News

'I wanted to let you know about the terrific holiday exchange we had in London and Surrey for two weeks in August.

Our exchange family offered us their comfortable, spacious two bedroom flat, conveniently located in London, a five minute walk to Tower Bridge, in addition to their lovely home, complete with beautiful gardens and two tortoises, in Hindhead, Surrey. We were also offered use of their cottage in Suffolk but didn't have time to take this up.

When we arrived at the flat in London, we met Veronica and Rob, and exchanged information, maps and keys. After our long journey from Canada, it was wonderful to finally meet our exchange family in person. Veronica was so gracious and welcoming, she made us a delicious pasta and we enjoyed a bottle of wine together. When I asked her where the nearest grocery store was to get some food for breakfast, she opened a fully stocked fridge and said "there is no need to go to a grocery store, everything you need is right here in the fridge".

We enjoyed a very busy 10 days in London, on the first part of our home swap. I especially enjoyed dipping my hot, tired feet in Princess Diana's cool refreshing waterfall.

After such a busy time in London, we welcomed the peace and tranquility of the English countryside. Using our exchange family's car, we drove to Portsmouth where we toured Nelson's famous warship, the Victory, Henry VIII's Mary Rose Museum and enjoyed a harbour cruise on a catamaran. Unfortunately, Elizabeth, our 13 year old daughter, was locked in the Mary Rose Museum at closing time and the museum staff had to come back to re-open the museum, re-set the alarm and find her. We were happy to see her come out of the museum!

There is so much history in England. This vacation proved very enjoyable and educational for our family.

Many, many thanks for your wonderful home exchange website. This was our first exchange and we have already begun organizing our next exchange to the south of France next August.' - Joan Dobbie, Halifax, N.S.

Joan, David and family live in a park-like setting in a southend neighborhood of Halifax. Their home is a 4,100 sq ft. Cape Cod style house with a new, wrap around cedar deck facing the ocean (in photo above). Check out their exchange offer and more lovely photos.

This is an edited version of Joan's report. Read her full article on her family's two centre exchange in England last summer (illustrated with Joan's photos of some of the highlights of the trip) on the weblog:

Part 1: Arriving in London on Exchange

Part 2: A Busy 10 Days Visiting London's Attractions

Part 3: Second Leg of the Exchange in Hindhead, Surrey

Part 4: Back Home in Nova Scotia and Looking Ahead to A Swap in France

'Everything was going so well with the home exchange between The Malthouse in England, HE14669, and the Aussies from the Gold Coast, HE14532 (view of pool in photo).

April 1st saw us Aussies, Maureen and Gerry, installed in the Malthouse and just loving the place, and the time came to drive Jim and Barbara to Manchester for their flight to Brisbane en route to our home.

As we loaded the suitcases into the car, Gerry locked up the Malthouse, put the keys in his pocket and headed for the car. All set to go, Jim decided on a last minute toilet stop before the two hour drive. He took the keys from Gerry, re-entered the house, locked up again, pocketed the keys and got into the car and off we went.

After fond farewells at Manchester we drove the two hours back to Craven Arms and, would you believe, the sun actually shone all the way back and we even saw a sunset!

As we entered the gates of the Malthouse, Gerry said to be sure to get the camera out and take a photo of the sunset for proof. The following events will show why we never did take that picture.' - Maureen Poulton, Gold Coast, Australia

Maureen's saga (with a happy ending!) was published on four consecutive days on our weblog (a sort of cliff-hanger, mini-series). This is the first part of the story. Read the continuing saga on the blog:

Part 2: 'Gerry put his hand into his pocket for the key to the Malthouse and immediately knew what had happened ...'

Part 3: ' ... Imagine doing all this and them watching from their windows - they’d have called the police!'

Part 4: 'When asked what I was doing while all this was going on, well of course I was taking photos!'

