Home Swappers Newsletter: Issue 13
November/December 2001
http://www.homebase-hols.com
Newsletter Archive: http://www.homebase-hols.com/news.shtml

Home Swappers Newsletter is published bi-monthly to provide information on home exchange holidays for current and recent members of Home Base Holidays, enquirers, Newsletter subscribers and journalists. If you do not want to receive further Newsletters please send us a message with 'unsubscribe' in the subject line plus your name in the message:

mailto:homeexchange@btinternet.com

Topics Covered:

  1. Member Story: Exchange/Hosting - Derbyshire, England to California, USA
  2. 'Home from Home' TV Series on Home Swapping
  3. Exchanges to Australia in Demand
      (a) Christmas/New Year's Swap Offer - London for Sydney
      (b) Long Exchange 2002 - Oxford (or South of France) for Perth
  4. Cell Phones & Phone Cards
      (a) UK - Sim Card
      (b) Italy - Tim Card
      (c) USA - Walgreen Card
  5. Home Swap Tips
      (a) Travel Slow-down - Be Flexible!
      (b) Phoning Members Abroad
      (c) Search by Your Location
 6. Member Holiday Snaps & Messages
      (a) Americans in France - Kathy & Mike, Sue & Gary, Bridget & Yves ...
      & Eric!
      (b) A First Exchange - Visiting Family in Canada
 7. Recommended Websites
      (a) The Globetrotters Club & E-Newsletter
      (b) Getting Away with Jim Bruner
      (c) PW World - Int'l Travel, Films & Food
      (d) 1Up Travel
      (e) Elegant Etruria
  8. Home Swappers Archives
  9. Newsletter Contributions
10. Subscriptions

Note: Members may view any of the exchange listings mentioned in the newsletter by logging on and searching by User ID in the member area:
http://www.homebase-hols.com/login.shtml

Non-members may view the listings by using the following link, click on View the Listings, Detailed Search, enter HE + the number in the Find Listing by Member ID box: http://www.homebase-hols.com/preview.shtml

 1. Member Story: Exchange/Hosting - Derbyshire, England to California, USA

Andrea Patrick sent the following report on how an initial set-back to home exchange arrangements turned out very well in the end. Check out the Patricks' attractive home (a former Victorian Sunday school) in Derbyshire, England, HE10557. Andrea writes:

'We had a fabulous time and this article doesn't do the holiday justice. Owing to a very unfortunate health problem our American house exchange turned into a delightful part hosting, part exchange for two couples. Arrangements between ourselves and a family in California, for a one month exchange, had been agreed.  Our flight tickets had been purchased when our American email friend suffered a heart attack. We went back to the drawing board - or rather the  Home Base list - and eventually Cathryn & Greg from Healdsburg emailed us with their holiday plans. They were committed to certain dates in the UK which overlapped with our  USA holiday dates.  Could we all work something out?  Yes we could - and did!

We have a large enough house to give another couple independence and their 'own space'.  Apparently  they too had a house that could accommodate two couples with ease and we also agreed to exchange cars.  So the two holiday arrangements went ahead. Because of the overlap the four of us holidayed together over seven weeks. It was so successful that we all agreed that the arrangement totally enriched our individual holidays and we have plans to meet again in the future.

Cathryn & Greg arrived at Chesterfield bus station on July 1st, having already spent a week in Ireland.  We picked them up and brought them to our house in Matlock where we had a meal waiting (the first of many meals together both in England and USA). It still seems incredible that four strangers who met under such circumstances over the internet could have so much in common and become such friends. Cathryn is a working artist, teacher and storyteller.  Me - I'm a lecturer in dress and crafts, writer and researcher of crafts. My interest in America is Patchwork and the Native American Indian crafts.  Who could help me?  Cathryn of course! Cathryn's interest in the UK was stories - new, old, legends, historical, etc but she was also fascinated by our colloquial terms and dialect so David & I arranged a dinner party for 10 with instructions to our friends to put on their best dialect and come armed with local tales. It was a hoot!

Both our husbands love cooking,  they are retired and are in total charge of their respective kitchens.  Neither Cathryn nor I argue with these arrangements! We are all creative people and our homes reflect this. Both couples have restored an historical house. Greg and Cathryn, a Painted Lady house and  David and I, a Victorian Sunday school. They enjoyed our home. We enjoyed theirs.

