I first started hosting on AirBnB because I loved living by myself and did not want a flat mate. I have a 2 bedroom unit house and I welcome my guests to my spare bedroom and full use of my house. This has created a lot constant exposure to new social situations and therefore raised my overall confidence and psychological abilities a lot - and this pays my rent!

When you share a house with someone for just a few days, you learn more about them and their life than you would from knowing an acquaintance for 2 years.

After the first 10 or so reviews, it quickly became consistently occupied around 6 nights per week. I have learnt more about geography, culture, myself, how people from all classes interact and what their attitudes are in 6 months than I ever did anywhere else.

Many of my guests are travellers who are wanting to explore the world. With these guests I have learnt a lot about various countries and have learnt the basics of Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and French. While it was fascinating to learn of these countries and the places people grew up, I also learnt a lot of random things about my own town and origins as I searched for more information to share with these people. I will usually show these guests the main sights and views around my city and sometimes take a picture with them. By consistently trying to show people new things and generate interesting conversation around my places of origin I have gained a lot of skills around cultivating discussion and genuine interest when meeting new people. This has done wonders for my confidence in all sorts of situations.

The second common type of guests, in my city, are students who have come to do a short course at the local university. These guests do not care for the sights and discussions of origin as much and are generally more interested in more in-depth conversation around their field of practice or and mutual fields of interest you may stumble upon. This has forced me to gather skills at generating more in-depth conversation and has opened me up to vast amounts of random specialized knowledge.

And of course, you have people travelling for work or to see family. I suspect these people display the most realistic versions of their own realities as they are generally in a city they have been many times and are simply living their lives. These people come in all sorts and could possibly be the group that have taught me the most about myself and my dreams. It is a healthy cement to gather insights on how you do not want to live and as to how you do want to live. I’ve had business people stay who will wake at 5 and go for a run before work, cook a huge protein filled breakfast/lunch/dinner and study at night. It’s one thing to read about this, it’s another to try live this lifestyle yourself, and something inspiring to witness first-hand someone live it fully. Additionally I have had business people who go to the pub every night and are overweight. The contrast in these people’s outlooks and personalities is fascinating. This list goes on and on, from a hooker who stayed shortly, to photographers, to house wives and athletes.

Tl;dr – Hosting on AirBnB has forced exposure to many different types of people I would have never met without it and it has been an awesome tool for discovery and learning of oneself and the world.

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