it all looked good

The most (possibly only) tiresome part of slow travel  is finding apartments. Sure, if we had unlimited resources or even just lots of money, it might be one of the more fun aspects. But for us, it usually involves a lot of searching and then hoping. Funky apartments can be charming.

We have found some good ones in our slow travel journey.  Our apartment in Cuenca, Ecuador, pops to mind. The people we rented from in Crucita, Eucador, knew the people in Cuenca, so as we were ready to leave the beach we had a nice three-bedroom, 6th floor, modern apartment, close to the centre,  to rent  for $850/month. Of course we had struggled to find the Crucita house. Finding good beach rentals in Ecuador is challenging.

Those gems pop up, and we’ve enjoyed our share.  The funky apartments are memorable as well.  For example, we were in Berlin for our son’s graduation and planned to slow travel  to spend some time with him. We focused on the Neukölln neighborhood, at the time a Turkish area with a thriving weekly market.  The neighborhood was in the process of gentrification with new bars and restaurants opening almost daily. Rents were low and the variety of value-priced restaurants amazing, which made it a cool place to live.

Turkish market 540

Craigslist was hardly used in Berlin, we couldn’t get a response. We had better luck with the German version of airbnb. As we made our way through several possibilities, we found a “bachelor pad” a 20-something male nurse was subletting while on vacation. It was clean, cheap and in a perfect location. Did I say it was small? Futon, stereo, sofa, kitchen; two rooms. As we finalized the agreement (he spoke English), we asked about the rent and his response floored us. He said, “Just leave it on the kitchen table with the keys when you leave.” To this day we remark on this “European” level of trust that is foreign to us. Unfortunately, this rental was only for three weeks so we needed another apartment.

1st berlin apt

Unfortunately, we found Mary, a struggling American artist in her mid-30’s who needed some cash so she was renting her very nice one-bedroom apartment in a several degrees more upscale neighborhood for a month or two to earn some money. We haggled over the price and how long she would rent. We should have known there would be issues. We settled in to work and three weeks later she emailed us to back out of the agreement. She needed her apartment back. She whined and insisted and forced us into the market again. To this day, we can point to two bad experiences renting apartments, and both were with Americans.

Slow travel in Buenos Aires was on the tip top of my wish list. Early in 2011, we planned our stay as well as we could. In any large city there are clearly defined neighborhoods with distinct characters. This made finding an apartment in Buenos Aires all the more challenging. Each neighborhood has something to offer.

We were warned about San Telmo.  Yes, it was hip, cool, arty, trendy and edgy. And it had an accompanied reputation as not entirely safe.  We always take these “safety” warnings loosely. People see these things differently but when several people say it, we at least listen.

Helen from Australia answered an ad with an apartment in San Telmo. She sent pictures. We went for it. We wrote elsewhere on the blog about this apartment and I think it is worth the read. Bottom line, it was safe enough; still we decided to find another apartment.  I like San Telmo. Funny, even now as I look back at the apartment pictures, I wonder why we ever moved.

Buenos Aires does have an active expat community, and we found Mike’s YanquiMike site to be an invaluable place to touch base with the expat community. Also, expats and locals seemed to use Craigslist, so that was helpful. In the first two weeks we got to know San Telmo well and by hunting for apartments, much of the city. After some hand-wringing  we found an apartment in Palermo for $850/month with a  portero (doorman) whom we would later call a friend.

The experiences and the people associated with slow travel, not to mention the challenges to be met, are what make this form of travel special. As people become increasingly untethered from the office and as baby boomers look for authentic cultural experiences, slow travel is sure to grow. And one of the first steps for slow travelers is to find the perfect apartment at their destination.