Other Peoples' Houses...Why Renting a Vacation House/Apartment is Better than a Hotel

There's a certain amount of "ick-factor" in sleeping in someone else's bed. I admit to being pretty easily skeezed out by a house that smells weird, questionably clean sheets, and any quanitity of those massive, "expresso-stained" Mor furniture suites will have me out on the sidewalk quicker than you can say "toxic off-gassing".

It doesn't have to feel just like home (I mean, it's a vacation...you want to experience something new), but at least like the home of a good friend with taste and a rigorous anti-Febreze policy (when I see Glade Plug-Ins at someone's house I pretty much know there's going to be a compatibility issue).



Despite the pitfalls, after several successful house rentals, I'm hooked. It's like temporarily trying on a different lifestyle. Our stay at this Brooklyn artist's loft had us staying up all hours watching the owner's collection of indie art films, making a run for "our" subway, walking to the famous Brooklyn Flea, and chilling to live jazz at the neighborhood French restaurant.





We rented rich peoples' jungle hideaways in Costa Rica and Kauai and got a taste of the gringo expat life for less than a mediocre hotel room.






And this is my latest "try on a lifestyle for size" mecca...a John Steinbeck moment in Tomales Bay. I could do A LOT of thinking on that couch...

Do you rent houses on vacation? Or is there a dream house you'd like to try out for a week?