Tragic Sandwich

Baguette loves a good cottage.

In fact, Baguette loves a cottage so much that sometimes she will just ask to go to one. We’re pretty sure a big part of the appeal is that it’s a cozy space that has a LOT less stuff in it. About a year ago, she told me that she wanted to “go to the house that you carry on your back.” I told her that this was a fantastic description of a cottage and how it made her feel — and let her know that she could use the word “cottage” for that. Recently we spent some time in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, and let Baguette know that we were going to a cabin, which was a “mountain cottage.”

Baguette loves a good cabin, too.

I’ve written in the past about how our travel patterns don’t match what Mr. Sandwich and I envisioned when we married, much less how either of us traveled growing up. And that’s okay, because what we do works for the three of us. But we are always rethinking the details.

What makes a rental space work for us? For starters, a distinct living room with plenty of seating — including at least one sofa — is important. Baguette likes to lounge (and will commandeer a sofa) so having a couple of comfortable chairs in addition means that all three of us can enjoy the space together.

Sleeping and Bathing

The closer we can get to real beds for everyone, the better. That often means that we’re looking for a one- or two-bedroom space, but we’ve found a couple of large studios that work well for us. Sofa beds can be tricky, but recently we’ve rented one place that had a futon for the second bed, and another boasting a Murphy bed–both of which worked just fine for Baguette.

We’re pretty flexible on the bathroom. Baguette prefers baths to showers, but as long as we all have a way to get clean, we’re fine.

Eating

Kitchens: It turns out that one of our must-haves is a microwave. That may not sound like a big deal, but every now and then we run across a rental that doesn’t have one. Apartment-sized fridge? We can work with that. Two-burner stove? Not ideal, but not a huge problem. A dishwasher is nice, but far from essential. But we have to have that microwave.

The other thing about rental kitchens is that you never know how they’re going to be equipped — but you can probably count on the knives being mediocre at best. Our latest pre-vacation project is assembling a “kitchen box” with a few tools and non-perishables that we’ll take with us, to be sure that we’ll have the things we like to use when cooking.

I found a number of recommended take-these-to-your-rental kitchen tools lists online, and they seemed pretty thorough, and generally reasonable. I used them as a starting point and adapted based on how we cook (people who use zesters would want to have one on hand, but it’s not a tool we routinely use at home — so we won’t be taking one on vacation). Here’s how we’re planning on packing our travel kitchen box:

Most perishable items we’ll buy on location; we’re usually staying within striking distance of a major grocery store. But that ice cream? That’s what Baguette wants for dessert, and no substitutions will do. We’ll also have a small cooler so that we can be sure we have her ice cream of choice.

*Coffee maker. Sigh. A lot of rentals come with coffee makers, but I have come to prefer the French press coffee I make at home, and I’m just dubious about how often those coffee makers are getting cleaned. The thing is, I don’t want to take my French press on vacation. It’s glass, and I don’t want to risk breaking it. I’ve tried a travel version that was metal, and the resultant coffee was . . . kind of terrible. More recently, I’ve been trying this to make pour-over coffee, and so far it’s just okay. But I want to have coffee AND I don’t always want to go out for it, so hopefully I’ll come up with a travel method that works.

What are your vacation must-haves?