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accommodation
6 Things I Need to Consider Before Booking An Accommodation
August 24, 2017
Accommodation is very important thing to plan if we want to spend the night properly and comfortably, but based on the budget as well. I know that there are so many websites showing the best price for any hotel / hostels, but so far I will check booking.com, hostelbookers.com, airbnb.com.
So, what are the criteria I am looking forward for the accommodation?
1. Am I travelling alone?
If I am on my own, I would definitely choose hostel (female dorm) that I can cut cost and have the chance to mingle with random travelers.
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| Example of dorm. |
Female dorm vs mix dorm?
- It is a bit hard to find hostels with female dorm instead of mix room. Some people don't mind sharing room with opposite gender but I am not that person (no matter how open-minded I am).
- It is not that I did not consider at all, I had actually... but to think about all consequences, I made up my mind to spend extra money for a room for myself instead of mix room. That's what happened when I solo-traveled to Zakopane, Poland few months ago.
Obviously, it can cost 2-3x the price but I did it for the sake of my safety, inner peace and my faith.
2.1. If not alone, am I travelling with my family?
If I am going with family, Airbnb / a hotel room / a nice hostel room with en suite bathroom will be my preferences.
- Toilets - you know, parents they really care about toilets and I don't want to burden them with all necessary attire just to go to the toilets if we shared them with other travelers. My parents are getting used to keep the toilets dry, but sometimes it is hard to take wudu' (ablution without spilling water here and there).
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| Toilet in Italy. |
- Kitchen - I love the idea of Airbnb when there is a kitchen (if I rent the whole house / apartment) so that my mum can cook. Well... once again, parents are from different generations, they are not familar with Western restaurants and actually they just don't feel good eating in places that are... well, you know why.
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| Kitchen - some Airbnb owner will provide few food for free. |
I have my reasons / firm belief of going to restaurants and I've checked with many sources especially Fiqh Luar Negara. So, if I am travelling with my parents, I respect their decisions and well, who does not want to eat mum's home-cooked meals, huh? :D
2.2. If not alone, am I travelling with my friends?
We usually look for Airbnb, so far. Other than that, we will book an entire room for hostels.
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| King bed. |
3. Refering to point 1 and 2 - check the location.
Again, it also depends with whom I am travelling. Of course, with family I prefer somewhere closer to any bus / train stop or in the city center (although it will be a bit pricey).
- If we are travelling by car (road trip), as long as they provide free parking spaces and close to any public transportation stations, it should be okay (trust me, ticking parking spaces will filter out a lot of choices huhu). Any supermarket nearby is a bonus.
- Consider Uber to travel around if needed.
- Also consider if the stations nearby provide lifts / escalators. I seriously will minimize stairs for my parents unless it is beyond my control (unexpected renovation etc T__T)
4. Reviews.
I usually refer reviews before booking a place to stay, well I am sure all of us did. :)
Sometimes, I will personally ask friends to recommend any hostels they've tried. So far, I have good experiences with most places I have stayed. Ask them so that you always have low expectations of the places. Check reviews in hostelbookers, hostelworld, airbnb, booking.com, Trip Advisor, Google maps.
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| Good reviews :) |
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| Free food! |
The things I would focus from the reviews are:
- strength of the WiFi
- cleanliness of the toilets / rooms
- sound-proof rooms etc
5. Price.
This is usually the thing to filter after gathering few choices around the city we want to stay. I usually love to cut costs, but it depends on the situation (especially refer to point #1)
For Europe, I will put a limit of Euro 20/person/night when searching around. Usually the accommodation I have been to will be around that price. The cheapest I've got in Europe is around Euro 10-15. This applies to Airbnb as well, okay?
I have never been on a proper trip around Asia yet. So, I am sorry I can't say much.
Oh yea, another points to note:
- Always check for extra costs - like cleaning fees and service fees. Booking.com usually give cheap price but some rare occasion, the owner of the place will charge you extra cleaning fees
- If you are willing to pay security deposit, feel free to do so. For me, I will avoid that.
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| The bowl closer to the glass wall is called bidet - check here on how to use it. |
6. Before booking a room, always check the main website for that place.
For example, if you found any interesting place to stay, please check its own website. I had few experiences that if you contact the place directly, the price is way cheaper or they are doing some promotions. Well, no harm to check, right? If website is more expensive, you can just return to those booking sites and make reservations. I don't have trouble with all sites i have mentioned earlier.
This idea is similar to booking flight tickets. Of course I will use all the search engines but I will check the websites of the airlines afterwards.
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Please feel free to add anything you will consider before booking any rooms.
