"N" Looks at Nuts and Bolts of Getting Around...

Even if you are doing a single exchange (as opposed to going to two or more places on your trip)...just to get from your house to your exchange home, you will want to plan ahead. How to get around...from the airport to the house and then from there to the places you will be visiting? Hopefully your exchange contact has helped you figure out the best way to get to the house from the airport....I am usually tired after a long trip, so the added stress of sorting out getting to my next destination can add to my frustration. Here planning is key! You may have brought a GPS or rented one if you rented a car. I definitely want to have the directions in my carry-on, so I know I can get where I after a long flight NEED to be!
Maybe you will ask your exchange contact where the nearest market is so you will know where you can buy groceries! Of course, within a few days, you will have passed and maybe even visited several more grocery stores!

When I visited Rome last August, Angela had left bus routes to help me travel around Rome. I took the (cheap) bus from Fumicino Airport (touted in all the guidebooks) to the bus terminal and then (finally) found the bus to my new neighborhood.  Someone on the bus told me which stop I was looking for. Without Angela's help (and the man on the bus), I would have been stuck! Because of our location, it took me some time to get acclimated to getting around. But I DID get it, so Rome became an easy place to get around! Our Rome neighborhood pictured had three bus stops within three minute walk from our apartment!
If you do need to take taxis, I would suggest asking when you get in if the fare will include the tip. I'm not a suspicious type by nature, but I think that taxi drivers can take advantage of tourists, especially if they do not speak the native tongue!
One last help to get you get around is to know what systems are available to help you find your way in teh country you are visiting. Some places have "I" for information or "TI" for tourist information. English speaking employees will help you find you way. These are great places to stop for all sorts of information!
Next post will look at Other miscellaneous questions about home exchanges. As ALWAYS,  I would love you to ask any questions about doing an exchange!

"M" Includes Medical, Money Exchange, and Museums....

Well, I have talked about medical concerns before, in  http://atozofvacationhomeexchanges.blogspot.com/2011/02/hospitals-health-care-and-miscellaneous.html
so there is probably not a whole lot to add. Just by planning ahead as it relates to your medical issues, you will be "ahead of the game". Be sure to remember your prescriptions, and pack them in your carry-on bag. (I did forget mine once, but luckily I could buy them in a local pharmacy in Paris. I do not know if some of our RX are sold over the counter, or they are less strict than in US about having actual prescriptions, or they "felt sorry for me", or what! It would have been easier to just have remembered my prescription!) Take whatever over the counter medication you use, as you will probably not find the exact same thing there, and it will probably be much more expensive. Guidebooks will have a section dedicated to medical issue sand hospitals which can help in a medical emergency. If you can reach your exchange contact via email or phone, it might be worth calling them, depending on how much time you have.
And because I have also talked about Money before in this blog, you might want to check this out.
http://atozofvacationhomeexchanges.blogspot.com/2010/12/atm-and-money-matters.html
In addition to trying to make larger withdrawals than I would in the States and at the risk of panicking about carrying too much money around, I do try to keep an eye on the exchange rate. If the dollar is getting stronger, I will take out extra cash. Then you need to be sure that you have devised a safe system of protecting your money.   I do try to separate my money and my credit cards into several different change purses, so that IF I do lose one, I do not lose EVERYTHING.

You will probably know before you get to your next stop which museums you want to visit. Here is where some upfront planning really will be beneficial. You can often visit many museums via a city pass or museum pass; all the guidebooks will let you know what is available in each location. Some of the bigger cities even have free admission on say, the 4th Sunday of the month. (Some museums in Europe, but not all, will offer or have senior rates, but you might need to ask.) Yes, they will probably be crowded, but if you can get there when your first choice museum opens, it will be worth it. You will also want to plan exactly what you want to see at each museum. A museum like the Louvre has so many wonderful paintings and sculptures to see, you will save yourself alot of frustration by planning which pieces you want to see. The picture above is the Matisse museum in Nice, which I had really been looking forward to seeing in August 2009. Unfortunately when I got there, there was a Rodin exhibit, so unfortunately there were not many of Matisse's paintings. Once before I had gone to Paris, I had read about the Edith Piaf museum in Frommer. It was in the little house where she had once lived. To visit it, you had to first call so the attendant would know you were coming. He gave me the code to get into the building. It was a real treat!

Often the city passes are good for two or three days, and the price will vary accordingly. A place like Buckingham Palace can only be visited when the Queen is not there. You can go on-line and buy your tickets for many places. A (wonderful) place like the Alhambra is so popular that you definitely want to buy your tickets in advance and on-line, and then you will save yourself time by picking them up at the kiosks at the gate.
One more "M" word that is important for the actual home exchange part of your trip is manual. You will want to put together a manual that tells all about your house to help your visiting family feel more comfortable. What to do with trash, how to work your appliances, stores, public transportation, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera... You may find that you keep adding to your house manual as each new exchange family gives you more ideas.
Next post will look at "nuts and bolts of getting around" your new location as well as to your next destination.

