Sometimes, You Just Have To Get Away...
Photo Above: Oval Beach on my recent trip to Saugatuck, MI
Recently, I decided to take my first vacation in 5 years. October seemed like perfect timing as it's typically off season and I am not a fan of huge crowds and tourists. The East Coast was ruled out because of Hurricane Season and I wasn't really into driving 11 hours with two dogs I've never traveled that far with before. The suggestion came up of Saugatuck, Michigan which is only 5.5 hours away and it's on Lake Michigan. This blog entry isn't really about my vacation, if you'd like to see my countless photos of pugs on the beach check out my Facebook page, if you'd like to see where I went and what I recommend, check out my Yelp page. What this post is about are the various resources I found and which ones I actually used.
Photo Above: HomeAway's Website
After spending hours online looking for vacation rentals (that accepted pets), there were tons of websites, but I was annoyed how hard it was to actually see the location of the rental and good photos and reviews. HomeAway was the best website I found during my search. Still not all of the rentals showed the location.
Above: HomeAway's iPhone App Search Filter
I saw that HomeAway had an iPhone App and figured I could browse home to rent when I had time more easily on my iPad. Once I did, I really really happy with the search filters and the fact that I could pretty much see on a map (see below) where the rentals were located.
Above: Search Results
Once you clicked on the dot of the location you wanted, you could scroll thru the details and photos of the home. It really doesn't get much easier than that. Once I was there, I would check the App every once and awhile when I found an area I would like to stay when and if I ever came back, and the app was accurate every time. HomeAway's site says they have over 230,000 vacation rentals all over...so, no matter where you are looking to rent a vacation home in my experience this would be a great place to start or end your search.
Above: viewing a listing
HomeAways Demo Video Below: