新的生活方式——每個月都換城市生活大綱

For years, life went something like this: We'd grow up in one place, head off to college, then find a city to live in for a few years at time to pursue a job or higher education. The end goal was to find somewhere to settle down for the long haul, buy a house, start a family, and begin the whole cycle all over again.

多年來的生活方式是這樣的：我們在一個地方長大，外出上大學，然後在一個城市住上幾年找工作或者深造。我們最終會找地方長期定居，買房子安家，生活如此循環往復。

But a new model for living is emerging: Some people are increasingly opting to move from city to city throughout their entire lives, sometimes as frequently as every month.

但現在有一種新興的生活模式：越來越多的人一輩子都在城市間轉移，有時甚至每月換個地方。

Just ask Alex Chatzielefteriou, who has had a front-row seat watching this evolution unfold.

問問Alex Chatzielefteriou就知道了，他就走在這個潮流的前沿。

Six years ago, he launched a startup called Blueground that rents out beautifully designed, fully furnished apartments for a month at a time, at rates that are cheaper than hotels.

六年前，他創辦了一家名爲Blueground的公司，出租裝修精美、傢俱齊全的公寓，一次只租一個月，租金比旅館低。

Today, the company has 3,000 properties in six U.S. cities, along with Dubai, Istanbul, London, Paris, and Chatzielefteriou's native Athens, and a staff of 400.

這家公司現有員工400人，擁有3,000處房產，分佈在美國六座城市、迪拜、伊斯坦布爾、倫敦、巴黎和Chatzielefteriou的家鄉雅典。

The company just landed $50 million in Series B funding, bringing its total investment to $78 million, to continue its rapid expansion. It hopes to have 50,000 properties in 50 cities over the next three years, and the goal is to make each one feel unique and cosy, rather than standardized, like what you might find in a traditional hotel.

該公司剛剛獲得5000萬美元的B輪融資，總投資達到7800萬美元，用於快速擴展業務。這家公司希望在未來三年內在50座城市房產達到50,000處，要使每一戶都獨特而舒適，而不僅僅是達到傳統酒店的標準水平。

Chatzielefteriou first came up with the idea for Blueground while he was working as a management consultant for McKinsey. "The accommodation of choice for consultants is the hotel," he says. "I had to spend five years in a hotel room, living in 12 different cities. I loved seeing the world, but I didn't love feeling like I didn't have a home."

Chatzielefteriou最初是在麥肯錫公司做管理諮詢師時有了開辦Blueground公司的想法。他說：“諮詢師只能選擇住酒店，5年裏我一直住酒店房間，輾轉12個城市。我喜歡周遊世界，但不喜歡沒有家的感覺。”

As he spoke to his friends and coworkers, he realized that many people were frustrated with this itinerant lifestyle that meant living out of a suitcase in the same few nondescript hotel chains that all began to blend together.

他對朋友和同事說，他發現很多人都不喜歡居無定所，那樣他們只能把生活用品都放在行李箱裏，住在爲數不多的普通連鎖酒店裏，而這些酒店也開始相互融合。

And what's more, hotels aren't a particularly cost-effective solution for companies either. In Chatzielefteriou's case, McKinsey sometimes paid $10,000 or more for him to stay in a major city for a month, which was far more expensive than local rents.

而且對公司來說酒店也不是特別划算。以Chatzielefteriou爲例，有時他住在大城市裏，麥肯錫公司一個月至少要花掉10,000美元，比當地房租貴多了。