My husband and I have come to Florida for Christmas week several times now. We usually stayed in a condo, but this time decided to rent a house. The last time we came, we stayed on Sanibel, which during Christmas week is anything but peaceful--traffic jams and crowds was the norm. We flew in on Allegiant to Punta Gorda, and drove about an hour to Sanibel, so we decided this time to just find a place right in Punta Gorda. This house is 15 minutes from the airport, on a quiet street perfect for walking, with a nice park you can walk . It was a little musty-smelling when we first went in, but we never noticed this after that. I guess it had probably been closed up for a while. The decor was definitely dated but that didn't bother us. It was so spacious and comfortable; the bed was really comfy and the sheets were nice and smooth; and the furniture was much more substantial than the usual condo furniture. The living room sofa and big-screen TV were great! The kitchen was small, perfect for "playing house" for a week, and well stocked. It had everything we needed for eating in all week, including a dishwasher. I loved being able to go out and pick a lemon from the tree by the canal for my cooking. (They didn't look like much, kind of brown, but they were huge and very juicy.) Toward the end of the week we found a jigsaw puzzle in the front closet, and laid it out on the dining room table. It was too late for us to finish it, but that kept us occupied for quite a few hours. We watched videos, explored nature spots like the Everglades and Alligator Creek Preserve , swam in the pool in the mornings, walked around the neighborhood and to the park, and just enjoyed relaxing and having peace and quiet. We loved having a garage with a remote, and laundry facilities so we could pack light. If the weather forecast was good, I was thinking next time we could probably do without carrying on a bag, since we wore 3 things, washed them and wore them again, and didn't wear 2/3 of the stuff we brought (as usual)! It didn't hurt that we had great weather, highs in the 80's and lows in the 60's, and lots of sunshine. Just what we needed for the winter doldrums! We hope to return some time. Wanda was very helpful and responsive. There was some glitch on the VRBO website which caused problems when I was trying to pay, but we got it worked out and Wanda assured us that our reservation was not in jeopardy. Any time I sent her a message she responded very quickly.