Throughout the years, We have journeyed to a large number of locations and seen many things. I adore the idea of living as locals are living whenever I visit another country or town, which is the reason why I make it a point to stay in a bed & breakfast if it is at all humanly possible whenever I travel and no matter what the vacation destination may be.
I recall my initial trip offshore, to France. Instead of stay in a major chain hotel, or perhaps a neighborhood hotel, I opted for a bed & breakfast. It was just a little place within Paris that permitted me to mingle with people and see real local neighborhoods where families grew up. I went downstairs in the morning to enjoy breakfast with the family that owned the bed & breakfast and then went about my business during the day. It absolutely was great.
I guess what I cherished the most about that bed & breakfast is the fact that I felt like I was at home, but in a completely different country and culture. I was around people that I really liked and cared for as a foundation for going out, but I also got to take in all of these new experiences and sights that I won't ever forget so long as I live. It had been truly the best of both worlds.
Once I got back to the United States, I promised that I would make it a point to stay in a bed & breakfast regardless of where I traveled. I made a trip to Flagstaff the year after and found it to be wonderfully charming, more so than I'd ever heard before, and I realize that it absolutely was simply because I opted not to stay in one of the hotels in Flagstaff. I seriously got to live as the locals live, and it made the trip more genuine personally.
Another new advantage of staying in a bed & breakfast is that it generally costs less than staying in a hotel. When I made a trip to Georgia a few years back, I compared prices of the bed & breakfast to a local hotel, and found the bed & breakfast to be about three quarters of the price of the hotel, and I had access to an entire house, including food anytime I wanted it.