Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Things To Know When Using AirBNB For The First Time




Last summer Gerry asked me where we could go for a long weekend trip?  My ideas included the ancient Mesa Verde Indian ruins in New Mexico, a drive up the picturesque U.S. Route 101 to anywhere, or to Palm Springs.  To my surprise, he says "how about that trip to Forks you've always wanted to do since Twilight came out?".  Insert the surprised-face emoji right here.  Is he for real?  Why don't you plan it, he says, and I took off like a rocket.

As I searched the web for places to stay, an Airbnb ad popped up showing a photo of Bella's Cabin in Forks.  It looked like an amazing cabin in the woods, and after reading all of the reviews, I booked it.  On the day of our arrival in Forks, our host met us on the side of the lonely Highway 101 in upper Washington as was the plan.  She said there was no way we'd find it on our own.  The cabin was surrounded by a few houses, but being surrounded by woodland trees and shrubs, it would've been difficult to find on our own after sunset.

The cabin was definitely cozy and charming but cluttered with so much stuff, mainly Twilight memorabilia.  I gently gathered the items and placed them to the side.  Other than that, the cabin had all the amenities.  It was lovely . . . . until Gerry found the bats.  Little brown bats, the Latin name:  Myotis lucifugus.  The cabin description made no mention of flying mammals as part of the booking, although the host did tell us that tons of bats live in the tree right outside the cabin and will zoom right in through an open door or window.  Personally, I feel that bats are harmless but I am also aware that bat guano is dangerous to your health.  The story of the bats will have to be found in a future post because this post is all about what you need to know about booking through Airbnb.


So for all of you first-time Airbnb users, the following is what you need to know.



KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU WANT


What kind of home are you looking for to give you and your group the best time possible?  Where in the town or city do you plan to spend the most time in?  Do you prefer renting a room in an apartment or an entire house?  Whichever you choose, select one that's large enough to provide ease of movement inside and outside.  Another basic question is what is your budget?  Knowing exactly what you want is the first step.


BE SPECIFIC IN YOUR SEARCH



When you know exactly what you want in the location and type of lodging, fine-tune the details of your search.  There are many options in Airbnb and has over 5 million listings worldwide.  Besides knowing if you want an entire house, shared or private room, you also need to ask yourself: is a washer and dryer included, is there a parking spot for your car rental, are pets welcome, or are baby cribs included?  Seek all of your essentials. 


LOOK OVER THE PHOTOS





Check out the photos of the property you're interested in.  Photos will verify the size of the rooms, aesthetic and design.  If there aren't enough photos to view, or are of poor quality, beware.  You want to see what you'll be walking into when you arrive at your destination. Photos should give you an idea of what's included in each room, from different viewpoints.  Does the page give you views to the outside and landscapes?  If so, then you can be sure the host is sharing every aspect of a well-outfitted vacation space and proud of it.


READ THE REVIEWS


User reviews are crucial and a useful tool in selecting a property.  While the host will always give a favorable description of their property, past users provide more reliable insight into their experience and more.

Thoroughly read the reviews, taking note of recurring themes.  If a problem is mentioned over and over again, it doesn't necessarily mean you should skip that listing.  For example, many reviews will mention that the property has no air conditioning but if you're traveling in the cooler season, it won't be as much of a concern for you.  However, if the reviewers consistently complain about poor communication with the host, or uncleanliness of the property, you may want to move on.  Don't let one negative review squelch your interest if there are tons of positive ones.  Everyone's experience will be different, so look for overall trends rather than particular negatives.

Lastly, the number of reviews posted carries weight.  If you're okay with taking a chance on a brand new property with little or no reviews, that's your choice.  Properties with plentiful reviews mean the host is competent and knows how to give the Airbnb user a memorable experience. 


READ THE HOUSE RULES & POLICIES


Everything you need to know about your Airbnb rental is right there on the page.  Click on every link and tab to gather all the information.  What amenities are included, what is the cancellation policy, what type of lodging is it, and what are the host's rules of the house?  It will be different for all properties. Don't assume that what you have in your own home will be included in the Airbnb of your choice.  Familiarizing yourself with the fine print will assure you will have a lovely and stress-free stay.  Should you arrive and certain amenities that were described on the Airbnb page are not available, you are within your rights to ask for a refund.


