Showing posts with label AirBnB. Show all posts

After five weeks in Spain (Tenerife is Spain), many attempts at speaking Spanish, liters of Sangria, and hundreds of Tapas later, we are leaving Spain and Barcelona. Our stay in this wonderful city, though brief, was quite magnificent. We managed to make it around to the majority of Barcelona's most famous landmarks, while learning about their history and culture in the process. Barcelona is the only city in the world with the honor of winning the Royal Gold Medal RIBA architectural design award, which is intended only for individual architects. We found it very difficult to find an area of the city without remarkable craftsmanship and famous architectural influence. The Segrada La Familia, arguably Antoni Gaudí‘s most famous creation has been under construction since 1882, and isn't expected to be finished until the year 2026 – the centennial of his death.

We’re fortunate that our Airbnb apartment in the Gràcia neighborhood is near the city center, and has a comforting, homey feel. Our temporary roommate, we don’t know her name but refer to her as “Grandma,” happens to talk and look a lot like Kyle's Oma (word grandmother in Dutch). Kyle has spent a considerable amount of time indulging her conversations, though it's still very difficult for him to understand most of what she is saying. We quickly found out that air conditioners don't really exist here, which is unfortunate for us as the average July temperature hovers just below 90°F / 32°C. Toss in some Mediterranean humidity and you have yourself a recipe for uncomfortable – but compared to the cold, wet summer that London is having, WE'LL TAKE IT! This afternoon we managed to find relief from the heat in the form of the Mediterranean Sea. We finished off the remaining trips on our T-10 passes as we made our way from the Barceloneta station to the beach, lazily meandering past shop venders, and fellow travelers. The beach was packed, especially for a Wednesday! We were hardly able to locate even the smallest plot of sand for our flip-flops and towels. Barcelona's mile long beach is ranked number one in the world by National Geographic, and we certainly can’t argue with them about that!

Tomorrow marks our embarkation from Barcelona's port on a 12-day Norwegian cruise around the northern Mediterranean Sea. The ship will grant us passage to the beautiful cities of Toulon, France – Pisa, Florence, Rome and Naples, Italy -the island of Mykonos, Greece – Istanbul and Izmir Turkey – Athens, Greece and finally docking in Venice. Lucky for us we will be spending two nights in Venice and get to see Yara and Eros before we head back to America. Not a bad way to end three whole months abroad!

Xo,
K&M

Sorry for the lull - we're not surprised that we haven't updated in a week. No, we did not drop off the face of the Earth... we were busy exploring with Barrett! In just seven days the three of us conquered just about EVERYTHING this amazing island has to offer. The events and adventures of the last week will be thoroughly covered in the next few posts, but right now we're in our favorite Puerto Cruz cafe, El Secreto sneaking in one last post before we depart for Barcelona in a few hours. For now, we want to share with you our humble Canarian home!

Of course we found this lovely place on Airbnb.com - our absolute favorite website for providing inexpensive accommodations that assist in the "authentic" less touristy experience. Our wonderful but absent host (he lives in Seville, Spain and rents his Tenerife home) Pepe provided us with everything we needed for our four-week stay.

The approximately 500 ft2 apartment was on the seventh floor of a neat building just outside the city center of Puerto de la Cruz. We were within short walking distance (15 minutes or less) of great shopping, the main beach Playa Jardin, the islands biggest attraction Loro, the town square of Puerto Cruz, and of course the bus station.

The cozy little apartment had three beds, a tiny little kitchen, bathroom with stand-up shower, washing machine and enclosed patio. The apartment was just enough to comfortably accommodate the two of us for three weeks, and a third person for a few days! It's safe to say that at just under $900 for the month we were more than satisfied with our living situation.

Xo,
M&K

Choosing to travel spontaneously means that quite a bit of time goes into researching our destination - after we have already arrived! When we decided to leave London, we had a rough idea of where we wanted to go… South; out of the rainy, gloomy weather and somewhere warm. Tenerife was one of our top choices; Kyle spent a few days here for a shoot and fell in love. You can best describe the Canaries as Spain’s version of our Hawaiian Islands. Beautiful beaches, palm trees, and luscious green hills leading up to a volcanic mountain. Sign us up! After doing a little math we figured out that we could trade in our umbrellas for beach towels, and experience an entirely different culture.

