Take residential accommodation as home, use coffee to warm the world, blowing the sea breeze on the seaside, a must place for young people.

Who can imagine changing homes for most of the year? Zheng Chenyu, who has traveled to 16 countries, is just like this, abandoning hotels and looking for suitable accommodation at every stop of the trip through Airbnb. Wake up in the morning in the landlord's carefully prepared breakfast; have a warm exchange with strange "family" at night; bring their own hand-made coffee map, under the leadership of the locals to lift the most beautiful veil of a city. All this makes her enjoy it.

Residential accommodation brings the warmth of strangers.

Perhaps because he has studied alone in the United States since high school, compared with others, Zheng Chenyu, 25, has a profound "dedication" to "home". Compared to all standardized hotels and courteous service staff, she prefers to stay in a stranger's home and feel the warmth of "home".

Because the place of work is in Los Angeles, and Zheng Chenyu's home is in New York, she does not choose to rent or buy a house, but lives in residential accommodation almost all the year round. In Los Angeles, holding a cup of hot coffee made by the landlord every morning, slowly waking up in the mellow, watching the "cute pet" rubbing around the house as if living in his own home; in Zurich, meet the warm male landlord carefully prepared for himself a deck of playing cards with local attractions, interesting and intimate.

"when you meet someone who treats you like family in a strange city, you can wake up with a smile when you sleep." Zheng Chenyu still remembers that when she went to Chicago for the first time in July 2013, her reservation was close to late at night because the plane was late. From the moment she walked out of the airport, she had been receiving text messages from her landlord, Sara, telling her not to worry. The key had been left in the lock at the door, and juice, water and breakfast all asked her to "feel free".

In addition to the concern from strangers, the landlord can also bring Zheng Chenyu the most authentic and quintessential play. She once rowed with her landlord to a small town on the banks of the Lijiang River, climbing mountains, hiking and practicing yoga with the villagers. And the stories from these strangers are also full of great attraction.

In Santa Monica, California, Zheng Chenyu met her landlord Aunt Jerry, who had brilliant blond hair and was in high spirits over 50 years old. Her voice sounded hoarse and vicissitudes of life after years of smoking, but it was perfect for her to tell the story of documentary films made in Cuba in her early years. Along the narrow coastline of Southern California, Zheng Chenyu was also brought into Jerry's mysterious Cuban documentary amid the beating of the sun, sand and waves.

Draw the world on the coffee map

In addition to living in residential accommodation, another habit of Zheng Chenyu's travel is to collect local "cafes". About three years ago, Zheng Chenyu began to visit different cafes in various countries, from Hong Kong to the United States, to Switzerland, Germany and Austria. She named the operation "coffee love project". She collected logo from different cafes during the trip, which were recreated by Zheng Chenyu and eventually turned into a cardboard coffee map.

Today, the coffee map, made of recycled cartons, depicts the logo and stories of more than 300 cafes around the world. There are business cards of different baristas, as well as wrapping paper, photos and messages from people from different countries. The small cardboard exudes the smell of more than 300 cafes in the world, recording Zheng Chenyu's good memories all the way.

In order to successfully collect logo from different cafes, Zheng Chenyu must take the initiative to communicate with different people. Every time she took out her cardboard coffee map, she attracted the attention of the barista. Maybe a barista was busy at first and didn't talk much, but when the topic talked more and more about coffee, life and art, the barista would be moved by Zheng Chenyu's enthusiasm and chat with the little girl more and more happily.

In the completion of this collection plan, many moving stories have taken place. During a visit to a cafe in San Francisco, Zheng Chenyu showed his coffee map to the cafe's owner, Preston. The introverted boss was surprised and surprised at her persistence, then took off his glasses, put the map on the table, looked at it thoughtfully for 20 seconds, and finally looked up and said "Thank you" to Zheng Chenyu. It turned out that he found several coffee shops that he had participated in on Zheng Chenyu's map, and he saw his past on this map.

Conversation:

Travel not near or far, but in discovery

Nanfang Daily: what do you value more when traveling?

Zheng Chenyu: the most important thing to travel is not the distance, the most important thing is to have a heart full of freshness and curiosity, to pay attention to the creaking century-old building on the staircase in an ordinary corner of the city, or a dewdrop on the lotus leaf. Sometimes we spend most of our time on the road and "sign in" when we get to the scenic spot. We might as well reflect on whether this goes against the original intention of travel.

Nanfang Daily: why did you think of making a coffee map?

Zheng Chenyu: when I used to live in the East Village of New York, there were all kinds of cafes in the neighborhood, which strongly ignited my enthusiasm for exploring cafes. In fact, every cafe or restaurant, small shop, the design of logo, the packaging of goods, etc., convey the boss's life, business philosophy, etc., revealing the culture and life flavor of the local neighborhood. Coupled with the fact that I am a collector, I want to collect their logo.

Nanfang Daily: is it inconvenient to change accommodation often and get along with strangers?

Zheng Chenyu: in fact, it is not easy to find accommodation, unlike booking a hotel, you need to do a lot of homework, such as landlord communication. When I am busy at work, I will feel very stressed and even think about whether to stick to the plan of 365 accommodation. However, as soon as I arrived at home and met a warm landlord, I felt that all the hardship and tiredness before was worth it. These landlords are very interesting. I can write about them, and because of them, I have a lot of new experiences and see a new world.

Nanfang Daily: how to find the ideal accommodation?

Zheng Chenyu: I usually look for it through Airbnb. First of all, try to choose homeowners who have similar interests and hobbies, after moving in, there will be a lot of common language and more interaction; secondly, choose the area according to your own travel concept, such as transportation convenience, whether close to scenic spots, etc.; also do a good background check on the selected area, pay attention to the local homeless and crime rate, so as to avoid accidents; read more about the evaluation of the landlord and the reply of the landlord on the platform. Finally, as a tenant, we should respect the landlord and take the initiative to communicate, exchange contact information in advance, can also let oneself get praise, and improve the pass rate for future applications for accommodation.

Source: Nanfang Daily