## Overview

Wanderlust is a full-stack, Airbnb-inspired web application designed to connect property hosts with travelers worldwide. Built using the MVC (Model-View-Controller) architecture, the application allows users to discover accommodations, host their own properties, write reviews, and explore listing locations interactively.

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## Key Features

* Property Listing Management: Full CRUD functionality allowing users to create, view, update, and delete property listings with image uploading and custom pricing.

* Interactive Mapping: Integrated MapTiler API to geocode locations into interactive map views for each listing.

* Authentication & Role-Based Access Control: Built-in session authentication using Passport.js. Features strict authorization rules—only verified listing owners can edit or delete their posts.

* Nested Review System: Users can write and rate reviews. Database integrity is preserved using Mongoose middleware hooks for cascading deletes when a property is removed.

* Responsive UI: Dynamic server-side views rendered with EJS, styled cleanly for mobile and desktop screens.

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## Technical Architecture & Tech Stack

* Frontend: EJS (Embedded JavaScript templates), HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript (ES6+), MapTiler SDK

* Backend: Node.js, Express.js (MVC Architecture, RESTful routing, custom error handling middleware)

* Database: MongoDB, Mongoose ODM (Relational schema modeling, validation, cascading middleware)

* Authentication & Security: Passport.js, Passport-Local, express-session, Joi schema validation

* Deployment: Render

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## Engineering Challenges & Highlights

1. Referential Integrity & Cascading Deletes: Implemented Mongoose post('findOneAndDelete') hooks so deleting a listing automatically clears all embedded review IDs and associated database records.

2. Robust Input Validation: Utilized Joi validation middleware alongside schema-level rules to sanitize user payloads before hitting database pipelines.

3. Geospatial Processing: Converted user-entered textual locations into GeoJSON coordinates [longitude, latitude]) for map rendering.