Topics Covered: We're a Busy Family: Can We Swap Our Home? 'The Home Exchange Guide': Special Offer & Information Organising a Home Swap: ... & a Few Things We Overlooked Exchange Request: Sydney, Australia for Brighton, UK Keep it Personal: Make Your Exchange Offer Stand Out A Language Barrier? Translating Exchange Offers travel-quest: Specialist Travel Listings Newsletter Contributions

See Quick Links at the end of the newsletter: Member Login, Listings Preview for Visitors, Membership Form plus further information.

We're a Busy Family: Can We Swap Our Home?

In a break from our usual format of having a member's home exchange story as the feature article, the following article is based on a thoughtful message received recently from a Home Swappers subscriber. Denise lives with her husband and 12 year old twins in a rural village in an attractive area near the South Wales coast. Denise wrote:

'I have often thought about becoming a "homeswapper" but have not yet taken the plunge, probably because my family are not all that tidy - our home is what you would call "lived in". I'd dearly love it to be a show home but I am afraid I just don't have the time as I work full time as a solicitor (I'm a workaholic) and my cleaner only comes once a week. My weekends are taken up either working or watching rugby and I attend the local gym several times a week. I am concerned that maybe many of your members are retired or semi- retired with lots of time to do all the organising and probably have beautiful homes or even second homes to swap and sufficient funds to travel the world.

Our detached house is in a beautiful sought after spot but, with our very full lives, most of our earnings are spent on paying the mortgage and the children's school fees and all the other things that go with it! The idea of home swapping appealed as it would make our holiday a little cheaper with only flights to pay for. On holiday we prefer to do what we want when we want and not be regimented into having breakfast between 8 and 10 am for example. We love to laze in the sun, go walking and exploring and buy the local produce to make dinner. We like to "eat like the locals" and enjoy whatever culture is available wherever we may be. Do you think there would be other families out there like ours? Would we be good candidates for home swapping?' - Denise

Denise and her family appear to have exactly the right open attitude to travel needed to make them ideal home swappers. It is really too bad if Denise (and other busy parents like her) may be put off by the idea that other members will all be super house keepers who would be disappointed in her home or if just the thoughts of a mammoth house cleaning blitz before an exchange is exhausting. All members have the right to expect the home they will be staying in to be left acceptably clean, especially kitchens and bathrooms, with beds ready with clean bed linen plus spare linen and lots of clean towels. However, general house keeping standards do vary and some members will have a more tolerant attitude than others to clutter, small problems in a house and slightly shabby decoration. We would love to hear from members who have had exchanges or are in the process of arranging a first swap on ideas you have used for gauging how compatible with you potential home swap partners seem in terms of lifestyle and attitudes to housework. Whether your dining room floor is always clean enough to eat off or you haven't actually seen much of the floor for months under all the toys and papers, do let us have your thoughts on the subject for inclusion in a future issue of Home Swappers.

Contact Lois, Editor, Home Swappers Newsletter

	'The Home Exchange Guide': Special Offer & Information
In the Oct/Nov issue of Home Swappers we included pre-publication information on 'The Home Exchange Guide: How to Find Your Free Home Away from Home'. The guide, published by Poyeen Publishing in the USA, is now available. We are pleased to be able to offer readers a special introductory discount of $5 US on postage charges on all books ordered before 1 February 2004. In the last newsletter we had asked for volunteers to read and review 'The Home Exchange Guide'. Many thanks to all of you who responded - some almost immediately the newsletter was sent out. It's good to know that Home Swappers is actually being read! We really appreciate your offers and are sorry that we had only two review copies available to send out. Thanks to our two reviewers, Home Base Holidays member Alan Murray, an experienced home swapper, and Dwight Botnen, a Canadian Home Swappers subscriber who has not yet had an exchange. The photo below is of the Murrays' home (ref. HE12064) in the beautiful Peak District in Derbyshire, England. 'The Home Exchange Guide' has already received excellent publicity in a number of newspaper articles. We have added a book information page on the Home Base Holidays site which includes the link to the secure book order site plus details on how to claim the special $5 postage discount only available for purchasers using the book order form link on the Home Base Holidays site. Alan's and Dwight's book reviews are included in full along with a review by a professional travel writer, Bonnie Neely, and my own review, to give different perspectives on the book for your information. 'The Home Exchange Guide': Information & Book Order Details »