KNOW THE NEIGHBORHOOD


Once you've decided on your perfect location in one of the 191-plus available countries Airbnb operates in, get to know the neighborhood.  Use the map provided in the listing you chose, or pull up the information on Google Maps.  You'll have peace of mind knowing where to buy basic food staples or where to pick up cold medicine once you're there, and not look like a lost tourist.


GET TO KNOW YOUR HOST

You are encouraged to reach out to your host if you have any questions about the listing, sites to see, anything.  You can reach them directly if the host has not already contacted you first.  Introduce yourself, explain why you're visiting the area and your plans for when you're there.  A good host will do their absolute best to accommodate your needs.  Open communication with your host builds confidence for both parties and gives the host an opportunity to make you feel even more welcome.


BE THE PERFECT GUEST

Being a good guest means following the house rules and paying attention to the policies set forth in the Airbnb listing.  Treat your vacation home the same way you want your home to be treated.  Be clean and tidy always and write a gracious review so your host knows how well she/he did their job.  Did you know that hosts can leave reviews about you?  If you have a bad mark against your name, chances are you may not be accepted as a guest elsewhere in the future.

Happy travels,

Friday, March 29, 2019

My Red Cross Story: Heaven Receives Another Angel


There are so many stories shared by Red Cross staff and volunteers.  From my nine years in this organization, I've not had a story to tell as sad as this one.  Two evenings ago, I received a phone call from a friend who also volunteers with the American Red Cross (ARC).  It's not the kind of call I was expecting.  I thought Cheri was calling to confirm our meet-up at headquarters next Tuesday.  Instead, she gave me the horrible news that the last client to leave the Otay Recreation Center shelter in Chula Vista two weeks ago had passed.

On the morning of March 18, I was called by the ARC to head down to the rec center to do a walk-through inspection of the facility and to set up a shelter for people displaced from two separate fires, unbelievably occurring at the same time, a block away from each other.  I saw the trailer park fire on the news as I dressed for the day.  That was the fire I believed I was responding to.  When I got to the shelter was when I learned of the other fire.  Most of the clients - we at the ARC do not refer to the displaced residents as "victims" - were able to find places to stay instead of coming to the shelter.  Those who couldn't find a place arrived at the shelter sleepy and bewildered.  The fires occurred very early in the morning.  

It was relayed to me, as the shelter was being readied, that the Fire Department took one client to the emergency room for smoke inhalation and that she could be released from the hospital early evening.  The client's name is Sherry.  She was found on the floor of her smoke-filled apartment, where the fire evidently started in her bedroom and had to be pulled out.

Sherry told me that the day before the fire, she was packing her belongings for a move out of her apartment to another place.  It was a marathon packing session.  In the super-early morning hours the day of the fire, she put her tea kettle on the stove fire and returned to her bedroom to continue packing but fell asleep instead.  It was the whistle of the tea kettle that woke her up, and not wanting the loud noise to wake up her neighbors, she hastily rose from the bed, knocking over her table lamp which also took a lit candle with it.  What you need to know is that Sherry suffered from multiple ailments before the fire and uses a walker to get around.  She was also still grieving the loss of her adult son and loved to share that she was proud of his military service in Afghanistan.  She also was grieving the loss of her granddaughter, circumstances unknown to us.

My shift ended at 7pm on the opening day of the shelter. I returned the next day at 6:45am.  The first time I met Sherry, she was wearing a hospital gown over the clothes she'd been wearing since the day before.  The hospital staff turned the hospital gown around so that the opening was now in the front to make it look like a jacket.  She also had hospital socks on her feet, no shoes.  She was asleep in the dormitory when I arrived.  Sherry would wake up a couple of hours later when she asked me to show her the restroom.  She sauntered from the back of the gym to the front, and into the next section of the building where the toilets were.  During that slow walk, Sherry told me that the hospital staff put her in a taxi upon her release from the hospital after it was apparent her daughter-in-law was not going to pick her up and take her home with her after many attempts to reach her by phone.  

I noticed when checking out the dorm area that Sherry had only 3 tote bags to her name plus the clothes on her back.  These were the items she had placed at the door of her apartment before the fire.  It came to mind that she was going to need clothing and shoes.  When John (ARC Spiritual Care Associate) and I talked about it, he said he'd do the shopping, that is until I said he'd have to buy undergarments, too.  So I wrote down a complete list of what she'd need, and it was passed to a team of two ARC Feeding associates who went shopping.  One of them was Lisa, so there was no hesitation in the buying panties and bra.  Sherry looked so happy and refreshed in her new garments.  She beamed like a ray of sunshine!  I couldn't let this moment go by without a picture to celebrate it.



