Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
We had three rental inquiries the first day we posted our house online. After a brief exchange
of emails we booked our first guests ever.
It's hard to describe how we felt about this—excited, of course, but also vaguely un-
comfortable. It was almost like inviting strangers to dinner and then presenting them with
a check for their pork chops. And yet we knew we were giving our (future) guests their
money's worth and more: our prices were extremely competitive, and the house was styl-
ishly decorated and boasted terrific ocean views.
Ironically, our first guests lived five blocks from our apartment in D.C. And although
we never met them, I remember their names well—Carol and Jeremy. They were arriving
the day after Christmas and would stay for a week. We couldn't have been more excited if
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip were dropping by for tea.
More rentals followed—by the end of our first season we had hosted eight couples—but
since Carol and Jeremy would be our first they became our target audience, so to speak.
We tried to imagine what they were like. This, I reasoned, would allow us to anticipate
their every need. But since I'm cursed with an unnaturally fertile imagination, this line of
thinking quickly got out of hand.
What if they were Shinto? We'd need some sort of shrine.
What if they were billiards fanatics? A pool table.
What if they were nudists? More curtains.
You get my drift.
Eventually Michael suggested that we focus on what would make
us
comfortable. This
sounded right.
And it was.
I'll never forget the simple words Carol and Jeremy wrote in our guest book at the end
of their stay:
It feels like home
.
Sigh.
☼ ☼ ☼
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Before Carol and Jeremy arrived we still had to put the finishing touches on the house.
So we popped down one last time in early December to make everything as perfect as pos-
sible.
It was a busy but enjoyable stay. The weather was superb—the days hot and sunny, the
nights shot through with cooling trade winds—and the house was looking great.
We fell into our usual routine without even thinking about it—working in the morning,
breaking at mid-day for lunch and a trip to the beach, followed by another stint of work in
the afternoon before drinks and dinner.
And yet, even though our daily routine remained unchanged, we began to notice subtle
changes in the island itself.
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