Most of the English speakers (Brits) stay in Playa de Las Americas, on the south side of the island, where the majority of the major resorts are located. We decided to forego the resorts and ended up settling on Puerto de La Cruz, a seaside city on the northwestern coast. Being one of the oldest cities on the island means it’s less popular with tourists, and inhabited by true Canarians. The weather is a bit cooler compared to the parched desert to the south, and often referred to as “Eternal Spring.” El Teide, the volcanic peak, creates a giant rain shadow trapping the moisture in the north, and keeping the hillsides green with trees that blanket the volcanic soil.

We booked our apartment using Airbnb, trading in the luxuries that a hotel would provide… opting for a longer vacation. We would much rather live somewhere for a month then take a vacation that ends abruptly, a couple days after it begins. The island is large and has much to offer, four weeks seemed more appropriate for the kind of trip we had in mind. In the end, what really matters most to us is that we get the chance to experience a place very few Americans have even heard of, immersing ourselves in a culture not our own, opting for an authentic encounter versus the tourist’s experience. We've been spending about an hour everyday practicing Spanish with one another just so we can complete day-to-day tasks. It’s difficult to order the right type of coffee (Kyle likes his lattes) when no one here speaks English!

As we mentioned before, research is the name of the game and thanks to Google, anything you could ever desire to know is at your fingertips. We’ve both become experts in determining what a place has to offer, while making it fit into our budget…Proof that you don’t have to be wealthy if you’re willing to put in the time, and take advantage of opportunities as they present themselves.

Thanks to the help of resources like Tenerife Magazine, we’ve comprised a pretty solid list of things we both want to do while we’re here. Megan has decided that The July Fiestas and the Embarkation of the Virgen del Carmen is at the top of her list. Kyle wants to see the view of the island from the crater at the top of El Tiede, and hike from the village of Masca down to the ocean. We both want to spent a few days renting a car (which is really cheap to do on the island) and drive to all the places we can't get to on foot or by bus. Of course, the days in between our adventures will be spent relaxing on black sand beaches like, La Playa Jardin, sipping sangrias or ice cold Doradas (favorite local beer), and eating tapas every afternoon!

Oh, and did we mention that the famous Barrett Mitchell will be flying half way around the world from his lovely home in Los Angeles to join us for a week at the end of July?! Looks like we will have our hands full… planning activities to keep the man-child entertained. ☺

Xo,
K&M

Kyle's currently shooting a job for Men's Health Magazine right now off Broadwick Street in SoHo, so I'm taking the time to share with you about my day - and my mild heart attack...

Today began great, I woke up feeling better than I have the past few days, coughing much less and not so "stuffy." Together Kyle and I took the tube to Leicester Square and walked towards SoHo where he had a 2PM job. During our walk he got a call from Leesa, his agent at Premier. She asked him his thoughts on France?... Apparently Kyle booked a job shooting an alcohol commercial in Nice, France. It shoots this Friday - Saturday!!! Looks like we're headed to Nice, I hear it's nice :)

To celebrate his booking we had "conveyor-belt" style sushi at a place called Yo!Sushi, for lunch. Afterwards he dropped me off at a pub around the corner from his job so I could wait out the four hour shoot and get some research done for our next post. I sat for about an hour, enjoyed a pint of Guinness and searched for WiFi. Turning up short I settled on reading Fifty Shades Darker (my current book series obsession) and finished my pint. After that I proceeded to browse the amazing shopping on Carnaby Street... I have avoided shopping for clothes so far because the conversion rate makes things more pricey but I figured with the job today, and the job in Nice, £15 wasn't too much for some cute shirts that I can wear on Tenerife!

