Travel the Home Exchange Way blog

Home Exchange Site Included in the Times Online '130 Best Travel Websites': Home Base Holidays

What a really pleasant surprise to find that, out of all the thousands of travel websites, our very own home exchange site, Home Base Holidays, has been chosen by Times Online Travel experts as one of the top 130 travel websites!

'.... the joy of the web is its sheer size and variety; there are hundreds of independent travel specialists offering something quirky, different and fascinating. Our choice of the top 130 travel websites is based on quality of information, design, value for money and ease of use. ... In the freewheeling spirit of the internet, we have aimed to make our selection new and surprising, so we have excluded many bigger sites.'

Home Base Holidays is in very good company amongst the 10 latest additions to the list. There is also a separate section for sites providing useful 'Inside Information'. Read the full article and check out the interesting travel sites on the list: Times Online: 'The 130 best travel websites'.

Thanks Times Online Travel!

How Do I Find People Who Want a Home Exchange in My Country - but Discourage Offers from a Particular Country?

Q: Before joining Home Base Holidays I want to know whether you have owners who would want to swap our 2-bed luxury townhouse in Algarve, Portugal. If so, which countries would they be in. The reason I ask is that primarily we are offered many properties to do swaps with in the UK. But, as we are from the UK and emigrated to Portugal two years ago, this is not very enticing. - Regards, Simon

A: Use Advanced Search to find all current members who have listed Portugal as a destination. Type 'Portugal' (without the quotation marks) in the box beside 'To Find members looking for an exchange in your location ...', Click Search. The search results will be brief summaries of all current members who have indicated that they are interested in an exchange to Portugal - and most of these do not live in the UK!

This is a good way to start but this search, a 'reverse search', won't include all the many members who don't list Portugal but are 'open' on destinations.

Re your second point: There will be many members like you who don't want to exchange to a particular country (perhaps there is no need for those with friends or family to stay with). Or, a country may be too far away to consider (e.g. those with young children often can't face the thought of long flights). Or, perhaps as in your case, they may just want a change from a country they already know well.

You can discourage members from the UK from contacting you with exchange offers by indicating in your listing (in the destinations box and/or at the end of your description) 'not UK'. This may not put off the most prolific home exchange offer senders, or those few who unfortunately send offers without first reading members' requests thoroughly, but should deter most. For those who still contact you, a short but polite reply, 'no thanks - we can't consider an exchange to the UK', shouldn't take too much time.

The Russians are Coming - and They're Finding Out About Home Exchange!

My son, Mark, who has visited Russia four times (and has been learning the Russian language), translated an article about home exchange that was published on RussianUK.com (publishers of London Courier, Britain's first Russian language newspaper and magazine). The article included a reference to Home Base Holidays (Mark assures me it is all very positive!)

It was great to see home exchange featured on RussianUK.com. Large numbers of Russians have moved to London in the last few years and, undoubtedly, many are travelling to the UK and worldwide for both business and pleasure too. Hopefully soon we will have new members in Russia (and Russians who have settled in the UK) as a result of this publicity and an increasing awareness of the home exchange concept in Russia, opening up this vast country with many more exchange opportunities.

A Spa Break for Your Plants? Or, Ask Home Exchange Partners to Care for Them

Yesterday's edition of Homes & Property, a free supplement published by the London Evening Standard, included a short article, 'Give your bay a break'.

The article reported on a new Plant Hotel and Spa established by Clifton Nurseries, whose 'staff will collect your potted plants for some five-star pampering' while you are away on holiday. Treatments include: 'detox (eliminating bugs and diseases), a slimming programme (for which read pruning and even radical surgery), as well as daily maintenance, that is watering and feeding. If you would prefer to keep your plants in situ, staff can make home visits, as they do at the Houses of Parliament.'

With a starting price of £10 per week, per plant, giving your plants a break doesn't come cheap. There must be a demand for such a service (amongst the seriously rich and pampered - and us UK tax payers apparently!) but it did strike me as somewhat over the top. Whatever happened to asking friendly neighbours to pop in and water your plants?

