...the thought of staying at a "home" like place for a few days to rest/recover and not eat out non-stop for a few weeks is a big plus.

We are currently in a 2 bedroom apartment in Montreal, using VRBO.com for the reservation. I love traveling this way. Part of the fun is shopping and living like a local. I am not a big dine out person, though I have to say that I love good food and every restaurant we have been to here has been fabulous, (Jazz Brunch at Mondavie in the old quarter!) I had promised DH, who loves to dine out, that we could have our main meal out daily, and just have two light meals in. We tend to be out of the apartment all day anyway, so it was easy to dine out for our noon meal, but even DH has had enough after a few days, and we have been brown bagging it in the parks in between excursions, or just some hors d'ouvres with a glass of wine at a street side table bistro. We have this great insulated small backpack that is just large enough for a lunch for two.

9 days here followed by a week in Quebec, then a month via Furnishedfinder.com in Portland, Me. 1 bedroom downtown apartment with parking space for $1700/month. We might not even stay the month, but this was cheaper by the month than VRBO for a week. The building is 30 day minimum for rentals. I will say though that the one nice thing about VRBO is that you can pay by credit card. With FF you are dealing with the individual landlords and it's never certain what for payment will take.

IP