As I proceeded to hand the girl my shirts at the checkout I got an email:

From: Kyle Ledeboer
Date: June 18 2012 14:59
Subject: Fwd: You have a message from Pepe during June 28, 2012 - July 13, 2012 Studio-Loft with nice views!!
To: megangonzales89@gmail.com

GET ON AIR BNB ASAP AND LETS FIND A NEW FLAT LOVE
PRIORITY ONE

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Airbnb
Date: Monday, June 18, 2012
Subject: You have a message from Pepe during June 28, 2012 - July 13, 2012 - Studio-Loft with nice views !!
To: kyleledeboer@gmail.com

Hello Kyle,

The requested dates, 28 de Junio - 13 de Julio de 2012, are unavailable. I'm so sorry for the delay Kyle, I've been out for some days and without internet access. Unfortunately it's not available. Thanks for your interest and for your time. Hope you find a good place to stay. If you need some help just ask!

Regards,
Pepe.

MY HEART SANK.

After all the hard work planning and booking, the apartment we had in Tenerife for a month was GONE!... The girl at the checkout even asked me if everything was "okay." I guess it was written all over my face, I have a serious problem. Trains booked, flights booked, buses booked... how can it be that all of a sudden after charging my credit card and "Accepting" my offer for the apartment that Pepe just changes his mind?! I had to get to a WiFi connection FAST and find a new place for us to stay in Tenerife. I practically ran to the Shakespeare's Head, it's a Taylor Walker (chain of London pubs), where I knew I could access internet. Browsing AirBnB once again was becoming stressful, less than half of the properties visible last Thursday were still available. As I searched and came up empty handed I simultaneously typed a letter to Mr. Pepe, about to reprimand him for first accepting, and then declining our apartment offer. I collected his contact information from my email...

But wait, MY email. The reservation was booked through MY AirBnB account! Obviously he would email Kyle telling him the room was off the market - someone named Megan had already booked it!!! I could feel the knots in my stomach coming undone, whew... tag-teaming apartment searching can have it's upsides, and clearly it's downsides. So as it turns out, we DO have a place to stay in Tenerife :) Here are some pictures Pepe took from him apartment, the place we will be staying from June 27th through July 26th.

Traveling can be stressful, not knowing who to trust and not knowing your final destination is sometimes scary. Having faith in people and believing everything will be okay can get you through!

Yours Truly,
Megan

As you know, we have a tendency to do things at the drop of a hat, or "IN THE MOMENT." Today we looked at each other and decided that London is starting to really burn a hole in the pocket-book! [Kyle's agency informed him that during the Olympics, the local market would slow, castings would cease, and it would end up being much harder to book work with a few more million people in town.] After crunching the numbers, we realized that we could make our money go much further if we left town. As of right now, we're spending entirely too much for way too little.

Solution! In a three hour time frame, drink an entire bottle of wine, throw back a few pints, and feverishly begin stalking AirBnB, Kayak, and SkyScanner. Compose a list of places we would like to go based on flight and rent expenses and have a "proper" vacation :)

Options:

Winning out based on rent pricing were Tenerife (IMAGES) and Barcelona, both places we can habla Espanol - and enjoy better weather! Flights were also pretty cheap, on average $125 per person, per flight.

The New Plan:
Leave Camden on June 27th early in the morning. Head to Victoria station and catch the Gatwick Express train to the airport. Fly Air Europa, layover in Madrid, arrive Tenerife North, take a bus to our new place in Puerto de la Cruz (thanks AirBnB) and enjoy warm weather and black sand beaches for an entire month! 

With our sun soaked skin, and our hair full of sand, leave Tenerife and catch a Vueling flight to Barcelona. There we will be staying with Elsa in another AirBnB location for the remainder of our Spanish expedition. Due to the fact we couldn't change our Virgin Atlantic flights back to the US, we will fly EasyJet to Gatwick one last time, stay a night at the airport and head back to the US on August 16th.

Xo,
M&K

After spending most of the morning on the phone with Jordan, a helpful gentelman in the London Bridge Foxton's Letting Agency, no progress was made for a short term flat let. Kyle figured it would be worth a shot messaging his friend Sei, who lives in London about the trip, hoping he could help find a flat for the 8 - 10 week time period. Sei contributed by mentioning http://www.airbnb.com and LITERALLY a whole new world of possibility opened up. We spent the whole afternoon talking about and researching potential places to stay and looking at not only rooms but villas, houses and properties to rent on there! Our searches have taken us from London, to St Thomas, to Hawaii, then Barcelona, and back to London again...