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My favourite was the treehouse on Whidbey Island. Not just a tiny house in a tree, it had a giant tree growing through the middle of its one octagon-ish room, a bachelor apartment in the sky.

My wish list on Airbnb is full of unusual micro dwellings, partly for the cute factor and partly for the price: you can rent an entire enchanting home for no more than — and often less than — a nondescript hotel room.

The site makes it easy to browse, with Airbnb Picks lists such as Atypical Places to Stay, Trees & Zzzzs, Snow Domes, Littlest Listings, Artsy Abodes and Private Islands, among others.

I have a close-to-home getaway wish list featuring a caravan hotel in Portland and an itty bitty cabin in the cedars in Washington, a dome house in Sedona and a yurt art farm in Arroyo Grande, a funky jetstream trailer in Austin and a Creole cottage loft in New Orleans.

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There’s my European vacation wish list. A troglodyte house in France (above) and a cave home in Spain. A former pub in Ireland. A gypsy car or former art gallery in France, or a houseboat near the Eiffel Tower. An owl house in England or water tower in London. A garden home in the Netherlands. A tower in Italy. A stone villa in Crete.

I have a practical list, pretty places in planned destinations where I’d otherwise get a hotel, like the 2-bedroom condo booked in Quebec City that will afford some privacy and the ability to cook our meals over Christmas.

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Some are quaint places I may use simply as an excuse to travel, like the rainforest treehouse with hotsprings in Costa Rica or the astronomy-focused geodesic dome hotel in Chile (pictured).

Sometimes I browse the Airbnb app’s featured listings just to dream … and save my favourites to a wish list so maybe one day the dream will become reality.