This may be my Tango Voyage, but there is much more available than just Tango. Since I’m traveling for a while, I’m going to be doing other activities besides Tango. Mostly walking and touring around, seeing some local places, maybe avoiding certain neighborhoods, or finding myself in the middle of someplace I shouldn’t be. Either way, a post about where I am, or what I’m doing besides Tango will be here and there, including this one, which focuses on AirBnB and my experience with it so far.

The First AirBnB

For those unaware, AirBnB, is for the most part renting a spare room in a home.  You can rent a whole apartment, shared room, or similar. For me though, I’ve opted for a private room in someones residence. My budget though limits me to where I can stay, and keeping around a price point of around $400 USD a month for lodging. There are only so many places available for me to stay at, and finding someone to respond back and saying yes or no, is nerve wracking, especially since things can be cancelled. Issues arise too since I do not have any references at the time of writing this.  By the time this trip is over, I’ll have accrued many along this journey!

My first choices for AirBnB were cancelled or declined, but a found a nice spot for the first few weeks of my journey.  I was hoping for a month, but that seemed to be a bit too much for most people since I am new to AirBnB without references (even though I’m verified every which way on the site). Many places offer monthly discounts, which makes it the same cost as sometimes only 2 weeks normally. This first spot though was a very lucky find.  Not exactly the location I was wanting, but is just outside of San Telmo, only a few blocks from the main road with the Obelisk.

View of the terrace at my first AirBnB!

I find myself with a wonderful host named Ale for my first two weeks which is in a pretty good central location just slightly off the beaten path for local tango. There is indeed tango everywhere, usually within 20 blocks, so walkable for me. The first few days of chatting with Ale we found common interest, he made dinner, he even bought me some treats and fruits as he didn’t see me eating much. He was surprised at my liking Tango, and also the fact that I enjoy mate, which is a first for him and is not something most people from the United States drink, especially socially. I will say I’ve never really drank mate socially since the opportunity never really arose back at home.  It’s a good concept, and the amount of mate in the gourd, and the size of the gourds are indeed different than what I’ve seen in the states.

So some wonderful luck with my first host, a great room on the top floor, some stairs required, a beautiful view from the rooftop just a few steps from my bedroom door, and I’m sold. I’m a little bit of an introvert, which I’m trying to change, but that comes out with my schedule of Tango in the evenings. Must say, for my first AirBnB and where I’m at for the price, I couldn’t be happier, now to just get out on the town more and keep learning Spanish!

Full View From the Rooftop

Mostly full view from the Rooftop!

Finding Additional Hosts

With only these first two weeks booked, I need additional places to stay… this is where things once again seem to frustrating.  Finding hosts is pretty simple on AirBnB, having them accept you or even just respond back to you is very difficult. I am just looking for a host that speaks some English, in my price range, and in an area I’d like to be near. Going through a few people, I find there are many places listed, that are always listed, but don’t ever get a response for, and just denials. Going through about 5 of these, I finally find one where I receive a response back, with some questions, but otherwise a good to go.  So it finally looks like I’ll have a place for a full month this time, right in the middle of Palermo!

At this point, I’ve also looked into Couch Surfing, using couch surfing as I want to stay in the area.  May just do that little by little between some weeks if I can’t find a suitable host on AirBnB, or I might look for Hostels.  Hostels are a bit outside my comfort zone, especially for the price, but I’m debating on maybe working at one for board.  I don’t know at this point what I’m going to do, as options are available, and now I have no rush unless this AirBnB becomes cancelled on me before I arrive in a few days. Either way, there are options, and even though they may be frustrating to find something in my price range, I’m confident I wont be sleeping on the streets in Buenos Aires, there are indeed ways to survive, even when things don’t go as planned, granted I have a data connection on my phone or wifi for my laptop.