UMTravels

A quick post on some things I’ve learned over the years about being a good houseguest when you are visiting friends or strangers (in no particular order):

• Travel lightly and don’t leave anything behind.
• Just because airfare is cheap doesn’t mean that you should visit the same people every six weeks.
• When using the shower – reset the controls to the same place you found them, i.e. if the water is coming out the tub fill when you got into the shower, make sure it’s there when you are done. And if there is a squeegee that means you should use it to wipe down the glass.
• Bring a hostess gift. Wine is always a good choice. I know of a nice wine shop: Madrona Wine Merchants (sorry, that was a plug for my shop).
• Speaking of alcohol, if you drink your host’s alcohol replace, is with equal or better quality.
• Offer to shop and cook meals – it’s the least you can do since you are saving lots of dollars compared to a hotel.
• Be mindful loading the dishwasher – many hosts are VERY particular about how things go in.
• Inquire with your hosts if they’d like you to strip the bed or leave it at the end of your visit.
• Don’t linger in the bathroom – get in, do your business, get out. This is especially true of places with only one bathroom. And leave the bathroom at least as clean as you found it.
• Travel with a bathrobe – and use it.
• Don’t overstay your welcome – think 3 or 4 days max.
• If there is easy, convenient public transit from the train station or airport – use it. If it’s a quick overnight visit and your host is 45 minutes from the airport – just rent a car and save the three hours of travel time.
• If you see a pile of shoes by the front door, add yours to them. It means that your host has a shoeless house.
• Match your schedule to the host’s schedule – at least the getting out of bed part. And if you stay up later, quiet as a church mouse.

And some things you should pack for your convenience and so you don’t have to borrow from the hosts:

• Pen and paper
• Cloth shipping bag, which is good for a day bag around the city
• Windbreaker that rolls up tight incase the weather changes

I’ve some of these lessons the hard way, others I’ve learned from bad houseguests of my own.

Any other rules you would like to contribute?

And I know, a blog post without a single picture….not even a selfie – miracles do happen.

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