老爸老媽的Airbnb環球之旅

What does it take to be a Senior Nomad?

怎樣才能成爲一名資深的流浪漢？

Should you want to become one, a few requirements: Be willing to cast off your stuff and accumulate no more; have a flexible definition of what it means to be at home; master the Excel spreadsheet; accept, and even grudgingly appreciate, the ubiquity of Ikea.

要想成爲這樣的人，你需要滿足幾點要求：要樂於擺脫身外之物，不再積累更多傢什；要對家有一個靈活的定義；要熟練掌握Excel的使用技巧；還要接受宜家(Ikea)已然四處氾濫的現實，就算不情願也得學會欣賞。

Debbie Campbell and her husband, Michael, who have embraced, if not promoted, what they refer to as the Senior Nomad way of life on their blog, might add another criterion: the willingness to uproot oneself at a stage in life when others are settling down in a recliner with the remote.

黛比·坎貝爾(Debbie Campbell)和丈夫邁克爾(Michael)可能還會在此基礎上再加一條：在步入尋求穩定的人生階段後，當別人舒舒服服地坐在躺椅裏看電視時，你要仍然願意讓自己四處漂泊。在博客上，黛比和邁克爾將自己的生活方式稱爲“資深流浪”，他們對此的態度即便算不上大力倡導，至少也可說是甘之如飴了。

“We were nearing the time to consider retiring,” said Ms. Campbell, 58, who until recently owned a graphic design business. “We both decided we had one more adventure in us.”

現在58歲的黛比直到幾年前，還在經營着一家平面設計公司。“當時，我們都快到考慮退休的年齡了，”她說，“但我們決定再冒一次險。”

That decision was made just over two years ago at the couple’s townhouse in Seattle. Their daughter Mary Campbell, visiting from her home in Paris, thought they should travel. A friend of her husband’s, she told them, had lived all over, including South America, where he rented apartments and worked remotely.

僅僅兩年間，他們就做出了這個決定。那會兒，夫婦倆還住在西雅圖的聯排別墅裏。他們的女兒瑪麗·坎貝爾(Mary Campbell)有一次從巴黎的住所過來看他們。她認爲他們應該出去旅行。她告訴父母，自己的丈夫有一位朋友已經住遍了全球，包括南美。他在世界各地一邊租公寓，一邊遠程工作。

“My thought was, ‘Had she looked in our bank account and seen more money than I thought we had?’ ” said Mr. Campbell, 69, a former sports marketing executive.

邁克爾說：“我的第一反應是，‘難道她看了我們的銀行帳戶，發現我們其實比我自己以爲的更有錢嗎？’”現年69歲的邁克爾曾是體育賽事營銷高管。

But rather than staying in hotels, Mary suggested that her parents use Airbnb, the home rental site that has inspired devotion from many tourists and criticism from affordable housing advocates, the hotel industry and some city officials. The Campbells had never used Airbnb, but weren’t dissuaded by their lack of experience or the criticism. Sharing sites like Airbnb, Mr. Campbell said, “meet a real need in the marketplace.”

不過，瑪麗並沒有建議父母去住酒店，而是建議他們使用一個叫Airbnb的租房網站。這個網站受到了許多旅遊者的熱捧，也禁受着保障型住房倡導者、酒店業和一些市政府官員的批評。坎貝爾夫婦從未使用過Airbnb。雖然他們缺乏經驗，而且這家網站也受到過批評，但他們並未因此止步不前。邁克爾說，Airbnb這類住宿共享網站“能夠滿足市場的實際需求”。

His daughter’s suggestion planted the idea that he and his wife could wrap up their careers, downsize and reduce their living expenses, Mr. Campbell added. If they could afford to live in Seattle without working, could they also afford to live abroad, renting other people’s homes? After three months of Excel number crunching, they concluded that they could.

他還補充道，女兒的建議讓他萌生出一個念頭——他和妻子可以結束職業生涯，輕裝上陣，減少生活開支。既然他們不用工作也能在西雅圖生存，那麼他們是否有足夠的財力，以租用他人房子的方式住在國外呢？他們用Excel精打細算了三個月，最終得出的結論是，這個方案是可行的。

So the sailboat on which the couple had spent so many weekends — sold. Ms. Campbell’s little Volkswagen convertible — someone else’s dream ride now. Their townhouse — occupied by renters. Everything else was stashed in a 12-by-15-foot storage unit.

