As many of you know from following me on social media (if you don’t, you should), my family and I recently drove across the country to move from Utah to Virginia. Along the way, we stayed in different hotels, but our absolute favorite place we stayed was an Airbnb near St. Louis, Illinois. I could list all the reasons why, and I will!
Before I get into the list though, you should know who came along this adventure of ours. Included in the travel caravan was my husband, myself, and our two children aged 3 and 1 at the time. My sister also came with us to help with the driving. So in total there were 3 adults and 2 children.
You’ll find our beloved Airbnb listed as “Private 2Bd. Kitchen&Ba&Laund&LR near Edwardsville” on the website. It is a 2 bedroom apartment over their detached garage, but only one bedroom has a door. However, the bedroom with a door is kind of like a suite sans a bathroom. It has a nice, walk-in closet, spacious square footage, and a long hallway where you can see into the chicken coop.
My sister took the bedroom without a door (it was still pretty private). We set up Parker, our 3 year old, at the end of the hallway and we put Isabela, our 1 year old, in a playpen inside the closet. Obviously, Nate and I took the bed in the room with our kids. It actually seemed like we were all in separate rooms!
Pro Tip: We brought our Google mini with us and set it up with the guest Wi-Fi so we could still play white noise for our kids to fall asleep with. It also helps to minimize any noise from the adults that stay up a little later!
Now, without further ado, here’s to why you should book this Airbnb for your next trip!
1. The Entire Place is Yours
You don’t just get the apartment to yourselves. And yes, it is self check-in.
The property sits on a working farm with acres of land. The apartment itself is on top of a detached garage that also connects to their chicken coop and stables for the horses. However, the owner’s own house is a good distance away so we didn’t feel at all self conscious of our space.
In fact, the owner told us that the property has trails that run through it, should we choose to take a walk around. We didn’t due to time, but the pond sounded amazing!
2. Farm Tour
Our agreed FAVORITE part of our experience here was getting a tour of the farm animals from the owner himself! Mark, the owner, was so accommodating to meet us after we arrived around 7pm at night.
The first animals we saw were his two dogs. They were definitely energetic, but so kind to the kids. Then we stepped into the chicken coop area. Let me say, the chickens were everywhere! Mark even let Parker pick his own eggs from them! Check out this video below for the full experience!
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3. Long Driveway
This, for us, was a big deal. You see, we were driving cross country with a long U-Haul truck that was also towing our car. We were driving the mini van in addition to that. It was soo nice having a long driveway where we could easily park our vehicles! (And back out!)
4. Amenities
This section could be separated into each amenity that we loved, but instead I will list them out and let you decide for yourself. Remember, we had been driving for already two days before stopping in Illinois. And the day before, we drove for over 13 hours, with rain on both days. Needless to say, we were exhausted and looking forward to a much needed rejuvenation period. And boy, did we get it!
Here are just some of the amazing amenities we indulged in during our stay:
- Flat screen TV with Roku
- Washing machine and dryer
- Big bathroom with a huge circle jacuzzi and adjustable shower head
- Fully stocked kitchen
- Fresh EGGS straight from the hens!
Yes, you read that last one right. Maybe I should consider it an amenity, but Mark provided us with a carton of fresh eggs that he picked earlier that day. Nate cooked them up for breakfast before we departed in the morning and it definitely gave us great energy for the rest of our drive!
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5. Close Proximity to the City
Our original plan was to stop in St. Louis before arriving at the Airbnb because none of us had ever been. Unfortunately due to the traffic the rain caused, we didn’t feel like there would be enough time.
However, this Airbnb is only 30 minutes away from downtown St. Louis where all the tourist attractions are, like the Gateway Arch. So if you’re looking for a great place to relax after exploring the city, you have to check this place out!
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