Disasters-Natural and "Man made"!

Before I start talking about disasters as they relate to Vacation Home Exchanges,  I want to express how badly I feel about the Tucson tragedy and its victims! The horror of it all continues to confound us all. The only bright spot is the fact that Congresswoman Gabby Giffords seems to be making some amazingly positive progress. We can only hope she continues to heal!

Since I was an English major in college, I will often go to the dictionary to help start what I am about to write. The Oxford online dictionary defines disaster as “a sudden event, such as an accident or a natural catastrophe that causes great damage or loss of life”. Perhaps this definition is a bit strong for the “D” of my “A to Z”, but sudden events WILL happen during a Vacation Home Exchange.  The 1986 Oxford Dictionary defined disaster as a “a sudden great misfortune”, which I prefer! If the disaster does involve your exchange host, you will want to present to him or her what happened in a factual, unemotional way.  Accidents happen, and rationale people know this! Sometimes a disaster may only involve you or the people you are travelling with.

One day-actually the only day as it turned out-in Aquilas, Spain, Karen and I went to the beach for a swim. Unfortunately Karen connected with a jellyfish (or medusa in Spanish)! We had had no idea that there were any jelly fish at that beach until then! It was so painful for Karen! Luckily Jean, one of our British neighbors, knew what to do! She took a credit card and scraped it across Karen’s back to press out a stinger. It still hurt, but it did alleviate the pain somewhat! Kathy, our next door neighbor, had the pharmacist’s cell phone number, so she called him for help. He told us we needed to get After Bite (pronounced After Beetay), whose primary ingredient is ammonia. (Pharmacies in Europe often have some terrific remedies for minor aches and pains that we do not have here.) This was a natural disaster which could have happened to anyone. Here it was a case of “it’s who you know, not what you know!” Luckily Jean and Kathy had had experience with these dreadful stings to help Karen. If we had not known Jean and Kathy, we probably would have gone to the pharmacy or found a medical center.

Base where legs had "buckled."

In August 2009, my daughter Melissa and I did an exchange in St. Raphael on the French Riviera. We had been there less than a week when we experienced our “sudden great misfortune”, as we heard the most ungodly crash from inside the house. I rushed inside to see that the wall oven and the particle board cupboard it was on had fallen to the floor! Everything in the cupboard and glass from the wall oven was all over the floor. Luckily our next door neighbors had arrived that day, so I went over to ask if they could help pick up the wall oven. They came to our rescue fortunately! This was an accident; the wall oven had not been properly installed. My host did not see it that way, but that was the truth of the situation. (Remember when I said earlier to run, not walk, if you have any questions about your possible exchange host?)

This was very stressful for both of us, needless to say! Shortly before we left-and we did leave early-I emailed my host and told her what had happened. I expressed my unhappiness at what had happened, but I did tell her we had not used the oven. Nonetheless, she blamed us for what happened! Eventually her insurance company contacted mine, but we were innocent, as we had not caused this disaster!

So when or rather IF you happen to experience anything like a disaster, stay calm to sort out what has happened. The majority of Vacation Home Exchange hosts are rationale and understanding and totally ready to work through any problems that do occur. As Angela in Rome had said, “If something happens, let me know.” The implication was we’ll figure out a solution! So don’t worry about what might happen; enjoy your Vacation Home Exchange!

Actually after I returned home, I emailed two people with whom I had been emailing about future swaps to say that we had experienced this disaster, and I really could not think about a future Vacation Home Exchange right away. They both said they understood. Several weeks later, I emailed them that I was now ready to plan my next exchanges!

Thank you for your comments! My next post will talk about expectations for your Vacation Home Exchange.