Airbnb is a great idea. It's a bed and breakfast website uniting people who want to rent out a room or a house with potential customers looking for a place to stay. Whilst there's a temptation to be slightly circumspect about the situation – we live in a world where Michael Jackson wrote the song Black Or White after all – it is actually the real deal. And some of the homes are quite something, ranging from peoples' boats to tree domes.

When you know you're going to a particular area you simply do a quick search on Airbnb to find a comfortable place to stay without the hotel prices and a bit of adventure thrown in. If you're as scared as a child being driven over to MJ’s for a sleepover, then fear not: each B&B is reviewed by previous guests. A not infallible system but useful nonetheless.

What's more, if you've got a gorgeous place on the South Side you'll be leaving empty for a few weeks, you can rent it out and save a few shekels. They've also got a cool app that uses Google Maps so can see what's available wherever you are in the world, and if you've got the boys in town you can direct them to awesome places to stay such as a house boat in Aberdeen.

A home from home.