Where Bloggers Live: Favorite Websites
Welcome to the monthly edition of Where Bloggers Live. It’s kind of like HGTV’s “Celebrities at Home,” but…Bloggers! Who doesn’t like to peek behind the scenes and see inside people’s homes and lives? Every month a group of six bloggers share their work-spaces, homes, towns, and more!
Today we’re sharing our favorite website(s).
Over the years my favorite things, in all categories, have changed and changed again. From gardening to floral design, to ebay, vintage clothing, photography…and now…to all things Korean and travel-related. So my favorite places on the internet have changed as well, going from interest to interest…and much time and effort has been spent in finding the best resources for whatever my passion du jour is. So today I’m just sharing my current favorites (otherwise, with the way I collect new interests, we’d be here all day). You’re welcome.
And on the internet as well, things change VERY QUICKLY. And while websites used to be king…then blogs took over…and now it seems that many content makers are focusing their time and attention more on the shorter-form social media platforms – Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, some things cannot be improved by going shorter/smaller/faster (that’s what she said) (sorry). Websites (and blogs) will always have a place…both on the internet and in my heart 🙂
But today we’re talking WEBSITES.
One website that has stood the test of time for me, and is fueled by my frequent moves, is Apartment Therapy. I’m sure most of you are at least aware of its existence, even if you haven’t stalked followed them as I have over the years. For almost 20 years I have been enjoying their house tours, especially the small space categories. For me, one of the best parts of moving is getting to plan new room layouts and Apartment Therapy has been a rich source of inspiration for a long time.
Once a year they have a competition called the Small Cool Contest and I love looking at all the contestant spaces. The smaller, the better!
Here’s a current favorite apartment – it’s 200sqft but full of charm and interest. She’s using some good storage techniques, like the high wall shelf for books, the armoire in the corner as a clothes closet, the fireplace for more books, a coffee table with drawers, and underbed storage. She wasn’t afraid to use the furniture she loves and ignored the advice of using small-scaled furniture in small spaces.
Slightly larger at 326sqft and packed with style, this one is more bright and airy than the first one, but I love it just as much. The one element they both used is large mirrors which reflect light and can give the illusion of more space…and wall-mounted televisions, leaving horizontal surfaces available for other things.
And it’s always fun to look at the over-the-top spaces…which can be just as inspirational in their own way as the more “conventional” rooms. This dramatic room is feeding my velvet green sofa fantasies.
While Apartment Therapy is a long-time favorite, I have some new favorites as well…that I visit pretty obsessively regularly.
airbnb: this site is the stuff that ridiculous travel dreams are made of! I am UB-SESSED with “traveling” all around the world, searching for the cheapest places I can stay for 30, 60, 90 days without a formal visa. You’d be amazed! I keep hearing that airbnb is dead…you know, like blogs are dead, ha ha. I don’t know, I see an awful lot of affordable places…but sometimes it’s fun to look at the crazy places…
Ever dream of staying in a stucco dragon slash giant seashell unicorn house?? It’s only $1000 a night! Not in MY budget, but in the overall scheme of themes, I would say that’s on the lower end of ridiculous.
Or how about a gypsy caravenesque romantic tiny firehouse?? And this for the low low price of $147 night!
While airbnb matches my off-the-wall imagination, it also has a seemingly endless inventory of affordable options. My favorite countries to look in are South Korea and Japan (shocker), Thailand, and Vietnam. Thailand and Vietnam are SUPER cheap, but you can only stay up to 30 days visa-free (well, you can try and extend but there’s no guarantee). Bulgaria, Indonesia, Latvia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Romania, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Uraguay are also on my list as 30-90 day visa-free countries with reasonable airbnb options. And by “reasonable,” I mean under $600 (all in with taxes and cleaning fees) a month.
I look for private spaces, even if very small…with a private bathroom (though I don’t mind a communal kitchen/laundry space), ideally a bathtub (in Japan almost EVERY apartment has a bathtub, which is not the norm), a balcony is a plus. And believe it or not, this is not that hard to find. Outside the US.
This is a small private unit in Busan, a seaside town which is the second largest city in South Korea. It’s got a water-view shared balcony with a private bathroom and kitchen for $413 for the month. Come on. It’s no stucco seashell dragon, but I don’t need that. All the time.
Or Vietnam, which is just ridiculously inexpensive…this is $305/month, all in.
Or if you prefer a little more luxury, this is what you can get in Vietnam for $405.
Maybe you’d like to share a castle in Paris…for $616!
You can find anything anywhere at any price point: treehouses, cabins, beachfronts, tents in the desert, places that look like space ships, mud huts, high-rises in the city center. Looking through the listings just sets my heart on fire.
Once I find a place I’m intrigued with I visit Rome 2 Rio, which is like international Google Maps. From there I can find directions and distances to and from anywhere. How far is the place from town, restaurants, the beach, the train, etc. Or, in the case of me looking at apartments in Seoul, how far from school.
