I had such an amazing time at Carrie's place! This was my first airbnb as a solo traveler and I felt so safe during my stay, even coming back from places at night. The cottage is great if you're on vacation, but also really well-suited for working from home (which I did for some of my stay). There's good WiFi and the cottage is very well laid out -- a nice desk nook area near the kitchen/front door, a kitchen with everything you could need (including silverware, paper towels, a dish-drying rack, ice cube trays, etc.), family room with Netflix/streaming, bedroom, roomy closet with many hangers and bathroom plus a door that leads outside to a nice/quiet back area (with table and chairs). And also a ceiling fan in the bedroom, and an a/c which was a big plus, although I rarely had to use it.
I also just really appreciated all the details Carrie considered -- there was extra bar soap, hand soap at every sink (even lotion and dish soap), good bath towels, 2 beach towels, a hair dryer, complimentary water and wine, even face wipes! The shower is on the small side, but if you just move the shower-head slightly to the side it's no big deal. Water pressure was great. The bed was super comfy, as was the couch. Everything was super clean.
As far as the neighborhood, I just fell in love with El Segundo! I didn't have a car so was concerned about getting around, but Carrie's place is close to everything. It's like a 10-15 minute walk to the beach (and an easy walk, you just walk straight down), and a short walk (maybe 5-10 mins) to get to restaurants, coffee places, etc. So many good places to eat and everyone was so nice. I really liked the places in El Segundo Plaza -- especially The Donut (a no-frills place that has this amazing apple fritter donut), Jame Enoteca and Japonica. For coffee, you can't go wrong with Blue Butterfly Coffee Co, which is super close to Carrie's place. One night I ordered Uber Eats and there was no problem getting food delivered.
El Segundo is also close to the airport so getting in at night was easy. I'm a beach person, and this is a great place if you want to be close to more of the beach areas of LA. I took Ubers to Santa Monica and even Malibu. I walked to El Segundo Beach, which was a beautiful, quiet beach; felt like a neighborhood beach. There's a water plant behind it / on the way to the beach that's a bit of an eyesore but it didn't impact how enjoyable the beach was or the beach quality. Carrie's place is also maybe a 30-45 minute Uber ride to places like Studio City and the Grove.
Check-in was also really easy. I had some trouble figuring out how to open the door, but it was much easier than what I was attempting (the deadbolt is the part with the keypad fyi!). And Carrie was communicative and very quick to respond (like within minutes!) when I had had to change my reservation and also extend my check-out by an hour on the day of check-out.
Overall, just such a lovely stay at Carrie's place -- I was so glad I didn't stay at a hotel. I really felt at home here!