The flat was even lovelier and more spacious than the pictures had suggested. And Caterina goes well beyond the call of duty in making her guests feel welcome. In the days before my trip, she emailed me a couple of times just to be sure that I felt confident about how to get to the apartment from the station, as well as to offer other helpful and friendly advice. Caterina then met me at the flat, as we had arranged, and took the time to explain where all essential items were, how to deal with trash, where to find grocery stores (and the best gelato!), and so on. She had also been so kind as to leave me with fresh flowers, a cold bottle of water and some cookies! Toward the end of the first day of my visit, she followed up with a quick message just to be sure that I hadn't had any problems. Such a nice person! And while we conducted our conversations in Italian, Caterina speaks excellent English as well.

Please don't rule out Mestre, as I had done for so long, just because the mainland seems at first glance less romantic than the floating city! I come to Venice every so often for research (I'm a history professor), and have always stayed right in the city. This time, I decided to try Mestre, mostly because I made this trip a bit on a whim and didn't want to face the horrible hotel rates you pay when you do that. But in the end this experiment will become a new routine.

I'll definitely stay in Mestre -- and hopefully in this apartment -- in the future. Just to be clear on the issue of transportation and convenience: the building is a less than two-minute walk from a bus stop where you can catch a line that runs about every ten minutes until very late in the evening and goes directly to Venice, a journey of perhaps 20 minutes total.

For that short and easy commute, you get: a beautifully decorated and appointed apartment, as well as an exceedingly friendly host with expertise in the arts, education, film and much more who is ready to make excellent suggestions for finding things of interest in the city. You also get TWO huge and breezy terraces, an elevator (a real bonus after a long day of traveling, working, or wandering canals), and in short all the conveniences of a luxury apartment for a fraction of what you would be paying for a lackluster hotel in the city.

As you can probably tell, I could not be happier with my experience here. Strange to say, this was both my first time staying in Mestre and my first time using Airbnb. What luck to find this fantastic place and wonderful host on the first go!