So, Where Ya Gonna Stay? Part 1

To repeat – I’m doing all of this backwards to my previous methods of travel. As recently as last year, I would have scanned for airfare pricing first, found a good flight to one of my perpetual “hot” destinations, and worked from there. A few minutes on Google would show that my current best bet is Spring Break in Stockholm: $700 R/T from BHM (!), with only a 2 hour layover in Chicago. This is a deal, and I bet Stockholm in March is a (frozen) delight. Plus, I love cross-country skiing. I’m feeling some slight regret at not getting in on this.

But the idea here was that I’ve pre-selected France. I had to roll the dice with the flights, because once I made the France choice, I decided lodging became paramount. I had this view colored by my 2016 experience with booking a vacation apartment in the Black Forest; I started that process 4 months out, only to find that *all* of the reasonable places (that is, large enough to fit four adults and two kids) had long since been booked. We were left with the usual hotel options – not complaining too much, the Hotel Lamm we ended up in was perfectly fine – but this year, I was not going to have the same happen.

Anyway: starting with Airbnb and VRBO (why not checkout both, after all), I identified about a dozen reasonable places in the Loire Valley that could accommodate us (this was back in October, btw). It helps to use Advance Search tools to really spell things out, like the need for 2+ bathrooms, and a kitchen, and (most importantly) a washer/dryer. Airbnb & VRBO both list out amenities very well (including the number and sizes of the beds), along with photos and reviews. And, you can usually get the address of the place, or general location – use Google Streetview to scope out the neighborhood. You don’t want a power plant in your back yard. By the end of the refining process, I had about three places that I would say were suitable for us. 

Viewed from that perspective, I’m glad I booked back when I did: If you only have three *great* places to choose from nine months out, what are the chances that all of those would still be around four months later? At the time, I judged it to me slim. 

Thrown in, btw, was an annoying little feature from Airbnb and VBRO that essentially said “16 other people are considering this location for your dates,” and “75% of places in your search area are already booked out for your dates.” Recognize these for what they are: marketing tools to get you nervous about missing out. Book now, or else! Still, having found a good place at a reasonable price, I booked.

Listen, you can second guess all your choices - or you can take the plunge. I want to be smart, I want to be frugal...I want to have a nice vacation. Our rental apartment is (appears) perfect for us, I’ll leave it at that.