When I went to Finland to shoot my film RAUL, as it was impossible to book a hotel during the Master´s Athletics´ Championship, I used couchsurfing to accomodate me and most of my crew. The experience lead to some deep most likely everlasting friendships with a fabulous Finnish family. However, couchsurfing is not for everyone. It can be tricky to share a house with people you have never met before. It´s kind of a gamble, every time.
Recently, a new service has come to my attention that combines the experience of living in a real home, as opposed to staying at a hotel and being somehow stranded from the “local” side of things, with having a place of your own. As I am going to spend the summer in Europe this year (and escape the Uruguayan winter; mild though it may be, because it´s generally not much fun), I am considering spending a few days in London, like a true Londoner.
The service I am talking about is called One Fine Stay, it is basically a very well organized temporary home rental service. Basically, you get to stay at fabulous London homes, paying less than the same level of accommodation would cost at a hotel, while the owners are away.
I am so looking forward to this. because I hate hotels, I hate that “lost in translation” feeling; the idea of getting to know true Londoners` way of life seems extremely appealing to me. In a way, it´s like borrowing someone else´s life for a while, like being in a movie. The people who own the house actually leave a set of recommendations for tenants, so that, even when they are not around, they are giving you tips as to where to shop, where to go, etc. I think that is one of my favorite parts.
My other favorite thing about this service, which I hope will soon spread to every cool city on Earth, are the houses they offer themselves. It appears that the people at One Fine Stay go to great lengths to make sure that the homes are simply fabulous. There is even one boat home to rent and there is something for every budget.
I think I have already chosen my favorite; it´s Calabria Road, just the perfect combination between classic good taste and funky modern design. I love that there is a HOME TRUTHS section, where owners share the home´s disadvantages; that way, you´ll have no surprises, which is sometimes unfortunately not the case with hotels…
London in the summer, living in a true London home, it sounds beyond delicious. I´ll be sure to post all about it when it happens!
If you are planning to go to London soon, check out my guide to London plays and musicals; it´s not recent, but most of the shows are still on, and they have endured for a reason.
You may also check out some of these great films set in London, to get in the mood for your true Londoner experience.
Reading some Martin Amis, Hanif Kureishi or even Dickens (describing the London that once was) may also get you in the mood. As I have just read one bad Kureishi and one great Amis, so, even when I think Kureishi´s old novels are superb (Intimacy, The Buddha of Suburbia), if you are looking to read recent novels set in London, I would stick with Amis. Some of my favorite writers like Graham Swift or Orwell and Virginia Woolf do have novels set in London, but I guess there is not much of the external life of the city there.
So, if you´re planning to head to London this Spring-Summer, just read your London novels and watch your London films and get ready to take it all in like a TRUE LONDONER.
Photos by dchris, chriszami, onefinestay.com