I had a lovely time staying with Bia, she was a wonderful host and took great care of me. The apartment was clean and tidy when I arrived and Bia worked hard to make sure it stayed that way throughout my stay.

The apartment is located near a street intersection in East Harlem and with New York being New York - this means you'll have to allow for a degree of street noise (mostly traffic and impatient taxi drivers). As a light sleeper I travel with an eye mask and ear plugs anyway, so slept perfectly soundly throughout my stay.

Bia smokes, but I think this is flagged in the profile and again she works hard to ensure she always smokes out of a window, keeps the apartment well ventilated and was always mindful about smoking around guests. I found her to be an extremely considerate host.

I know most of us, myself included, choose AirBnB because it's cheaper than "official" options, but for me - it's also been a fantastic way of absorbing more local culture and staying in the personal environment of someone's home. I think it's fair that if you have expectations of cooked meals and fresh towels each day - it's not fair to expect that through this service. Bia provided me with clean, fresh towels and bed linen on my arrival, but mentioned she prefers to keep towels separate to each person in the apartment (so you'll need to remember your hand towel each time you visit the bathroom).

The apartment is a five to ten minute walk from the nearest subway station and then I think it was roughly 20 minutes (?) or so to get downtown. I thought it was incredibly convenient and also discovered a wonderful little cafe (something like "Healthy Choices/Healthy Living) around the corner, which offers delicious Caribbean food (just be patient with the service - as it seems to be virtually a one-woman show).

Bia took the time to give me local travel / tourist information and really looked out for me over the six days I was in New York. I had an absolutely blast and would definitely stay with her again.

Thank-you very much!