Though our stay in the Lisbon airbnb we chose was amazing, it started out a bit rocky. Here’s what happened…
I headed to Lisbon with my sister (Karla) and our two cousins (Niccole and Lynn) were meeting us the next day. Karla and I flew from Philly to Lisbon and of course had sorted our airport transfer and airbnb ahead of time.
Quick sidebar – those airbnb discrimination ads are all too REAL and it’s happened to us several times. But the place we selected was called United Nations Apt so, we took a guess at them not being racist assholes who would deny our brown faces a stay.
View from our living room!
I digress…so we arrive into the airport quickly find our driver who was waiting for us with Karla’s name on a sheet of paper. He was super sweet and totally handsome – the men in Lisbon are basically gorgeous. Anyway…he asks for our address and Karla goes into her phone to our confirmation email. Addresses around the world can look very different so we had no idea there was no actual house number listed.
The Driver: This is just a square, a big center…what building is it?
Karla searches through her emails…nothing.
Me: (quietly panicking)
Karla: Oh ok, I have a phone number here – can you call it for us?
Driver: Sure!… (he calls)
Uh, the number isn’t working miss. Do you have another one?
Karla checks through a sea of emails and it’s the only number listed.
Me: (we’re fucked.)
We decided to just get into the car and head toward “The Square” in hopes that we can just keep calling the number and it will 1. ring and 2. an actual human will answer it. The driver passes us his phone and let’s Karla repeatedly dial. I stare out of the window taking in the scenery and envision what it might be like to sleep on the beautifully laid cobble stone.
The phone rings, it’s the agency that manages our airbnb! OMG Yaaaaas. No wait…he doesn’t know the address of our building and someone will call us back?
Karla: But sir, this isn’t my phone and and…
Finally we get our address, it’s about 9am and we can’t check in until noon. We sit in a coffee shop across from our apt building guzzling coffee, trying an assortment of less than yummy snacks and inhaling the hundreds of cigarettes being smoked. Yuck.
Me: This place better be fucking amazing!
It was…we get into the apt. The lady from the management office is nothing short of amazing. So lovely, so helpful. The apt is just as it looks online, the view is to die for and oh, just one small problem. The wifi is down. Screeching hault in my soul? Ex-squeeze me?
Me: I have to work while I travel that’s not going to be something we can deal with ma’am.
This precious angel runs across town and is back within the hour with a hot spot. The cable company never came to fix our wifi so we had a hot spot the entire trip which of course we took everywhere. Amazing!
My Room (gah!)
Reasons this apt was perfect for our stay:
1. It was big, bright, airy and extremely comfortable! No TINY bathrooms. Europe is good for restricting your space while you pee and shower.
2. We were centrally located. It was easy to visit all of the other neighborhoods because we were smack in the middle. Not to mention the neighborhood was super eclectic and didn’t feel overwhelmingly touristy. Lots of locals just hanging out…
3. Lots of food near us, including a grocery store an awesome square with food trucks, drinks and music into the evening. One night I sat in the apt, lights out and giant window/doors open listening to bomb afro/Portuguese music being plaid for hours.
My Outfit
Check out Part 1 of my travel vlog here! Also, subscribe! xo
