Airbnb: Saving Lives and Money, One Broke Student at a Time.

Airbnb is a life-saver.

Airbnb is also a major major money-saver.

As a student on a budget, every penny you save contributes to the joyous feeling of conquering adulthood.

But studying abroad is a different story. 'Adulting' the right way starts to become a nuisance and a burden when the list of places you want to travel to and experience is longer than your grocery list for that month. And if you're so close to different countries and cultures all merged into one, as is the case with Europe, why would you want to miss out on an opportunity to knock a huge chunk of places off that list?

You can bet your comfy winter socks, reader, that I had a long, long list.

But I was also a broke student, who, two months into her time abroad was already failing at being an adult.

And it was in this time of dire need, that cheap flights and affordable Airbnb listings came to my rescue.

While the benefits of cheap flights can be debated, I can swear by the perks of booking an Airbnb. My initial reaction was skepticism for the company that I'd heard of but never used. I thought it was real shady to rent your home out to complete strangers for a pretty decent price. (Forgive me, I can be a pessimist sometimes.) Neverthless, we booked a couple of Airbnbs in the places that we had decided to travel to during our first month in Europe.

My mind was quickly changed after our first Airbnb stay which was in Rome. We were greeted by the host's mother who was friendly and accommodating; she even baked us a cake! After that, we stayed at an Airbnb in every place we visited except for the ones we went to during Fall break.

Not only is Airbnb affordable, but it's also great for tentative plans. Depending on whether your host's cancellation policy is 'flexible', 'moderate' or 'strict', you can cancel your reservation if your plans take a hit.

This came in handy when I ruined our initial Fall break plans. (Have you read that post yet? You should. )
Sure, we were staying with family in London, but we'd also planned on going to Edinburgh and Dublin, and had to end up cancelling those reservations. The hosts were 'flexible', and so we got a full refund which is the reason, in all honesty, I can laugh about what a horrendous blunder I made.

See what I mean when I say Airbnb is also a life-saver?

The icing on the cake is how humbling it is to see the hosts - these people you've never met, who don't know you and don't owe you anything - go out of their way to make their own home feel like yours. They not only opened up their homes to us, but they opened up their lives, their personal space. Almost all of them were some of the nicest human beings I have ever encountered.

I couldn't help feel an underlying sense of unity and oneness with these strangers.

And really, in our world today, isn't that what we need the most?




P.S: If I haven't been convincing enough, here's an article - especially for students - to help change your mind about Airbnbs! https://studybreaks.com/2017/08/04/5-reasons-airbnb-perfect-broke-college-student/