Travel the Home Exchange Way blog

Working Remotely: Combining Travel for Pleasure (including Home Swaps) with Work

It hardly seems possible that a week ago I was checking email at the public library in the small town of Wiarton, Ontario, with Wiarton Willie, the famous weather forecasting, albino groundhog, in his special home just outside the window. I'm now back in suburban London with not a groundhog in sight! It has really been a boon to have access to the internet to keep work for Home Base Holidays ticking over while on several trips back to Canada recently to visit my 98 year old Aunt Mabel.

Although it can be a bit of a nuisance to hardly ever feel uncontactable now, especially when on holiday and needing a break from work, with a little discipline, many travellers, notably those like myself who normally work from a home office on a mainly internet based business, are now able to keep up with work while on visits to friends or family as well as when away on holiday.

I have noticed recently, as many Home Base Holidays members can now access the internet from home computers with high speed connections, more members are indicating that they will need such facilities in a home exchange partner's home in order to work remotely while on exchange. One recent example of combining work with pleasure is of a new member from Brisbane, Australia, planning a home exchange to the UK:

'Husband and wife team expanding business to the UK. Very reliable and trustworthy, no children, non-smokers, will be using house as a base for home office but no clients or visitors as we operate business consultancy services in the businesses of others.'

View the full listing, HE17285 (photo is of their large classic Queenslander home with views of the city and greater Brisbane).

Chocolates from Switzerland: Another Home Exchange 'Extra'!

'I had a wonderful home exchange in Switzerland in July, with a wonderful family who are still sending Toblerones! Luckily, their stay here coincided with the best weather of the whole summer in Edinburgh, so they were suitably impressed and I was relieved (watching the weather forcast on Swiss TV every night).

I often browse through the new listings and just drool at the places on offer. I LOVE Home Base and can't wait to be able to contact all those fantastic places Down Under who want longer exchanges. Roll on retirement!' - Sharon Duncan, Edinburgh (HE15596)

See Sharon's attractive exchange offer in Edinburgh and detailed description of attractions in the city and beyond.

'A Cuddly Day Out with the Kids': Home Exchange - Much More than Simply Swapping Homes

Although having a real house or apartment available for your use during your vacation is the main benefit of arranging a home swap, there is often much more included as part of an exchange agreement - from cars, plant care and pet sitting to use of an exchange partner's membership of local clubs or national organisations. Claire, from Ashford, Kent, England, states in her exchange offer:

'We are members of the English Heritage and National Trust, so you would have free access with our cards to loads of historic castles, houses, grounds and sites. Also annual members of the local Rare Breeds animal centre for a more cuddly day out with the kids!'

Claire and family have recently returned from their first home exchange 'and loved every minute of it.' Their home is ideally located for trips to Europe (10 minutes drive from Ashford International train station with Eurostar services to Europe) and an hour by frequent train to London. Read her full, descriptive exchange offer, HE15577.

'Tara Road': New Film Based on a Novel About a Home Swap

I read 'Tara Road' by Irish writer, Maeve Binchy, shortly after publication in 1999 (this would be a particularly appropriate novel to read while on a home exchange, although most home swaps won't be quite so life changing as the one depicted in 'Tara Road!')

Look out for the film, Tara Road, based on the book and starring Andie MacDowell. No release date for the film, filmed in Ireland and South Africa last autumn, available as yet.

The following quote from Maeve Binchy website is a good summary of the story:

'Ria Lynch and Marilyn Vine have never met. Their lives have almost nothing in common. Ria lives in a big ramshackle house in Tara Road, Dublin, which is filled day and night with the family and friends on whom she depends. Marilyn lives in a college town in Connecticut, New England, absorbed in her career, an independent and private woman who is very much her own person.

Two more unlikely friends would be hard to find. Yet a chance phone call brings them together and they decide to exchange homes for the summer. Ria goes to America in the hope that the change will give her space and courage to sort out the huge crisis in her life that is threatening to destroy her. Marilyn goes to Ireland to recover in peace and quiet from the tragedy which she keeps secret from the world, little realising that Tara Road will prove to be the least quiet place on earth.

They borrow each other's houses, and during the course of that magical summer they find themselves borrowing something of each other's lives, until a story which began with loss and suffering grows into a story of discovery, unexpected friendship and new hope. By the time Ria and Marilyn eventually meet, they find that they have altered the course of each other's lives for ever.'

The book, 'Tara Road', an Oprah's Book Club choice, is widely available, including at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

Falling in Love With Andalucia: And Sharing It with Home Exchangers

'We bought our place in Spain and have totally fallen in love with the flat, the villages and the area. It is in a part of Spain which is so quiet for 11 months of the year. Tiny lanes winding down to the sea, and private little coves, with virtually no-one else there. We are on a headland above a marina, and we can lounge on the terrace and watch the boats come in, from elegant yachts to big gin palaces with crew in matching t-shirts. A couple of miles away is Herradura, still a very Spanish small town, very friendly and patient with our excruciating Spanish. They have feast days at the drop of a hat and the whole family joins in. We are only an hour from the Alhambra, and are able to visit in the winter when the tourists have gone. Then we can abandon the motorway and return along an old Phoenician road over the top of the mountains. The local hypermarket had a white mule tied to a give-way sign, and tiny villages in the Sierra Nevada use them instead of cars, stabling them beneath their houses. There is skiing in the winter in the snow on the Sierra's and 300 days of sunshine.'

'We bought the flat with the idea of renting it part of the time, but now love it so much that we cannot bear to hand it over to strangers. However, our experience of home exchangers makes us feel that they are people that we can trust, so we would be very happy to rent to them without worry. The flat has already had exchangers from Vancouver, Sydney and Cornwall!' - Adrienne, HE17147

See Adrienne's full home exchange (and occasional, rental) offer in Andalucia.

Article - 'Know Before You Go: House Sitters and House Traders'

This is the beginning of a recent article on house sitting and home exchange on the website, Taking Your Camera on the Road with Lorelle and Brent VanFossen:

'You want a long vacation, but leaving your home seems like more work than taking the vacation. Having a home means taking care of the garden and lawn, feeding pets, checking the mail, paying the bills, hoping the roof won't leak, and worrying about storm damage and water leaks. Or is security a big concern, not wanting to leave the house empty and unattended for so long?

One of the options for people wanting to take an extended vacation was to just have neighbors watch their homes, but one of the other options over the past couple of decades is to actually hire a house sitter or trade with another family - they stay in your home and you stay in theirs.

It's a great way to spend more time traveling and/or more time in one location, experiencing "native life" from a home rather than a hotel.'

Read the full article which includes pertinent questions to consider before agreeing to house sit or to a home exchange offer.