Travelling: your home away from home

The Aussie's doing well against the pound and the euro as well as the greenback, so I went looking for an affordable apartment for a few days in Europe.

For me this meant Rome in October. Trawling the net turned into a confusion of dozens of websites, hundreds of apartments and opinions galore.

So I turned to a friend who's been there, done that and he recommended homeaway.com as a reliable outfit. Well, so far I'm impressed.

Based in Boston, USA, homeaway boasts more than 230,000 properties listed across 120 countries, including Australia.

But you can easily narrow the target to areas in the big cities and by price and availability. Browse accommodation details, room pictures and location map, make your shortlist and contact the owners/managers through an inquiry form on the website, or by telephone or email. The site enables owners to advertise their properties so potential guests can contact them directly.

There's been lots of discussion on the net about the risk of losing deposits through such websites. Homeaway says its worldwide team works to prevent fraudulent listings.

If there are serious complaints it removes the listing (which tells you how long the owner has been with homeaway). It recommends a rental contract before making any payments, and offers insurance that covers payments.

My choice is a tiny apartment in Rome's Spanish Steps area with a "mezzanine" bedroom and separate fold-down bed, "corner kitchen" and bathroom for E100 a night (about $140) for four "very good friends". It looks bright and airy.

For four nights Giovanni wants a E40 deposit by bank transfer (my bank charges another $32) and the balance when we arrive. Fingers crossed!

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