Insights and Stories from an Airbnb Expert: Me?

I guess I’ve become somewhat of an unintentional expert at locating great places on Airbnb. I looked at my trips to date on my Airbnb profile and I saw that since I created my account in 2015 I’ve stayed at 69 different Airbnb rentals in 20 different countries around the world. Of these 69 trips I’ve also received 56 stellar reviews. Most of the places I’ve stay at have been renting rooms in apartments with really great people, and the rest I’ve rented entire apartments, homes, cottages, etc. I know – I’m in as much of a shock as you are. Can you believe it!?? Reasons why you don’t own a home Scott, reasons why you don’t own a home. 

Here are some filters I look for on Airbnb to find what I need as a travel photographer while traveling alone, as well as some additional things I look for to find the place perfect for me, in no particular order:

The most important piece to me though is the vibe I get from the host. When looking for a place, this is a huge deal for me. I never book hotels because that is not what I want to do when I travel, as the place I’m staying is a big part of my experience. When I travel I want to experience what it’s like to live there. I want to walk to the grocery store, and head to the local coffee shop. I want to say hi to neighbors when I walk down the stairs in the morning, and a big part of this experience is the host of the Airbnb. Renting a room from someone is my preference when I can see from their photos and reviews from other people that they are the kind of people that like to share some authentic info and insights with their guests. I can’t tell you how many drinks I’ve shared, and lifelong friends I’ve made simply by choosing to meet and spend time with strangers that I just had a feeling I would get along with. If in the end we didn’t end up being able to hangout – at least I knew I would have a solid list of great recommendations, and a welcome invite for the next time I’m in town.

Fast forward to today, and finding a place has admittedly become more challenging – albeit not impossible. Not only do I have a partner that I travel with sometimes now, but we also have two dogs that we often bring in tow as well. One thing that Airbnb isn’t great at yet is specifying whether or not a property has a fenced in yard. This is a pretty big deal when traveling with the dogs, so for now I have to resort to looking at all the photos, reading property descriptions, and previous reviews to see if I can make mention of it. One thing that I’ve seen is that Airbnb will allow for owners to indicate if a yard isn’t completely fenced in, but there isn’t a filter available to search for it. If you work at Airbnb and you are reading this – please make it a thing! 

Here are the filters I used to find our Holiday getaway in Pordenone, Italy for Christmas last year:

In addition to the standard filters as well, I knew we were looking for:

• Something in the North of Italy
• Within two hours of the Dolomites
• A place with a large yard or fenced in Garden
• Located once-removed form a charming town we could easily visit either by walking or a short drive
• With a nice couch
• And a Fireplace

I mention couch and Fireplace last here because they were the two features that got the AX because if you want either – the amount of places you’re looking for within any reasonable price range drops significantly. 

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After looking at what felt like hundreds of places, I finally decided on a farmhouse which was a stone’s throw from Pordenone, Italy. This was a house that was located in the middle of essentially a large vineyard and a very large empty field. What was great about this place in particular as well was the owners were a young couple that were converting the place into a kind of workaway place – which I really like, so being there was just super chill. The husband was also a woodworker, and the wife was a photographer. They also had a piano and a guitar inside the apartment – needless to say I knew the vibes were exactly what I was looking for.

The unfortunate thing in this case- which can sometimes happen – is that it appears maybe our trip gave them the extra money and time to be able to head home for the holidays, which I honestly felt really good about as well even though I was really looking forward to meeting them :). This meant that Gaby, the dogs and I got to have the entire huge property to ourselves, and the owners even left us a nice bottle of Prosecco and pastries as a thank you. 

What was great about this place in particular was how different it was from our regular life in Florence. Sure, I had to work almost the entire trip for about 4-5 hours a day, and I was even in the middle of a long-delayed overhaul of my website as well, so that took up quite a bit of my time, but we walked out our front door and we were in nature. The dogs could go out and just run around both in the crisp foggy mornings, or late at night with their LED collars on. It was really such a relaxing get away that we both needed. 

Pordenone itself was surprisingly big, and rather charming. The owners gave us some great recommendations for some local restaurants, so we could get some great steak (When in Pordenone, right?) and since I’m also a fan of craft beer they also gave us a recommendation for a super amazing burger and beer place. They were a bit hesitant to recommend it at first seeing as it was the Christmas holiday, but I reassured them that we live in Italy, so having a burger was actually quite the welcome treat, and they were so amazing.

In total, we spent about 10 nights there in Pordenone. Towards the end of our trip, we took a trip to the Dolomites which I wrote about here, as well as a day trip to Venzone which was a pleasant surprise. The third Day trip we took- and one of the primary reasons why I also chose the location of our place in Pordenone is because I wanted us to visit Palmanova, which I had never seen before but knew I wanted to.

This is a city that looks like a star when you look at it from above, and it’s quite a quaint and unique place to see. Obviously you can’t see the shape of the town while you’re walking through it, but what gives the city its star shape are the walls and gardens that surround it which we did want to walk through. Walking through the town and through the gages reminded me a bit of Lucca which I quite liked, and you could see the center of the city at the end of the road from the doorway we walked through. We zig-zagged a bit so I could capture some photo opportunities and so the dogs could sniff around a bit.

When we arrived at the center of the city we were met with colorful buildings and a really nice atmosphere. We took some photos there for a bit and decided to walk up on the wall and then down and around the exterior of the wall at around sunset as well. What a great place to walk the dogs and get in some nice exercise, which I personally was grateful for after driving so much in recent days.

At one point we both saw this beautifully lit tree that I took several photos of because of the intensity of the sunset behind it. I could stare at this photo and just relax for hours. Maybe I’ll create a work of art with it someday 🙂 After our walk I needed to work for an hour or so so we found this great place for aperitivo and enjoyed a well-earned negroni sbagliato while people watching in the main square. This is honestly one of the best parts about working remotely – and its why I’ve continued to do so for over 10 years now. I can work from anywhere, and as long as I have wifi and my headphones I can even be more productive than I am at home. Working while I’m not at my desk honestly just makes me work harder because of how grateful I feel that I’m lucky enough to be able to do so almost anywhere in the world.

Its small moments like this – in places that no one would expect that I truly cherish. I love Florence, and a piece of my heart will always be there – but relaxed towns like this, and the feeling of exploring new places in new countries and cities will never be something I grow tired of. I feel so great that I’m back in the swing of traveling again, and this rediscovered energy has me already looking forward to my trip back to Northern Italy to explore some new locations – and who knows, maybe even revisit a few that I already love.

I hope this post has been interesting and helpful! If so, please let me know in the comments 🙂
Cheers,

Scott