Travel the Home Exchange Way blog

A Note to Home Exchange ‘Virgins’: Guest Article by Jennie Murrain

“Home exchanging was recommended to me many years ago, long before the advent of the internet.  Although it sounded interesting, being a little less adventurous than I perhaps am now I had dismissed the idea out of hand. But my interest was rekindled many years later when in 2006 I stumbled upon the Home Base Holidays website.  I soon realised this was an opportunity not to be missed, so discussed it with my partner, who reluctantly agreed to give it a go. 

 

My partner’s concerns are shared by many 'exchange virgins' - what if our house is wrecked? What if our pets are mistreated?  What if our possessions are damaged or stolen? and so on.  But his fears were allayed once we embarked on our first exchange.  We haven't looked back since, and would recommend it anyone.  Living on a somewhat limited budget, exchanging has given us the chance to see places we might never otherwise visit, stay in some wonderful properties and make some fantastic friends along the way.  We have never experienced exchangers damaging our property.  Far from it.  The house is always cleaner and tidier on our return than when we left!  And we have always been made to feel welcome and at home in other exchangers' homes. 

 

Sounds too good to be true? Think there must be a catch?  Well take my word for it, there isn't!  It really is a cheap and convenient way to see the world.  The only problem we have ever encountered was on our very first exchange, when we had to return home early due to an unforeseen family crisis.  Of course, we could not ask our guests to leave our home, so we spent a week sleeping on friends' sofas and floors.  But even that was a small price to pay for the holiday, albeit shorter than planned.  So my advice is to always have a contingency plan, and be sure you have somewhere else to stay should your holiday be cut short unexpectedly.  So go on all you doubters, give it a go.  After all, you shouldn't knock it 'til you've tried it!” – Jennie Murrain. 

 

See Jennie’s current Home Base Holidays listing (HE23943), her Victorian cottage in historic Colchester, the oldest recorded town in the UK. Open to offers anywhere in school holidays, including during the 2012 Olympics.

 

Note: Although seldom needed, it is a reassurance to have a ‘contingency plan’ for accommodation as Jennie suggests. We would love to hear details of the contingency plans you put in place as part of your home exchange arrangements. Please leave relevant comments below.

 

Going on a Home Exchange? Check out Local Charity Walks

 

 

 
Yesterday for the third year I took part in the Big Fun Walk through some of London’s most beautiful parks, in aid of North London Hospice. The sun shone, the daffodils were blooming, it was altogether a great day on several counts – good exercise, a chance to catch up with friends, a lovely route and a very deserving cause.

 

This year my daughter Tanya and I were joined by some of her friends, including one with her mother who was visiting from Australia. Linda (the mum) was pleased to find some ‘older’ walkers like myself and friend, Joan, but this is not a particularly difficult walk and we all kept up with our 30 something kids! Linda had been to London a few times before but was delighted with the different views she had of the city from the unique perspective of our lengthy walk together (our route maps included interesting facts and useful information – locations of all the public toilets and refreshment stops! – en route).

 

Most cities and towns of note will have guided tours for visitors and a tour with commentary is a great way to learn more about the area and see things you might otherwise miss. But do also look out for any charity walks or other activities that may be taking place while you are on a home exchange. Your exchange hosts will often know about such events or will be able to research this for you (you usually need to register for a charity event in advance, sometimes paying an entry fee, with others like the Big Fun Walk only requiring that you agree to raise a minimum amount in sponsorship money).

 

The most cited reason for taking part in a home exchange is not, as  you might think, the cost savings on accommodation, but rather the opportunity a home swap gives to live in a home (that may be very different from your own) and experience a ‘real’ neighbourhood. What better way to meet local people and see more of the area than to support a good cause by joining in an organised walk or charity fund raiser.

 

If you live in London or will be visiting next March, perhaps on a home exchange, here are the route details for The Big Fun Walk:

 

The walk follows a 7½ mile route from the forecourt of East Finchley underground station through Cherry Tree Wood, Highgate Woods, Primrose Hill, Regents Park, Hyde Park, Green Park and St James’ Park and finishes at Storeys Gate SW1 not far from the Houses of Parliament.

Long Term Home Exchange – Finding the Best Matches

 

Q: I have a query relating to a long term home exchange as my husband and I are considering moving to Australia for a year with our young daughter to live/work. I work in the wine trade and my husband works for an international insurance broker. Provided he can do an internal company exchange for a year we would explore the possibility of doing a long term home exchange

Working in the wine industry, a property near Adelaide would suit as there are several wine regions near to the city. We'd prefer to be near to a beach and ideally a house with a pool. Our home is a 3 bed in Shrewsbury, Shropshire which is an ideal central base for Aussies wanting to see England/Europe. I would have thought a retired couple would be best to exchange with.  

