City slickers find a home from home
STUART GREER visits London with Homestay.com where you’re invited to stay in your hosts’ own accommodation
EVER since becoming a parent I’ve become a little frightened of the city.
Pre-child I lapped up the hustle and bustle of the concrete jungle, and that simmering fear created by the mess of noise, people and traffic, was a thrill.
But now I’m responsible for preserving and protecting another human being, even a gang of pigeons harbours a potential for danger.
So what a better way to overcome those fears than by spending three full days with my two-year-old son exploring the city of cities, London.
The trip to the capital was prompted by an invite from Homestay.com, the online marketplace for hosted accommodation, to test the type of accommodation where guests are invited to live alongside their hosts.
My experience of this growing type of accommodation has been through Airbnb, where hosts made themselves scarce. Homestay is all about the connection between host and guest.
With 30,000 hosts in more than 150 countries across 4,500 locations, there were a few options available to me. But when my wife got the chance to do a course in the affluent suburb of Highgate in London, we found a Homestay host willing to support my tourism with a toddler adventure.
Those hosts were Colin and Shima, married architects, who own a large and stunning terraced property, amid equally stunning homes in what is considered one of the most expensive areas of the city.
There we had a lovely big room and access to a shared bathroom and kitchen.
As part of the price we also get breakfast which we ate with our hosts and other guests.
While it feels at times like a cross between a B&B and a hostel, the breakfast element set it apart. During our stay it was a genuine chance to chat with Colin and Shima about the interesting journey of their lives and meet the eclectic mix of other guests who hail from all over the world.
Leafing through the visitor book confirmed the wide range of people who had passed through the homely kitchen, who all claimed to have enjoyed their stay thoroughly. If that wasn’t enough the walls of the room were covered in interesting knick-knacks and goodies from the travels and gifts from guests.
Day one of our adventure involved a trip to London Zoo and our first attempt using the Underground.
Previous experiences of the Tube taught me that eye contact with another passenger was frowned upon and an actual conversation was akin to a physical assault. It was amazing how a toddler’s uninhibited smile disarmed even the most stern-faced passengers. I even chatted to one of them – shock, horror – albeit another dad with his son and a kindred spirit with a carrier backpack.
I underestimated how amazing the zoo was going to be for both of us. It was my first time at the world’s oldest scientific zoo, which has been entertaining and educating in equal measure since 1828.
We were a few weeks too early to see its much-anticipated lion enclosure, but the tiger, gorillas, giraffes, camels and pygmy hippo were exotic substitutes.
The favourite for us both were the penguins, which brought giggles of joy and wonder from my awestruck two-year-old.
All in all we spent four hours wandering around every inch of the zoo. It was a magical experience following my wide-eyed son as he saw in real life all those animals from his books. Day two we tackled the bus to Stoke Newington, a charming, quirky suburb in Hackney where we had a pub lunch, browsed a few independent shops on the lively Church Street before heading for Clissold Park for the brilliant playground in the shadow of a grand late-18th century villa, now a cafe.
Day three started with a tube trip to Buckingham Palace for the Changing of the Guard. I completely misjudged the clamour of such a quintessentially British tourist extravaganza and spent most of the time protecting my little boy from the thronging crowd while he enjoyed the marching, bear hats and drumming. We spent the rest of the day meandering leisurely through Hyde Park passing the ducks on The Serpentine, the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain up past the Royal Albert Hall – the venue for the CBeebies Prom, a favourite in our house – and onto Kensington Palace.
I won’t lie, three days travelling solo in London with a toddler is a real test, physically and mentally.
But everywhere I went, starting and ending with Colin and Shima’s Homestay, I experienced boundless kindness from strangers offering to help me enjoy their city, their home.