Have You Air B-n-B'd?

I was at a friend's birthday party last night, and the talk turned to an upcoming vacation that one couple was about to take. They had booked their first Air B-n-B, and they were hoping that it would turn out fine. More on their upcoming trip at the end of this--I can't wait to hear about it!

Dave and I have stayed at several of this type of accommodation (Air B-n-B), to mixed success. As it turned out, another couple had the same experience as us. So we started to compare. I seriously thought there was no way we were going to lose on the "but wait until you hear what WE had to go through" aspect of this conversation. I was wrong.

Our first Air B-n-B rental was in Phoenix. I wrote a couple of blogs about it, pictures included. Take a minute and refresh yourself with those if you have time, just so you can get the gist of our accommodations when we arrived. (August, 2015 in case you're heading back to look at those) If you don't have time to do that, let me just sum it up for you: "working" art gallery (their words, not ours), no chairs to sit in whatsoever, no fridge, no coffee maker, sketchy part of town, door lock that looked like there might have been numerous attempts to break in, and no hot water in the shower in the morning.

As the comparative conversation began, I was thinking seriously, how could anyone top that?

And you know how you top that? You arrive at your condo and the building is "under construction", the entire multi-story structure completely wrapped in scaffolding and green tarp, windows taped in with plastic over them, the front door behind a concrete barricade, and it looks like you're staying in Soviet-era Russia--concrete, concrete, concrete. Not even close to a finished building. Winner-winner chicken dinner! I wish I had a picture to post here, because when the woman who described this to me showed me the photo, I started laughing. Hard. "Did you actually stay there?" I asked. Yes, yes they did. Because there was nowhere else in town to stay--everything was filled up for some sporting event. She said the inside was fine. But really, if we had walked up to that building, I'm not sure we would have actually gone inside, if we could have found the door!

Update: I got the picture! Here it is:

This was all very amusing for our friends who were about to lose their Air B-n-B virginity. However, I think they may come back with the "best" stories of any of us. They are going to visit their daughter at UC Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara is a beautiful, charming town.

Their daughter lives in Isla Vista. Charming and beautiful are not words I would use to describe Isla Vista. Crowded, over-crowded, 100% students, boisterous, loud... those words come to mind.

And they booked their place in Isla Vista. By choice, as it's very close to their daughter's apartment. "Parents of the Year" award goes to Ellen and Drew for sacrificing having a mini-bar and a clean room so they can be near their kid. Also, "Insane Parents of the Year" to them as well because I have a feeling their rental place might put the Soviet-era-under-construction experience to shame. I'm curious to find out the condition of a college student's Air B-n-B rental. Ellen and Drew will make the best of it, no matter what.

I can't wait to see pictures.