A much better (and cheaper) idea: arrange a home exchange and leave instructions for your exchange partners on caring for your plants. Home exchangers (as they are on holiday too), generally won't want to spend hours giving your plants the full spa treatment but most will be happy to spend a few minutes watering house or garden plants. Arrange this in advance of your exchange as you wouldn't want someone who only has to look at a plant for it to shrivel up and die to have the worry of trying to keep your plants alive until your return!

But, if you really want to give your plants the spa treatment, it sounds like a week at the Plant Hotel and Spa might not be a bad spot to spend some quality time with your plants:

'The spa takes up over an acre of space, so has plenty of room for colossal tree ferns and baby primulas alike, and has shade and glasshouse facilities to guarantee perfect holiday weather.'

The (Home) Exchange Queen’s 'Treasure of the Month' Award: Home Base Holidays

What a delight to wake up on a dull January Monday morning and find that Home Base Holidays had been chosen to receive the 'Treasure of the Month Award' by Know Your Trade, a new home exchange information site and blog. It is, indeed, an honour to have been selected as the very first recipient of this award. It is particularly pleasing to have the time and effort that goes into publishing a newsletter and regularly updated blog recognised too.

I was pleased 'The Exchange Queen' pointed out that Home Base Holidays listings are shown in a way that makes it very easy to see exactly how long any home exchange offer has already been, and will continue to be, in circulation. It is so important for potential home exchangers to be aware of much more than total numbers of listings when weighing up their best chances of finding home swaps to suit their own particular needs.

An excerpt from the post:

'Lois Sealey has a wonderful blog, one of the best in the industry, which often features member listings. In addition, she publishes a bi-monthly newsletter.

Several of the members have rated the club on KYT and all have given it rave reviews, especially for help given to members....

All listings on Home Base Holidays are guaranteed to be up to date as it is one of the few clubs that shows both the membership date and the expiration date.'

Read the full 'Treasure of the Month Award' post and also check out the lovely comments left by Home Base Holidays members too.

I raise a glass to The Home Exchange Queen's committment to promoting the home exchange concept widely and to raising standards in the whole home exchange community. Cheers!

Baby Bernstein - a Home Exchange Leads to a New Business Venture

It was fun to find a Home Base Holidays' member's new business, baby bernstein - a name that makes you curious to find out what it's all about! Leslie (shown in the photo with son, Daxton) describes how she got the idea for her business while on a home exchange in Germany:

'I discovered these (baby bernstein) necklaces while spending a summer in Germany with my 19 month old. Traveling was difficult enough with a toddler, and then teething as well … needless to say it was a challenge. But a few moms I met told me about the bernstein necklace (amber is bernstein in German) and I bought one for my son. Two weeks later I was feeding him and when he opened his mouth I saw 4 new teeth had broken through - all at the same time, and I would have never known they’d erupted if I hadn’t seen them. My son gave no indication that he was still teething. That’s when I decided I had to buy all the necklaces I could find for my friends. And because of how often people ask about my son’s necklace - it’s rare to see a baby wearing a necklace so we get many compliments on it - I decided to start this company.'

See full information about baby bernstein, and how to order the necklaces, on the baby bernstein website.

Leslie includes Home Base Holidays  under her section, 'My Favorite Things....':

'Ever heard of a home exchange? This is what we were doing when I first discovered bernstein. We spent a summer in Europe and did two home exchanges. It was great - you can choose homes and families that have kiddos the same ages as yours and they have toys, bedrooms already set up, and know about all of the kid-based things to do in the area. You can also make cool new friends! Hi Gianna, Christoph, Vincent & John - we miss you!!!'

Leslie's house swap offer:

'Comfortable home in Los Angeles with Mountain views and a short drive to everything you come to Southern California to do. Walk to hiking trails and a park with tennis & basketball courts, soccer, skate park or drive 20 min. into Hollywood, Burbank, Universal Studios or downtown Los Angeles.' See her full exchange offer and more photos, HE18192

Leslie will be adding more products to her range as her business develops. Her recently started baby bernstein blog is a fascinating insight into the development of a business from its first stages, and Leslie's own holistic approach to healthy, fulfilling lifestyle choices.

Good luck with your new venture, Leslie, and may you have many more happy home exchange adventures!