Let’s talk about dwellings. Specifically, dwellings for travelers.

Today there are many options for the traveler when seeking a lodging place, from standard hotels to hostels to house swaps. The more traditional types include hotels, inns, bed and breakfasts, and depending on your country – motels, pensions, and hostels. The benefits to these are that you almost always know exactly what you are going to get. Based on the price and location, there is a certain level of quality one can expect, as well as potential amenities and extras. Perhaps the least consistent of this list would be bed and breakfasts (and sometimes pensions), which can often just be an old house.

The increased trend of vacation rentals by owners (most notably Airbnb) adds a new flavor to the list. You have a general idea of the home based on a description and some photographs – usually well staged and taken with a wide-angle lens to make the space look larger. You have some comments and reviews from other past guests, but you really don’t know what you are getting into until you arrive.

We have used all sorts of lodging types in our travels and have thus far been very lucky. We always make some small improvements (like Ikea chair cushions) to make our stay more comfortable, but never anything too major or too expensive.

For our current stay in Dublin (we recently came back), we had a terrible time finding a dwelling for the summer. It seems that all of Europe is spending summer holidays in Dublin and everything was booked almost completely – except for the places out of our price range. We looked into Airbnb stays for shorter periods, but did not want to move several times while staying in the same city. In the end, we found a short-term furnished apartment rental and took it based on photographs alone. We didn’t think we’d be able to find anything else and jumped on this place when it came up.

The apartment is fair and suits our basic needs. The challenges of a real apartment as compared to our previous places are what hit us the hardest. We definitely won’t be renting like this again.

A short term stay for travelers means that you don’t want to invest a lot into any one place. As I mentioned above, we do some minor things to be more comfortable, but the basics are usually there. With this stay we had to purchase rugs, towels, linens and pillows. Then a few other items for around the house to create a relaxing environment. The apartment is pretty typical for a rental, just the nature of an apartment compared with other dwelling types brings some issues.

The things that took the most effort was getting power and internet service. We had to get an Irish phone number (thank goodness for our unlocked global phone) just to initiate service for the internet. It’s also incredibly difficult to find decent internet service for a short term – everyone wants a year contract. We tried a wifi hotspot, but we prefer a hardline (reliable) connection. Eventually we found a company that would work with us, but it took a lot of time and effort to get it sorted out.

The hardest thing to handle by far, was making a security deposit. Let’s just say our adventures for the first month back in Dublin may not be as exciting as we’d like.

We definitely won’t be renting a standard apartment again in the future, instead sticking with places we know will at least have sheets and pillows. That’s one set of frustrations to not worry about while getting settled in a new place. We’re also going to book next summer early.

Take heed fellow travelers!

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