MY POSITIVE EXPERIENCE as a Superhost traveling as an Airbnb guest. (along with my teen daughter). This was my 5th Airbnb trip, but my first one to another country outside of the USA.
Aloha Everyone,
I recently came back from celebrating my 51st birthday in TWO countries....New Zealand and Australia. I turned 51 in New Zealand first and then flew to Australia and landed there on my 51st birthday too. How cool is that!?! Never had 2 cakes in one day and 2 parties, but there it was....greeted at the airport with CHAMPANGE and a big Birthday sign held by friends. Then off to a party with an entire Rugbyb team that I was so excited to meet....So much fun over the course of 15 days......not much sleep. lol
I was specifically asked by Lizzie (Community Center Manager) to share my story about my Airbnb trip because it truly was a FABULOUS trip visiting the very Superhost "ROZ" that I had met here on the Community Center site as well as staying with my former Airbnb guests who stayed with me in Hawaii in 2016. Everywhere I went, it was one celebration after another with many memories made for a lifetime.
Its always been my dream to visit New Zealand and after meeting this amazing woman @Roz from Auckland New Zealand on the CC, and receiving an invite to visit her, I opened my wallet and bought my ticket to NZ! Yep, I literally called her and said....Can I book your beautiful studio for next week? She thought I was kidding. HAHA. I wasn't. I booked her place and started to count the 6 days until I flew out.
Roz was everything and more. She is the epitome of a SUPERHOST. Her Airbnb Studio and own home is beautiful, her family absolutely so much fun, and I was treated like a celebrity. This woman, who is a busy mother to 3 kids, took time out to plan something so special for my birthday and had an unreal surprise waiting for me. After I arrived, she picked me up, (Best Hug Ever) and took me to her Airbnb home. The next day, there on the dining room table were birthday presents for me!!! What a great Superhost she is. And the good times continued to come.....for my birthday, she and I travelled in the cutest red Mini Cooper to a beach town hours away where she had booked this quiet gorgeous house (from a friend) for a girls weekend getaway. WHAT AN ABSOLUTE AMAZING SURPRISE. It even had its own Zip Line and outdoor fire place. We had so much fun being 10 year old girls again taking turns on the zip lines....(yes videos were made for future laughs). She then surrpised me even more by taking me to an outdoor HOT SPRINGS (never seen that before), where we enjoyed drinks and food. Later, we enjoyed dinner at a really cool place named FLOCK, biggest mussels I had ever eaten.....I couldn't stop laughing because the holiday house (aka BATCH house), that's what KIWI's call it, was on a street called LAYCOCKK....and Roz lives nearby a town called COCKLE BAY....sensing a theme yet? LOL - This joke will never run its course now that I am back home because I use it all the time with my husband. And of course, making Roz laugh is a mission I will always be on.
(already planning our next trip to New Zealand to visit Roz and her family with my entire family this time)....CAN"T WAIT!
I will never forget the moment Roz told people back in New Zealand how she met me, that I was the one who gave out great advice on the CC that she found to be very useful and how much I helped her become a Superhost. What she doesnt' know, is that she gave me so much more in return....her trust, love, and Friendship. We will forever be grateful to Airbnb for bringing us together. We are even planning to vacation together with our families to FIJI in 2018.
After spending a fantastic week with Roz, watching her work as a Superhost too, (meeting her Airbnb guests) I went onto Australia whereas I visited with my former 5 Star guests from Melbourne. This family of 5 hosted both me and my daughter during this trip at their Melbourne home and their holiday home in RoseBud. Their 2 lovely teen daughters will always be lifelong friends to my sweet 13 year old daughter....and it was AMAZING to see them again as well. I hope one day this lovely woman would like to become an Airbnb host because she truly knows how to host guests in her home and made us feel just as welcomed as we did for them in Hawaii back in Oct 2016.
Of course, my trip as a 5 Star Guests would not be complete without showing my gratitude....passing out Hawaiian gifts to everyone. Everyone loved the 100% Hawaiian coffee, hula skirts to the Roz girls, lots and lots of chocolate macadamia nuts, beautifully hand crafted Hawaiian Turtles for their homes, dresses/hats for Roz daughters, gifts to Roz neighbors who became my new friends....my point in sharing this part of my trip is to remind those that even if we are Airbnb hosts visiting other Airbnb hosts, as traveling guests, we should always show our hosts and friends how much we appreciate them for allowing us to stay in their Airbnb home. And its always wonderful when my own Airbnb guests bring a gift from their country, and/or surpise us by leaving something in our Airbnb private room. (We have received some very thoughtful gifts like my husbands' fav beer, money, coffee, gift cards, wine, champagne, tequila, chocolates, trinkets, jewelry, and of course the traditional pen from Australia and so many other wonderful things.)
And Roz was no different.....after returning to New Zealand for 32 hours to catch our return flight back to Honolulu, I was given some very special gifts by her that put a HUGE smile on my face....(she knows me so well). haha -
Thanks for allowing me to share my story and Thank you @Roz for writing that I was the PERFECT GUEST....I might've earned that title from her for making breakfast for her entire family and the neighbors one morning.... LOL. I hope that many many other hosts get to meet this amazing woman....who thinks of EVERYTHING!
As I currently write this post, our own Airbnb guests (Canadian doctor) has just brought home a beautiful HAWAIIAN chocolate cake after discovereing that our family was craving cake....seems he overheard a conversation last night while we all played a board game....too funny! What a sweet surprise.....pun intended.
With that being said.....I'm off to enjoy my own piece before its all gone. 🙂
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Aloha, Momi
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