Lynne was a wonderful host, and provided us with clear and precise directions to her place by bus and metro prior to our arrival. She had the minor details down, like leaving the wifi password as part of a welcome note, knowing we might like to get in touch with family back in the US on arrival. The apartment is really tastefully decorated, with striking photographs from various parts of the world that she has visited - some in particular, were from her recent trip to a part of India, and I had beautiful memories of visiting the same area in 2006, so they struck a chord with me. It is a well-lit and well-ventilated super-comfy condo, about a 15-minute bus-ride away from the centre of Montreal - and the bus-stop is literally a few steps away, but it's roughly every half-hour, so install the STM app on your phone to check when the next one is due. With our 2.5 year-old son, we chose this place because of its proximity to the Biodome and Jardin Botanique / Insectarium. Even though it rained all but 2 days of our trip, we could just walk to those places - the Jardin, with its exquisite Chinese Garden, was especially nice.
For me, the highlight of Lynne's place was the neighbourhood - cross the street, and you have a local park with a playscape, where my son played, just like the local kids did. Marché Maisonneuve is next to the park - there, we bought tasty blueberries, figs and fresh produce, and cheese at the fromagerie, or fish and meat, and went back and cooked our meals - occasionally, we indulged ourselves with treats like Trio de Chocolat, Amandes et Mangue, Macaron Rose-Framboises with a coffee at the Première Moisson - this kind of blending with local life, as much as we can within our short stay, is my preferred mode of traveling.
Another highlight, this was my first time with airbnb where we stayed with the host, and that made the experience so much richer. Now that I have a way to compare, the past airbnb experiences seem kind of impersonal without the direct human contact factor - not a knock on my previous hosts - but this trip did drive home the point, when you visit a new city or country, you enjoy all its interesting places, but it's the people (and cats) you meet that make it memorable. While we were there to relax and sight-see, Lynne went about her daily life, guiding us when we needed any help, and in the many conversations we had, I could catch a glimpse of her passion for life - whether it be when she's talking about work educating young kids, or about traveling the world! - and that just made the airbnb experience more complete.