Osaka Airbnb Review: Tom and Meli’s Apartment

We chose to stay at Tom and Meli’s because of the good location, close to subway and it was quite affordable as well! It is a medium size one bedroom apartment although for us (four adults and one infant), it was quite tight. Tom met us at the apartment and went through on how to use the amenities, the safety evacuation route, the nearest hospital and the checkout procedure. They also provided a 3G wifi device what makes navigating around Osaka much easier. There are several eateries around the place and also a large supermarket just a few minutes walk.

Strong wifi is available in the apartment. The kitchen is well equipped with pots and utensils. The bathroom comes with an automatic bathtub filler and a washer AND dryer! It is a miracle how the Japanese makes clever use of space in their apartments. My wife and I slept on the sofa bed in the living room while my sister-in-law’s family were in the bedroom.

Bunbury Airbnb Review: Lamorna Bed and Breakfast

We had a really hard time finding a decent accommodation for our first night stay in Bunbury. There was some concert going on and almost all the accommodation was taken up or required a minimum of 2 nights stay. We finally managed to find Lorraine’s place on Stayz and we were so glad we got to stay there! She has two rooms, one that can sleep a total of 7 persons and another that sleeps two.I love the quiet, homely neighborhood; it looked like a place where I would like to settle down in. Lorraine’s place was spacious and her backyard is lovely! She served us some delicious homemade bread, cereal and fruits for breakfast. The beds were comfortable and the place was clean. It was a pity that we didn’t really get the chance to explore the surrounding as we arrived pretty late and set off early the next morning.
If you are a light sleeper, you might not like the arrangement of packing everyone in a room. This arrangement was alright for one night, but I don’t think I would have survived another. Haha. The place was also quite far out, so you would need to drive to the city centre to get food, so as long as you have a car, everything will be fine.

Use my referral link here and you can get $57 SGD off your first booking!

Iceland Airbnb Review: Cosy 2nd floor apt. fully equipped

We had to be very careful when we were choosing our accommodation in Iceland. Iceland has close to zero public transport, hence we needed to find a place that is accessible to amenities. The hotels were very expensive and we had quite a few scares with airbnb; we previously booked another listing in Iceland but the host decided to stop hosting as they had to move back into the apartment. By that time, the other listings that we had short-listed were already occupied so we were quite lucky to have found this. Very cosy apartment with superb heating (we switched it off and open the windows on a few occasions). The kitchen was well-equipped. TV had english channels (finally)! Good strong wifi. The tours could find us and pick us up without a problem. The main shopping street is within walking distance, so is the supermarket. Siguron replies our queries through airbnb promptly. He reassured us that even if he wasn’t around that we will get to stay at the listing (there was an incident where he was suddenly uncontactable and got two bad reviews).

The washing machine is very tiny and bounces around when it is on, so you have to be around when it washes. But other than that, there isn’t much to complain about the place 🙂

Use my referral link here and you can get $57 SGD off your first booking!

Berlin Airbnb Review: BERLIN HEART OF PRENZLAUERBERG!

There are many many listings in Berlin, so it really depends which part of the city you would want to stay. We chose to stay in Prenzlauerberg this time round. The next time round we would choose to stay around Alexanderplatz or Potsdamer Platz, more so for the fact that it easier to get there via public transport. It was a quiet neighborhood with lots of displays of artistic talents. So it is a little scary at night. However, I’m pretty sure we were only a street away from all the shopping.

Spacious apartment with a well-equipped kitchen. The door had two different locks so it made us feel secure. Enough heaters to keep us warm. There was a balcony that we didn’t use as it was too cold. REWE is just a short walk away (there’s a bridge to the right of the apartment which leads you across the railway tracks). Great communication with Maria, she is always prompt with her replies. Great burger place called ‘The Bird’ nearby. WIFI was good although we needed to reconnect with the same password a couple of times.

The apartment was quite a distances from the train station and the pavement was bumpy, so it wasn’t an easy walk. There are no elevators but still manageable as it was on the 2nd floor. The whole apartment in general is very well used; while we were there the kitchen bulb blew, the kitchen tap was leaking a little. No point using the TV again since there were all German channels.

Use my referral link here and you can get $57 SGD off your first booking!

Stuttgart Airbnb Review: Dreaming in the House of Angels

Again, listing is true to photos shown on airbnb. In fact, the airbnb photos are better than our badly taken ones. Haha. It was difficult to find a listing in Stuttgart, most are private rooms and there aren’t many listings that are near to the HBF. There are some really nice ones but they are too far out! This apartment was one of the more pricey ones we stayed in.

