Travel Apps :: Airbnb

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Have you ever booked a vacation rental condo or home? Although this trip style is slightly less pampered than a hotel stay, a vacation rental offers other freedoms like having your own kitchen, staying in a unique accommodation and dabbling in the local scene.

Attracting more design-savvy units and hip travelers, Airbnb, one of the newer, kitschier vacation rental sites, has just launched an app which I happen to like as much as the website!  In it, you can search from 8000 cities and 170+ countries to find a private apartment or private island. One of my favourite features within the app is the categories it lists when you first start searching: Top 40, Oui Oui Paris, Unique New York, Planes Trains and Automobiles, I love Glamping, etc...

{Stay tuned for more info on Airbnb and other holiday rental sites tomorrow in our Vacation Rental Round-Up.}

Airbnb App Details

• Free
• Works with iPhone & iPod Touch. I'm told a mobile site is being developed this quarter which will serve other mobile platforms; once this is done the company plans on developing an app for the iPad and android.
• Book a space through your iPhone
• Use "Find a place, tonight!” for last-minute availability
• Message guests and hosts directly from your phone
• Access your upcoming itinerary, complete with directions to your destination
• A 'daily deal' feature has been added, which could be cool, but it is still in beta testing, so look out for future updates in this regard.

Other Travel Apps Don't forget to peruse the other 60+ travel apps we've reviewed from travel first aid, to luxury and boutique hotel finders, to border waits, to trip itinerary management. Here are the most recent:

• Book Crazy
• TomTom
• Get Packing
• Picture Translate
• Flightcaster

Spotlight :: Portland {part deux}

Portland has a way of making return visitors. The foodie town I visited only two months ago beckoned me back {by way of a duvet cover, but that's a whole other story} to sip more coffee, savour more food and save the tax on a few petite purchases.

Only 6 hours from Vancouver, BC, weekending in Portland is a treat. Some choose to get there by racing down road warrior-style ignoring any of nature's calls, whereas, I suggest making the journey down part of the trip by stopping along the way in Bellingham and Seattle to break up the drive.

Video

The above 21-second video is a combo of pictures from Portland part one and part deux. To slow down the speed, drag your curser over the status bar. Trouble viewing the video?

PDX Highlights {most pictured above}

• Breakfast at Mother's Bistro & Doug Fir{vintage-woodsy restaurant by day, serious music venue by night}
• Drinking coffee at Stumptown & Coava{try one of their amazing 3-minute slow-pour coffees from their specially developed kone coffee filters}
• Happy hour at Clyde Common{2 words: fried chickpeas}
• Dinner at Irving St Kitchen{don't miss their butterscotch pudding with caramel sauce and creme fraiche}
• Shopping at Anthroplogie, Canoe & West Elm

Needless to say, I'll hopefully return for round three sometime soon. Whether in spring, summer, winter or fall, don't miss Portland's unique neighborhoods, bike accessibility, charcuterie platters, bourbon-esque drinks or indie music scene.

Related
Spotlight Portland {part one}
Ace Portland
Vancouver to Seattle Must-Stops

[photos snapped by @tripstyler, @heatherlovesit & @nachoking]

Fashion Friday :: Cozy in the City

[trip style = urban + weekend getaway]

While everyone else flies south for the winter, there must be some logic in doing the opposite, right? Don't let a little thing like winter stop you from visiting your favourite northern hemisphere cities. One of my guilty pleasure internet pastimes is looking at street style blogs. What I love about the cold-weather-city style blogs at this time of year is seeing how people do cold well. People who dress for function - and fashion - in winter conditions. They make a chilly vacation destination seem a little less scary.

Now what to bring?

(clockwise from top left) Madewell silk cargo shirt, J.Crew cashmere v-neck sweater, Club Monaco vera coat, Temple Bags wool tote, Oliver Peoples sheldrake sunglasses, Anthropologie raw citrine earrings, Free People angora convertible gloves, Anthropologie dessau scarf, Madewell biker boot, Madewell rail straight black jeans, Topshop ladder detail socks

Trip Styler Tip: 87% of all lost earrings fall out during the winter. Okay so I made up that stat, but it's got to be something like that. Scarves are the #1 culprit, followed closely by change rooms. Again, I made that up, but I bet I'm right. Always wear earrings with tight backings while wearing scarves and toques. While wearing hook earrings, pinch the hook and add a spare plastic backing if possible (save them when you buy the earrings).

{Fashion Friday posts are published on the last Friday of every month and written by our resident fashion consultant Heather.}

[Street style photos via The Sartorialist, Refinery 29, Mr. Newton, Face Hunter]

Travel Trends :: Solo Travel

Have you ever traveled solo? ....Contiki tours don't count...

