When the kitchen in your self-catering vacation rental apartment doesn’t come fully equipped (despite what it said in the ad)

Realization

I spent 15 months living in other people’s ideas of ‘fully-furnished’ apartments and learned that no universal standards apply. It’s a definition that varies enormously from country-to-country, across age groups, regional areas and traveller experiences. When it comes to long term travel it’s important to know. I might not be the world’s most enthusiastic cook, but I do like to be able to pick up local ingredients and specialties and enjoy them in my temporary home, rather than always eating out. Standing in a kitchen surrounded by local delights is never a good time to discover the kitchen cupboards only contains two plates, one plastic fork and a fry pan that appears to have been run over more than once and then crushed, just to be sure it’s completely unusable. Luckily, I’ve developed my own self-catering skills that go well beyond simply clearing the meal tray on the plane of left over salt, pepper, plastic cutlery, wet wipes, salad mix sachets and anything else I think might come in handy.

Repurposing

Few short-term rental advertisements specify all the fine details of what’s in the kitchen, so successful self-catering relies on repurposing. As a result of rather too…