	Organising a Home Swap: ... & a Few Things We Overlooked
In the October/November issue of Home Swappers our feature article was a report by Carole Grant on her and her husband, Maurice's first home exchange from New Zealand to Orlando, Florida, followed by Victoria on Vancouver Island. It does take more effort to organise back to back exchanges as Carole did but it helped that it was a holiday home rather than their main home that Carole and Maurice swapped. Carole has provided details of some of the pre-trip organisation that meant both swaps went smoothly and her tips should be useful to other members arranging exchanges: 'Prior to leaving we arranged: (1) automatic payments for all utilities (2) Redirection of mail to a trusted relative (3) Arrangement with the insurance company that accidents to property/vehicles could be repaired in our absence by the people occupying our house (4) Toll bar on the phone. We both agreed to use phone cards for international calls (5) Warrants and registration of vehicles were up to date for the period of our absence (6) Arranged for key swapping and return of keys (7) Arranged for the lawns to be mowed. Both parties kept the gardens in reasonable order.' No one can foresee all eventualities but here are a few things Carole says, with hindsight, they should have done: '(1) Notify the Security Company. Our alarm went off whilst we were away due to power failure (2) Given a key to a relative. It was difficult for my daughter to enter the house when the alarm went off and the freezer needed emptying (our homeswap guests were away at this time) (3) Given more comprehensive instructions on how to operate certain equipment - the washing machine, the gas heater and the television. This does not come easy when operating systems are so different in another country (4) Ensured that there was no embarrasment to either party should we strike a problem and need to contact the other. e.g. The hard drive on our computer crashed whilst we were away and caused a problem for us in Canada as we lost our ability to use the e-mail for a short while. In spite of these small glitches we had a tremendous experience and would recommend it to anyone who is contemplating a home swap.' - Carole Grant, HE12442. The photo above is of Carole's home available for further home swap offers. View Carole & Maurice's Exchange Offer in New Zealand, HE12442 »

	Exchange Request: Sydney, Australia for Brighton, UK
Due to lack of space, we can't give many exchange offers a special mention in this newsletter but we do try to help members who have very specific exchange requests whenever possible. Judy Stalbow has a very attractive one bedroom loft style apartment in a converted warehouse overlooking the harbour in Rushcutters Bay, close to Sydney (see photos). Judy is particularly interested in an exchange to Brighton, England in 2004, between April and September (length open) but is also open to other offers after that time. Do check out Judy's listing (link below), especially if you live in Brighton and might be able to consider her offer. Home Base Holidays Members: If your exchange dates are getting near, add your listing to the additional Last Minute Offers list for a month by clicking the Boost My Profile link in your member area. Check out both the Last Minute Offers and the New Members lists often. Contact members whose listings are of interest as soon as possible. View Judy's Listing in Rushcutters Bay, Sydney: HE14375 »

	Keep it Personal: Make Your Exchange Offer Stand Out
Now that almost everyone with an email address receives many unwanted and often downright nasty messages, it is more important than ever to give some thought to your messages before contacting members to suggest an exchange. Impersonal, abrupt or badly written messages are much less likely to be answered (or perhaps even opened) than a message that not only provides detailed information on the exchange offer (home, area, family) but also shows that the sender is genuinely interested in the particular offer rather than has sent the same standard message to possibly dozens of other members. Although there can be no guarantee that every member will find the exact swap wanted (especially if very specific on location or looking for a longer than average period), it goes a long way to getting a good response if you take a little time and care before sending exchange offer messages. Note: don't include an attachment in a first message - many people won't open such messages from an unknown source for fear of viruses. The subject line: To help identify the listing when you get a reply, include both the member's User ID and your own, e.g. 'Exchange Offer from Australia (Member HE33333) for HE22222'. Personal introduction: Address the member by name, e.g. 'Dear Joan'. Mention anything that has particularly attracted you to her offer, e.g. 'My family has always wanted to visit London and your Victorian cottage in Barnet sounds lovely and cosy and just the right size for us. Your home also seems to be in an ideal location for getting a train to visit lots of the attractions we'd like to see. I note that you are interested in a swap to Sydney. Although our home is not right in Sydney, it is very easy and quick to get into the city by bus or car (about half an hour) and there are also many local attractions and lovely beaches here too. You can see our listing and photos on the website with our User ID, HE33333. I am including more information about our family and our home and neighbourhood below but I would be very pleased to answer any questions you have, send photos and give you the name and email address for the family in France that we had our first exchange with last year (who are happy to answer questions about their experiences while living in our home). I do hope you will consider our exchange offer and I look forward to hearing from you soon. We will be as flexible as we can to tie in with dates/length that suit you if you are interested. Even if you can't take up our offer at this time (maybe another time?) I would really appreciate it if you would let me know. Regards, Mary Doe, HE33333'. General information: This is the part of the message that you can prepare as a draft to copy and paste in each message you send out, changing anything as needed before sending to a particular member. You will have already provided a good introduction for your listing (which you can also change at any time) but, as members don't want to trawl through long pages of information when doing searches on the website, the purpose of a listing is to attract attention with the most important information. The general information 'sheet' sent to perspective exchange partners is your chance to provide more detailed information so that the recipients have a very good idea about your offer: your family - ages of children, interests and hobbies, lifestyle; your home - age, style, size, special features; your area - local attractions and amenities like shops, restaurants, post office, pubs, churches. Perhaps include links to useful websites such as tourist and map sites. Take a little time and add information as you think of it to this standard message which can be kept in your draft email folder ready to be copied and pasted into an exchange offer message whenever needed. Members' exchange offer messages will vary - some of us ramble on too much while others prefer to be brief - but at least make your offer friendly and inviting to increase your chances of getting a good response. Guidelines to Help You Organise an Exchange »