If you think there would potentially be members willing to do such a long term exchange and better still can email some suggestions/match us we would definitely be interested in paying to become members.

A: Although an exchange of as long as a year is not too common, the good news is that Australians do often want lengthy exchanges in the UK (retired members plus those on sabbaticals).

 

As you are looking for a quite specific location, a good first search would be by current members in Australia who have indicated ‘Long term exchange’ as an option. Check these out first, using a detailed search.

 

Choose Australia from the drop down country list and Long Term Exchange from the drop down list beside Type of Exchange. Keep other options as open as possible for a first search and scroll through the search results.

 

As there will also be members (many who are seniors) who only choose Home Exchange but indicate ‘open’ on length of exchange, do a second search but without restricting results to one type of exchange (you can re-order search results in a number of ways using the list at the top of all results pages). Any members in/near Adelaide who indicate ‘open’ on length of exchange would be worth contacting if they seem a good match for you.

 

Some members who want long term exchanges arrange one long-ish exchange or more than one exchange, renting accommodation to fill any gaps. You may need to be a little flexible to find a suitable swap to suit your own needs and fit in with those of potential exchange partners.

 

With all exchanges, but especially with long term exchanges where choices will be more limited, it is a good idea to join Home Base Holidays several months before the dates you want to exchange, to get your own offer into circulation and for you to contact new members as they join after contacting all other possibles when you join.

Note: The information above is based on this enquirer's very specific home exchange needs. Use Detailed Search to narrow your options in many diffferent combinations to find your own perfect home swap matches. Then, once you have joined, contact all members whose exchange requests and homes seem a good match.

Great Ideas for a Helpful (Home Exchange) Guest Binder

Guest Post by Virginia Saunders, Trip Planning Guide

We moved to California five years ago.  While we were standing in the driveway, directing the movers, one of our new neighbors came over and introduced herself.  She welcomed us to the neighborhood and said she’d made us a little, house-warming gift -- a guide to the area. 

We thanked her for her thoughtfulness and went back to the task at hand.  It wasn’t until later that night that we took a look at her gift.  She’d taken a ring binder full of plastic sleeves and filled it with local maps, brochures, menus from local restaurants, and even coupons for meals and services.

Exhausted from the move, we ordered dinner using a coupon from one of the restaurants that delivered to our address.   It was the first time we put this wonderful gift to use, but not the last.  Over the years, we’ve added to the binder and now, it’s indispensable. 

If you’re exchanging your home, why not do the same for your guests.  Here are some suggestions for things you might include:

* Go to Google Maps and get directions between your house and the grocery store, local attractions, and other places they’ll likely want to go.  Then put the printed directions in the binder.  But if you have a portable GPS that won’t work where you’re going, leave it out for your guests.

* If your local newspaper has a website that publishes a calendar of upcoming events, print out the calendar so your guests will know what’s going on during their visit.  Many travelers don’t take time to read the morning paper, so if there’s something happening that will be of interest, let them know.

* Keep an eye out for money-saving coupons to local attractions, restaurants, and activities.   Our Fresh & Easy ( a grocery store owned by Tesco) has coupons in the paper every week for $10 off a $50 order.  Who doesn’t want to save 20% on their groceries? 

* Restaurant menus with recommendations -- or warnings -- are really helpful.  Especially for places that deliver. 

We still appreciate our neighbor’s helpful gift, and if you do this for your guests, they will to. 

If you’re headed to California, you can find lots of travel ideas at our site, www.tripplanningguide.com.

Local Information for Potential Home Exchange Partners and Guests

 

Before the Internet made contacting potential home exchange partners quick and easy, home swappers had a one-time opportunity to expand on their short exchange offer published in a print directory.  Much thought was given to compiling information packages to mail to other members whose offers were of interest. This package would include detailed information about their home, family, the local neighbourhood, places of interest, photos and brochures. Imagine the time involved and expense in postage and then an often lengthy wait to hear if a member was interested in your exchange offer!