By noon, Sherry said she called her daughter-in-law again to pick her up from the shelter.  This lady told Sherry that she was working a 10-hour shift and didn't feel she could manage to come and get her after work.  It saddened me that this family member obviously didn't care for Sherry's well-being.  Through all that Sherry had been through, she still smiled mixed with bouts of crying.  This lonely woman carried so much physical pain, a heavy heart for the loss of her beloved son and granddaughter, and no place to call home.

My very last memory of Sherry is bringing her a plate of a big slice of pepperoni pizza, a bowl of garden salad, her favorite cookie, a bag of chips and bottled water.  She was so hungry.  It's what she wanted to eat for dinner.  Before I left, I put my hands on her shoulders, looked into her eyes and told her that everything will turn out well and that I wished all good things for her.  The Red Cross is going to take very good care you, I told her.  I was experiencing pain in my lower back since Monday morning and knew if I didn't start self-care, I was going to be in big trouble.  The cause for pain was wrestling with metal chairs that wouldn't come off the carts as they should, carrying them from the classroom to the gym, then sitting in them.  They were the worst chairs ever to sit in.  Before I left for home, I took a photo of Sherry's shelter registration form which had her cell phone number.  I planned to phone her, and maybe even take lunch and sit with her for an hour or so.  However, when I woke up Wednesday morning, I could barely sit, stand or anything else without pain.  That's fine, I thought, I'll contact Sherry the following week.

The ARC caseworkers worked hard to find Sherry a new home.  With no identification card (because it was burnt in the fire), no apartment management would accept her.  It took eight calls before the caseworkers found the Rambler Motel.  It sounds frightful but it's rated high in Tripadvisor, believe it or not.  Caseworkers drove Sherry to her new home last Wednesday evening, and every single day, the ARC would phone her to see how she's doing, if she needs anything, and so on.  Caseworkers said Sherry would express endless gratitude and that she was so happy. Calls to her this past Monday and Tuesday went unanswered, however, and so when my friend Mary, a caseworker, phoned her on Wednesday and got no answer, she asked the motel management to do a wellness check on her.  Mary would then receive a call from the motel saying they had to call the Chula Vista Police Department because when they entered Sherry's room, they found her deceased.  I was informed of her death shortly thereafter.  I was stunned, heartbroken, unbelieving.    How can this be?

The ARC Mental Health Department did a kind thing for those of us who had the pleasure of spending time caring for Sherry on site and behind the scenes.  Last night, they invited us to come into headquarters for a coffee chat.  Stories about Sherry were shared, tears were shed and now we're trying to fill in the missing pieces of her death.  Why did she die?  Where was her body taken to?  Where will she be buried?  It's sad Sherry didn't have loved ones to keep an eye on her.  It's sad that she died alone.  How does anyone end up alone?  I don't know these kinds of things because I'm surrounded by an extremely huge family unit.  A mental health specialist asked each of us how we intend to deal with our grief.  The answers were so varied.  A nurse said that she will go see the super blooms, another staffer said he was going to get in his truck and drive, and another said she was going to spend a day this weekend walking in the park.  I shared that I began my grieving process by starting this blog post as soon as I learned of Sherry's death.

This story is not over.  We want to give our sweet Sherry a proper memorial service when our questions have been answered.  I grieve at Sherry's passing, but I am so thankful that she received the love and compassion while she was in our care.




Wednesday, February 13, 2019



My husband and I don't normally celebrate Valentine's Day like everyone else, because we don't need this one particular day to celebrate our love for each other.  So with that said, I do not have a Valentine gift for Gerry.  But I would love to share with you the perfect last-minute gift that you can give your honey-bug if you are lagging in the gift-giving department.


For Christmas, I gifted my husband part ownership of a lovely old castle in France.  What, you say??  That's right.  There is a wonderful movement happening in France that is devoted to bringing back to life structures that are centuries old through crowdfunding.  As a professional travel planner, I do a lot of research and happened, one day, to come across an article of a castle that was fully restored through donated funds from around the world.  What a genius idea to reach out to the online community for help in preserving French heritage!  

We love to travel.  We love history.  We love France.  We love taking care of things that are important.  



