Travel the Home Exchange Way blog

Allergic to cats or other pets? Make it clear in your home exchange description

Many home exchangers are very happy to look after pets while on a swap but a few with allergies won't be able to do this. Even if a cat is not in the house during the period of the home swap, anyone with severe allergies won't want to stay in a house where the cat normally lives.

Make it clear in your description if anyone in your travelling party has allergies. Also read each listing thoroughly before contacting a member with your home exchange offer to ensure the home will be suitable. Most members with pets give details of their pets within their descriptions as well as often requesting and offering pet care.

Loving the home exchange service - works great!

'We're just back from our 4th home swap. SO far, we've got a regular swap in the Lakes, we've done Dublin and Oslo, we've got one in the Pyrenees lined up for next summer and we're on the hunt for a Christmas break as well, if we can.

It just works, doesn't it? We've seen places we never would have thought of going, stayed in lovely houses, been treated with the utmost kindness by total strangers and had great holidays for little or no money. I bang on about it to whoever will listen as often as I can. Lovely. Thanks.' - Tim  

Tim's home is a Victorian semi-detached house (in photo) in a quiet street in Shoreham by Sea. Brighton is eight minutes by train, and London just over one hour direct. See his full home exchange offer.

 

How to arrange a non-simultaneous home exchange

'Yesterday we received a home swap offer from Cape Town!

South Africa was not on our list but we are now seriously thinking about it and having it as a stopover on our way back from Australia.

This is what is so exciting about being on the Home Base Holidays website, it just opens up your horizons of travel destinations without the cost being too prohibitive.

Our experience (we have now completed 18 exchanges in the past five years) has primarily been non-simultaneous exchanges. This is because we travel to Australia every winter for three months to visit our daughter and family and to escape the British winter. England is much more appealing to our Australian exchangers in our summer months!

Some of our exchanges have been to second homes but our home (below) is our only residence.

So how do we manage non-simultaneous?

Well, we often use the time when our exchangers are in our home to explore and visit all the places in the UK that we said we would see and haven't!

Our lovely family and friends, when they hear that we are "homeless", invite us to stay and to catch up with them. As we are travelling for about a quarter of the year, this catch up time keeps us all in touch.

The added bonus of non-simultaneous home exchanges is that we get to meet who is coming to stay in our home. We take time to settle them in and show them around the area. This, they say, has proved invaluable and resulted in virtually no problems and made for a much more rewarding experience for them.

We have made lifelong friends all over the world: San Francisco, Mauritius, Canada, New Zealand and lots of states in Australia.

We all seem to be like minded travellers who just enjoy the experience of visiting new countries, staying in lovely homes and meeting new people. Thank you Home Base Holidays for giving us this opportunity.' - Bev Morgan

Bev's home in Newnham-On-Severn (pictured), Gloucestershire, England, is  a 17th Century Merchant's house with many original features including oak beams and open fires. The house is on three stories with views over the River Severn and the Cotswold hills. See Bev's full home exchange offer.

 

Travel insurance for older UK home swappers

Many older travellers enjoy home exchange holidays for a number of reasons - the convenience of having a real home base, the cost savings (especially when retired and able to take longer holidays), to be near grown children who have moved far from home, and to continue to explore new places in comfort.

One problem that seems inevitable as you grow older is in finding suitable, affordable travel insurance, especially if you have a medical condition.

A number of companies specialise in insurance for older travellers. If you live in the UK, check out the following:

Saga: no upper age limit and covers most pre-existing medical conditions using a medical screening service.

Able2travel: travel insurance for those with pre-existing medical conditions up to age 79.  

Intune: Part of the charity Age UK (no upper age limits).

Free Spirit: specialises in travel insurance for people with a pre-existing medical condition (no upper age limit).

Medici travel: up to age 99 with pre-existing medical conditions.

 

The 'intruder': runner-up in the 'Tell us a home swap story' competition

"Our exchange to New Zealand began in spring. The large house, huge garden, orchard, pool and spa were hidden behind fifteen feet high hedges.  

September was sunny and warm. We dug the vegetable patch and planted lettuce, beans, peas, beetroot, carrots and tomatoes. Then winter returned with heavy snow and bitter winds. It was the coldest October on record. The poor vegetables didn't stand a chance. We inhabited only two rooms of the house-the one with the log burner and the bedroom. Each night we moaned and groaned in the cold and the timber framed house creaked and groaned in the wind.  

We lay in bed listening to the strange sounds with the occasional 'what was that?' whispered into the darkness. In time the noises became louder and more frequent. Had the cats brought in their prey? Were they knocking things over in the chase? Was someone in the house?  

Daylight showed nothing untoward, no feathers or bones. There was nothing.  

However in the pitch-black night our imaginations ran riot! There was something! Then, one night, heavy footsteps right over our heads. Could it be an elephant? My husband found a brush handle and hammered on the ceiling. All went quiet for a while until... dancing footsteps this time. Definitely an elephant having a party! Hearts racing, we hammered with the brush again and all was quiet.  

The following night when the party started, husband, armed with torch and big stick, climbed onto a chair, opened the loft hatch and stared straight into the huge eyes of... a possum! They stared at each other for an eternity before it turned and ran. Which was the most frightened, man or beast? Possums are not cute. They have sharp teeth and claws and can be very aggressive when cornered.  

Next day, my husband ventured onto the roof and patched the possum hole. For several nights we heard scratching as it tried, unsuccessfully, to regain entry.  

As the weather improved and spring developed into a beautiful summer we appreciated the beautiful house and gardens. We grew more vegetables, swam in the pool (unheated) and lazed in the spa-glass of wine to hand. When our family joined us for Christmas it was a wonderful space to have our barbeque, relax, have fun and enjoy.  

Hopefully, moving to New Zealand permanently, we shall not be sharing our home with possums!  

Pat Tetlow, near Kendal, Cumbria, UK  

Click here to view Pat's home exchange offer...

Home Swappers, the Home Exchange Newsletter, September 2012

The September issue of Home Swappers Newsletter is now available. Topics:

• Featured listing: villa in Bali, Indonesia - hear the waves crashing along the beach as you fall sleep!
• Celebrate the 2012 London Paralympics: 20.12% discount on Home Base Holidays membership
• Exchange tips: how to find a long term home swap
• Jackie Piper: introducing our new Home Base Holidays UK rep
• The 'intruder': runner-up in the 'Tell us a home swap story' competition
• Introducing Tripvillas - we loved their website

Read articles in this issue in full and previous issues of Home Swappers Newsletter, in the Newsletter Archive. Subscribe to receive the newsletter as published.