於是，帆船被他們賣掉了——以前夫婦倆經常週末時乘船度假。黛比那輛小巧的大衆敞篷車，現在也成了別人的夢中座駕。他們的聯排別墅也被租了出去。其他東西則都塞進了一個12×15英尺（約合3.7×4.6米）見方的儲物間裏。

The Campbells have spent the past year and a half crisscrossing Europe, living for a week or more in one rental home before moving on to another. They’ve stayed in a grand formal apartment in Florence, a graphic designer’s funky place in Paris and a farmhouse in Wexford, Ireland. Their home in Luxembourg had beautiful exposed beams and a loft; their apartment in Tallinn, Estonia, had a sauna. And when they arrived in Rome, they found themselves in the unusual position of not knowing which street door their home was behind.

在過去一年半時間裏，坎貝爾夫婦遊遍了歐洲。每到一個地方，他們就至少租一個星期的房子。他們在佛羅倫薩住過一套富麗堂皇的氣派公寓，在巴黎住過一位平面設計師的時髦住所，在愛爾蘭的韋克斯福德(Wexford)住過一棟農舍。他們在盧森堡的住所，裝飾着漂亮的裸露橫樑，附帶一間閣樓；而在愛沙尼亞塔林(Tallinn)的寓所，帶有一間桑拿浴室。當他們抵達羅馬時，卻發現自己竟找不到住的地方在哪兒。

“We’re not on vacation,” Mr. Campbell said. “We’re not retiring in the traditional sense. We’re out seeing the world in Airbnb apartments because that’s how we can afford to do it.”

“我們不是在度假，”邁克爾說，“我們過的不是傳統意義上的退休生活。之所以通過在Airbnb上租房來環遊世界，是因爲這個方式在我們財力允許範圍內。”

The Campbells were discussing their adventures last month while settling into their latest home on the road, a spacious riad in Marrakesh. They had flown south from Paris, their unofficial hub, in search of warmer weather, and were curious to see the apartment they had selected from hundreds of listings online, as they always are.

坎貝爾夫婦談到了他們上個月的冒險之旅。當時，夫婦倆正準備在他們最近租的馬拉喀什(Marrakesh)那套寬敞的庭院式住宅（riad，摩洛哥的一種傳統建築形式——譯註）中安頓下來。他們的非正式大本營在巴黎，爲了找一處天氣更暖和的地方，他們乘飛機南下，來到了馬拉喀什。而在那裏的住所是夫婦倆從網上的幾百套掛牌房源當中挑選出來的。和往常一樣，他們對自己的新住處很好奇。

“Most of the fun comes from opening the door and not knowing what’s on the other side,” Ms. Campbell said, adding that as the family cook, “I go straight to the kitchen.”

“在打開大門之前，你往往不知道門後面會是怎樣的。大部分樂趣往往就在於推開門的那一刻，”黛比說，她還補充說，作爲家裏負責做飯的人，“我會直奔廚房。”

In Morocco, the Campbells were struck by the local architectural style, the way their riad was furnished with long couches and low tables for people to sit and drink tea, and designed around a courtyard with an opening to the sky instead of windows to let in light.

摩洛哥當地的建築風格讓坎貝爾夫婦感到震撼。他們的庭園式住宅配有長沙發和矮桌，可供人坐着喝茶。整套住宅的佈局設計圍繞着一座庭院，以露天採光而不是通過窗戶。

“Debbie and I just had dinner, and we were sitting at what looks like a dining room table, but if it rains, it’ll come right down on the table,” Mr. Campbell said. “Riad is not a word I was familiar with until six weeks ago.”

“黛比和我才吃過飯，我們圍坐在一個看起來像餐桌的地方。但如果下雨的話，雨水就會滴在桌子上，”邁克爾說，“直到六個星期前，我纔開始熟悉‘riad’這個概念。”

The couple’s friends have expressed skepticism about staying in strangers’ homes glimpsed only online. What if they arrive in Berlin to a pigsty?