Our individual researches went well. We all felt the benefit of being able to resolve those silly little questions by having some one on hand to answer them. Local knowledge and contacts also counted for a lot. In between their bed & breakfasting around the UK for a few days at a time to see  the Cotswolds, York, Chester and Wales, they visited The Peak District daily from our home base. They were invited to our friends' home for dinner. We introduced them to a variety of foods with which they were not familiar, like Sherry Trifle.  All this was reciprocated once we were in the states - a neighbours' barbeque, wine tasting trips, a show and tell dinner (friends bought unusual craft items for me to see), breakfast out and a farewell dinner with more friends - and more and more.

We flew out to America on the 16th July very well informed about their house and town in California. Cathryn & Greg remained in England.  One week later they flew back to the states and we met them at the airport. We too went out on bed & breakfast trips. California is a mighty big state. The one thing we all agreed about was the shame of not knowing enough about one another before our holidays.  We could all have helped one another so much more with our individual researches had we had prior information.  So perhaps the one thing I would suggest to future home swappers is - get really friendly over the net, every little bit of information could be important. There is no question as to whether or not we would home exchange again.  Yes we would.

We flew out of the states on the 19th August but it had not been solely for research that we planned this holiday - David & I also got married in Las Vegas - but thereby lies another story and one that Cathryn & Greg apparently felt delighted to be a part of. They certainly contributed to making our stay in California a holiday of a lifetime.' - Andrea

 2. 'Home from Home' TV Series on Home Swapping

When we had a call from a researcher at Maverick TV in late March for help in finding members willing to be filmed on exchange for programmes the company was producing for Channel 4 in the UK we could hardly believe they needed to find participants to complete a whole series on home exchange holidays - 35 programmes!

We've had very positive reports on the filming experience from Home Base Holidays members who took part and we are very grateful to all members who agreed to having a film crew take up some of their precious holiday time.

The series - 'Home from Home' - started on Channel 4 on 22 October (5.25 pm
every week day) and will run until 23 November, with the remaining programmes shown early in the new year. The earliest programmes broadcast included two pairs of Home Base Holidays members - Linda & Robert Groom, Fort Worth, Texas, HE10430, exchanged with retired member Alan Smith from Pontefract, West Yorkshire, HE11498. The Mcdonald family exchanged their lovely thatched cottage in Wiltshire, HE10990, for the Bouchard family home, HE10929, in beautiful Victoria, BC. Thanks again to all.

... and one last minute request for volunteers from Tom McTaggart at Maverick TV:  'My last plea to members of Home Base Holidays produced an exchange from Wales to Australia which we have filmed. But we still have one more programme to complete - this can be an exchange either from the UK to anywhere in the world or within the UK and can be taking place up to early January. Perhaps you have arranged a Christmas/New Years exchange? If you might be interested in taking part please contact me, Tom McTaggart, at: tommct@hotmail.com or reply to Lois Sealey at Home Base Holidays,
homeexchange@btinternet.com  who will pass your message and any questions you have on to me.'

 3. Exchanges to Australia in Demand

Do you live in Sydney or Perth? Check out the following offers:

      (a) Christmas/New Year's Swap Offer - London for Sydney

John & Keren Wilson (and toddler, Nathan) would like to swap their West London home for 3-4 weeks Dec01/Jan02 in Sydney. HE12015

      (b) Long Exchange 2002 - Oxford (or South of France) for Perth

Dr Martha Hickey is moving to Perth and wants to arrange an exchange of several months from early 2002. Dr Hickey has two homes available - in Oxford, England, HE12065, and a holiday home in La Parade, South of France, HE12066.

 4. Cell Phones & Phone Cards

Since California member Cherry Hastings, HE10866, asked if any members had had experience of exchanging cell phones we have been getting useful feedback from other members. The following are suggestions received recently:

      (a) UK - Sim Card

From Roger Gilbraith, Berkshire, England, HE3866:

'Our recent exchangees from New Zealand were expecting a fair number of calls within the UK while here (connected with short-term job hunting) and found they could buy a Sim-card here; by shopping around they found one for £16. This enabled much cheaper calls than using their NZ mobiles in 'roaming' mode, in which every incoming call is routed via NZ. Outgoing calls are, of  course, not a big problem - we have found that our mobile has worked well everywhere we have tried it except USA (where the technology is still largely incompatible with the rest of the world!) - thus the relevance of swapping mobiles to Americans. Thanks for another interesting Newsletter'.

