I Lived in an Airbnb in Makati for a Week and I LOVED IT!

So just a quick story on why I booked an Airbnb in Makati recently, the Cupcake, who happens to be the one person who has been driving me to and picking me up from work these last five years, had his annual business trip in London—which meant having no driver (as he labels himself) for a week. In previous years, it became possible for me to still get to work in Makati from Quezon City, and then going home, because my mom or dad would usually drive for me in the morning, and then I’d commute via P2P going home.

A post shared by Gretchen Gatan (@gretchengatan) on Jan 20, 2018 at 6:19am PST

This year was a little different, however, because both my parents had been busy with errands, and lines of the P2P buses weren’t as short as they used to be. I know I have other commuting options like taking the MRT or riding a regular bus, but I’ve experienced both in the past, and given the traffic and commuting situation of our country, I didn’t want to subject myself to additional stress.

My Airbnb home for the week (that’s 5 minutes away from my office) while Cayo is out and can’t drive me to/pick me up from work. 😂 If I survived by myself for 5 days in Orlando with only oatmeal and mac and cheese for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, living in Makati should be a piece of cake. 😂 Plus my budget for grocery is more than $5 this time. 😂 #GretasJunkyardAdventures

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And so, two weeks before the Cupcake’s flight, I decided to look through Airbnb homes near my office in Legazpi Village. After days of carefully computing and looking through my options, I found an old yet charming one-bedroom unit in Rada Regency that was available for only Php 999 a night (not yet including the service and cleaning fees). I did the math, and realized that it would probably cost me almost the same amount if I booked an Uber to and from work everyday for five days, so I felt like it was more practical to book the Airbnb.

The bedroom in my Airbnb. I brought my own pillow to have something to remind me of Booboo and home.

An extension of the bedroom, which had a study table. This also leads to the balcony (door on the left).

If I had to be completely honest, I was extremely looking forward to an experience of living on my own. As much as I love still living under the same roof as my whole family, I guess at 28 years old (turning 29 in March!), you start to want certain things for yourself, and living independently was one of them. My whole life, I’ve been so sheltered and I’m incredibly grateful to my parents that they made sure I lived comfortably. Little things like never having to wash my own clothes, do the dishes, or clean the house was a luxury that I may have even taken for granted when I was younger. But being a strict mom, she also made sure that I did my fair share of chores—like washing the dishes to help out our yayas, putting away my clean clothes when they were washed and pressed, going to a self-service laundry place whenever our yayas went on vacation, and cleaning up after myself and Booboo. Still, I think it’s totally different when you start doing those things while living on your own.

This is the living room. I brought my Roku stick that Globe gave, so I could watch my shows on Netflix!

In the office, I loved hearing stories of my colleagues who already live by themselves. They would share that it had its pros and cons, which I understood, but again, at 28 years old, I feel like there are a lot of things that I don’t know yet and the only way I’ll be able to learn them is by stepping out of the house I’ve lived in for so long, and be on my own. It also makes me look forward to the married life, which will entail cooking, cleaning, and doing both fun, boring, and tedious things as a couple. I’ve been told a few times that it seems like playing bahay-bahayan at first, but then you realize eventually that even doing something as simple as the grocery can be such a chore. And to be honest, I look forward to that part of the married life as well.

The bathroom

So back to the Airbnb that I booked in Makati, which was literally five minutes away from the Calyxta office along Salcedo Street—I self-checked in on Sunday night and settled in (it was really easy, because my Airbnb host was such a breeze to talk to and gave clear instructions on everything that needed to be done). I bought my groceries from Rustan’s in Greenbelt 1, had dinner with my family, and went to sleep past 12 midnight (because I knew I didn’t have to wake up that early the next day).

The kitchen area where I put my groceries

My groceries!

On my first night, it was so embarrassing but I accidentally locked the unit key inside the unit! Thankfully, my Airbnb host was super understanding and awesome, so he sent over a spare key via Uber.

For the next five days, I would wake up at past 8 in the morning (compared to my usual 6am when I’m coming from my house in Quezon City). I would take my time in preparing my breakfast and coffee, taking a bath, and getting ready to leave for work. I’d usually be out of the door by 8:55, in time for work at 9am.

Just came from another intense @planaforma session (which is conveniently along the same street as my Airbnb), bought dinner from @onopokeph in @thepantreeph (right beside my Airbnb’s building), and now I’m thinking about booking a massage after I take a bath. 💜 Honestly enjoying this whole “living on my own” situation. I just wish I had @booboogatan with me. 😭

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Because I have an ongoing one-month package with Plana Forma, which happens to be along the same street as my Airbnb, I would conveniently walk to a Forma CORE session after work and catch the 6:30pm classes. After that, it’s back to the unit to have dinner (usually, I’d bring home my leftover from lunch or buy from the nearby restaurants like Army Navy or The Pantree), and then watch a marathon of Suits while drinking moscato and enjoying Camembert (all to myself!).

That was literally my life for five days. I would clean up after myself of course, and make sure everything was always in order. There was even one evening where I booked a Swedish massage for 1.5 hours via the Zennya app. It was honestly such a fun week, and living so near my office makes me consider moving out already and just staying somewhere nearby. But the Cupcake and I have other plans, and I’m more excited for those—so yeah.

The view from my unit’s balcony

I really just wanted to share my experience of living by myself for a week near the office, and how much I loved it. And if you’re looking to do the same thing, or are in need of a place to stay in the Makati CBD temporarily, I highly recommend booking the Airbnb I stayed in. You can check out the profile here.

I Lived in an Airbnb in Makati for a Week and I LOVED IT!