An Airbnb Tour of Europe

High over Ireland

High over Ireland

For a long time, I wasn’t a great fan of Airbnb. Whenever I looked for short or medium term housing, their prices were high and their fees numerous and excessive. We were always finding better deals elsewhere.

That changed on our ~4 month European tour. We stayed 77 nights in 20 different private apartments across 19 cities in 7 countries, with an average price inclusive of fees of ~$106/night. (We also spent 8 nights with friends, 16 nights in free hotels, and another 14 nights in paid hotels (average $104/night.) Average price for the whole trip was ~$84/night.

The private apartments found on Airbnb were incredible value compared to hotel options across Europe, with full use of a kitchen, a living space for lounging and computer time, and a bedroom for Jr’s naps, all in an ideal central location for easy walking and access to public transit.

We had a wide range of amazing experiences and a few that were lessons learned (more details below), but we would definitely choose Airbnb for future travel in Europe.

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16 Months, 16 Countries

"Hey, You!"

“Hey, You!” (Top of Old Town Hall Tower, Prague, Czech)

GCCjr recently achieved the ripe old age of 16 months. By coincidence, he also recently visited his 16th country. (Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Vatican City, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, UK, Ireland, Iceland, US… Taiwan apparently is not a country.)

At current pace, he should be able to visit all 195 countries of the world by the time he is old enough to drive, making him the youngest person ever to achieve that milestone. But accumulating passport stamps just for the sake of passport stamps isn’t a goal, so our pace is likely to slow. Still, he’ll probably be a full member of the Traveler’s Century Club.

When we first started traveling with the little guy we didn’t really know what to expect. Based on the numerous questions we’ve received during the past year, it seems many others are in the same boat. So here are some thoughts on traveling with kids based on 16 countries worth of experience.

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