Solo Travel and Meet Locals with Homestay.com

Solo travelers have plenty of accommodation options these days: hotels, hostels, AirBnBs, Couchsurfing ... but have you considered a homestay? Homestay.com is a website dedicated for that.

Unlike AirBnBs where these days you have people buying properties exclusive to rent out, or people who rent out their homes while they are away, with Homestay.com each home will have a host present during your stay. This way, travelers will get to interact with a local, who are happy to share their knowledge of the area. The room price also includes a "light breakfast" although some hosts may provide more meals as well that will be detailed on their page.

This website provides more personality information of the hosts than AirBnBs (think Couchsurfing) such as their hobbies, so you can find hosts with common interests, or what they like to do when they're hosting or how involved they like to be.

Homestay is based in Ireland but currently has hosts in more than 150 countries and the price ranges widely depending on location, from a $10/ night in Seville, Spain to a $248 beachfront room in San Diego (much cheaper options in San Diego are also available).

The website typically charges 15% fee to guests (based on what the host charges) but if you book via this link you will get a discount, bringing the fee down to 10%!
How this normally works is that you will pay 15% deposit to Homestay.com (10% with the link above), and the remaining balance will be paid directly to your host. Hosts can set their preference on payment methods, such as Paypal, bank transfer, etc.

If you're looking for a more local experience during your upcoming travels, give Homestay.com a look!

Gateways Inn and Restaurant in Lenox, MA. Relaxing in The Berkshires.

As part of my reviews of Select Registry, an association of bed and breakfasts, inns, and small hotels in the US, I stayed at Gateways Inn in Lenox, Massachusetts. Back in the Berkshires!

Gateways Inn is housed in a building that used to be the summer cottage of Harley Procter of Procter & Gamble and is now an 11-room inn.

I stayed in the Rosalind room, adorably decorated in light blue.

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Famed San Fernando Valley hangout Sportsmen’s Lodge gets a major facelift

by guest blogger @iam_robot

Sportsmen’s Lodge, once known as San Fernando Valley’s fixture for fine dining and celebrity scene, is banking on high-priced makeovers to boost more visitors and to compete with newer, much more contemporary venues opening up blocks away.

The hotel – located strategically on Ventura Blvd and Coldwater Canyon Avenue - opened 52 years ago and was a popular hangout spot for movie writers, stars, producers – Clark Gable, Katherine Hepburn, Grace Kelly, and Humphrey Bogart are frequent guests.  Rumor has it, these celebrities were very fond of the trout-fishing lake. They were given rods and bait to catch their fish and make dinner, courtesy of the lodge’s restaurant. However, in 1971, fishing activity at the lodge was shut down by the Department of Public Health due to the San Fernando earthquake.

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