Just when I started feeling my summer FOMO kick in, we made sudden plans with our daughter and her family to join them out east for a relaxing weekend (to celebrate her birthday).
But it wasn’t going to be just a family affair this time. She and her husband had invited four couples and their children and us to share a sizable AirBnB for party central. Nothing but relaxing, cooking, and plenty of sipping.
I do love upstate New York. We have stayed there several times to enjoy the great outdoors. Nothing much to do, except visit the occasional fabulous distillery offering local libations and foods and surpisingly great design elements.
The beautiful Callicoon, NY distillery tasting room.
The Cidery above Callicoon with a view of The Delaware
Our rented house was somewhere between Narrowsburg and Callicoon, New York. And several times a day we found ourselves driving across the Delaware River at the New York/Pennsylvania state line.
The corn in the Catskills is at least 10 to 12 feet high
I’ve done an anecdotal study of AirBnB decorating as we visit our daughter in her wanderlust. She and her husband have become experts in how to pick out the very best residences off the AirBnB and VRBO wesites. We’re rarely disappointed.
My conclusions are these: Some AirBnB owners go the easy route and furnish their places with classic IKEA. It’s clean, friendly and easily replaced. But other owners pique my interest with their interiors that shock, surprise and challenge.
Louis XV TV stand…
Dibs on the mid-century modern bedroom!
There’s something rather quaint about cooking in a kitchen that never has exactly what you need in a pot, a bowl or a utensil. But you shed your perfect hostess apron and happily serve salad out of a crock or chicken on an antique tea tray!
Crazy about the renovation – matte black cabinets, brass pulls
A Viking stove!!
Also, there’s the phenomenon of AirBnB artwork. It appears that many owners collected period artwork in the 70s and 80s — or tried their hand at their own artwork — then donated all of it to their rental homes. Other owners are obvious travel hoarders, and have no idea what to do with their international treasures but to dedicate them to the rental!
Curious small room with many art supplies. Big enough for a Pac n Play!
How great that people are willing to put themselves out there with their weird collections and graphics — especially DIY furniture with curling veneer and unmatched drawer pulls. AirBnB people are a subculture that I’ve gown to love.
The friends we joined this weekend are all young professionals with toddlers, and their kids are growing up around fire pits, with adult conversation, well into the night. The adults politely wait for the shower (when there are too few bathrooms) and make sure towels are laundered after dinner. Everybody pitches in. And yes, the relaxation is very welcome.
I remember when our kids were younger we used to enjoy going to Club Med in various tropical locales. These AirBnB get-togethers remind me very much of the same happy experiences from back then — meeting new people, being your most relaxed and funny self, not worrying about emails and voice mail, and content to have just the basic necessities to enjoy another uncomplicated day…
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