Every home exchanger's first nightmare is to arrive at the swappers' address to find a vacant lot or a lock that doesn't fit their key. That just doesn't happen. But there is another fear that is more realistic: coming home to damage.
Will the home exchangers take good care of your house? Probably they will. You will not, however, come home to find your home in exactly the same condition as when you left. It just isn't possible for a couple or family to live in your home for a week, a weekend or even a day without moving something, using something else or simply not making the bed the way you like it.
Before you open your door, be aware that part of home exchange is that your home will be used. Even if you find something broken or lost, keep your perspective.
We came home from a recent vacation expecting something to be messed up. The swappers were not, to phrase it diplomatically, tech-savvy. They had called us in a panic several times, unable to make the television or wireless internet work. The typical problem was a surge strip they had accidentally turned off.
We were not surprised, or too annoyed, to find that they had let certain battery-powered devices drain, or that they had accidentally erased our outgoing answering machine message and left the message machine turned off. It was a little more inconvenient that they lost the television set remote control, despite the fact that it is not needed for watching tv (only the cable remote is used).
It is important to keep perspective. While the television remote will cost $50 to replace, we are not even contacting the exchangers about it. After all, $50 is a small sum compared to renting a vacation home and car for two weeks.
You may come home to a house that is cleaner than you left it, or find some home repair projects completed. Conversely you may find new repairs are needed if your swap partners are not too careful. Just remember to keep things in perspective. Home exchange means someone is in your home. Value the richness that brings to your travel experience, not the cost of minor repairs or replacements.
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Thursday, September 17, 2009
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
COULD THIS BE THE NEXT WAVE IN HOME EXCHANGE?
Judging from the increase in questions I am receiving from new would-be home exchangers, nothing makes the idea of free travel more appealing than a global recession. People who have considered doing a vacation swap are now actively researching our way of traveling.
It is always great to welcome hospitable new swappers to our community. But there is another wave of potential home exchangers on the horizon: retiring baby boomers.
Yes, the commune-dwelling hippies of the 1960's are themselves reaching their 60's. As they do so, who better to turn to home exchange than this independent generation who embraced lifestyle alternatives and brought them into the mainstream. Will they do the same for home exchange?
America's post-war "baby boom" generation is poised to retire. We already see huge numbers of seniors in our home exchange community. Retirees have flexibility to travel that is denied those of us who are tied to traditional jobs. Boomers are reaching retirement age after a lifetime of openness to new ways of living. Home exchange may be just the latest in a string of new ideas the Boomers popularize.
After all, Boomers were born at the same time as organized home exchange. It is reasonable to expect that they will embrace home exchange travel in even greater numbers than the generations which came before them.
People comtemplating retirement naturally want to do some of the exploring they did not have time for when they were working and raising a family. Retirees must also decide where to spend their golden years. Home exchange is the perfect way to meet both of these goals without straining a fixed income.
Welcome Boomers. The doors of home exchange a thrown open to you.
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
HOME EXCHANGE OR 5-STAR HOTEL?
Our cruise ended in Vancouver which is now officially my favorite city. It is so civilzed, yet surrounded by the most beautiful ocean and mountain landscape in all creation.
The first time we stayed in Vancouver we had a swap home. This time we stayed in a magnificent hotel with a 5-diamond rating from the Automobile Association of America.
The hotel had a magnificent lobby, a health club with a heated indoor olympic pool and mineral water hot tub, and loads of attentive staff members. Our room was huge with sweeping harbor (I mean "harbour") views, fine bedding and all-granite bath.
Big whoop. It was still a hotel room. We had 2 adults and 2 kids in 400 square feet. That's big for a hotel room but you would have to work hard to find a swap home that small. Our kids are too young to have their own hotel room so this was the best we could do in terms of space.
And have you noticed that the more expensive the hotel room the fewer amenities you get? Breakfast at this hotel was $28 per person. The use of wireless internet with our own laptop was $15 per day. Had we parked a car it would have set us back $35. There was a minibar in our room with a $6 bag of nuts, $5 bags of chips and $5 sodas.
The Vancouver exchange home we used last year came with the use of a BMW, a full kitchen, a private heated pool, a crafts/game room and outdoor basketball hoop for our kids, a laundry, wireless internet, four bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.
While the Vancouver home was a masterpiece of mid-century architecture I would prefer any just about any well-situated, clean, comfortable swap home over even a 5-star hotel. There is simply no comparison with a hotel in terms of convenience and comfort.
As long as you do not live in a hotel room, I would love to swap in Vancouver again. If you live there and want to visit Manhattan, get in touch!
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