Home Base Holidays: A Home Exchange Story

A houseboat in Sausalito, California swapped for a Victorian flat in Edinburgh, Scotland

Kristyan Panzica and Jan Pehrson in a row boat in front of their houseboat in Sausalito, CA (Jan's Mom at the houseboat window)

Kristyan: We exchanged our Sausalito, California houseboat, rather floating home, for an apartment in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was not easy finding someone to swap during the last three weeks in August, because the Edinburgh Arts Festival, the mother and father of them all, takes place at this time. But we were persistant and eventually found Scots who were keen on escaping the variable home weather for the predictable sunshine and cuisine of Marin County, which is just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. In our case, we are just beyond the San Francisco fog belt, yet close enough to easily venture into it to enjoy an opera, symphony or ballet.

Jan: We met before the exchange in John Murray and Carl Watt's flat. We arrived early and had a chance to watch their frantic last minute packing! We stayed in their Edinburgh flat with our Russian/German friends, Nadia and Igor Martinov. John and Carl stayed in our houseboat in Sausalito with John's parents.

Kristyan: After giving us a thorough, yet whimsical, orientation, John and Carl departed in the evening for their journey to San Francisco.

Kristyan, Jan, Carl & John in John and Carl's Edinburgh flat

Igor & Nadia pose in the fabulous hand painted living room in John and Carl's top hats

Jan: Carl and John have been together about the same amount of time as Kristyan and I, 14 years. We found we have much in common, although our homes (our houseboat and their fabulous flat) are very different.

Kristyan: The high-ceilinged, Victorian apartment in north Edinburgh overlooked the Firth of Forth, a wide North Sea inlet. Another pleasant surprise was its proximity to Edinburgh castle, the hub of the many Festival daily events. There were four ways to reach downtown: we could drive, in that we also had exchanged cars. We could also take the double-decker bus that departed and arrived between "Bath House," the revealing inscription over our front door, and the convenient Chain Pier pub and restaurant, the second-nearest landmark. We could also take a modestly expensive taxi ride or finally walk along a path passing through a narrow park that almost stretched the entire distance to the city center.

We enjoyed the neighbors, one of whom was rather eccentric and always dressed in a kilt, as well as our new home swap friends John and Carl.

Kristyan plays grace for Jan & Nadia before a meal

Kristyan, Jan & Nadia in the wonderful Italian style kitchen on Jan's birthday

Jan: We took in a 'Highlands games' at Dunoon.

Hammer toss contestants

Highland dancers warming up

Jan: Their flat is fabulously decorated in what I would call a 'fantastic Victorian creative eclectic style'.

Kristyan relaxes in the living room in the beautiful gold draped easy chair

Entry way to John & Carl's flat: Igor makes friends with a statue

Jan: John and Carl could not possibly have been more considerate to us, and their home could not possibly have been more fabulous. We made friends as well as had a great home exchange. Here are excerpts from the great 'thank you letter' they sent to us after our home exchange:

Subj: Re: we had the best time
Date: 9/2/00 10:29:45 AM Pacific Daylight Time

Jan
Well that's us finally back in Edinburgh. Kind of down because we had an absolutely fantastic time. We've left you some feedback in the houseboat. We loved your home, Sausalito and the wider California. Definitely our best holiday yet. My parents also loved the entire experience. We thought about kidnapping your houseboat and sailing it home via Cape Horn!

We're really glad that you had a great time. It seems as if you really got about both in and outside Edinburgh. What was your festival highlight? We had so many highlights, I couldn't even begin to prioritise.

Here are a few:
Just BEING in your lovely home
Kayaking on Russian River
Walking San Francisco
The fabulous food that we ate
Yosemite - Planned 18 mile walk but unfortunately was cut a bit short by a
bear. The scenery, God!!
We saw Kiss Me Kate in 3D in Castro Street Theatre with my mum and dad. Camp or what?
SFMOMA. Fantastic, especially a photographic exhibition by Walter Evans.
Nappa and Sonoma Valleys (inc. tasting tours).

Your neighbours were also very friendly. We didn't spend overly much time with them, just chatting on passing. Locally everything was great; Mollie Stone's (Mollie Rippoff's), Nautilus, bus service, local restaurants especially the Chinese.

Our return to Bath House was great. Thanks for looking after the place so well. Also thank-you for the wine, we will put it to good use and toast you both.

We hope that you enjoy the remainder of your holiday and we can catch up soon.

John and Carl

Kristyan in Edinburgh

Note: Kristyan and Jan's houseboat is currently not available for exchange.