Airbnbs

I have been staying in AirBnbs for almost 4 full months across 7 different rentals. The stays have ranged from a handful of days to over a month, spread between familiar stopping grounds in Seattle and random cottages outside Joshua Tree.

Each stop seems to derive from the previous one. They all draw from a shared repository of ginormous shampoo bottles for the bathroom, knives abandoned by a sharpener for just a little too long, and remotes with millions of inscrutable buttons.

I don’t mean to be criticizing these stays. All these quirks are one of a space that is well used. I’m sure a stranger stumbling into my own apartment would find it much the same. It’s just that I have lived in it for so long that I’m innured to the sharp edges in my environs to the point where they seem to vanish.

Moving around so frequently has just made it impossible to adapt to all these tendencies. As soon as I become accustomed to one places peculiarities I am moving again, and doubly jarred by the slightly different inconveniences.

Prior to this trip I’d wondered if I would adapt. Become so completely unmoored that I would have no expectations walking into a new space. But I can confidently say that has not happened. I will glom on anywhere in an effort to call it home, even if I know that it’s only home until tomorrow.