And "L" is for Language and Luggage....

We often read that any attempt at a foreign language in a foreign land is appreciated by the people who live there. And it is so easy NOT to do that! Every guide book has a section with basic phrases in the language of the country as well as how to pronounce them. You could take adult ed courses or hire a tutor before you leave. I've never used Rosetta Stone, but that is very popular. Our library has a system called Mango which you can sign up for to practice many different languages. (I must admit that I took a Spanish course last year before I left and tried Mango without much success.) I do always travel with a dictionary in my backpack to help me when I get stuck. I also think it is fun to meanings of new, foreign words if I am in transit from one place to another!
Often you will meet people who want to practice their English. (I recently got an email from Couchsurfer Silvio, a 31 year old civil worker in Brazil, who wanted to talk with me via Skype, since he saw that my profile said I am a former English teacher. His profile said his English is intermediate.) Many whom I met last summer and fall apologized for their "bad" English. It was always very acceptable; they would always try, and some would be looking for help/correction. (Our verb tenses can be really confusing, especially when to use should, could,  and would!)
My Italian friend Gloria, whom I have mentioned before, as I had wonderful visit with her last August in Nice, also speaks French and English. Last summer she had taken an English course in Nice, on her August holiday. This year she is hoping to come to the US to study English again. (If you have any suggestions, please let me know; it is not easy to find such a program for August only, since she is quite proficient already. She needs more than an ESL program.) She wrote this to me, "In my opinion, "Vacation" doesn't mean that our brain is "vacant"; it is just a certain quantity of days that we can "fill" with interesting experiences out of our job, out of our "routine". Do you agree with me?" I LOVE her attitude!

And when we finally get to packing after all of our time planning our trip, Americans do tend to take too many clothes! We have either one huge suitcase or several smaller ones, and just way too much stuff! The added costs of extra bags makes it worth thinking about taking less clothes, so you will need less luggage. Take clothes you love, so you don't mind wearing the same things frequently! And then you can get by with just one suitcase! Pictured is the smallest of the three suitcase set which accompanied me for my three months away last summer. I'll write more about this when I get to R and Ryanair! But when it comes to packing you will be doing yourself a big favor, if you can think SMALL and LIGHT when you pack! You can always buy things at your destination, if you find you need one more thing!
Next post will look at "M" for medical, museums, and money exchange....Do let me know if you have an "M" topic you would like me to include! Thanks....

"K is for Kayaking and Kindles and Keeping in Touch"

I'm not actually a kayaker...maybe a sometime canoeist, but I know lots of people love to kayak-and canoe and boat, too. So in planning for your exchange, you would want to start first with your exchange contact to see if he or she knows about any kayaking (or boating) facilities near where you will be. Then, of course, you can go on-line to see what you can find. For sure, you will find some information in the guide books....When I am travelling, I love to get out of the total tourist mode of visiting churches and museums, etc!
I talked briefly about Kindles when I wrote about books here.  http://atozofvacationhomeexchanges.blogspot.com/2010/12/books-books-books.html
Now you have an additional option if you own an Ipad, but any electronic book is a great companion when you travel! The ability to be able to download a book when you are thousands of miles from home saves you the trouble of finding an English book store as you move about. And you never have to worry about not having something to read!
Keeping in touch is also easy with the internet-whether email or Skype-as well as phone cards.I tlaked about computers in this post. http://atozofvacationhomeexchanges.blogspot.com/2011/01/computers-and-your-exchange.html It is very easy to set up a blog account with google, if you want to keep your friends and family tuned in to your daily activities. Then when you have posted an update, you can just link it to your Facebook or Tweeter account.
I hope you will check back in when I talk about language and luggage....

Jewelry and Valuables

Everyone always asks me, "What do you do with your valuables?" I ALWAYS repeat that I believe that home exchanges ARE based on TRUST!! We could probably have bumper stickers that say something like HOME EXCHANGERS ALWAYS TRUST....
Still, if you have things of value, you will want to put them away, lock them up, or have a friend store them for you while you are gone. You might also want to do that with your food or alcohol that you want untouched when you return as well. You do not want to leave out anything that you will be really upset about losing.
Some exchangers want to hold some money as security in the event of breakage. So each swapper gives their exchange hosts say, $500, "just in case" anything is broken or damaged. So each host is holding $500 from the other.

I have never done this because I am in the "it is an accident" camp, and things will or might be broken. I especially like Angela in Rome's philosophy...."Let me know what has broken, but don't rush out to replace it, as there may be a better solution!" I would expect someone to offer to replace what is broken, and then we would negotiate the particular circumstances.
I really believe that by the time I am ready for leave for my exchange, I have gotten to know my host very well through email. I am not going to take anything of theirs that is not a part of the exchange, and I expect that they'll do the same! In the event that anything is broken, I will certainly let them know so I will take care of it before I leave either by replacing the item or leaving money so my host can replace with it exactly what they want.
I hope you will check back next time when I talk about any "K"s related to vacation home exchanges...kayaking, Kindles, and keeping in touch come to mind!