Ive done some minor trips alone-- extensions of business trips, a week at the beach, a day or overnight in a city. I really don't need the company of others for the times when I am lounging on the beach, shopping or museuming. I think the key is to plan your trip around the things you very much enjoy alone. I used to rent a house on the beach where I could take my dog. My sister and niece would come down for an overnight.. sometimes I would allow a bf to come for a night or two. I loved those getaways but I don't really think of them as vacations. I have been looking at options for a trip -- not yet sure of the timing but I am considering a cooking school in mexico that offers a lot of solo time as well as a trip to Cuba. The problem with these kinds of solo trips is that you are at least loosely connected with a group. I am not sure if I'll enjoy that.

eld, that is the ABB effect. fortunately I live in a resort area, so that will never happen here because Cape Cod needs these short-term rental properties, but ABB (and now HomeAway) have wreaked havoc on this industry. Aimee, I do as much as I can, obviously, to avoid serious damage. I vet people as best as I can during the inquiry process. I try to form a very comfortable relationship, more a friendship than a business one, when formulating the whole deal, i.e.: humor, friendliness, etc. My house is furnished primarily via CL and things given to me. I do cover the sofa, which is a very good sofa. I am very up front with potential guests and tell them right out that this is my home and that I hope they will respect it and "take care of my baby", that kind of thing. I drop little hints, like, 'Oh, my neighbors will let me know if y'all have gone nuts over here" (so again, some humor with a "be aware" snuck in there). I rent mostly to families, and while they can be messy, they tend to be quiet since children go to bed early. I avoid groups of young people, although the very few times I've done it, there have been no problems at all. I think that, when people learn it's actually your home and not a second property meant to be an investment property, they have a different attitude. I think people know they wouldn't want their own homes trashed by renters, whereas a lot of people feel that a second property, meant for investment income, sole use is enters, have a more relaxed attitude and sense that they can be harder on it. I also think that, a lot of owners of those second investment property homes put junk in them for furniture, which there is a good argument for doing, and that lends itself to harder treatment. I do allow dogs, but never, ever cats. (sorry cat owners). the other thing I "do" is have an attitude of "It's the cost of doing business" that things will go wrong, people will lie, stuff is going to happen, but I have to do this for my livelihood. But, as I said, I've been very, very lucky and have had some really wonderful people here. Btw, you can tell a lot about a person from the initial inquiry, believe it or not. The people who go out of their way in the initial written inquiry to tell you who they are, that they are responsible, compliment your house, etc., tend to make very, very good tenants. The inquiries that have a tone of someone looking only at their own needs and wants and not showing an awareness that it is someone else's home they want to live in for a while, I vet a lot harder to try to pull that out of them. You do not want to rent to someone who is one-sided, only concerned about their own interests. We owners have to be concerned about our guests' needs, but guests should also express concern about the owner's needs too. If you can establish that, you're probably good. re: dogs. Dogs must be penned in the kitchen when no one is home. If it is a dog that sleeps on the bed, I am okay with that, but I tell the guest to bring bedding for whatever bed the dog will be sleeping on. That has been the only down side; Dogs have done some damage to some of my bedding, so I've implemented changes for that. I am FIERCE with them about cleaning up after the dog, noting that children, including my neighbors' kids, play in my yard and I do not want dog poop anywhere on the lawns or where people might walk. I have two pooper scoopers on hand for them to use. MOST are very good about it, but some, not so much. Again, "Cost of doing business". The thing that drives me absolutely batty, for whatever reason, is when the games I have for kids are not put away properly, the pieces all accounted for and put back in the right boxes, that kind of thing. I think it is SO discourteous for the next users, so that is something I insist on. I even made labels for some of the games, like UNO, that say how many pieces there are, that kind of thing. Also drives me nuts when they use my white towels to take makeup off, esp. since I put black facecloths in each bathroom for that purpose. It's definitely a Learn-as-you-go kind of thing.

How fun for your son! I studied in Italy when I was in college - we spent every weekend on the train traveling around Western Europe. As soon as class was over on Friday, we'd hop on an overnight train to someplace like Munich, the French Riviera, Paris, etc. We had a three week spring break so one friend and I traveled together for the first half all over Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium then parted ways where I spent a night in Liechtenstein, then traveled a few days alone through France, before I ended up in Spain where I visited several foreign exchange students my family had hosted in the US nearly ten years earlier. I also got to spend five days in Sicily with my father's cousins, who didn't speak any English. At the end of the semester, a group of us spent 10 days in Greece touring the islands. It's funny b/c NONE of my friends took advantage of studying abroad - they were all business majors which made it harder, but not impossible. Just before I left, I was second guessing going, a little bummed I was going to miss out, but boy, it was one of the best experiences of my life! About five years later, just after I got engaged to dh, who was then in the Navy and stationed in Hawaii, he got his next assignment which was on the East Coast. He is originally from the Bay Area, so we flew there, bought a new car in NV (no sales tax), then spent the next three weeks driving across country. We took a zig zag pattern, stopping in places we wanted to see as well as places to visit friends. We camped, stayed in cheap hotels, friends and a few nights in more luxurious lodgings. To show you how non-direct our route was - we started in CA, drove to Reno to pick up the car, spent the night in Tahoe at dh's family condo, then stopped in Davis to visit an old friend of mine, then drove all the way down to L.A. to visit dh's brother, from there to San Diego, then over to Vegas, then from there to AZ where we had the highlight of our trip. We hiked 10 miles down into Havasu Canyon which is part of the Grand Canyon just further west, where we camped on an Indian reservation. From there, we drove through incredibly scenic parts of Utah up to Denver where we stayed at a friend's vacation home, then up through Wyoming to South Dakota where we visited some national parks including Mt. Rushmore (only b/c we were nearby). Then from there to Milwaukee as part of the trip was to see as many major league ballgames as we could. I know we also stopped in Minnesota but think it was just to sleep then eventually ended up in Chicago, then Cleveland (sister and many relatives live there) then finally "home" to where we live now. I am so glad we took this trip as there has never been a time since where dh has been able to take that much time off. Since having kids, I have always wanted to go on a big road trip. We have seen much of the East and West Coast but not much of the interior. Kids have vetoed the road trip b/c they don't want to spend weeks in the car. I told them they have it much easier than I did - we had nothing but AM radio, books and car games to keep us entertained while they have iPads, etc! For some reason dh wasn't too keen on a road trip either so we are flying to Utah this summer to see Bryce and Zion and the northern rim of the Grand Canyon.

Ojai is very nice but also very small. It is close to Ventura and not all that far from Santa Barbara. I do agree that coastal areas will be chilly in December, until you get as far south as Ventura or Malibu. Even Santa Barbara is chilly in December. You could hike in the hills, but the beach will be cold. We're currently planning to be in Palm Springs at Christmas, and so if you change your mind about PS, maybe we can sort of meet. We'll be in Palm Springs again in February for Modernism Week and my birthday, but I don't know yet what events will be happening for that. We might be spending more time in the desert this winter if we get enough rain in L.A. so that I don't have to take care of plants. In general, I don't want to stay away for more than three or four weeks. Another desert location you could consider is Joshua Tree but that is close to Palm Springs and might be too far south for you. It is a fantastic place for hiking, and we've been there many times. Of course it is very close to us now. The last time we stayed there (before we bought our house here), we stayed in the Donovan Room at the Joshua Tree Inn. That is a two bedroom suite that would accommodate two couples easily. You might be able to visit The Integraton while you are there, if it is open for visitors.