA. It’s brilliant.

Hope you leave more comments about what else you collect.

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