      (b) Italy - Tim Card

From Sally Russell, California, HE8579:

'We recently got back from Gaeta, Italy where we made a wonderful exchange with a family, Wanda & Luigi, and their two children, to our house in Marina Del Rey, California. We had a fantastic time on the Italian Riviera, sunning, snorkeling, and painting the lovely scenes in Gaeta, Amalfi and Florence (Firenza). I'm sure they had a good time too, and they got a break from the 95 steps that we and our dog, Poukie, went up and down about 5 times a day (4 floors no lift)! Our legs are in good shape, though. Anyway the reason for writing is that we traded cell phones, ours with 400 hours per month, theirs a TIM card that we purchased for 50,000 lire ($25) when their time ran out. The only problem was that it didn't work (theirs) out of the area (state) which we didn't know about, and was frustrating when we tried to use it in Florence. So my advice is to find out the range, and the time available, and agree on using a card for long distance. As they say in Italy, don't worry about it! Have a Boun Viaggio!' See Sally's web site for paintings from Italy, and Sally and Jerry Painting in Italy: www.veniceartists.com

      (c) USA - Walgreen Card

From Peter & Liz Rollin, second home in Kissimmee, Florida, HE4764:

'We have just returned from a very successful exchange in Tucson, Arizona. The Grand Canyon was terrific (especially the Mule ride to the bottom). The house we were in had the telephone blocked to all but local calls so we bought a Walgreen's Phone card for $10. They were operating a 'Buy one - get one free' scheme so for $10 we got $20 worth of calls. The best part was that the calls were cheaper than the regular calls on the phone in our home in Florida. A five minute call from Arizona (or Florida) to England cost on average $2 or less! We will buy phone cards in the States rather than use our own phone in future!!'

 5. Home Swap Tips

      (a) Travel Slow-down - Be Flexible!

The November directory, the first of three for the 2002 season, was published at the end of October. Although the majority of members now choose internet access rather than the directory option, compiling the directory does give us the chance to more easily see how balanced the most recent listings are in terms of countries covered and destinations requested. Having felt the effects of the overall slow-down in international travel in the last few weeks, like every other travel related business, we were pleasantly surprised that the November directory contains almost as many listings as we would expect by this time in a new season, albeit with fewer USA listings.

We hope that people will gradually regain the confidence to travel again and, in particular, to start making exchange plans for 2002. We are working hard to increase listings where needed. To ensure you have the best chances of arranging a suitable exchange next year do be proactive - contact other members to suggest an exchange even if their dates or destinations don't appear to match yours, be as open minded as you can about your own destinations and be patient with members who may sometimes take longer than normal to accept your exchange offer.

If you are new to home exchange, or your Home Base Holidays membership has lapsed, join as soon as possible to get your 2002 exchange offer into circulation and to start contacting other members. Join on-line
www.homebase-hols.com/join.shtml or contact us if you have any questions
info@homebase-hols.com

      (b) Phoning Members Abroad

Calling a member in another country but not sure of the time difference? Check out this useful site: www.timeanddate.com

      (c) Search by Your Location

Sometimes it is useful to search on the website for members who indicate that they want an exchange to your area, especially if you are fairly open on your destination. You will see in the Refine Search facility that there is a search option, 'their preferred destination',  to enter your own location. This can be a useful way to start a search but be aware that searching in this way is likely to exclude a large number of possible matches. For example, if you live in London you will find members who have specifically requested exchanges to London by a search on London in their preferred destination but you will not see all those members who have indicated England, UK, Great Britain, etc or are Open to Offers. For the best results keep your searches as unrestricted as possible.

www.homebase-hols.com/preview.shtml

   6. Member Holiday Snaps & Messages

Website visitors may have seen a number of red boxes containing quotes mainly from members (and including HE reference numbers so you can check out the exchange offer when current). We get some great feedback and, including some quotes on various pages on the site rather than having a separate testimonials page, seemed a more useful way of giving extra publicity for members' offers in return for use of the quote. However, we have recently added a new page to include some longer exchange reports and pictures. Check out the following:

      (a) Americans in France - Kathy & Mike, Sue & Gary, Bridget & Yves ... & Eric!