'Have home, will travel! This blog is all about the latest thing in travel - home exchange. Here, you’ll find an interesting blend of true stories, answers and advice of those who’ve dared to go on a home exchange vacation. Appealing, fresh and very informative, if this well-written blog doesn't convince you that this is the next vacation to take, I’ll eat my hat.'

Ta-da - drum roll! It is particularly pleasing to receive the Bloggy Award as blogs are judged on five criteria, each scored on a 10-point scale: Visual Aesthetics, User Friendliness, Reading Enjoyment, Useful Info and Overall Experience. The total score is then averaged to come up with the overall score. To win, a blog must score 10 out of 10. Under Overall Experience Travel the Home Exchange Way is rated as:

'A superb blog all round, and also with a conscience as it touches on the effects of tourism on the local environment. Travel the Home Exchange Way is up to date, informed, and engaging - a deserved Bloggy Winner!!'

Although very rare, we do receive occasional feedback from members who were disappointed at a lack of cleanliness in another member's home they recently stayed in. Members are reminded in the Guidelines and in previous articles in this newsletter to leave their homes clean and tidy for their home exchange guests but homes, unlike hotels, are full of personal belongings and standards of housekeeping will vary. Most home exchangers understand that it really isn't possible to set standards for cleanliness and tidyness and will be able to overlook minor differences (the positives with home exchange generally outweighing any negatives). However, no one should be expected to stay in a home that is really filthy; it's particularly important for kitchens and bathrooms to be left clean and grease-free. Other people's dirt seems much worse than one's own and facing a cleaning job when tired after a long trip isn't much fun.

One member reported finding a home in a poor state of cleanliness on an exchange over Christmas. The member shall remain nameless as, even though she was disappointed by the home which she described as 'conveniently placed and nice and big but lacking furniture and cleaning', she was reluctant to tell her exchange partners - who may remain blissfully unaware of how their home is perceived by others! It is often hard to confront someone on such a tricky and subjective issue as a lack of cleanliness and it may not seem worth pursuing once an exchange is over but rather, as this member has, put it down to experience, taking more care to select compatible exchange partners next time.

You could, as a subtle hint, in your exchange offer messages (or replies to offers you receive), say that, as cleanliness is very important to you and your family, you always ensure that your house is thoroughly cleaned (getting help if needed) just before an exchange takes place. This could put off some members who might feel you would be overly critical of their homes, but like-minded members should feel reassured and thus attracted to your offer. If potential partners have exchanged before, it is reasonable to ask for a reference in return for the same (any who have had a number of exchanges but can't provide a reference or the names and email addresses of previous exchangees) should be treated with some caution.

Many members do swap over holiday periods and Christmas can be a particularly busy time anyway, especially for those with full time jobs and children. If time is likely to be short just before an exchange, and you don't have a regular cleaner, it is a very good idea to arrange in advance to have a cleaner come in to give your home a thorough cleaning just before your exchange dates.

Although most Home Base Holidays members still want relatively short, vacation exchanges, I've noticed recently that more new members are looking for longer exchanges in order to immerse their families in another country, culture and language for a few months, with France the most popular destination. Swapping homes is a great way to do this as you will be living in a real home in a community with usually a network of friends and neighbours of your exchange partners happy to help you settle in.

As it does take more effort to arrange longer exchanges anyway, it is important to start looking several months before the dates you want to exchange, especially if the location you want is quite specific or your exchange dates are inflexible (perhaps because of a job or the school term).

You can do a lot to increase your chances of finding a suitable exchange. For example, if you live in a primarily English speaking country but you want to exchange to France to learn French, then encourage French members to read your listing/consider your exchange offer by including at least part of your listing description - in French! When browsing exchange listings in France you will see that many are in perfect English (and some listings will be for homes owned by non-French members) but other listing descriptions will be in French only or in English, but written not so confidently as in a first language. French speaking members will really appreciate it if you make an effort to communicate with them in their own language and will understand if your French is less than perfect. Organising a home exchange can be good practice for actually living in France and learning the language.