 

Even with the ease of email, many members continued to send quite detailed information in first offer messages. Those who took the trouble not only to address a member by name but also refer to specific requests in the member’s exchange offer created a better first impression than those who sent impersonal messages that looked like a standard message copied to many members. Times change and exchange offer messages are definitely getting briefer! It’s so easy to read a Home Base Holidays member’s listing in detail (with a small photo of the home shown beside their messages), and so, with our increasingly frantic pace of life, sending a brief but pithy exchange offer message is the way to go. However, once you get a ‘bite’, this is the time to take some of the good points from the old hefty package of information to provide more detailed information for potential exchange partners and for your exchange guests’ use when planning their holiday. Only now, rather than send brochures (those can be collected in the household folder left for your exchange guests’ use on arrival), information will likely include at least one or two websites to check out for further information.

 

Tim Robbins, a London Home Base Holidays member, who is fortunate to live in the leafy suburb of Wimbledon Village, recently shared his impressive, detailed information package for home exchange guests. I am grateful to Tim for allowing me to quote from his well researched document. This includes detailed information about his family’s home, and suggestions for trips out of London. The section I am quoting from below (with Tim's list of useful web links), relates to Wimbledon specifically and London generally. Hopefully this will provide useful information for anyone visiting London and also entice you to check out Tim’s current home exchange offer in Wimbledon (photo of his home shown). Members: log to view HE21307. If you are compiling information on your own area for potential home exchange partners and guests, this may give you inspiration on how to view your own area with a first-time visitor’s needs in mind.

 

Sample Information: Wimbledon, London

 

Wimbledon Village

 

Wimbledon is most famous for tennis (The All England Lawn Tennis Club and museum is 4 minutes walk from our house) and the Wombles of Wimbledon Common (but we haven’t seen one yet).  Today Wimbledon Village is one of the most fashionable and exclusive residential areas of London, home to City Professionals, mostly with young families.  The Village High Street is 8 minutes walk:  The shops here are a mix of designer clothes boutiques such as Max Mara and Joseph together with more traditional village shops such as bakers, grocers and a post office.  The Village is also a great meeting place that people travel to from miles around for its fantastic range of traditional English pubs, trendy bars, coffee shops and restaurants.  At last count there were no less than 22 places to eat and drink.

 

Wimbledon Common

 

Just beyond Wimbledon Village, 12 minutes walk from the front door is Wimbledon Common, which is 12,000 acres of heath land and ponds forming the nearest countryside to London, 8 miles distant.  To complete the rural scene there is even a windmill. Wimbledon common is great for walks and picnics.  For the more active you can also go horse riding, cycling and play golf – the web links for all three are below.  Best of all, there is a fantastic traditional English pub called the Fox and Grapes on the Common, which is excellent for Sunday roast lunch.

 

Wimbledon Tennis

 

The All England Lawn Tennis Club, the spiritual home of tennis, is one of our nearest neighbours:  So, if you are in to tennis, you are in for a real treat.  We have quite a close association with the tennis in that we rent our home out every year and have hosted a

number of the top seeds over the years.  The museum there has just been redesigned and modernised and is meant to be excellent.  In addition to the museum, you can take a guided tour of the courts and grounds.  Shamefully we have done neither!  There are also some really good courts in Wimbledon Park if all this inspires you to play yourself.

 

Wimbledon Park

 

This is the weekend meeting place for Wimbledon’s children and our two love it.  There is loads of space for them to let off steam in safety.  There are football pitches, tennis courts, a really big and well-equipped play area, a café and a lake with ducks to feed and boats to sail.  Wimbledon Park is 10 minutes walk or 3 minutes drive away.

 

Wimbledon town Centre

 

Wimbledon Town centre is not as pretty as the Village but it is a bit more practical and certainly a cheaper place to shop.  Here you will find a large shopping centre with a good selection of chain stores and 2 supermarkets where you can get all the groceries you will need.  Also there is a cinema and 2 theatres, including one just for children.  There are also more bars, pubs and restaurants - but the ones in the Village are far better.  Wimbledon town centre is 14 minutes walk downhill.  Alternatively there is a bus or you can drive in no time at all.

 

London

 

The centre of London is said to be Piccadilly Circus and the tube station at Piccadilly Circus is 28 minutes ride from Wimbledon tube station, which is 14 minutes walk from the house.  An even quicker way to town is to take the over ground railway from Wimbledon to Waterloo, which is 12 minutes ride.  A 10 minute walk from Waterloo will take you to the Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar Square and the London Eye to name but a few landmarks.  We could not begin to detail what London has to offer and obviously there are very many guide books that do just that.  We particularly recommend buying and reading the Time Out Guide to London before your visit to make the most of your time here.  We recommend Time Out, as we know from experience that it is a reliable and authoritative guide, always up to date and particularly good for restaurant and bar recommendations.  Also good is the Rough Guide to London.  When in London, it is worth buying the Time Out listings magazine for a full run down and review of what’s on round town.  A link to the Time Out website is on the web links page.  It is also worth remembering that you can get a Eurostar train from St Pancras to both Paris and Brussels, both of which can be done in a day.

