The Year of Rental Houses

As we come upon the 10th month of the year, we can only begin to reflect on the past year, and boy oh boy, it’s been a crazy one. Some of my biggest plans for this year were a number of trips I spent weeks planning both to far off and closer destinations. As you well know, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and nearly all of my travel plans were gone with the snap of a finger. However, with my love of travel so strong, my wanderlust was never stopped. 2020 has been a year of swapping planes for cars, distant to nearby, restaurants to home chef and most noticeably hotels for home rentals. 

In a parallel universe, this year most likely would have included spring break in the Carribean, a summer European trip with my grandparents, ending summer in Hawaii, spending Christmas on the other side of the world as well as overwater bungalow huts, scuba diving, bungee jumping and most importantly, following my dad all over the country for free, using his companion pass. I had lined up the best year of travel I could have dreamed of. I was going to check three destinations from my bucket list. But that never happened. That said, I did indeed travel.

My family started off by renting a lakefront house at Lake Anna, which is only about an hour south of Washington D.C. We got a terrific last minute deal and got away for a long weekend as a surprise for my dad’s birthday. We brought along a couple kayaks and paddle boards. As it was our first time getting away since the beginning of the pandemic, it was a relief. We learned a few key things from that rental; location, location, location. If it had not been lakefront, the experience would have been less satisfactory. Although it was not the nicest house by any means, it was all we needed in order to roast marshmallows in the evening and paddle around during the early hours of the morning while the water was like glass. The second thing we learned was that you should always talk to the owner of a rental house before booking. It may be easier just to put in your dates and click ‘book now,’ but talking to the owner allowed us to save a fair amount of money as it was a last minute booking.

We took this knowledge when we booked our next trip only a couple weeks after we had gotten home. Rather than lakefront, we opted to go to a small beach community in South Carolina. With this trip we booked a small condo that was only about a half mile from the beach, but this time we rented bikes which were very convenient to get to and from the beach. We had a great view of a pond and the fish that continued to jump out of it behind the condo, and we were next to a golf course where we played a couple of rounds. Overall, another positive experience of a trip without having to once enter a grocery store or restaurant. 

We continued the summer fun by spending a week with our friends in a beach house a block from the beach. The highlight was without a doubt the pool which was amazingly warm despite the freezing Outer Banks ocean temperatures. Then we stayed with my dad’s brother at a beach house he had rented before COVID, where, once again, the pool stole the show.

Home rentals allow you to be able to space out from your family during the trip in a way not possible in hotels. Unlike hotels, you can rent a house without ever seeing another person, let alone being close enough with one to talk to them. Our only encounter was the families wakeboarding and tubing out on the lake. This not only meant that we were able to be extremely safe during the trip, but we never had to use a mask which made us forget about the problems of COVID, the reason we wanted to go on a trip in the first place. Additionally, rental houses allow you to cook your own meals, which makes the trip more affordable and keepa visits to a restaurant to a minimum during a time where it’s best to be as distant as possible.

Overall, one of the key differences in the way I have booked travel since the beginning of the pandemic is that my family is now focusing on rental homes. We found that the rental homes felt more COVID safe to the social distancing compared to a hotel. This leads to decreased need for masks and a more relaxing trip as well as reduced stress. In conclusion, during a time of fear, there is nothing better than a quick get away. During a time of social distancing there is no better solution than a rental home.