Renting A Vacation Apartment

In all the years Matt and I have traveled the world, we've rested our weary heads in some pretty cool places. Lately, we've taken to renting apartments for holidays instead of a hotel room. Yes, a hotel is nice since you can have fresh towels delivered and the beds made for you every day. Sometimes there's a rocking breakfast buffet as well.  

When you travel with kids, staying in a hotel is quite different. For us, it's four people sharing two beds in one room. Many nights we sat in the dark while we waited for the children to fall asleep. Not a whole lot of fun when it feels like a million years for the kids to finally stop arguing about who is making noise or hogging the covers.

Now, we prefer to stay in rental apartments for our longer holidays. Why?  The rentals can be anywhere in a city, not just on the tourist end of town in a big chain hotels. In Italy, for example, we craved a spot with a view of a lake and a pool. No hotel would give this view, or at least this view without two hundred other people around.  

Staying in an apartment allows you to experience a neighborhood in its natural state. Low numbers of tourists means the shops do business as usual (aka keep their prices at the normal level), and you benefit fully to see the locals in their natural habitat. Since the apartments never come with breakfast included, we are on the hook for a few meals. I don't mind since one of my favorite tourist activities in a new city is to visit the grocery store. The Google Translate app is a lifesaver when you are not quite sure of the ingredients of an item. We always have breakfast at the apartment, and I've been know to make a few dinners on holiday as well. This provides a substantial money savings on our trips.    

Another reason we love a holiday apartment is for the bedroom doors. We can put the kids to bed, close their doors, and continue our night on the couch with the lights on. A good night's sleep for the kids = happy touring the next day.

Not every apartment is the same, obviously; some come better equipped than others. The best apartment we rented was in Ranco, Italy. The kitchen was well stocked with several pots, pans, basic spices, oils, and dish soaps & towels. The owner of the apartment also provided us with some basic Italian provisions to get us by until we could get to the store. The bathroom had a large supply of shampoo, conditioner, body soaps, hair dryer, and towels. The washing machine even had a full bottle of detergent.

The apartment in Oslo, Norway was different. While the apartment was nice, the extra amenities were lacking. The kitchen had the standard dinnerware plus one pot, one pan, and a few knives. So when it was time to cook dinner, we had to choose our menu wisely so as to not need to purchase one off items like spices and oils that we could not take back home. I suppose that just challenged my cooking skills. The bathroom had towels, a bar of hand soap, and toilet paper.   

Rentals are pretty easy to find, but you need to be smart about which property you book.  We've used Airbnb and Booking.com in the past with good results; your results may vary. Always read the reviews left by previous renters as the owner's description does not always tell the whole story. Most of the apartment proprietors provide an email address so you can contact them directly if you are looking for a specific amenity.

If you don't choose to rent an apartment for your next holiday, at least take a gander at what's out there.

R&R in Ranco - Touring Tuesday

Summer started on 17 July for this expat family.  It seemed to take forever to arrive since our US friends started their holidays at the beginning of June.

Our summer holiday options were dictated by the amount of vacation time Matt accrued, which was zero.  He used all he had on our previous trip to Florence & Rome back in May.  That presented us an interesting situation - How do we go on vacation when there's no vacation time to be had?  

Airbnb to the rescue. 

When not traveling, Matt works from home; the rules never said whose home.  We scoured Airbnb for places in France, Spain, Germany, and Italy that fit our simple vacation home criteria: pool, sunshine, great scenery, good food, and a strong wifi signal.  This was the easiest way to get around the lack of vacation days.

He found a great home for a great price in Ranco, Italy situated on the bank of Lake Maggiore in Northern Italy.  The house was more than we expected.  It had two bedrooms, a huge living/dining room, and a compact yet functional kitchen.  The house had two terraces, one off our bedroom and the other from the living room.

The weather in Ranco was unseasonably hot, so we were very thankful for the air conditioning in the living room.  Although the bedrooms were down the hall, we determined if the kitchen door was closed the cold air would find its way to the bedrooms.  A few nights were a bit uncomfortable, but really no one complained.  

