Rather than renting a car or booking a hotel room this trip, I decided to rent a car thru FlightCar and a room through AirBnB. I figured it would be a different, yet fun, way to experience my business trip.

I'll be writing more about this later this week, but I think what I like most about the shared economy is that it really is all about trust. Right now, a woman in the Bay area is trusting that I won't crash her car. And the woman that I'm staying with thru AirBnB is trusting that I won't be a jerk and trash her place.

I'm looking forward to how this will make be a better traveler. Traveling anonymously using coprorate property (chain hotels and rental cars) gives you some really bad life habits and gets you to not care about where you are staying or what you are using. Someone will clean your mess. Someone will straighten out your belongings. If you break it, the corporation will fix it and pay for it.

This time while traveling I'm interacting with real people. I am staying in the same space with someone. I am driving a car that a real person owns and uses on a daily basis.

I feel differently about using their things. I feel trusted that I won't be a jerk about it – and I'm respond in kind, taking extra special care of their things. 

I can't wait to see how this experience goes over the next few days!