夫婦倆的朋友都懷疑，單憑網上的幾張圖片來挑選陌生人的房子住，到底靠不靠譜。萬一到了柏林，發現網上看好的房子其實形同豬圈，該怎麼辦呢？

Of the 46 apartments they’ve rented so far, there have been duds, Ms. Campbell said. And in those cases, “I take pretty scarves and tie them around lamps I don’t like.”

黛比說，他們目前一共租住過46套公寓，有些房子確實不怎麼樣。每次遇到這種情況，“我就會對房子稍作裝點，比如拿一塊漂亮的絲巾圍在難看的檯燈上。”

But those have been rare, and the couple has developed a careful selection process. They use filters on the Airbnb site to find a handful of well-reviewed rentals in their destination city, looking for places around $90 a night, with Wi-Fi, an adequately stocked kitchen, a location in the town center and, ideally, outdoor space. They email the hosts and begin culling the list based on availability, past experience and gut reactions.

但是這種情況很少見，夫婦倆已經摸索出了一套精挑細選的方法。他們使用Airbnb網站上的篩選器，在目的地城市選出一些口碑較佳的出租房源。他們要找的房子必須滿足幾個條件：價位約在90美元（約合人民幣564元）一晚，要有Wi-Fi，要有設施齊全的廚房，要位於市區中心地帶，最好還帶戶外空間。他們會給業主發電子郵件，然後根據房源可入住的時間、過去的經驗和直覺來沙裏淘金。

“After 550 days, we’re getting pretty smart about what we like,” Mr. Campbell said.

“經過550天的歷練，我們已經非常清楚地知道自己喜歡什麼了。”邁克爾說。

They are also noticing cultural differences about how people live. For instance, the austerity of Scandinavian apartments. Or the way homes in southern Spain tend to be dark, with windows shut to the blistering sun. In Helsinki, Ms. Campbell said, “every house had a big boot scraper on the doorstep, so you knew bad things happen there in the winter.”

他們也注意到了各地民宅間的文化差異。舉例來說，斯堪的納維亞風格的公寓比較質樸，而西班牙南部的住宅往往光線較暗，窗扉緊閉，以遮擋毒辣的陽光。黛比說，在赫爾辛基，“家家戶戶的門口都放着一個刮靴器，你就可以想到那裏冬天路不好走。”

The universal design language, at least with Airbnb rentals, is Ikea.

宜家家居已成爲全球通用的設計語言。這一點，至少適用於Airbnb上放租的房源。

“I have washed more Ikea plates than any human on earth,” Mr. Campbell said with a laugh. “People must get a checklist from somebody and go to Ikea.”

“我洗過的宜家餐盤比地球上任何人都多，”邁克爾笑着說，“大家肯定是拿着什麼人開出的清單去宜家統一訂購的。”

The Senior Nomads have their own checklist, little rituals to lessen the feeling that they are camping in a stranger’s home. After arriving, Ms. Campbell heads straight for a market; cooking at home saves money and gives the couple a chance to try local foods. And after chatting via FaceTime with Mary Campbell or another of their four children, they watch a podcast of “NBC Nightly News,” delayed by one day.

這兩位資深流浪漢也有自己的清單。他們會進行一些小儀式，來減輕旅居異鄉的漂泊感。到達目的地後，黛比會直奔市場；在家裏做飯不僅省錢，還能借機嘗試一下當地的美食。夫婦倆通過FaceTime與瑪麗·坎貝爾或其他孩子（他們有四個孩子）聊完天后，就會收看播客《NBC晚間新聞》(NBC Nightly News)。他們的收看時間會比節目首播晚一天。

“We’ll wake up tomorrow, have our cereal and orange juice — that makes us feel at home,” Mr. Campbell said. “And because of the Internet and Wi-Fi, you instantly feel reconnected.”

“第二天早上，我們醒來後會用麥片和橙汁當早餐——這讓我們有家的感覺，”邁克爾說，“而且，有了互聯網和Wi-Fi，你馬上就能感覺到，親友間的紐帶重新建立起來了。”

At night, the couple break out one of the few comforts from their Seattle home that wasn’t sold or put in storage.

到了晚上，夫婦倆就會拿出他們從家裏帶來的枕頭。這是他們爲數不多的幾件沒有變賣、或堆到儲物間裏的行李之一。

“Whenever I see people travel with pillows I think, really?” Ms. Campbell said. “But no matter what bed we land on, we have our down pillows.”

