Travel the Home Exchange Way blog

'Top 10 Do’s and Don’ts when leaving a Home Exchange': ThursdaysGirl

The following excellent list of 'Top 10 Do’s and Don’ts when leaving a Home Exchange' was published this week on ThursdaysGirl blog (motto: 'To Hell with the career……. Enjoy the life' - check it out!) and is reproduced here with the kind permission of ThursdaysGirl:

Yesterday was a moving day, left our Dunsborough Home Ex cottage, stuffed all our possessions into Ivan the campervan, on the road a couple of hours North to Mandurah to spend Easter with friends.

I came up with this list of top 10 Do’s and Don’ts when leaving a Home Exchange:

1. Leave the house in better shape than when you arrived.
2. Leave more food and household supplies than when you arrived. You’ve just saved hundreds or thousands of dollars so now is not the time to cheap out on replacing the ketchup, toilet paper or laundry detergent.
3. Put back any furniture rearrangements you made, they will notice and they probably liked how their house was arranged when they left for their trip.
4. Check that the toilet is clean. Sorry to mention it but I did have a bad experience last summer …let’s just say we blamed it on the kids…. still it is no excuse.
5. If the Home Ex has been a good experience show your appreciation with a small personal gift such as fresh flowers or perfume and a thank you note.
6. Plan ahead, don’t leave 5 loads of laundry until the morning you leave resulting in them arriving home to a Chinese laundry…!!
7. Don’t leave old food in the fridge; whilst it’s considerate to leave fresh supplies for their arrival it is not cool to leave mouldy fruit, the dregs of a milk/orange juice carton or carrots so old and bendy that they are in need of a viagra fix.
8. Be honest with your fellow exchangers….if you broke something replace it and if you used up their crunchy peanut butter and didn’t replace it because peanut butter is hard to find in Spain …then apologise!
9. Send a thank you email after your departure and be honest….. if you had a good time tell them what it was you liked. If you had a bad experience telling them will help future exchangers.
10. Pack up your Marmite sandwiches and move on to new adventures.

Home Exchange Imminent? Good Motivator to Do Jobs Around the House and Garden

'There is a certain luxury to installing a garden all at once and, viola!, instant lushness! I sort of did that last summer with the raised concrete garden in the backyard last May. I literally planted the whole thing one stormy afternoon from a trailer load of goodies I hauled from one of my favorite nurseries. That was luxury. I rationalized the whole extravagance by telling myself that our home exchange family from Sweden that was coming for a month that July really needed to have this as a backdrop. But who was I kidding? There's nothing like a deadline to get things done.'

I read this recently in a post on a blog written by a garden designer in Fredericksburg, TX who runs a local garden design business, Pop Up Gardens. I'm sure she's not alone in using a home exchange as a good excuse to get on with little jobs around the house and garden (or, in some cases, persuade a partner not to put off such jobs any longer!)

And, from Cathy, a Home Base Holidays member with a two bedroom townhouse in Mission Bay (in photo), Auckland, New Zealand:

'I know the feeling of decorating, even thinking about it tires me although Laurie is home from his last contract in Australia and is going to start knocking things around in the house, but then that is a "hobby" to him - have been there before when he is working every night finishing the current project in time for the house exchangees to arrive!!' Cheers, Cathy

Although always 'open to offers' on dates and destinations, Cathy and Laurie are currently looking for an exchange in June (Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Europe or the USA).

Mission Bay is a 10 minute scenic drive along the waterfront from centre of Auckland City of Sails. Lovely safe beach across the road which is great for swimming, windsurfing, kayaking, kiteboarding if you are brave!

See full details, and more photos, of this attractive exchange offer.

Guaranteed to Arrange a Home Exchange?

Q: Hi, I am interested in joining your club but so far I haven't been very successful on another free site despite having a gorgeous house in Cambridge. Can you guarantee that I will find somewhere this summer abroad ideally France or Spain (basically anywhere hot near pool or beach) in August? Thanks - Emma

A: Hi Emma, You have posed a very interesting question! It wouldn't be surprising if a number of members who join free sites aren't as motivated to arrange exchanges as those who have paid a membership fee to join (as all Home Base Holidays members do). However, although the majority of our members will be able to arrange a suitable exchange (being as open as possible on locations and proactive in contacting other members greatly increases your chances), as home exchanges are agreed and arranged between members directly, it wouldn't be honest to tell you that we can guarantee that you will arrange an exchange if you join.

You have a head start in having a beautiful home in a well known city available for exchange and, provided you are open to a number of locations (would a beach in Australia be too far away to consider? There are lots of attractive exchange offers there and many Australians want exchanges to the UK), you should have a very good chance of arranging the exchange you want this summer.

If you ever come across a home exchange site offering a guarantee, carefully check the terms of the guarantee. It's very unlikely that you will be guaranteed to arrange an exchange for particular dates or locations, i.e. the only type of guarantee that would be worthwhile having (if this was realistically possible).

Do a Charity Walk While on a Home Exchange

If you like walking (or running) what better way to explore the area near your home exchange home than to take part in a local charity walk. You not only see new places on a planned route, get some good exercise and meet local people but also help a good cause with your donation.

One of the recent charity events I took part in, an eight mile walk from North London to Westminster to raise money for our local hospice, followed a delightful route through seven parks. I saw parts of London from a totally new perspective even though I have lived here for many years.

