A Cute Little Place to Stay

Paris apartment rented! One of my great travel loves is Airbnb. It is near impossible to find accommodations for a family of five abroad that are not outrageously expensive. Even rooms for four are spendy, but five ... forget it. And I've yet to find roll-away beds in Europe. For us, renting apartments has been the ticket. For a fraction of the cost, we get plenty of space, a kitchen and often a washer. Additionally, we end up in neighborhoods of the locals versus tourists. Always a plus, from my perspective.

Now of course, there are no concierge or bellboys or Zagat ratings ... but if you choose well, you will have hosts that are accommodating and helpful. For instance, our flight into Paris arrives at 6:30am on a Tuesday. (This means we will be an exhausted family of five with a mountain of luggage ready to crash by 8:00am. As we have learned from experience, aimless jet-lagged wandering is not ideal.) Our hosts allowed us to pay for a "partial night" for the day before. We will not sleep there Monday night, but arrive early Tuesday and have immediate check-in. Hurrah! So worth it.

And isn't this place cute? We will only be here for two nights, but it seems a lovely stop-over before we head west to La Cressonnière.

Now. Time to nail down a place to stay in New York, the first part of our leg. Whenever I start to get stressed out over this adventure I am reminded ... these are blessed problems to have.