If you are only interested in an exchange to France, include at least the first paragraph of your description in French (this is the brief description members and site visitors first see when browsing listings). Then, prepare a thoughtful exchange offer message in both French and English, ready to copy and send to all French members whose offers are of interest (personalising each message a little as you would do with any exchange offers you send). Check new listings often for more members to contact without delay).

If your French comprehension is not too great, and a potential exchange partner can't communicate well in English, look for some help with French translation to smooth communications with your exchange partner and ensure there aren't misunderstandings in your home exchange arrangements. Bon voyage!

A member (who shall remain anonymous) wrote after the Dec/Jan issue of Home Swappers:

'I know this is an old subject, but I have been disappointed that several members I contacted haven't bothered to reply to me at all. I could understand this if it involved paying for postage, but it costs nothing just to return the e-mail saying "no thank you".

I had a think about why people should do this. One possibility is that at this time of year (Nov/Dec) people might be waiting to see what other offers come in later before committing themselves. Another possibility is that people might not know how to say "no thank you" without causing offence. (I had to turn down an offer where the sleeping arrangements were really not suitable for us in our 60's and, not wanting to cause offense, I told a white lie and said we already had an exchange for that period as I couldn't think at the time of another way of turning the offer down politely).'

Editor's Note: I do believe this member is onto something! Many people (nice, sensitive Home Base Holidays members anyway) find it difficult saying 'no'.

If you receive an exchange offer that just isn't of any interest, there's no need to explain why, or make up a white lie. A simple 'Thanks for your exchange offer but we can't take it up' is sufficient. A short message with a negative response to an exchange offer is much better than not replying at all - which is really disappointing to the sender who will be wondering if you received the exchange offer and whether to wait longer or move forward with other exchange possibilities.

Note: If you don't hear from a member you contacted with an exchange offer within, say, a week (not everyone checks email regularly), it's quite ok to re-contact them and ask them to let you know if they received your earlier exchange offer message, even if they can't yet say if they might be able to consider your offer. If you used the enquiry form on the site, try sending your second message using the email link in the listing which will open a new message in your own email programme (or vice versa). It is a great advantage to have more than one way to contact other members.

Note: Most Internet Service Providers now provide a Bulk/S**m email folder, separate from your In-box, to store those messages likely to be S**m. However, filters used to check email aren't perfect and 'real' messages can often end up in a Bulk folder by mistake. If you can, it is a very good idea to check your email on your ISP's website before downloading to your own In-box on your computer. Regularly skim through the junk in your Bulk folder, checking the subject lines for any good ones you want to move to your In-box before deleting all other Bulk folder messages.

Newsletter Contributions: We are always pleased to hear from members and subscribers and to receive contributions for the newsletter and weblog - short reports on your exchange experiences, tips you feel would be useful to those new to the idea of home swapping and any questions you have on home exchange. Please incude 'home exchange' in the subject line when contacting us as messages with no subjects (or dubious sounding subject lines!) or unexpected attachments may end up in our spam folder and deleted unread.

Reading this on the Website? Use the newsletter subscribe link to add your email address and receive the newsletter regularly. If already on the list but not receiving your copy by email, there can be a number of causes:

• Incorrect email address - send us your name and correct address
• Add our email address, homeexchange@btinternet.com, to your address book or 'white list' of accepted messages
• Check your spam/bulk folder before deleting - some 'real' messages can be put here by mistake

Unsolicited Messages: If you are a Home Base Holidays member and ever receive a message from an unknown exchange agency which could only have come from the information in your listing, please forward it to us. The private member area is for one-to-one exchange offers between members only, not for any commercial solicitations.

Another issue of Home Swappers finished. Time for a Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down!

Copyright: All Home Swappers content is copyright and cannot be used in any form without written permission from Home Base Holidays. However, please feel free to forward the newsletter (in full) to friends and colleagues who may be interested in home exchange (use the Forward Email link below the newsletter).

Home Base Holidays, London, UK 1985-2006: 21st year providing a home exchange service worldwide