If your exchange is in the UK, take a walk down the High St. closest to your exchange home and you are bound to see a number of charity shops. Many shops will display posters advertising coming events and fundraisers. You will also find information in local newspapers, on national charity websites and, of course, your home exchange partners are bound to be able to provide some suggestions and sources of information before your holiday.

Photo from Big Fun Walk 2008 courtesy of North London Hospice

How to Exchange Your Home for Free Vacation Accommodation: wikiHow Article

How to Exchange Your Home for Free Vacation Accommodation

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Swap your home with someone in a country or area you want to visit and you will both enjoy all the comforts of home - for free - often with a car as part of the deal!

Steps

1. Search on the Internet for reputable, established home exchange agencies with large pools of members in countries that interest you. Some offer private, members only services, others are "open" systems which allow non-members to search or contact listings. Open systems offer the opportunity for more offers from non-members, but non-members will not have supplied the exchange club with a credit card number to pay for membership. Search on phrases such as: home exchange, home swap, house swap and house exchange, or get a reliable translation of these phrases into the language of the country that interests you to find sites based in these countries.
2. Narrow the list of agencies by checking the numbers of home exchange offers in countries you are interested in, the numbers in your own country (i.e. how many others you will be competing with for the best exchange offers), how up-to-date the listings are (whether you can see when a member joined/their listing expires), how easy the website is to use and whether you can contact the agency by phone as well as by email if you have questions.
3. Join the agency which seems to best suit your needs several weeks (or even months) before the dates you want to exchange homes.
4. Compile an enticing exchange offer message and personalise it before sending to several members whose offers are of interest.
5. Keep checking the website for new listings and contact new members right away before they have had time to agree to other exchange offers.
6. Once you find a suitable home swap partner, exchange more detailed information on your home and local area, asking for (and offering to provide) references if this would be a reassurance to you.
7. Clean and tidy your home before your exchange, leaving space in wardrobes and cupboards for your exchange guests to store their things, leave a folder with information on using your appliances, useful contact numbers (e.g. doctor, dentist, taxis, garage) and local information (e.g. restaurants, bus and train timetables). Differences in cleaning standards are the top reason for dis-satisfaction among exchangers, so hire a cleaner if needed.
8. Enjoy your exchange home and leave it exactly as you found it at the end of your exchange, with the beds made up with clean bed linen.

Tips

• For the best chances of arranging a home exchange, be as open as possible on exact destinations you will consider and, if possible, on dates and length of exchange.
• Look at more than the claimed numbers of members when choosing an agency to join - large numbers of listings may sometimes mean that many listings are in circulation a long time.
• Try to exchange homes with someone in a similar situation to yourself, e.g. if you have young children and swap with another young family, their home should be safe for children and have lots of toys and possibly baby gear so you don't need to bring so much with you.
• Plan your exchange carefully so that there are no misunderstandings about what is included in the exchange, preferably completing with an informal written agreement.

Warnings

• The purpose of home exchange agencies is to put you in touch with other people interested in exchanging homes for vacations. A good home exchange agency will provide you with lots of help (on their website, sometimes in an ezine or weblog) and be available to answer your questions. However, you will ultimately be responsible for your own exchange arrangements.
• Think carefully before joining an 'open' site that allows non-members to contact members or a 'free' site. In theory such sites could bring you more exchange offers but, if someone is not prepared to pay a small fee to join an agency, and/or you can't see their own exchange listing before responding to their offer, they may not be very committed to arranging an exchange. Generally it is best (and avoids time wasters), to join an established home exchange agency that you can see has a good range of up-to-date exchange offers and operates a private, members-only site for extra security.

Related wikiHows

• How to Travel by Air
• How to Teach English As a Foreign Language and Travel the World
• How to Travel With One Bag
• How to Pack for a Trip
• How to Protect Yourself when Traveling Abroad

Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world's largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Exchange Your Home for Free Vacation Accommodation. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

Budget Travel Ideas (inc. Home Exchange): Article in The Observer 16 March 2008

The Travel section in yesterday's edition of The Observer included an article, 'Pay for our holidays? You have to be joking' by Carole Cadwalladr. This comprehensive article covers a variety of ideas for enjoying cheap holidays, including couchsurfing, house-sitting, volunteering, wild camping and (of course!) home exchange. Home Base Holidays member, Stephen Lake, was interviewed for the article:

'My wife, Penny, and I heard about house-swapping when a friend of ours did an exchange to Australia. We wanted to go to Australia or New Zealand, so we enrolled with Home Base and had a great response. We organised a swap with a couple in Auckland for eight weeks. Their house was lovely, with wonderful views of Mission Bay. After 24 hours we felt totally relaxed there.'

Read the full article in The Observer, 'Pay for our holidays? You have to be joking', including Stephen's excellent report on the couple's reasons for choosing home exchange as a great way to travel.

Stephen and Penny's home exchange offer in Swindon, Wiltshire:

A mature four bedroomed detached house in Swindon on the edge of the Cotswolds. 1hr from London by train. In easy reach of Bath, Oxford, Bristol. We are very flexible and are willing to consider anywhere interesting or different from our own area.

See their exchange offer in detail plus more photos, HE16441