can you trust people you meet on the internet? we did.

the danzig life
Aug 24, 2017 · 4 min read
sunset from the roof of our apartment

jesse and sherry danzig quit their jobs, got rid of their belongings, and embarked on an international adventure with their sons casey (2.5 yrs old) and sandy (6 mos. old) and their dog rocco. they are now full-time family travel bloggers (instagram @thedanziglife).

we booked our apartment in portugual. not through airbnb or other brand-name website but via a local rental property site we found online. they promised us a crib, wifi and that our home would be within walking distance to the beach, shops, restaurants, etc. oh and by the way we will be sharing an outdoor courtyard with the rental property guy’s cousins, who own the property. it checked all our boxes and we love meeting new people (aka maybe they can babysit for us), let’s do it.

we agreed to terms and they asked for a 25% deposit. fine. but then they sent us bank wire instructions to wire the money, no credit cards. mehhhhh, starting to sound a bit sketch now. totally cool to pay the deposit with our credit card but wiring some rando dude from the internet a bunch of cash? pass. their response when i told them i wasn’t going to wire money: “no problem i trust you just pay when you get here.” ok…i guess? we also arranged with them a ride from the airport to the apartment (which would be able to fit all our bags and have 2 car seats for the kiddos).

so now we are all booked up on an internet-handshake deal with a foreign stranger via a questionable website. aka the most rock solid deal you can ever make. were we concerned that we booked a home from a questionable website we never heard of that wouldn’t take a credit card for a deposit but gave us the “don’t worry you’re all set” line? we weren’t not worried.

it sounds a lot crazier on paper than it did when we booked it, but it was a little sketch. if we were 20 years old travelling solo and our accommodations didn’t work out, not a huge deal. we could just find a hostel or a campground or a gutter for a couple nights until we figure it out. but if we arrived to nothing with our 2 kids, dog and everything we own? huge deal. aka my wife would obliterate me.

here’s what happened. we arrive after a red-eye flight on about 3 hours of sleep. and when you travel this deep, you don’t move very fast. you have to pee, change diapers, manage crying kids. we are the people who when they finally show up to baggage claim, the belt has long stopped turning and our bags are the only ones left on the carousel. throw in an international flight and we had to wait in the customs line. we had to take the dog to an on-site vet to get approved to enter the country. we had to find the stroller we gate-checked but then wasn’t at the gate. oh did i mention i left one of our carry-on bags on the plane? that was fun.

about 2.5 hours after we landed we were still at the airport and sherry and i both looked at each other and said, “i hope our driver is still here…”

thankfully he was still there. his car baaarely fit all our stuff. the car seats would have gotten me arrested in the states, but they were better than nothing. and the apartment was ready and waiting for us when we arrived. surprisingly, it was actually a little nicer than we expected. here’s to the 1% of the time when internet-handshake deals with a foreign stranger actually work out (does this mean we are 1%-er’s now?).

our hosts/landlords/neighbors? well, they need a post of their own. but i’ll tell you this: they don’t speak a lick of english. let the portugal adventure begin!

our apartment in ericeira, portugal
dinner in the courtyard we share with our portuguese neighbors/landlords
lunch in the kitchen

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