I discovered a great new way to travel a few years back after the birth of my daughter. Hotel rooms stopped having the same appeal when we traveled as a family. Trapped in one room with our three week old, colicky baby left much to be desired. At least if we had more space we could trade off and one of us could get some much needed sleep! And, when your kids are a little older who wants to go to bed the same time as their kids? That’s when we discovered home rentals. The price is comparable to hotels and you have bedrooms and a kitchen!

So, when I found out I be attending  TBEX11 (Travel Blog Exchange) in Vancouver this year with five of my friends and fellow travel bloggers, I knew this would also be the time to skip the hotel and rent a house. In a house we’d be able to all stay together and, save money by taking advantage of the kitchen…gourmet kitchen in this case…see pics below! There are many home rental sites out there, I chose to get to work and scoped out VRBO (Vacation Rental by Owner). While there were a lot of great places in Vancouver, I really lucked out when I came across a Beautifully restored Craftsman home in Kitsilano. Close to downtown Vancouver, yet far enough away to enjoy the beautiful coastline. I contacted the owner Vivian, and she opened up her home to us. The perfect hostess, she and her husband are travelers themselves, she let us know about the area and showed us around what would be  our “new home” for the next few days. There are two units to rent, and Vivian and her husband live in the third bottom floor unit. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves, but next time you’re in Vancouver think about home rental as an option. You can find Vivian’s place here on VRBO.com Here is the third floor unit (3 bedrooms and a den)

And, the second floor unit (two bed, two bath)