The collaboration I found in the vacation of this last summer is somewhat different that the one of last year. It is one of those collaborations that happen through the web that leaves me with my mouth open. We live in a crazy incredible period (isn’t it??) where people around the world can do extraordinary things, like create a big big hotel/hostel, made from existing rooms or apartments. I am talking about AirBnb (and not only). MANY people wrote about it before (Here, here and here…) so I will give you only my personal experience. Airbnb is a big collection of rooms and apartments offered by private people and booked through a unique system. I was originally looking for a hostel where I can have a simple room and use the kitchen, but here I found the better version. I was looking for a room in an apartment and was surprised to know that people will actually take the four of us in (me, my better half, little1y and little3y). The most interesting thing about my experience is the stories behind the people who rent out apartments. In the first place we stayed in, a girl was renting two rooms all summer to save some money. She lived in the living room for that time (it is a separate room). Her place was super clean and had everything you needed. She got us typical buns from the bakery for breakfast and offered us coffee.  The second one had a completely different story: She rented a whole house for summer vacation in the center of a very charming summer town. To cover her expenses she sublet the other two rooms. It was a very simple situation, but the only way to stay in the center without paying a lot of money. So, AirBnB allows us to travel as we like and other people to get creative about their life and make some extra money. The collaboration, in this case was not necessarily a direct one. We always met our hosts, but we did not have a lot of contact while staying there. They were helpful in helping us around town, suggesting nice places to visit or where to eat, but we never ate together or went out. The collaboration is more of a global one. Offering our existing resources, our places and our time to allow everyone to travel better. There are similar free experiences like hospitality club or couch surfing. People also do this kind of stuff through craigslist, but this is for another post. I loved this is experience and i am ready (already!) to repeat it.

Well, summer is over and we are back to our routing, how can we not forget about collaboration and bring it into our daily life? How could we enjoy sharing spaces and activities in our home? Any ideas? I’ll write mines soon.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaOFuW011G8&feature=player_embedded]