I would love to read yours. :D
Mind sharing your tips to book any accommodation in Malaysia / Asia? Please, kindly drop any comments. <3
SS, Perak, Malaysia
170818
Accommodation We Had Stayed In Europe (Part 2/2)
August 10, 2017
4. Odense, Denmark
Type: Private Room with Shared Bathroom & Kitchen
(click the link to get to its Airbnb's profile)
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| A room for 3 persons |
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| Hugeeee bathroom! |
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| The other side of bathroom. Trust me, it is as big as another bedroom! |
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| The kitchen. |
Lessons Learned:
- MY REVIEW: This amazing place is one of a kind. If you want a very calm, peaceful environment, this is a place to go - you can expect lots of wheat fields along the way to get here (my parents LOVE theseeeee so much) . The house is under renovation (no working was done during our stay) but it does not affect our activity at all. I think the room Tam provided to us was also after renovation, so it was actually MORE than what we expected. :) The bathroom was modern and amazing! It is about 8-10km from Odense, 25-minutes car journey to Egeskov, 15-minutes to Kerteminde. Not really sure about public transportation as we were there on a road trip. Tam is a very nice person who shared about places to go in Odense. He even helped us with washing machine & dryer. Put this Airbnb on you trip as you won't be disappointed! :)
- This place is honestly one of a kind especially because of the location. My mum would love to have a house surrounded by paddy fields, so... this place is quite close to her dream.
- In this house, we also stayed with the owner and his family but we didn't meet them (except the owner - Tam). Tam is actually from Vietnam but has already settled down in Odense. Kind of interesting to see how a foreigner can live very well in a foreign country. His house is seriously big!
5. Copenhagen, Denmark
Type: Entire Apartment / House
(click the link to get to its Airbnb's profile)
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| Mak in the living area. That was the couch I slept in. :D |
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| I seriously love the map! |
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| The kitchen :D |
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| The view from the balcony. |
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| A bed for my parents. |
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| Bathroom with toilet and washing machine. |
Lessons Learned:
- MY REVIEW: I stayed here with my parents for 3 nights. Our stay was really nice, with a good kitchen, perfectly working WiFi and secure neighborhood. The buildings look similar so a bit confusing at night. Haha. There is a bus stop (about 10 minutes walk) where we can get to the city center, supermarket and petrol station are also nearby. Good communication with Per as well. Anyway, I personally love the map on the wall at the dining area! It feels so great for morning motivation for me.
- We arrived this place at night, honestly there were at least 8 buildings that looks similar to each other. I forgot to check the building number in advanced haha so we kind of driving around the neighbourhood.
- This is a type of Airbnb that use self check-in. What does it mean? The owner will give you direction on how to get into the flat. Sometimes they hide the key somewhere that you need to find based on the clues. Sometimes, you just need to know the password of the door. It depends. :)
- An interesting part of this apartment was the rubbish hole. Haha. At the main door of each apartment, there is a hole that we can use to throw away the rubbish. Maybe I will show you in my posts of Copenhagen later.
6. Berlin, Germany
Type: Entire Apartment / House
(click the link to get to its Airbnb's profile)
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| A compact room for 3 persons to sleep in. |
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| Another view of the room. |
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| The bathroom and toilet. |
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| The kitchen. |
Lessons Learned:
- MY REVIEW: It was a nice 2-night stay for my parents and I. Everything is provided I must say, you just have to bring yourself. Full kitchen with plenty of groceries, Hardy even gave us chocolates. WiFi works perfectly. We didn't meet Hardy in person but he responded well to any questions. You can find lots of information about attractions and public transportations in Hardy's place, everything is provided for you.
- Actually, we had a problem with check-in that I have resolved it with the owner. What happened was we could not find the keys to get into the flat. Yes, another self check-in Airbnb. The owner had already sent the instructions but the keys were simply NOT at the mentioned location!
- It was a tiring night that we needed to get the spare keys at his office (7km away) as the owner was 400km away from us that time, obviously he could not come.
- Upon entering the flat, it was nice. Just we kind of afraid if maybe anyone else might have stolen the keys, so we basically brought all valuable stuffs while travelling around the city and locked all doors in the flat. T_T
- The rest was okay, alhamdulillah. :)
7. Prague, Czech
Name: Hostel Opletalova
Type: Private Room with Shared Bathroom
(click the link to get to its website) |
| The beds. |
Lessons Learned:
- I did not write any reviews yet on its website
- This was the nearest, cheapest accommodation quite close to the car rental company and the city center. Before returning the cars, we dropped all luggage at the hostel.
- It was funny to recall that time when we parked in front of the hostel (with emergency signal) as we just wanted to drop off the luggage. Then, a police car came and asked us to move the car. After explaining the situation, the policeman asked me to park properly at the parking lot (in which that lots are for residents living there) I told him that I didn't have the resident pass and fortunately, the policeman allowed us to park for 10 minutes. Fuhhh.
- Best points to consider if you want to get a room at this hostel are: (1) it is located IN FRONT OF Prague Mosque! (2) it means you have secured at least one halal restaurant. (3) close to main train station and Vaclavske Namesti (4) 24 hours mini market is just downstairs.