Which brings me to my REAL current obsession, which is ZigBang, a Korean real estate app. Korean Zillow, if you will. I put in my budget and it pulls up every available unit in my price range in the areas I select. I save anything that looks like a strong contender. Even if that unit is not available at the time I need it, I can share with the realtor the buildings that had apartments I liked and we can look that way. The app tells me the rent, management fee, the exposure (this is important to me!) (cuz I’m a weirdo!), the floor (I want to be HIGH!), the pictures usually show the view out the window, and you can view the street view map of the area outside the building.
I obsessively check this site multiple times a day because units are constantly going on and off the market. Seoul is mostly apartment buildings and the turnover is rapid so there’s always something new to see. Once I see something I like I calculate how much the rent is in US dollars – the Korean won is constantly fluctuating, so I look at the current price and the 5-year average (I TOLD you I was obsessive!) to make sure it will be affordable even if the value of the won skyrockets. I figure it will likely not surpass its 5-year high, so I feel safe with my calculations. I have a $750 (US) budget+maintenance fee cap and there’s a LOT in that range. It still amazes me. Then I copy the address of the building and paste it into Rome2Rio to see how far it is from school. I don’t want to be more than 30 minutes away by subway. The apartment I *really* want is on the next corner from the school and is literally half a mile from the apartment building to the language building. That would be amazing.
Ooh – another site I frequent along the lines of airbnb is Trusted Housesitters, or as I like to call it: Free Airbnb…with Cats. This is a site that matches up home/pet owners who wish to travel and need someone to stay with and care for their animals…and travelers who love animals and need a place to stay for free. As a “sitter,” you select a geographical location and the dates you’re available and then you’re shown people who are looking for someone to stay with their pets in that time range. The cool thing is most of these people who have their homes/pets listed on the site are a little $$$ and have some amazing homes – places I could never afford – even on airbnb! So you can stay in some really incredible places! And no money is exchanged.
You can select what kinds of animals you’re comfortable staying with…cats, dogs, birds, fish, “livestock,” etc…or “no animals” – but it’s more uncommon to find a listing just looking for someone to housesit and maybe water plants and pick up the mail. So in my mind, someday when I’m country-hopping and deciding where to go next, I’ll look at airfares and where I can pet-sit even if just part of a month…because by staying somewhere 1-2 weeks for free, I’ll have more money in my budget to spend on fancier accomodations the rest of the month (I’m looking at you, Magical Stucco Lizard House)…or just to sock away for the future or put towards airfare.
This place in the UK has an indoor pool, sauna, outdoor space, incredible indoor spaces…and two adorable cock-a-poos.
Or how about hanging with Jasper the Old English Sheepdog with this amazing view in Sydney, Australia??
My plan is to do this some weekends while I’m in Korea to build up feedback so when I “go global” (ha ha) I’ll already have good reviews under my belt. It’ll also help me with traveling around the country while I’m there if I don’t have to pay for accomodations. And I’m always happy to visit with the kids 🙂
This last one is more of a relaxing way to spend some time, it’s almost meditative to me. It’s called Drive & Listen and there’s “driving through town” videos set to the local music radio station. So you pick a city – Istanbul, Paris, Seoul, Los Angeles (most cities have multiple location options by clicking on the name), etc., and then you watch a video that looks like you’re riding in a car driving in that area. It’s very relaxing. My favorites are Seoul and Los Angeles. But it’s very interesting to me how, for the most part, big cities are very similar to one another. And much more modern than in *my* mind’s eye, anyway. The guy who developed the cite has a complementary YouTube channel with a ton more videos but I can’t think of the name! I’ll often go to this site for 5-10 minutes when my mind is racing and overflowing…and I just need a few minutes to wind down. It’s excellent for that.
So. Those are my current favorite websites:
Hope you enjoyed this little trip down Bettye’s Imagination Lane. I’m well aware I have an overactive imagination…but until something stops me, I’m going for it. All of it. And these websites are helping me!
Make sure to check out my friends’ favorite websites today, too:
Daenel at Living Outside the Stacks
Em at Dust and Doghair
Iris at Iris’ Original Ramblings
Jodie at Jodie’s Touch of Style
Leslie at Once Upon a Time Happily Ever After
Sally at Within a World of My Own
joan
It’s good to hear from you. Sounds like things are marching ahead with your plan to move to Korea!
bettyewp
That’s me, marching ahead like a chicken with its head cut off. I keep waiting for another brick wall to appear in front of me…or to discover I’ve made a gross miscalculation and there’s no WAY I can do such a crazy thing…but it hasn’t happened yet, so I’m still marching 🙂
Sally in St Paul
Looking at these apartments/rooms/dragonhomes/etc. is amazing. I think I basically am attracted to any place that is *completely free of all the STUFF*, if that makes sense. I would be unhappy in the long term without my stuff, but it sure it appealing to look at (and spend short amounts of time in) places without it!
bettyewp
Yes! Seeing all these spaces with no furniture or just spare furniture and little else…is very appealing. I’ve been living amidst boxes and piles for SO LONG, I can’t WAIT to move into a blank slate…
jodie
I have to admit, that I LOVE those places that make a small space seem like home. It’s like when you go to IKEA and they show you how they’ve set up a small apartment. It’s amazing!!
