IN TRANSIT:WE LIVE IN an age of wonder. Not only can we make crystal clear intercontinental calls for free and watch 3D films (finally) in our local omniplex, technology is also making our decisions for us.
What sandwich do you fancy for lunch? Why not use your smarter-than-you phone to locate the best place or just phone a friend (300 inclusive minutes, after all) and ask them?
What movie would I like to see? Oh, I can quickly check the entertainment.ie app to see what’s rated highest, and then not go to that. Where will I stay on holiday? Why, it’s elementary, Watson; let’s ask Twitter.
Planning a recent trip to the UK capital, I did just that. A quick Google search revealed that hotels are prohibitively expensive. If I go to London, I want as much spending money as possible for, well, eating and going to stores we don’t have here (yet), such as Cos and Anthropologie. I don’t want to waste £120 a night on my sleeping quarters, even if it does include a continental breakfast.
So when two fellow tweeters advised trying out airbnb.com, it was but a hop, skip and a click (virtually speaking) and there I was, a host of accommodation options at my fingertips, and most of them at an average of $60 (€47) a night.
Air B‘n’B has borrowed heavily from its poor cousin, couch-surfing. It basically entails finding someone who lives in the area you want to stay in, and staying with them. But couch-surfing and Air B‘n’B differ in several crucial ways.
For starters, there are no couches involved in Air B‘n’B. These people have spare rooms, often with en suites, so you won’t have to be up with the dawn to clear space for, well, living. Furthermore, while couch-surfing is, traditionally, done on a goodwill basis, with Air B‘n’B you pay for accommodation.
Hosts are rated on the basis of their hospitality, standard of accommodation and so on – so there are certain guarantees before you part with the cash.
While couch-surfing has often been criticised for being relatively unsafe – how sure can you be that the person whose couch you’ll be kipping on isn’t a psycho? – there is a certain sense of security that comes with paying via PayPal. Surely, one thinks, if I am murdered, the internet will be able to track down the culprit? Foolproof.
As it is not quite like couch-surfing, then, Air B‘n’B could be compared to house-swapping, in a way. You arrive, you are given a key, and this home, temporarily at least, becomes your home. The only difference is, the house owner is there too.
My host is an affable young chap named Ben, a 29-year-old entrepreneur with a politico father (gleaned from a spot of Googling in my spare time, you know the way) and a penchant for shiny gadgets and modern art. We bond over Mad Menand he shows me to my quarters, a double bedroom with en suite, free wireless and the use of whatever other amenities that take my fancy.
“There’s a problem with the hot water in your bathroom,” he tells me. I soon learn that, in English, this means there is no hot water in my bathroom. No matter, there’s a second bathroom in the hall, and a third downstairs, where his bedroom is, although I never venture beyond the livingroom.
The accommodation, once I get over my fear of being murdered, is perfect: bedroom, bathroom, own sink, and Ben has even provided towels. The bed is very comfortable, although I am warned that it can get noisy on the street side. No such worries; I sleep like the dead.
Air B‘n’B has yet to take off in Dublin but in many of the world’s major cities there is a lot to choose from. Williamsburg, the up-and-coming borough of Brooklyn; the 6th arrondissement in Paris; and Brick Lane, where I stayed, feeling a vague familiarity with it (via the prose of Monica Ali). It met my desire to stay on a side of town I had not before experienced.
The damage? It cost $180/€141 for three nights (half the price of the cheapest acceptable hotel I’d found) plus shopping, plus food, plus...the list is endless. Solo travellers could do a lot worse than bunk in with someone with a spare room in one of the hottest parts of town. Just be sure to pay by PayPal, you know, in case of murder.