What did we do?  A whole lot of nothing!  The kids played a bit in the morning before breakfast.  We were at the pool by about 10:30 until lunchtime.  Matt would sneak down to the pool between calls and splash at the kids.  On either side of that, this is how much of the day looked.  #thestruggleisreal

Matt took many of his calls from his al fresco office

The complex had quiet hours from 1-3pm so that's when the kids played on their technology and I read.  Sometimes a certain Kiddo had to wait for his time to start.  

  

Then it was time for dinner.  Yes, I cooked while on vacation, but that made life super easy.  We ate when we wanted to and were not tied to the late, late dining schedule of most Europeans.  We had two grocery stores within a ten minute drive, and the fresh produce and meats were amazing.  Plus, our host provided a basket of Italian staples that got us through until we made our meal plan for the week.  Let's just say, there were a lot of meals that looked like this.  

No one complained.  

We ventured out for gelato and dinner a few times.  Ranco is a pretty sleepy town so the choices were slim.  One night we ate with a former colleague of Matts and the other was for pizza by the water.  

Matt's al fresco work schedule gave us a few opportunities to venture out into town and beyond.  One day we drove north into The Alps and another we explored the area at the south end of Lake Maggiore.  

The bummer of the trip was the mosquitos.  I'll say that's one piece of the food chain we have not missed one bit on our expat adventure.  It was apparent that the mosquitos like American food.  We were bombarded with bites while dining al fresco and within minutes of trying to play ball after dinner.  Oh man did they itch!!!  It took two trips to the pharmacy and a few charades moves to get the right anti-itch cream from the lady.

The kids still talk about the trip almost a month later, which makes us happy.  They are such good kids that we are thrilled that a week of togetherness was plenty enough vacation for them.  

A4 Update - July 2015

Happy Summer!

The kids had their last day of school on 17 July.  That officially started #our48daysofsummer!!!!

Oldest Kiddo was one of the leads in the Year 6 production We Will Rock You!  She played a very sassy Scaramouche, and her hard work paid off as she rocked it for three shows!  The rest of the family is ready for a break from Queen songs for a while. 

On the last day of school we left for a get away to Northern Italy.  Matt used up all of his holiday time on our last trip to Italy, so he worked from our Airbnb home for the week.  No one said working from home had to be your own home.  The kids swam everyday, and everyone ate way too many carbs (if that is such a thing).

Matt was only in America four days for the second month in a row!

Holly and the kids watched Back to the Future at Royal Albert Hall with a live symphony.  Aside from the lack of air conditioning, we loved being inside the great building to watch one of our favorite movies.

Matt went to the Formula 1 race in Silverstone.  

Holly braved the queues to see the Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty exhibit at the Victoria & Albert Museum.  It was such an amazing show, and I hope it tours the world.  

August is set to be jam packed with fun while the sun is still shining into the evening hours.........  

A4 Update - May 2015

The days are getting longer!

The Colosseum in Rome 

Our friends from America finished up their visit the first few days of the month.  We sure loved having them stay with us. 

Oldest Kiddo celebrated her birthday with her friends on a guided Harry Potter walk of the city.  The guide was phenomenal, and my girl was so happy to act out a scene from the movie with him.  The video takes place at Leadenhall Market which doubles as Diagon Alley.  They are acting the scene where Harry asks Hagrid how he is to obtain all of the supplies for Hogwarts.  Listen closely for her British accent, it's adorable.  

The kids continue to be busy at school.  Oldest Kiddo's grade took their standardized tests, and she's happy they've ended.  The British schools sure spend a lot of time revising (British for reviewing) for the tests. She's pumped for a two-night outdoor trip in a few weeks.  Youngest Kiddo's reading is taking off, and he is still in love with Legos.      

  

The kids had a week off for the half-term break, and we spent the week in Florence & Rome.  Posts on that gorgeous trip are on the way.  Now we need to start planning for summer, which does not start until the middle of July for the kids.  

Matt and I have returned to finding ways to keep the sun from waking us when it peeks in our windows at 4:30am.  We sure don't complain when the daylight sticks around until almost 10pm.

Bring on the summer!