The good thing about the apartment is its location. Very accessible from Ubahn (Rathaus) and Sbahn (Stadd Mitte). There is a REWE (City) that is just across the road. Stuttgart’s longest shopping district is just a few minutes away. Well-equipped kitchen and lots of heaters to help dry your clothes. Good WIFI connection and clean apartment. The TV has 2 to 3 english news channel. Check in was easy as Ruben actually owns the bar on the first floor.

Communication with Ruben was not easy as he only replies in German; most of the time in just one or two short sentences. However, most of the information you need can be found in the description in airbnb. You have to climb many many flights of SPIRAL staircase before you get to the apartment. After opening the door, you still have to climb another one to reach the main area. It was madness! We decided to leave our luggage at the bottom of the staircase in the apartment and only take what we need up. Since there is a pub downstairs, there was always this faint smell of cigarette smoke at night. We were not bothered by the noise though.

Use my referral link here and you can get $57 SGD off your first booking!

Munich Airbnb Review: Wohnen am Hirschgarten – Neuhausen

The apartment is true to the photo seen on airbnb. This apartment is advertised as a ‘private room’ although Veronika will leave the entire apartment to you if you stay there. HOWEVER, she does drop by unannounced a few times a day. So sometimes we will come back and see her in the toilet or in the living room, or we will be on the way out and she will suddenly appear. It was a little weeiirrd.

Other than the secret visits from the host, we really like the apartment! The heating is in the floors, so it was never too toasty like some of the places we stayed in. It was spacious. There is an elevator. Well-equipped kitchen. The neighbourhood is very homely and made us feel safe. There is a supermarket (REWE) nearby and the Sbahn and tram is within walking distance. It was always nice to walk in the park in the early morning as we made our way to the tram.

Communication with Veronika can be better, she speaks English but sometimes needs a repeated email to get her attention. The surprise visits from her were a little unsettling. There is no WIFI, but you get to use the computer in the room. Oh and don’t bother using the TV, unless you speak German. The walk from the bahn is also not easy with heavy luggage as there is a staircase leading down to a rather bumpy pathway. Oh and the fridge didn’t work as well as the weather 🙂

Use my referral link here and you can get $57 SGD off your first booking!

Airbnb Review: Germany and Iceland

Our honeymoon was a 3 week trip to Germany, Iceland and London. Since the places we are visiting had stronger exchange rates than Singapore, we had to really try to reduce our expenses. In order to do that, we tried our very best to keep accommodation to a limit of 100 per night.

So we chanced upon this website, airbnb. This type of accommodation is pretty well-known and popular in Europe and we decided to give it a try. The concept is pretty simple: someone has an extra room in their apartment or an entire apartment that is vacant or seldom occupied, he/she uses airbnb to rent it out to travellers.

Here are the listings we stayed in for our honeymoon. I will be reviewing them separately in later posts.
Munich: Wohnen am Hirschgarten – Neuhausen
Stuttgart: Dreaming in the House of Angels
Berlin: BERLIN HEART OF PRENZLAUERBERG!
Iceland: Cosy 2nd floor apt. fully equipped

Some tips to ensure you don’t end up with no place to sleep on your trip:
1. Airbnb verified photos
2. Preferably more than 10 reviews
3. Prompt replies from hosts
4. Book backup hotels that allow you to cancel without charge on the day of arrival (we used Motel One in Germany)
Note: we also check once a month to ensure that the listing is there, sometimes hosts can decide to stop renting. It happened to us twice, once for a listing in Stuttgart and another for a listing in Iceland, and they were both listings that were on airbnb for years and had lots of reviews. When a host cancels your booking after you have paid, airbnb will refund the money plus some credit to help you find another accommodation. So don’t fret! You will just need to have alternatives.

Other things we looked out for:
1. Entire apartment (most private rooms can’t be locked)
2. Apartments that were solely use for renting and not the host’s home
3. No security deposit (we have no idea what the owners might demand from us at the end of the day)
4. WIFI

Lessons learnt from our honeymoon (very very important for people with heavy luggages):
1. Get a place with a elevator or is on the first floor (it is NOT FUN carrying them up flights and flights of stairs)
2. Get a place that is really really near the train station (the pavement is not always smooth)

Once last thing: don’t be too kiasu! Most of the hosts were not able to tell us if their listing is available when we queried 6 months in advance. Enquire and book maximum 3 months before your trip. Unless you are going during extremely popular periods like Oktoberfest.

Use my referral link here and you can get $57 SGD off your first booking!