 

Web links

 

Wimbledon

 

www.wimbledonvisitor.com - General information on Wimbledon

www.wimbledon.com - The official website of the All England Lawn Tennis Club

www.wimbledonmuseum.org.uk - Information on the local museum

www.wpcc.org.uk - Information on Wimbledon Common

www.wvstables.com - Information on horse riding across the common

www.rwgc.co.uk - One of the two golf clubs on the common

www.wcgc.co.uk - The second of the two

www.wimbledontheatre.com - Information and programme for the theatre

www.polkatheatre.com - Information and programme for the children’s theatre

 

Around Wimbledon

 

 

www.kingston-upon-thames.co.uk - General information on Kingston

www.thebentallcentre-shopping.com - Information on shopping in Kingston

www.guidetorichmond.co.uk - General information on Richmond

www.royalparks.gov.uk (then choose Richmond Park) – Richmond (and other) parks

www.hrp.org.uk (then select Hampton Court) – Hampton Court and other Royal Palaces

www.kew.org.uk - The official website of the botanical gardens at Kew

www.timeout.com - An excellent site for London listings

www.visitLondon.com – The official web site of the London Tourist Authority

 

 

 

 

The Magic of Home Exchange for Business

Guest Post by Michelle Barry Franco, The Brazen Soul

Last Fall I spent three whole days writing at a gorgeous beach house in Manzanita, Oregon.

I carried my laptop from the ocean view deck to the window seat with views of the lush river foliage. I planned and wrote the first 25% of my very first book in those three extraordinarily productive days. Then, just as I was beginning to get maxed out on writing and alone-time, the rest of my family joined me for the following three days of beach play and downtown boutique browsing.

I paid nothing for this luxurious beach house experience.

I live in a beautiful town in Central Oregon – a place where people dream of living, an outdoor mecca for Winter and Summer activities. It isn’t that I need to get away from a stifling place or have to go far distances to experience natural beauty. It’s all out my front door.

Getting away is about fresh perspective. Different lighting in a room opens my mind to new thought patterns (I’ve never studied this, but I feel really certain this is provable) and a new view out the window creates new directions in my writing and product planning for my business. And, since I am Mom to three little girls 5 years old and younger, a place without the distractions of parenting (blessed as they are!) is rich in productivity and expansion for me.

I average three to five Working Retreats a year. These Working Retreats are separate from travel for conferences and, of course, family vacations. And since I am not graced with endless financial resources, I need to be very creative about ways to get away.

This is where Home Exchange comes in so gloriously.

Home Exchange is amazing for Working Retreats for (at least) three reasons:
1.    It is FREE!
2.    You get a whole home – virtually always completely furnished and cozy.
3.    You get trusted advice on the new location from people who live and work there (no greasy Chinese take-out errors!)

The beach house I stayed in for my Working Retreat last Fall goes for $300 per night. It would have cost our family $2,100 to rent that house. We got it for free by offering our home to the owners for their next ski trip visit to our ski town. While this non-simultaneous swap was possible because my mother-in-law owns a house here that we can use, I have done plenty of simultaneous swaps that go just as beautifully as this one.  

People who are inclined to home swap seem to also be people who care about their space – they want a home exchange because they want a home away from home. So do I, because it’s cozy. I get a lot of work done when I am cozy. Home Exchanges are extra comfortable because they often occur in someone’s primary home, where they live, breathe and work. They are set up to be comfortable and user-friendly already.

Finally, there’s nothing like knowing exactly which grocery store will have your favorite organic cereal and which take-out is both tasty and reasonably priced. This information usually comes with a Home Exchange, during the really lovely time when you and your Home Exchange partners are sharing ideas and details. This saves priceless time and energy that you can use on your work project instead of driving around looking for food and other necessities.

I am already studying my calendar for the Home Exchange that will launch my next big writing project – this time, I’m thinking something in a warm, tropical place, away from these freezing temperatures in my lovely little ski town. The cool thing is, I know I can find a beautiful place at the screaming deal of… FREE.

 

MICHELLE BARRY FRANCO helps soul-inspired business owners create and grow their business through crystal clear Visioning and powerful, magnetic marketing messages. A public-speaking coach as well as a marketing and public relations partner for passion-driven business owners, Michelle helps her clients become leading authorities in their areas of expertise. This allows her clients to make the greatest positive Contribution in the world. To learn more, visit www.thebrazensoul.com/about.