Have you checked out Bali in all of your searches?? One of my friends is over there, and she said it’s inexpensive.
XOXO
Jodie
http://www.jtouchofstyle.com
bettyewp
Yes! The Ikea-esque officetels! I follow an account on Instagram, I think it’s called Modern Home, but it shares pictures of those compact spaces decorated very “korean apartment style,” and they’re very charming.
I have not really looked at Bali, I don’t know. But I just took a quick peek, and yes, it seems very affordable and has a similar US visa situation to Thailand – up to 30 days visa free and you’re allowed one 30 day extension. I will definitely add it to the list! Is your friend living there, or just visiting?
Em D
What a fascinating post! I have done some perusing on AirBnB, but your perusing was much more fun (Side note, liked “Train to Busan” and didn’t realize it was a Korean film until seeing the apartment you posted.)
Trusted Housesitters, eh? This is definitely one for me to check out! Would love to see how that all works (not that we live in a high-demand travel destination, but it’s pretty cool here once you think about it).
I also want to check out Drive&Listen… crazy, the clever things people think of…but your description puts it on my must try list.
Zillow is one site I spend way too much time on…so I think I can hold off on Zigbang for now…but I’m definitely not ruling it out!
Fun prompts, once again, clever Bettye!
bettyewp
Oh Zillow was a long-time favorite of mine – along with CraigsList apartment listings. I am ALWAYS looking at apartments…even when I’m not looking FOR an apartment. I just enjoy looking. And am constantly amazed at what some people consider “habitable for humans.” Wow. It’s quite entertaining.
Train to Busan is on my list…it’s not my usual genre of choice, but it was SUCH a big hit in Korea that I feel I should…plus there are two male actors I like: Gong Yoo (I think he’s the main male lead in it) and Choi Woo Shik. Dod you see Parasite? Woo Shik was in that, too. He’s very talented and has played very diverse roles very convincingly. Plus, he’s adorable. Plus, he’s friends with Kim Taehyung (of the wonderful outfits) of BTS 🙂 Ha.
Iris
WOW, you really have done a lot of research. I liked the first place you showed, and the tiny firehouse. But, I’m (sadly I guess) out of the travel business or even wanting to. I’m just way to comfortable at home! I’m sure all your research will pay off when the time comes to us it. You’ll have to stay in touch with us.
Iris
bettyewp
Oh, you don’t know the half of it! There is so much involved with leaving the country – the school needs stuff, the visa people need stuff, there’s all the retirement stuff…then there’s all the things I need to know for when I get there – making my cell phone work, SIM cards, getting money to me there/opening a Korean bank account, chargers, getting an ARC (Alien Registration Card), health insurance, things I’m not even thinking of at the moment, but it’s a LOT. Just getting myself through the airport upon arrival feels overwhelming, there are so many hoops to jump through before you can even leave the building. It’s been pretty overwhelming. My brain has felt SO OVERWHELMED for like 18 months between EVERYTHING. But I keep plugging away, a little at a time…all the while feeling like SOMETHING is going to happen to prevent all this from happening, AND THEN WHAT?!?
I’m just so comfortable at home, too. But if I stay in the US I won’t be able to retire for YEARS yet…and I’m just not prepared to risk that I’ll make it. Literally…or emotionally, mentally. I need to own my time. So that’s what keeps pushing me forward on all this.
And of COURSE I’ll stay in touch with y’all! We’ll still be bloggy friends…maybe WBL will morph into something else…and there’s always Dock Friends on Facebook! You’re not getting rid of me THAT easily!
Leslie Susan Clingan
Pinterest pales in comparison to your favorite websites. I could play with them all day. I like the idea of tiny spaces and trying to live in one. Although it is totally impractical because I complain about not having enough room in our 2400 sq ft house. Ha!! I would love to have a tiny summer cottage or beachside RV or mountaintop cabin.
I hope to heavens you can make your dream of travel and exploration of all of these (exotic to me) places a reality sooner rather than later. Would Katie visit? Would she go with you abroad? You have done so much research, you just have to realize this dream.
Thank you for sharing some brand new to me sites and reminding me of some I have enjoyed playing with and haven’t visited recently.
bettyewp
Katie and I have already discussed her coming to visit. We’ve been trying to take a trip together to Japan since before covid, so the plan is she’ll come one time and we’ll “hop over” to Japan for a week…and another time she’ll stay with me in Korea and we’ll do fun little trips all around the country. And I have friends and relatives who are like, “oh I am SO visiting you over there!” It’ll be nice for them to have a place to stay and a tour guide/interpreter(ish) – it will make traveling to such a different part of the world a little less daunting for them. And of course it will be fun for me to have someone familiar visit.
It’s all good…I just can’t wait for it to start!