A few weeks ago, I was looking for a place to stay for the next leg of my trip on Airbnb. Some of this was done on the Airbnb app so when I opened it up, it showed me their new “Experiences” first and they were all London based since that is where I am currently. My interest was peaked by a photography tour and I saved a few to a wish list but didn’t book right away.
Then last week, I was in Brighton and realized I had one more week in London without much planned. I decided to book one of the photography workshops for the next evening. While I think I do okay with my photography skills, I know it never hurts to learn more and get someone else’s perspective. Plus, I figured he would have some great photography locations.
Booking the Experience
Once you find the experience you want to do, you click see dates. Like booking an apartment, some experiences are only certain dates. For many experience hosts, this is a way to supplement their income, so they aren’t available every day. For that reason, you may need to find a few so you can figure out which ones fit your dates. You can add guests if it is more than just you.
Some tips when booking are to make sure your experience is being offered in a language you understand. Make sure you meet the terms. One I looked at says you must be able to walk six miles. Some experiences do not allow children. Keep in mind that for now, the experiences are only available in 15 cities. Once you have checked all that you are ready to book your experience.
The Experience
Eventually, I chose the Photographing London experience with Tim. Our meeting point was a chain called Pret a Manger, so I arrived a few minutes early to make sure I had the right spot and to grab a bottle of water. Soon Tim arrived and then slowly the other participants arrived. After brief introductions, Tim went over each of our cameras with us and some tips for shooting in manual. Then we were off!
Tim had a route planned for the evening and said we may not make it all the way depending on how long we stopped on the way. I don’t want to giveaway Tim’s route, but you can guess some of it by the shots. It was great to be with a bunch of other photography lovers and to have people to compare shots with. Tim gave tips all throughout and looked at everyone’s photos and gave suggestions.
I really loved the experience. Not only because I got some amazing shots, but this was the kind of tour I liked. There were about six of us plus Tim. I was not charged a single supplement and we were all from different places around the world! Some people were living in London but others were visiting. I would say the experiences are a great thing for the solo traveler. You get to do something at the normal cost and meet new people!
The Results
Here are just a few of the photos I came away with from the experience. I highly recommend doing Tim’s Photographing London if you are in town.
Have you done any Airbnb Experiences yet?
