So, Jon and I didn't have the best first experience with AirBnB last November.

We were heading into Boston for a friend's birthday and I figured I would finally give the site a chance since I hadn't used it but heard a lot of good (and some bad) things. The price was cheap ($40) especially compared to Boston hotel prices but the stay was odd since the son of the owner had a party that night and kept my boyfriend up all night. The owner ended up refunding the money.

The thing with operations like AirBnB is that they are not all alike - at all. They're all individual hosts in various parts of the world who have nothing really to do with each other, aside from all using a site to rent their homes/properties.

With that in mind, I gave it another shot. Jon had his doubts but soon found that this was going to be a much nicer experience.

We arrived in front of the house in Uniondale to the sound of our host playing the piano. It was a little creepy at first (like something out of a horror movie) but then we kept listening and he was really, really, ridiculously good. As it turns out, he used to be a Carnegie Hall pianist.

(our AirBnB house - not the nicest looking from the outside, but nice inside)

Our room was exactly what the name in the listing described - cozy and comfortable. The door locked, there was a big bed, he supplied towels, and there was a TV for Netflix/Hulu. David, the host, also offered us waters from the kitchen and even his umbrellas when we said we were a bit worried about possible rain that evening for the NIN/Soundgarden concert at Jones Beach.

(the bedroom)

He was located just 15 minutes from the beach in a nice residential neighborhood.

We got home that night and slept very well in the air conditioned room after watching a bit of TV.

Thanks to David, I look forward to another (yet-to-be-booked) stay with AirBnB.