I’ve never been to Spain. I seem to be the only Irishman who hasn’t. I have been all over the world for work and pleasure, to Vietnam, Lesotho, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, the Dominican Republic, South Africa, Canada, America, Argentina, China, South Korea, Singapore and Brazil, and all over Europe.

But I have never been to Spain. And I have never been to Ikea. And I have never been on the Luas. And up until this week, I had never used Airbnb.

I joined the accommodation search site for a trip this week to Helsinki. First time to Helsinki. Hotels are very expensive so I decided to take the plunge and go for an Airbnb instead. Aren’t I the modern man? Never been to Spain but a full member now of Airbnb. I have to admit that I am a bit of a snob. I don’t do cheap hotels.

I recently pulled out of a journalist trip too when I discovered I would have to share a room with a complete stranger. That seems to be the European way. But not mine. The organisers were a bit surprised. Sorry. As I said, I am a snob like that.

So signing up for Airbnb was a big thing for this creature who likes his comforts.

Anyway, I joined up and settled on a nice apartment close to the Helsinki city centre. I was a little apprehensive but the place looked the business online. And the man and woman who owned it were sound by email.

When I landed at Helsinki airport, I got the train to the city centre. Of course, the train arrived bang on time. That’s what happens in Scandinavia. Things actually work. And there seems to be zero crime here. I often wonder how it is that the further north you go in the world, the better behaved people are, the cleaner the streets are, the better everything works. Must be to do with better politics.

So I got off the train and thanks to Google maps I made my way to a supermarket where the key had been left for me in an envelope. And around the corner was the apartment. And it looked just like it did on the Airbnb site. Phew. No scam. No hassle. All as it seemed. It is the way to go. And hotels need to wake up to the reality instead of jacking up their prices, be it at home or abroad.

Yes, supply and demand is the axis on which hotel prices revolve. But during the recession when hoteliers saw that people couldn’t afford their inflated prices, they dropped them to a more honest level. Now they are acting the maggot again with extortionate prices. Just have a look at what you will get in Dublin on Saturday week, the night before the All-Ireland football final. And yet people complain all over Twitter when a barman charges anything over €6 for a pint or about the RTÉ licence fee. You would do well to find a room for one night in Dublin for the licence fee.

So thank God for Airbnb. The way to go. I must check it out now and see if I can finally get to Spain. CL

A city life with a country perspective

I’ve written a book. Well, it is a collection of some of the columns from these pages over the past seven years. And also a bit about how a Castleknock native ended up immersed in agricultural journalism. It is some story and going to be a bestseller! The PR man has me well tutored. It is being launched at the Ploughing Championships. I am excited about it but then my mother asked: “Who would really want to read about that?” Talk about getting off to a bad start.