Experienced home exchangers, Bridget & Yves Poher, from the Loire Valley in France, HE6223, sent a lovely photo of themselves in a home in Marseille with exchangers from California and Florida. It's complicated - hence the title - but I think you will agree that Bridget & Yves and their American friends look like very happy swappers!

www.homebase-hols.com/testimonials.shtml

      (b) A First Exchange - Visiting Family in Canada

We were delighted to receive a message from Paul McIlhone from Leicester, England, HE10766, after his family's first exchange to Canada. What was particularly amazing about this swap was the location in the small Ontario city of Burlington - and only 15 minutes drive from relations the McIlhones wanted to visit! Paul's message follows below the report by Bridget & Yves:

www.homebase-hols.com/testimonials.shtml

    7. Recommended Websites

      (a) The Globetrotters Club & E-Newsletter

The Globetrotters Club - a network for independent travellers around the world. If you'd like to join us, receive our bi-monthly newsletter and membership listing offering hospitality, info and advice, get information about our £1,000 Travel Award, or open/attend a branch in your home town, visit our website:
www.globetrotters.co.uk

The Globetrotters E-Newsletter - free monthly newsletter packed with useful travel information, travel itineraries, hints and tips, where not to be seen dead in, updates from the meetings held in London, New York, Texas and Ontario. Readers make regular contributions whether it's hiking the North Rim of the Grand Canyon or passing through Slovenia. Why not test your knowledge with our monthly quiz and maybe win a prize! To subscribe visit:
www.globetrotters.co.uk/register.html

      (b) Getting Away with Jim Bruner

Getting Away With Jim Bruner  - your personal source for world-wide travel tips and information including passport information, airfare, accommodations, car rental, tours, cruises, and expert destination information in an easy to use format. Jim writes: 'I hope you will enjoy the friendly and personal manner in which I try to present tips and travel information.  Be sure to bookmark Getting Away as one of your favorite places and return often.  Have fun in Getting Away and - Happy Travels!'
www.gettingaway.com

      (c) PW World - Int'l Travel, Films & Food

PW World - the World Wants You!  Sign up for PW World - FREE Travel Tips, Ethnic Recipes, Language Laughs, Foreign Film Reviews, and Women's Rights info! To subscribe:
mailto:pwworld@paulawalla.com
www.paulawalla.com/ezine.html

      (d) 1Up Travel

1Up Travel - a comprehensive travel portal for info on continents, countries, cities, maps & flags, wonders of the world, travel warnings, travel links, travel directory, hotel directory, isd codes, distance & currency calculator, weather, search, online flights, rail, car rentals and hotel bookings:
www.1uptravel.com

      (e) Elegant Etruria

Elegant Etruria  - website and free monthly newsletter dedicated to vacationing in Etruria, one of Italy's best kept secrets - the 150 kms stretch of land that lies north of Rome, the ancient land of the Etruscans known as Tuscia or Etruria. Information also on 'Affreschi-Exploring Etruria', a recently published book on the area written by two ex-pat Americans who have lived in Italy for many years:
http://elegantetruria.tux.nu

  8. Home Swappers Archives

If you miss any issues of Home Swappers you can read back editions on the website:

http://www.homebase-hols.com/news.shtml

  9. Newsletter Contributions

If you have had a home exchange we would be pleased to receive your contributions for the Newsletter - short articles about your exchange experiences and tips for those new to the idea of swapping homes. Members' articles include HE reference numbers to give added publicity for their exchange offers. We also welcome questions from all considering home exchange for the first time.

Information on travel related websites or other travel bargains which could be of interest to readers of Home Swappers are also appreciated.

Happy Home Swapping in 2001 and 2002

Lois Sealey

mailto:homeexchange@btinternet.com

10. Subscription Information

We are very happy for you to forward Home Swappers to friends and colleagues who may be interested in home exchange but the newsletter must be sent in full. All Home Swappers content is copyright and cannot be used in any form without written permission from Home Base Holidays.

To subscribe, send us a message with your name and e-mail address and 'Subscribe' in the subject line.

To unsubscribe, send a message with your name and e-mail address and 'Remove from mailing list' in the subject line.

mailto:homeexchange@btinternet.com

Copyright © 2001 Home Base Holidays

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HOME BASE HOLIDAYS, 7 Park Ave, London N13 5PG, England
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mailto:homeexchange@btinternet.com
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1985-2001: 16th year providing a home exchange holiday service worldwide