Recently I've seen a big push on the part of major travel companies to target solo travelers and create single traveler-friendly accommodations. In fact, a few months ago I received an email from someone who was looking for some sunny, single-occupancy getaway options; I wish some of the below options would have been available at the time.

Because most packaged vacations---whether cruise or all-inclusive---are based on double-occupancy, unless you travel with a stranger, finding a single room and paying a single price is challenging. Traditionally, this has left solo travelers with DIY vacation packages: booking a flight + hotel + ....... which can also be frustrating given most hotel rooms have space for two.

Whether you specifically want to travel solo, or can't find anyone with the same time-off, here are some single travel options for your next getaway:

Single Traveler Getaways [trip style = cruise] Nowegian's Epic, its newest, biggest and most impressive ship---think vodka ice lounge, big-top circus tent & Blue Man Group headline show---offers 128 single rooms. The Epic hit the high seas in June and surprise surprise, the single rooms have been in high demand, which is likely driving the company to come out with more single rooms on two ships it has coming in 2013 and 2014.

Although Royal Caribbean has been known to offer favorable pricing on cruises for solo passengers, they are now refitting the 2,112-passenger Radiance of the Seas and adding 3 single rooms. Three rooms? Really? I understand this decision is bottom-line influenced, but only adding three singles rooms to an under-served market is a short-sighted mess. The newly renovated ship will service Alaska and Vancouver this summer. {via The Cruise Log}

[trip style = all-inclusive] I've heard stories in the past about Club Med Turks and Caicos being a pretty hot & heavy singles destination, and it appears it still is. Targeting "friends, singles and couples", the resort offers group, single and double-occupancy pricing.

[trip style = urban getaway] The ultra-hip Ace Hotels {Portland, Palm Springs, New York, Seattle} offers shared and well-priced standard rooms. Note that most hotel shared rooms mean 3 of 4 beds and a bathroom down the hall. If you're scared off by the shared bathroom, stay in a 3 or 3 1/2 star hotel with shared rooms and the bathrooms are usually cleaned well.

Pod hotels are all the rage in Asia and Europe, and these small-scale, no-frills hotel rooms are fabulous if you're planning on spending most of your time out and about, and not doing any lounging by the non-existent fire in your room. And for those of you who want to venture to NYC, the futuristic Yotel is opening this spring! If you have trouble finding a room I'll be shocked, given the 669 cabins planned. Don't miss your room's signature techno wall.

[trip style = budget conscious] Some hostels are grungy, but others can be really nice {like this gem I stayed in while in Cusco, Peru}. So, if you don't want to do the out-of-university budget travel thing, but want a decent, value-priced place to stay {where you can be as social as you want} don't dismiss a hostel. Find a hostel search iphone app here.

[trip style = luxury] Seasoned solo travelers who prefer the finer things in life swear by 5-star hotels with a busy bar and/or coffee shop scene. This way, a social gathering place is mixed into the overall experience.

PS - Today is our 300th post! Thanks for reading {and sometimes skimming:}. Please continue to pass it on as we dish out daily travel to amateur jetsetters.

[photo by @TripStyler at the Eiffel Tower. The first time I visited Paris it was on a 4-day solo trip---fabulous experience.]

Fight or Flight

Have you ever had a fight with an airline fare, and it won? I've booked my fair share of great flight and vacation deals, but my recent misstep was a doozie, so I decided to use the misfortune as an example of what NOT to do!

Like stocks, airline fares fluctuate. Buy your ticket on a good, down day and you're happy. Buy it on a bad, up day and you're mad and out money. I was abruptly reminded of this fare dance when I booked a flight down south---apparently this youngish snowbird momentarily left her head in the clouds.

Fighting the Flight Recently my husband and I were in the market for a flight to Scottsdale, AZ. When we initially surveyed the options a month and a half before our departure date, the fare was $300 return YVR to PHX---not a bad price for a direct, weekend {friday - monday} flight. Why we didn't just book our flight right then is beyond me, but the story gets worse. A few days later, we remembered we had to book our flight, so we went back online and noticed it had gone up by $100. Great. At the time, we were on vacation in Mexico and again, forgot to book. I wish I could blame it on the tequila, but, I don't like it very much. Finally, the next day, we wised-up and booked the flight. The only problem? It was $200 more than a few days before. Yes, we could have flown out of an alternate airport or changed our dates for a slightly cheaper price, but it wasn't worth it. So, we swallowed our pride and handed over $500 to US Airways....thank God for the points on my travel reward card.

Taking Flight {Best Practices}

• Follow these recommendations {from Kayak's Chief Scientist} for the BEST TIMING to book a flight
• Set up a fare alert with Kayak or Yapta for the flight you're eying
• Worried your flight price will go down after you book? If so, Yapta can help you get back the difference.

Moral of the story: if you're within a month and a half of your estimated departure, don't fight the flight, just book it!

[photo by Victor Dee]