bit by the travel bug

people always ask me for travel tips. want to live like a local? check out san francisco, new york and some of our other market locals for local host's recommendations on what to see and do. airbnb - live there (things to do and see in some major cities)

i love asia. i love the people, i love the food, i love the vast difference in culture. #iloveasianshit japan has been on my list for a long time and lucky for me i got to combine it with a work trip to singapore. even more lucky, my coworker/friend/travel buddy belinda got to come along!  i spent a week in japan... the first day i was meant to be alone but i got connected with friends of friends and had a blast.  here's some things to do and places to eat in tokyo:  kushiyakimonjirou  (really amazing skewers. recommend this menu )  tsukiji fish market  - yummy fish market, local finds, nom zekkocho teppen (絶好調てっぺん) - super interesting and awesome dining experience. kind of like japanese bbq. delicious fish and don't miss the butter rice.  sun and moon yoga  (gotanda)  harajuku for bright colors, fun, weird photos, candy, crepes and lots of treats taketora  (shinjuku) - delicious ramen fanabashiya  (shibuya) - don't ...

all my travel updates here:  #WhiteHotSouthAmericanSommer CUSCO/MACHUPICCHU/PERU inca trail 4 day/3 night hike to machupicchu: highly recommend wayki  tour group. here are some tips:  book far in advance bring a legit pancho like this one:  pancho bring clothes to just wear at night bring 4 pairs of socks hire a porter bring a day pack with camelpak earplugs super warm jacket waterproof rain jacket bring shorts/capris or convertible pants toe warmers waterproof boots aclimate in cusco before you go on the hike:  airbnb listing:  https://www.airbnb.com. sg/rooms/3641220 restaurant: cusquenita go to  sacsaywaman go to the public mercado (also the mercado near the airbnb above) BUENOS AIRES/ARGENTINA stay in soho palemo our airbnb: https://www.airbnb.com.sg/rooms/14222 restaurants: cafe tortino don julio tufic ice cream (don't miss) burger joint shopping in palermo hang in the parks San Telmo Sunday market (st...

after a truly magical first day, we learned that two other airbnbers had re-routed their turkey trip and were coming to barcelona. spencer and dave (h) are in what i call, my 40 closest friends at airbnb. i haven’t actually created this list, it’s just something my team teases me about since i have so many “close” friends at airbnb.  spencer used to live with sean. sasha just moved in with sean. spencer moved out to live with dave. and dave and spencer went to college together. during our time in barcelona we also discovered dave and i were on birthright in israel at the same time in january 2009. crazy small world.  anyway, we were super stoked to have them join our trip.  we all met up for some lunch… more jamon (thinly sliced cured ham), some weird and delicious potato thing, calamari, etc. all delicious. while spencer and dave went to check into their airbnb, yat, heather and i ventured to park guell, what barcelona calls it’s disneyland. park guell is a...

today was an absolutely magical day. the kind of day we needed. after paris. we woke up pretty late which was really nice because neither of us have slept much in the last several days. we met up with another airbnb employee, yat, who i haven't spent much time with but we run in similar circles at work and i knew he'd be a good one. we met up at sagrada de familia, which is a church designed by gaudi that has been in construction since 1883. it was so cool to see the progress since the last time i went in 2006. we had a lot of fun taking selfies and talking about what the state of it was when we were last there. selfie sticks are so necessary. this is one of the most beautiful things i've ever seen. the detail is so unique and so interesting. in some ways it reminds me of the grand mosque in abu dhabi, but better. the stained glass pours in colors to the main area, it's really breathtaking... a must-see. from there we wandered to find some food and stumbl...

i arrived very early to the airport for concerns of traffic, security, etc. and honestly it was a very early check in. this provided a lot of time to reflect on the last 36 hours. the amazing texts i received, the friendships that have been bonded stronger, the pride i have in airbnb and the fright that continues to exist during my time in paris. we learned through company communication that many people were extremely close to the events and i am saddened and feel sorrow that these people experienced these events. people were under tables, escorted home, saw the gunman run by. i get chills thinking of this and grieve for the families who weren't so lucky to get a safe check on facebook. so many lives lost. so many injured. so many witnessed and their lives will be forever changed. as my best friend pointed out, low tech, low cost, high impact. while i see people change their profiles to french flags, i can't help but be frustrated that the media is so closely following the...

i'll get back to the normal events of day five later and get to the update on the paris attacks. friday, november 13: paris (day five) it was a long day at the conference and a few of us (kim, sarah and laura) decided to grab dinner near our listing in pantin (about 2 miles from central paris) and i was deciding if i was going to go out to meet other airbnb people since friday was a free night but we also had a big party planned for saturday night. our waiter was taking FOREVER and right before we got up to leave, sarah checked her email to see there was an email from our head of security that there were incidents in paris. we looked at the news and saw that there were shootings in central paris and decided it was safest to go back to our listing that was about 4 min walk away. we got home and started accounting for everyone on our immediate team. within minutes we had everyone accounted for except one person, who finally responded two hours later that he was sleeping. dur...