Sonia came across as a friendly & positive person; she was interested in me having a positive experience in New York and she replied to my messages fairly fast. I must note the punctuality. I got a key from her friend, and that 5 minutes before the agreed time; I just happened to be there sooner and so was she. On the day I was leaving I felt like I needed an extra hour so instead of 11 am check-out we arranged that I let someone in at 10:30 am but I could also leave by noon, which I did.

Yes, the description of the place is accurate and pictures give you a very good idea of what to expect. In addition I must say that the place is spacious, which is not obvious from the photos.

The neighborhood is indeed nice with plenty of Mediterranean food available. Athens Square park houses a few interesting Greek statues. Trade Fair market is big enough to have everything that I needed and 30 Av [N,Q] stop was a 3 minute walk away. On a weekend I walked down a pretty Newton Ave then north onto 21st street and into a large Astoria Park. It was fun to watch large boats wrestle with tide? currents.

More notes about this place. There is a garbage shoot on the same floor, 20 yards away. There is a place for recycling in the basement. I even got help with that from the host's friend which I appreciate. I care about recycling a lot but New York overall does not make it very easy comparing to other places in the US. I am happy that my plastic went the right place.

The wireless internet delivered, I was happy with the internet bandwidth. In addition, there is a very large screen TV with (I think) at least 100 channels - I could not get through them all. I asked and got permission to use a desk to do some work on my laptop, for which I placed my laptop next to the desk and plugged in monitor, mouse and keyboard. I care about ergonomics & my back and I was happy with the desk. When I left I plugged everything back the way it was. To my relieve as a bonus I discovered a micro USB charger that fit my phone (I lost mine on a train).

There was some alcohol in the place (and all of the necessary alcohol gear like openers, glasses, wine stoppers) which I got to sample, but also made sure to buy and leave something else as a replacement. The lights and decorations make it a nice place to have drinks. If you are coming as a couple (not my case), you can have pretty good time, just be careful not to knock down those fancy vases ;)

Kitchen was of modest size (hey, it's New York) but I managed to do everything I needed, including cooking.