Staying at a holiday home

Renting a holiday home may not be as fancy as hotels, but they’re comfortable and fun too, writes ALLAN OLINGO

For many travellers, the thought of renting out a place tends to be intimidating and filled great anxieties. Here are tips on making your stay comfortable:

New Friends

Make friends with the travellers you meet at these places. This will ease your stay as you listen to their stories. You’ll usually enjoy and also share a bottle of wine with them, which is cheaper than buying wine by the glass!

On most instances, you will find people talking, reading, or checking their emails in the restaurants or common areas. Most will be more than happy to have a stranger join their conversation. So don’t be shy, open up and have fun.

Bring the extras

The idea of staying at a holiday home is to give you a personalised homely feel. Carry your own towels, soap and other personal effects. They might not be a guaranteed provision.

You can also carry your own drinks and food as they have a kitchen where you can prepare it. Get to have information of what you can leave in the fridge as most hostels have house cleaning services and they might trash some of the food, without prior instructions.

Valuables

 Do not leave your money, wallets, handbags and other valuables lying around in your room. Most of these facilities offer a locker or a safe, so use it. Get to know the details of the area and emergency response action. Find out what they expect from you like curfews, bringing in guests, and what’s not permitted. This will help you avoid incidences that might cause a breach in security.

Interact

You will usually always find people talking, reading, or having a conversation in the common area such as the restaurant, gym or even the swimming pool area. Most will be more than happy to have a stranger join their conversation, so don’t be shy.