when the airbnb experience goes well…

We’ve been on the road now, for over three months, having sold up in Istria and waiting to complete on our dream Andalucian townhouse. We’ve stayed in a variety of hotels and apartments along the way, and are onto our third Airbnb stay. The first was for the month of August, and we did struggle to find anywhere suitable, at a reasonable(ish) price in the height of summer. We stayed in the very Spanish town of Algodonales, in a three story house, which sounds lovely – and it was – but there was no air-con, so it was largely quite uncomfortable. Next up was a renovated apartment in beautiful Medina Sidonia, which was much better – larger, cooler, better equipped and more of a home, than a holiday let. We liked this place sufficiently to extend our stay by a few days, but by the end we were ready to move on.

And now, we think we’ve hit the Airbnb jackpot. Perhaps because the season is ending, it may be a little easier to get better accommodation, but this apartment in the westerly town of Sanlucar de Barrameda is pretty exceptional, so far. Close to the beach, so great for bracing autumnal walks, it’s in a small modern block – possibly not what we’ve have seen ourselves choosing, but it had the real benefit of a parking space in an underground garage, which leads directly up to the apartment. Honestly, after weeks and weeks of on street parking, sometimes in the narrowest of streets in historic centres, this feature is worth the fee we paid, on its own. Our weather has changed and we’ve had some real downpours recently, so being able to return with shopping, park up securely and just walk up the stairs, is an absolute treat.

But what’s made this particular Airbnb stand out is the fact that the owner is someone who wants to provide guests with a really wonderful experience. It is decorated, furnished and accessorised to a very high standard, with top notch amenities. As well as two good sized bedrooms and a large bathroom with a walk-in shower, we have an open plan living/dining room and super equipped kitchen, as well as a small, but very cute courtyard, with houses the washing machine and dryer, as well as giving additional exterior dining space. In the kitchen, we have a full size oven, four ring halogen hob, full size fridge and freezer, microwave and wine fridge, as well as a breakfast bar, providing a natural division in the open place space. Everything seems new and very well kept and maintained. The living room has a huge, super comfy L-shaped sofa, for which we are eternally grateful, having had to live with fairly cheap IKEA sofas and chairs in the last two apartments. Wi-fi is strong and stable – although to be fair, this seems the norm in Spain, but again after our erratic Istrian internet, we are so happy to have normal service resumed.

So, a little tour of home for the next couple of months – we did initially rent for one month, but as soon as we realised how good this place is, we immediately booked to mid-December, with the possibility of extending further.

I don’t think that anywhere that we rent is ever going to compare to our own home, but with most of what we own still in storage in Istria, this apartment is making us feel surprisingly “at home”. Because we will be here for a good few weeks, we have added a few new things of our own. We’ve bought some rugs and cushions and now that the weather has cooled down a little, we’ve invested in new bedding, as again, all of ours in storage. A couple of lamps and some candles have added greatly to the ambience, and it’s fair to say we feel very settled. It helps that Sanlucar de Barrameda is in a good location – between Cadiz and Seville, on the western coast of Andalucia, and only twenty minutes from Jerez de la Frontera, giving us access to real big city amenities. Sanlucar is a small city – very Spanish – and we are yet to investigate the historic centre, but what we have seen so far, we have loved. Especially the proximity and number of bodegas!

But for us, the best part of this experience, has been our interaction with the owner of the apartment. She communicated well with us prior to us arriving, and on arrival she met us at the apartment, having travelled over from Malaga. Great relationships were immediately established, with a thorough introduction to everything at our disposal and the instruction that if we were to be in need of anything, we should contact our host straight away. Although, we hadn’t anticipated just how soon we’d be contacting her, because unfortunately, on the Friday night (the day we had arrived), from about midnight, the electricty tripped a number of times. We only knew this, in the middle of the night, because the much needed bedroom fan kept going off. Although we could switch the electricity back on, we felt that we needed to let our host know, and so with apologies, we advised her of the situation. We were delighted with the speed and efficiency of her response on the Saturday morning – an electrician was arranged who came out and checked everything over and obviously did whatever was needed to be done, as we’ve had no issues since. You hear so many horror stories about Airbnbs and hosts, that we feel mightily relieved to have found this apartment, and this host – and we look forward to making ourselves even more at home, as the summer gives way to autumn and the evenings start to draw in.

We are thoroughly enjoying getting into a routine again, and having the space and facilities to be able to do normal things, like cooking regular evening meals, watching TV (we did have the foresight to pack one of our televisions and our magic TV box, which gives us access to UK programmes, Netflix etc), listening to music and actually getting stuck back into design work. And, hopefully, we’ll have this place as our temporary home until we get the keys to the real new home…

Published on 16th October 2024