Very exciting news: last night DH and I booked a place to stay in Atlanta for Dragon Con 2015! Yay! We already have our memberships--DH purchased them several months ago after I went to Dragon Con for my bachelorette party, and he had to miss out.
The host hotels were already sold out, of course, as were almost all of the overflow hotels within a reasonable distance of the convention. When you add up the cost of the room + taxes + daily parking fees, it can be difficult to find a hotel even somewhat close to Dragon Con for less than $1000. Trust me, I've tried. For many hours at a time. On several occasions.
This time around, DH saved the day by suggesting we try airbnb, which is a website where people can rent out their home, apartment, spare bedroom, living room sofa, houseboat, van, or whatever. Most of the rentals that I browsed had options to rent by the day, the week, and the month. People leave reviews for the places that they've stayed, so there is at least some assurance that you won't end up staying with a serial killer. The whole thing reminds me of couchsurfing, except that it isn't free...which has its benefits. Sometimes money gives people an incentive to be on their best behavior.
We found a loft in downtown Atlanta, and for a four night stay it's $500 less than the hotel we were considering! It's around 1.5 miles from Dragon Con and half a mile from a MARTA train station. It even has a full kitchen, and there is a grocery store at the end of the street, so we'll be able to cook! Hooray for food! (Food is somehow difficult to come by at Dragon Con...On the other hand, I'm kinda picky, so maybe it's actually only difficult to come by food that I will consent to eat.)
Perhaps I should wait until we've actually SEEN the loft to get excited, but I am in too much of a happy mood right now for that kind of extreme prudence.
The host hotels were already sold out, of course, as were almost all of the overflow hotels within a reasonable distance of the convention. When you add up the cost of the room + taxes + daily parking fees, it can be difficult to find a hotel even somewhat close to Dragon Con for less than $1000. Trust me, I've tried. For many hours at a time. On several occasions.
This time around, DH saved the day by suggesting we try airbnb, which is a website where people can rent out their home, apartment, spare bedroom, living room sofa, houseboat, van, or whatever. Most of the rentals that I browsed had options to rent by the day, the week, and the month. People leave reviews for the places that they've stayed, so there is at least some assurance that you won't end up staying with a serial killer. The whole thing reminds me of couchsurfing, except that it isn't free...which has its benefits. Sometimes money gives people an incentive to be on their best behavior.
We found a loft in downtown Atlanta, and for a four night stay it's $500 less than the hotel we were considering! It's around 1.5 miles from Dragon Con and half a mile from a MARTA train station. It even has a full kitchen, and there is a grocery store at the end of the street, so we'll be able to cook! Hooray for food! (Food is somehow difficult to come by at Dragon Con...On the other hand, I'm kinda picky, so maybe it's actually only difficult to come by food that I will consent to eat.)
Perhaps I should wait until we've actually SEEN the loft to get excited, but I am in too much of a happy mood right now for that kind of extreme prudence.
Cue the Happy Hedgehog music!
airbnb is a fun website to browse. There's quite a wide variety of places--and prices. Some places are clearly proper businesses that are using the website to attract further clientele. Others are simply people with a spare room who want to make a little extra cash.
I've already seen approximately 20 million places that I'd liked to visit, but for the sake of time I'll limit myself to one example: a "Tree Sparrow House" in Cornwall, St. Keverne, England, for $150/night:
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