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8/23/05 home away from home Judith Bader Jones
My husband and I discovered that vacations register high on the relaxation scale when we rent a vacation house to live in when we travel. We experience all of the good stuff that we hope for when we take a trip and stay in a “home away from home.” Get up early and brew a pot of coffee. Toast your store-bought bagels, slice fresh fruit, and eat your breakfast on the deck in your comfy robe and slippers. Most vacation destinations have Internet sites that give a multitude of available listings. To locate our first vacation rental in Sedona, Ariz., I typed in www.vacationrentalsofsedona.com and discovered an array of homes with one to four or more bedrooms. The house we chose was a three-bedroom home called Almost Heaven, located high on a hill in uptown Sedona, with a light-changing view of the red rocks from every room. We were three senior adults—my husband, my mother, and me—and this house met our requirements of multiple bedrooms and baths, a fireplace, a deck for outdoor eating, and a game table for our nightly Scrabble. It had a fully equipped kitchen, a grill, and laundry facilities. The house décor was Southwest, and the yard was inhabited with occasional javelinas and hummingbirds. We found a bookcase of mysteries, a collection of table games, and drawers filled with videos to tickle all tastes. There were volumes of cookbooks, a telescope for star gazing, and even a grand piano that enhanced the family room. A grand price, you might be thinking, for this abode. The cost of the dwelling does not weigh too heavy when you cook your own meals and can deduct the hefty cost that restaurant eating adds to a vacation. (Houses listed on this site ranged from $900 per week up to $1,800. Almost Heaven falls into the upper price range). But large families or couples can find something that fits their needs, and adult groups can split costs. It’s fun to shop in the neighborhood supermarket and prepare your meals the way you like them. You have convenient laundry facilities and our kitchen supplied staples and condiments, even English teas. When you live in a rental vacation home, a rental car is a necessity. For our travel to Sedona, we fly from Kansas City to Phoenix and take a two-hour shuttle into Sedona. We have a rental car delivered to us after our arrival. Our experience with a rental home in Santa Fe, N.M., was equally pleasant. Price ranges differ in each locality; Santa Fe was cheaper than Sedona, and Boulder, Colo., offered even lower-priced rentals. For your Internet search, use the Google search engine to locate “vacation rental homes” or try www.findrentals.com, which provides links to individual states and their respective cities. Your travel agent will also be able to assist you in locating rental homes. Nurture your soul with something I call a sense of place and space. The benefits are tremendous when you sleep in a house that is only on loan, but feels like home. Judith Bader Jones is a traveler with a fondness for the comforts of home. She lives in Fairway, KS. © University of Kansas Medical Center, Center on Aging, August, 2005.
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