'home exchangers are a fraternity which involves trust'
Cathy, very experienced home exchanger from Auckland (and also the Home Base Holidays representative in New Zealand), offers sound advice:
“We have been getting offers of exchange only a couple of months out from the planned exchange. I penned the following in response to the latest one which is only one month out i.e. I received it on the weekend and they already have their flights etc and want to exchange in December…
"Thank you for your contact regarding exchange in December. Unfortunately the timing does not suit us.
For your information we, along with most exchangers (particularly for long haul exchanges), arrange an exchange 6 – 12 months in advance, in fact we have had a couple where we have confirmed 18 months in advance. The reason behind this is;
· For long haul travel it gives us time to book flights well in advance to get the best price
· gives us time to get to know the people we are exchanging with via email
· we never book our flights until we have a confirmed exchange
· takes away the urgency of finding an exchange in a short period of time and/or you are wanting to exchange in 2 or 3 towns/countries
We are experienced exchangers having exchanged all over the world and they have been marvelous experiences and also we have made lifelong friends with our exchangers. As one of our exchangers succinctly puts it – ‘home exchangers are a fraternity which involves trust…’
This trust needs time to develop - when one is having strangers come and live in one’s home, with everything that goes to make a home, whilst one is not there you are placing a lot of faith and trust in those people. It is quite different from a holiday home/apartment when they don’t normally have the treasures that go to make a home.”
See Cathy’s full home exchange offer in Mission Bay, Auckland, HE12437. Note: Cathy’s home will be available during, and conveniently located for, the Rugby World Cup in 2011. Don’t leave it too long to contact her with your exchange offer if you want to exchange homes at this time!
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