- The cons - no lifts (I felt bad every time my parents need to climb stairs T___T) , no kitchen, bathroom and toilets are separated.
Stay tuned for tips on how to choose a good accommodation. Well, my choices are not the perfect one but maybe you can learn something from my experiences and use them as reference :)
Till then,
SS, Perak, Malaysia
170807
Accommodation We Had Stayed In Europe (Part 1/2)
August 7, 2017
I think I will try to make a separate post on how I choose accommodation (like what aspects I put into consideration etc). So far, my favorite website to search for a good accommodation is Airbnb, followed by booking.com, hostelbookers.com and few other random sites.
In this post, I would love to share and recall memories with my parents in each apartments, houses, hostels around Europe.
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1. Prague, Czech
Type: Entire Home / Apartment
(click the link to get to its Airbnb's profile)
We checked into this apartment directly upon our arrival at Prague Airport. The check-in lady fetched us (with some extra fee) from the airport and drove us to this place. It was an interesting experience as she drove a BMW 5-series, haha I haven't rode any 5 series before. My parents too. :)
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| A bed for 2 persons. I slept on the couch. :) |
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| A big bathroom with toilet. Big enough you can put another single bed inside. :D My parents love Airbnb that provide washing machine that we can use for free. It is not that we did not bring enough clothes, but at least we don't have to separate used clothes and the clean one. :) |
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| A small storage area where you can find almost all equipment needed - iron, ironing board, drying rack, hanger, vacuum, broom, dustpan etc. |
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| The kitchen :D I love the idea of the fridge inside the cupboard. :D And a island in the kitchen is something I wish to have in my own kitchen in the future. |
Lessons Learned:
- MY REVIEW: This place is very lovely and as expected. Even my parents would love to make this place as a reference if we want to host a place in Airbnb! Most of the things are well-provided for the guest. WiFi works perfectly. The location is about 20minutes to city center, no worries as there is a direct tram in walking distance. Neighbourhood is nice, calm and peaceful. We were not on a roadtrip but I can see a lot of parking spaces if you are coming by cars. Sylva the check in lady, is a very nice person. She waited patiently at the airport despite our long Passport control queue and luggage reclaim. She even offered to drop by the city center. Basic things about the place were nicely explained. My parents and I really love this place and trust me, you won't be disappointed to book it. :)
- It is worth the money to use Uber instead to travel to- and fro- airport. From city center, it costs around 320kc/4 persons one way, in which you don't have to carry your heavy luggage from the nearest public transportation. This is applicable if you are travelling with the elder (I'm sure you don't want a lot of walking for them).
- This is the best Airbnb among the rest that we have stayed.
- This place is quite far from the city center - about 30 minutes by tram (the tram stop is just 5 minutes walk away). But, I prefer Uber more haha.
2. Hannover, Germany
Name: B&B Hotel Hannover
Type: Hotel
(click the link to get to its website)
A day after my graduation day, we finally started our road trip to Copenhagen. Started from Prague, Czech at about 6.30pm, we arrived Hannover about 6 hours car ride. We slept at a B&B Hotel, very close to the highway.
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| A bed for 2 persons (on the first floor) |
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| Another 2 single beds on the upper floor. |
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| The stairs. |
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| View from the first floor. |
Lessons Learned:
- MY REVIEW: This B&B Hotel is very close to the Autobahn, so if you are on your way across Germany, please consider to book a room to rest after the tiring drive. About 4 levels of building with stairs (I am not sure if there are lifts or not). Check in was VERY EASY as you were given password for your door, so once you are automatically check in, you don't really have to go to the counter for check in. And no check out needed. The room was compact with all basic necessities. 2 beds on 1st floor of the room and another 2 beds on the attic. The bathroom is small but do all the jobs! Overall, I would recommend this place!
- It was an amazing experience to stay in a double-storey bedroom. Maybe for next time if we want to stay at this place, we need to request for a room on the ground floor. There was no lifts so, it was hard to take our luggage upstairs.
3. Hamburg, Germany
Type: Private Room with Shared Bathroom & Kitchen
(click the link to get to its Airbnb's profile)
Hehehe, this flat was totally a new experience for my parents and I. Why? We were sharing the flat with the owner. We used to rent the same type of accommodation in London, but the owner did not stay there.
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| The bunk beds for 3 persons. |
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| The kitchen. |
Lessons Learned:
- MY REVIEW: This place is very good to stay a night or two in Hamburg, located about 10-minutes walk to the nearest S-bahn station (Harburg Rathaus). The kitchen is nice and the WiFi is very good! Alex was preparing for an exam during our stay but he still welcomed us nicely and explained about things around Hamburg.
- Although we don't have any specific problem with this flat, I can say my parents were not that comfortable staying there because they were a bit shocked. Haha. A reminder to me, try to find a entire apartment / house in the future, despite the price. :D
SS, Perak, Malaysia
170806
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