Earlier this year, I went to Paris, saw it though the lens of
the 1920, and wrote about how traveling with a theme can spice up and add
focus to your trip. Narrowing your focus helps you go deeper.
Last month I went back to France and again wanted to travel with
a theme. But, instead of focusing on only Jazz Age attractions, eating French
food, visiting modern art museums, drinking at bars that start with the letter
Q, or whatever, my theme would be a style of travel, something a little
broader. I’d be traveling using only (at least when possible)
the sharing economy, the term given to the plethora of websites designed to
connect travelers with locals, offer more unique experiences, and make travel
more affordable.
While I’ve used the sharing the economy frequently before (I am
a big fan), they have never the primary focus of my entire trip. I usually add
a few activities in while I’m being a normal tourist seeing the main
attractions.
But this trip was going to be different. My plan was to rely on
Airbnb for accommodation, Couchsurfing for meetups, BlaBlaCar for
transportation, EatWith and VizEat for meals, and Vayableand greeter programs
(programs run by tourism boards that set you up with a local guide) for
activities.
I wanted to get off the tourist trail, meet more locals, and
(hopefully) learn more about a country I love so much.
But I also wondered: Would this be the best way to meet people?
How much cheaper is it, really, to use only the sharing economy? Would it be
more work? Would I even like using the sharing economy all the time?
So, with those questions in mind, I found myself waiting on a
street corner in a random section of Paris for Justine, my BlaBlaCar driver,
for the one hour ride to Orléans. I was little nervous. Not because of where I
was, but because all her responses to my messages had been in French, and I was
worried we wouldn’t end up talking much. I was right. After making some initial
small talk with her and the other rider, we exhausted their English and my
French and they just spoke French to each other while I buried my nose in a
book. I can’t blame them though. It’s a lot easier to speak in your native
tongue than grasp for words in a language you don’t know well.
So my two-week trip with the sharing economy began not with an
exciting social bang, but a simple, polite whimper.
The rest of the two weeks? The results were mixed (and depended
a lot on the service I was using).
In Orléans, my Airbnb hosts were young graphic designers, super
accommodating, helpful, and had an excellent tea selection. However, they spoke
little English, weren’t so keen to hang out, and mostly left me alone. But
their home was beautiful. They lived in an old medieval house and I loved the
ancient hardwood floors, exposed beams, and tiny staircase that gave the place
a real sense of history.
In Tours, I quickly left my first place (they smoked) and found
myself with Anne Marie and Patrick, an older couple who proved that the third
time is often the charm. They cooked me breakfast (including adding a candle to
my croissant on my birthday), and were incredibly friendly and polite. We
swapped stories (they recently returned from a trip to the States and were in
love with the $2 bill, Whole Foods, and the national parks) and laughed over a
shared bottle of wine. To me, they embodied what Airbnb is really about and
ended up extending my stay with them. (If you find yourself in Tours, I highly
recommend staying with them.)
In each destination (and I went to many), I fired up the
Couchsurfing app — but often found no one around to hang out with. In Orléans,
Bloise, and Amboise, there was no one on the app. Sometimes Couchsurfing
requires a shotgun approach, so I basically fired off emails to about a dozen
hosts in Tours to see who wanted to hang out and ended meeting two people for
drinks.
In Lyon, I had much better luck (it is the second largest city
in France, after all). The app always showed activities and people interested
in meet-ups. I had dinner with a few people, drinks with another small group,
and spent a day in the park with even more. I met a local psychologist, a recent
college grad touring his own country, a Syrian refugee from Aleppo (which I
found to be an enlightening – and very depressing – experience), a fun Dane,
and a Japanese tourist who wanted to be a farmer. They filled my time with
laughter, fun, and insights.
The meal-sharing apps were hit and miss. EatWith, BonAppetour,
VizEat, and AirDinealways came back empty in smaller cities. There were just no
hosts. I eventually found two last-minute hosts on VizEat in Lyon: one, a jazz
musician, cooked me an awesome burger, and the other, a Thai guy and his
boyfriend, made some delicious Thai food.
In terms of looking for fun things to do, Vayable yielded no
results. I even branched out into other sites, like Withlocals and Airbnb
Experiences, but those were all duds too. I was left to play the traditional
tourist, though I did spend my last morning in Lyon walking around with a
retired teacher from the Global Greeters program.
As for transportation, I used BlaBlaCar three times. After a few
pleasantries to the driver in terrible French and English, or trying to speak
in Spanish (a bridge language with a few drivers, as I spoke no French and they
spoke no English), the conversation typically went silent as the driver and
their passenger talked to each other in French and I found myself staring out
the window or at a book.
As I left Lyon to fly back to States, I started to have mixed
feelings about the sharing economy.
First, it’s not convenient. You’re dealing with people, not
companies, and people have things pop up. Life gets in the way, so you can have
encounter cancellations, delays, rejections, and odd meeting times. It’s not as
simple as checking into a hostel or hotel or just buying a ticket for the
train. You have to work around people’s schedules, which can often waste a lot
of your day.
Second, it’s not always cheaper. While BlaBlaCar and Airbnb were
much cheaper than traditional accommodation and transportation, listed meals
tended to cost 30% or more than those found at a restaurant. And the listed tours
were quite pricy too, often rivaling traditional tour companies. While there
was the odd meal or activity that was cheap (though never available), the money
saved using Airbnb or BlaBlaCar was eaten up (pun intended) by VizEat.
Third, it’s hit or miss. Every time we passed through a smaller
town (or even a medium sized one), I would fire up the apps to see what was
going on and — crickets. I probably would have had more luck if I had lined
more hosts (at least on Couchsurfing) in advance but who can say?! That’s just
a guess.
Finally, it’s very time consuming to research dozens of
rideshares, meal hosts, tours, Couchsurfing hosts and events, and Airbnb
listings. I probably spent a good eight hours altogether researching everything.
It’s one thing to book one or two things using the sharing economy; it’s
another to need to look through hundreds of potential Couchsurfing hosts,
meals, activities, and hangouts every day.
Sidenote: One thing I didn’t like about BlaBlaCar in particular
was the highways. I had envisioned this as a great way to talk (nope) and see
the countryside (nope). Since most people are going from point A to point B and
are in a rush, they stick to the highways. That isn’t to say this happens all
the time, but I enjoyed the trains more, because I could see more of the
countryside.
After using the sharing economy for two weeks, I don’t think I
would devote so much of another trip to doing so. You can count me in for
BlaBlaCar when I’m in expensive countries and major cities (though I would also
try to find drivers who spoke English), the Couchsurfing app is going to
continue to live on my phone (the hangout feature is golden), and I’ll use
VizEat and EatWith in larger cities, as they led to some amazing experiences
(one VizEat host took me to a French hip-hop jazz concert, and the other was
just friendly as hell — and Thai, so we bonded over that!). Airbnb, despite its
hiccups, is still also my preferred way to travel. I’m also not ready to fully
declare the meal sharing and activity services as more expensive. They could be
cheaper in other destinations. More research is required.
But, in the end, the sharing economy is not the panacea I
thought it was and still has some growing pains (there should be a penalty for
hosts who cancel last minute, not vice versa!). I won’t spend as much time
researching and trying to find hosts or events. The time I spent sitting at my
computer would have been better used outside doing something.
Yet still, for all its faults, the sharing economy is an
interesting way to travel and meet locals. I may not devote an entire trip to
it again but there’s no way I’ll abandon it
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