I wanted to participate in the restoration of this collective's second castle, the Chateau Fort de l'Ebaupinay.  This old gem is in a region that sits between Paris and Bordeaux.  I bestowed to Gerry the title of shareholder of l'Ebaupinay. Gerry's Christmas gift was presented in a gift bag, which had inside of it several photos of the castle, and on linen paper a description of the purchase and the key. He received his key to the castle a few days after Christmas.  This key will allow Gerry to participate in future restoration projects to bring this castle to life, and gives him free entry for life.  He can also, as projects arise, donate more money to the effort, and that elevates his rank in the hierarchy of the castle.  How fun is that!  The Dartagnan, which is the organization behind this effort to preserve, has other projects lined up.  Visit their website here to see how you can help.


I've always called Gerry my knight in shining armor.  But now he is my Lord, and I am his Lady.

Happy  Valentine's Day!


Thursday, January 31, 2019

GOING GRAY

With a new year comes new beginnings.  For me, it's a new look for my blog, new goals, and a new hair color, and it's all natural!  So let's talk about my hair, because I've received so many compliments and questions on how I achieved going gray.  
April 2017

For about five years, I'd thought of going gray.  In the beginning, my family said that my face looked too young to go gray.  "Why don't you just get more highlights in your hair," they said.  But to me, that was simply more time and money spent sitting in the salon.  Touching up the gray roots myself became a burden because I was constantly going to the drug store to purchase root powder, pens, brush-ons and boxed color.  I also had a particular section of hair that couldn't hold on to color and it was frustrating.  One day I complained again that I had to go home to color my roots, and that I wished I could go gray.  My daughter said "you've been saying this for two years, mom.  Why don't you just do it?".  Wow, I had experienced an epiphany!

That was in 2017.  I decided I would begin the graying process in 2018. In January of that year, I went to see my hairstylist, Randy, for some advice.  Instead of achieving my grays through creative coloring, he said the best way to go was to naturally grow out the gray and that I needed to be patient.  Very patient.  It was better than throwing a lot of chemicals on my hair for a long period of time and damaging the integrity of it.  So for three months, I used the L'Oreal root cover-up and lightly sprayed over the gray roots.  It took a lot of practice to get it right.  The thing with dark hair is the strong contrast of the gray coming in.  When I first sprayed, the color blasted out of the can.  Not only that, it made my hair tacky.  I didn't like the feel of it, and I couldn't even brush through it.  It was horrible!  Over time, I learned to spritz versus spray.  But still, my brush didn't glide through my hair easily.  What I love about the spray, however, was that it lasted way longer than the powders and roll-ons.  It also washed out easily.    I used this product religiously for four months, then got sick of the routine.  It was time to move on!

June 2018

After our trip to France in April, it was time to ditch the root spray.  I was going au naturel.  It was so freeing.  I was no longer a slave to hair color products!  Gawd, it feel so good!  As I continued to grow out the gray, I also trimmed the length of my hair little by little. 

July 2018

It was at this time that I began receiving so many compliments on my hair color and style.  Randy, my hair guy, said it was so edgy with that reverse-ombre look.  My youngest sister loved it so much and can't wait to go gray after she retires.  She tried to do it last year, but because of her job as head of her department and all the meetings she attends, she said it was difficult for her to keep a professional look.  I think I understand how she feels.  Strangers from many different places would approach me to say they loved what I was doing to my hair - the lady at the airport, the young male flight attendant as he's pushing the beverage cart down the aisle, the cashier at Williams-Sonoma, the speaker at an American Red Cross disaster feedback session (in front of everyone), the lady at a restaurant who wanted to take my picture so she could show her friend what she might look like growing out her grays, and so on.  It was incredible!  I never received as many compliments with my longer, dark hair.  I wish I had gone through this process years earlier, before it became the latest trend for ladies of all ages to go gray.

August 2018

My hair got even shorter before I had my hand surgery in late September.  I pondered how I would blow out my hair after every wash with only one hand.  It made sense to cut it shorter and let the hair air dry.  Cutting my hair short also relieved me of the dark tresses.  It was a whole new look.
September 2018
So to those who asked how hard was it to go gray, well, it wasn't all that difficult.  It might be a teeny bit scary when you begin the process, but it does get easier with each passing month.  How quickly you go gray depends on how short of a length you're willing to go to.  There are so many tricks out there to gracefully go gray.  My advice is to first speak with a hair professional who specializes in coloring techniques, then you make the decision to go gray the salon way, or go the au naturel way.  Just remember that in the salon, to go gray is not immediate depending on the present color of your hair.  It can happen in a day, or it can take a few months.

Are you inspired to follow this hair trend?