	A Language Barrier? Translating Exchange Offers
Although the majority of listings on the Home Base Holidays website are written in English, we do have many members whose first language is not English. Some will still include all or most information in their listings in English while some will be entirely in their own language. There is a translator link under the description in all listings to help with language differences. This will be a basic 'machine' translation and, although it should give a gest of the offer, will not be a perfect translation. The home exchange concept is still best known in English speaking countries (although the numbers in other countries, especially France, are growing year by year). For this reason, there can sometimes be much competition for exchange offers in such countries (Italy is a prime example), making it more difficult for some members to arrange a swap there (especially if only interested in a particular city or area). Some of the homes you will see will be second homes belonging to English speaking members and, with these, there should be no problems in communication (for other English speakers that is!). However, if you are only interested in a swap to one particular country it would help a lot if you make an effort to send your exchange offer messages in a member's own first language. If you aren't able to do this yourself, perhaps a friend or colleague would help you and also help with any communication difficulties as you arrrange the exchange. Failing language skills of your own (or a helpful friend), the next best idea is to use a translation service. There are many services available and, if you have found one that is particularly good and reasonably priced, do let us know. We have recently found FreeTranslation, a site that provides an easy and quick way to get a machine, draft quality translation, but with the option to have a translator edit the computer generated translation (prices from $19.95US). This type of translation is likely to be sufficient for home exchange communications. However, if needed, there is also a premium service (i.e. human translator with a second translator double check) starting from $49.95. Anyone living in Liguria, Costa Amalfitana or Sperlonga in Italy interested in an exchange to New York City? Check out Susan Glasser's attractive apartment on Upper West Side of Manhattan, listing HE14197 (photo on the right). FreeTranslation: Free, Enhanced & Professional Translations »

	travel-quest: Specialist Travel Listings
The amount of travel information available on the internet can be overwhelming, making it difficult to know where to start when researching a special interest. For this reason I was delighted to find travel- quest, a UK based specialist holiday and travel directory. The travel-quest website includes 1000s of ideas for holidays and vacations - sports, adventure holidays and special interest holidays from independent and specialist holiday companies in the UK (including Home Base Holidays!), Europe, the USA and worldwide. Most Home Swappers subscribers should find information of interest on travel-quest. The comprehensive listings include everything from every conceivable sport, theme cruises, murder mystery weekends to special categories like romantic Valentine breaks and child friendly holidays. travel-quest Travel Directory »

	Newsletter Contributions
We are always pleased to receive contributions for the newsletter - short articles about your exchange experiences, tips for those new to the idea of swapping homes and questions from subscribers considering a home exchange holiday for the first time. Please feel free to forward Home Swappers to friends and colleagues who may be interested in home exchange (see Forward Email link below newsletter). *Note: if you are reading this newsletter on the website but believe you should be receiving copies as published by email, please check the following as there can be a number of reasons for non-delivery: 1. an incorrect or out-of-date email address on our mailing list. Contact us with your new/correct address. 2. ISPs and/or mailing programs with overly rigourous spam filters that block many legitimate messages from opt-in mailing lists along with the unsolicted spam. Some ISPs will now only deliver messages to addresses that the recipient has added to a 'white list' or 'buddy list'. All Home Swappers content is copyright and cannot be used in any form without written permission from Home Base Holidays. Home Base Holidays, London, UK 1985-2004: 19th year providing a home exchange service worldwide Contact Lois Sealey, Editor, Home Swappers Newsletter »

Quick Links...

Home Swappers Archives Join Home Base Holidays Now Members: Login

Visitors: Preview Listings More About Home Base Holidays Rate Home Swappers at the Cumuli Ezine Finder