In other countries, lifts (elevators) can be small, very small. If you had to make a choice, would you:
- Send your luggage up to your floor alone then walk up the stairs?
- Take one piece at a time, knowing you’re leaving luggage at different floors?
- Try to hoss all your luggage up the stairs at once?
There’s no bell hop with a secret elevator. You are on your own.
This can be a real decision outside of the US where lifts tend to be retrofitted into older buildings. When we went to Luxembourg, we faced that decision. We faced again in Paris. Having two of us made it only slightly easier. Bottom line, is that the lifts were still too small to fit all our luggage and both of us. And anyone who knows us, knows we’re not big people. In Luxembourg, we took our luggage up by hand since the flat was only on the third floor. Side note – residential numbering above first floor commercial starts at one for the second floor. Hence our 3rd floor flat was advertised as the 2nd floor:
“Your apartment number 21 is on the 2nd floor. LEFT DOOR.”
Back to lifts.
There are times you can rent a flat like we did in Florence (the stairs) that there’s no lift available. In that case, the advertisement for the flat said that it was the fourth floor (and technically it was), we still had to take our luggage up 7 flights. Fortunately the owners were kind enough to assist in this case.
Yet another reason to pack light when traveling.
Background
In the US, elevators are HUGE! It’s not unusual to see an elevator so large that it can accommodate a hospital guerney plus 2-3 people. There’s a reason this is the case. Since the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) became enforcable in 1992, elevators are required to be of a certain size, depending on the use, whether it’s commercial or residential.
Just because the place you’ve rented advertises they have an elevator, that only means an elevator exists. The size of the elevator will depend greatly on the building – its age, geographical location (city/country – city elevators tend to be smaller as space is an issue), physical location in the building, and regulations (local, country, etc.).
Here’s what it looks like when with one person standing in the lift and then filling the lift with our luggage and getting in:
Here’s a picture from the video of Gary using the lift without luggage. The picture isn’t purposely staged strange, he is backed up to the wall with the phone against his chest trying to film how small the lift is.
What To Do
The best thing is to research and know as much as you can ahead of time. Many accommodations available offer the option to ask questions to gain additional information. Take advantage of whatever information can be obtained to make the trip most convenient.
Determine what works best by asking questions based on the location, the building, and your needs. If you don’t care about walking up stairs like we did in Florence, you can get a great flat that overlooks a city. In Paris, we needed a lift as we were on the 10th floor. In Madrid we could’ve walked up, but we had a lift.