“每當我看見別人帶着枕頭旅行時，我都會覺得不可思議，”黛比說，“但是我們自己無論睡在哪兒，都會帶着家裏的羽絨枕頭。”

Beyond that, she added, they don’t find themselves longing for anything from their old life. (Well, some things they do long for. Ms. Campbell recently confessed on the couple’s blog to having a cry over the lack of a vegetable peeler in their rental in Naples, Italy, an outburst, she said, caused by always taking inventory of new kitchens and finding them lacking.)

她補充道，除此之外，過去的生活中沒有任何事情是他們覺得留戀的（好吧，這樣說也不盡然。黛比最近在夫婦倆的博客上坦言，她在意大利那不勒斯租房時，因爲家裏沒有果蔬削皮器而哭了一場。她說自己之所以會情緒爆發，是因爲每次清點廚房用品時，總會發現少了些什麼）。

Mary Campbell, 32, a food stylist in Paris, has acted as a Sherpa of sorts to her parents, guiding them through European public transport and the visa process, and occasionally joining them on the road. Her parents’ views about home and lifestyle have changed, she has noticed.

現年32歲的瑪麗·坎貝爾在巴黎做食品造型師。她給父母充當了嚮導的角色，指導他們如何利用歐洲的公共交通，告訴他們辦理簽證的流程，偶爾還會跟他們一起旅行。她注意到，父母對家庭和生活方式的看法發生了變化。

“Now, over a year into it, they’re much more comfortable in a smaller space,” she said. “They don’t have a car over here. The walking lifestyle has been a discovery for them. They’ve redefined what they thought they needed.”

“現在，一年多過去了，他們已經很習慣住小房子了，”她說，“他們在這裏沒有車。多走路的生活方式對他們來說，是個全新的發現。他們對自己的需求有了完全不一樣的看法。”

She added: “It’s so adventuresome and so different from anything else I hear that my friends’ parents are doing.”

她還說：“他們太有冒險精神了，我從沒聽說朋友的父母會像這樣生活。”

Patrice Fiset, the friend of Mary Campbell’s husband whose rootless existence inspired her parents, said he follows the Campbells’ blog and is similarly impressed. He joked that his own parents’ retirement as Florida snowbirds pales in comparison.

而她丈夫的那位過着漂泊生活的朋友帕特里斯·菲塞(Patrice Fiset)，正是他激發了瑪麗的父母旅居世界的想法。他關注了坎貝爾夫婦的博客後，也同樣非常感慨。他開玩笑說，自己父母退休後在佛羅里達州的雲遊生活，與坎貝爾夫婦相比簡直是小巫見大巫。

“In a way, I wish they were like Debbie and Michael,” Mr. Fiset said. “Because then I’d be visiting them in Morocco.”

“從某種程度上講，我希望他們能像黛比和邁克爾那樣，”菲塞說，“因爲這樣一來，我就能去摩洛哥看他們了。”

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Last July, the Campbells returned to Seattle to visit friends and attend a son’s wedding. But it wasn’t a homecoming, exactly. They stayed in an Airbnb apartment in a different neighborhood and renewed the agreement with their tenants for another year.

去年7月，坎貝爾夫婦回到西雅圖拜訪朋友，參加朋友兒子的婚禮。但是確切地說，這不能算是回家。夫婦倆通過Airbnb在另一個社區找了套公寓，又和租住在自己家裏的房客續簽了一年租約。

“We drove by our house, and I didn’t say, ‘I really wish we lived there,’ ” Ms. Campbell said.

“我們開車從自己家門口經過時，我並沒有說，‘真希望我們住在這裏。’”黛比說。

And when they flew back to Europe this time, she added, the Senior Nomads did something different.

而且，她說，在這次飛回歐洲時，這兩位資深流浪漢又做了件與以往不同的事。

“We bought one-way tickets,” Ms. Campbell said, laughing.

“我們買了單程票。”黛比笑着說。

Mr. Campbell chimed in after his wife, and there was almost a sense of giddiness in his voice: “We don’t know when we’re going back.”

邁克爾緊接着插話道，“我們不知道什麼時候會回來。”他的語氣中幾乎夾雜着欣喜若狂的意味。