Vacapedia Vacation Rentals Blog

When the fine folks at Vacapedia asked me if I’d blog for them, I looked at the topic at hand–vacation houses across the globe available for weekly rental–and thought, there’s a niche I fit into. Just barely, on account of the fine food that I’m forced to eat when I visit Italy, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

I love to stay in a place for a while. I’m tired of the old “if this is Tuesday it must be Belgium” type of travel. I know to many of you it’s a chore to cook, but I’m one of those people who loves to go into a covered market in Europe and order up a big handful of clams I see squirting briny liquids from their iced-down lair, plus some still flopping little fish for a nice zuppa di pesce that will steam up the house with great smells.

For that I need a kitchen and some pans. I need a refrigerator to chill the Muscadet. I need a balcony where it all comes together and I can look over an unfamiliar and captivating landscape while eating my dinner and sipping my wine. And I need a washing machine, because, well, cooking for me is spontaneous and messy.

My name is James Martin, and I’m a house-renting junky.

In fact, I got so enamored with the prospect of the slow life in Europe, I went out and bought my own house in the Lunigiana region of Tuscany–the cheap undertouristed part–where I spend a decent part of the year. But it’s never enough, I can tell you. Vacapedia even has a house for rent in my neighborhood, with one of the greatest views on the planet. It’s called “Aulla holiday get away” but it’s far above Aulla in Bibola, a town with a castle ruin overlooking my valley in the Lunigiana. It has a view I never tire of. You can see a little of it on the right. For grandeur, you’ll have to go in person.

In any case, I write about my experiences in other places, too. My personal blog about living in Italy can be found over at Wandering Italy. My European travel advice can be found at Europe for Visitors. I’ve been an electrical engineer, an archaeologist, and a travel writer. I photographed auto racing for 17 years after racing cars for three.

Still, what I like most is travel and discovery. You learn a lot about yourself when you travel, perhaps more than you’d like to know sometimes. But it’s all valuable. And it’s really valuable for your kids. They need to know that sometimes people come up with solutions to problems that are different–yet no less valid–than the solutions proposed by their own culture.

So I’ll quit preaching at you now. But think about renting a house on your next vacation. You don’t need to cook, or deal with fresh clams (or heaven forbid the lamb heads on display over at the butcher’s), but you might need to slow down, catch you breath, and sit on that balcony and think of what a great place the world can be sometimes.

Several times a week I’ll be pointing out some vacation rental houses in places I think are spectacular. Check back frequently if you’re dreaming of the perfect vacation.

Happy travels to you. Got a question? Leave a comment.