Check out Another Home Exchange Website!

Well, another "C" just jumped into my "A to Z" plan....as I wanted to let you know that there is another home exchange website http://homeexchanger.blogspot.com if you want to check it out to get another perspective! The author is based in New York City,which is fascinating in itself to me, as I love New York too!

And Then There Is CouchSurfing!

I had read about CouchSurfing but finally signed up for it last spring before I left for three months in Italy and Spain. Becoming a Couch Surfer really made my wonderful trip even more wonderful! Thanks to CouchSurfing, I met and made seven new and most interesting friends along the way! The following are just four of the hosts I met. I had a delicious lunch with Rita, a retired school teacher,  in her home near the Vatican in Rome. On a hot Sunday morning last August, Gianni (pictured)  invited me to see the biggest flea sale in Rome; then he helped me figue out how to get tickets for theBorghese. Monica, who has a weaving business,http://www.textilesoleil.com/ invited me for a gellato in Rome. Francesca asked me to spend a Sunday with her and her exchange student, as all of them spent day learning about and touring beautiful Sassari, Sardinia. (The picture show a Monarch butterfly on a bougainvillea in her yard, where she also has sixteen different fruit trees.) I spent three nights with Anne from Manchester, England, who has "retired" to a delightful sixth floor apartment over looking the ocean in Palma, Mallorca. 

Their website defines CouchSurfing as “an international non-profit network that connects travelers with locals in over 230 countries and territories around the world. Since 2004, members have been using our system to come together for cultural exchange, friendship, and learning experiences. Today, over a million people who might otherwise never meet are able to share hospitality and cultural understanding.”

CouchSurfing members share hospitality with one another. The hosts get to meet people from all over the world without leaving home. "Surfers," or travelers, stay with the host for no money and can experience the host’s life. Or, if you have a “couch”, as I did for most of my trip, you can meet for coffee or a drink. Many are put off by the name; I would guess that the majority of hosts have separate rooms for the surfers, rather than couches!

EVERY couchsurfer that I met was interesting and open to sharing their home, their city, and their story with me. They added an extraordinary dimension to my trip! Oh, I heartily recommend exploring couchsurfing to see how you might enjoy this experience! 

My next post will talk about Clothing and Dress Matters from the Exchange Point of view.

5USFQKBX2ARJ

Computers and Your Exchange....

And a very happy New Year to you and your family!

Often your Vacation Home Exchange partner will be leaving a computer in your exchange  home. Internet access is actually listed on the exchange information page on www.homeforexchange.com. This is much easier-and certainly cheaper-than going to an internet café! 

On my recent trip when I did three exchanges, two of the homes did have a computer I could use. At my first stop in Rome, I had wifi and PC access at all times.

In Sardinia, they had left their laptop with an air card, but it turned out that online access was very dicey, so I really could only get on line either late at night or early in the morning. It had to do with their internet carrier, which clearly was overloaded. (It reminded me of dial-up days!) They bought a finite amount of time; when they had used up their allotted  time in the month, they would not get internet access until the start of the next month.

 In Aguilas, Spain there was no computer and no wifi in the house. I had to be really creative to stay in touch with the “outside world”. I had been told that there were two bars nearby where I could use their wifi; all I needed to do was buy a drink-or in this case a tapas. My English neighbors told me about the library in Aguilas where anyone could use the computers for free. I went there several times and never even needed to get a library card! There was always someone there who could at least tell me the password, even though they did not speak English-and I, of course, spoke no Spanish!

During these exchanges I took my new-less than three pounds-Acer Aspire One, which was perfect for this trip! It did not have an E drive, but I really did not need it. I loved the lightness of the Acer!

Depending on how long you will be away, you might want to sign up with a local internet provider and getting an AirCard. An AirCard connects to your laptop via an USB port, PCMCIA card slot, or Express Card slot. Some time these AirCards are also called “WiFi dongles”. I tried to do this in Spain, although I had been warned on-line that wireless plans in Spain were ever-changing. In addition, with my very limited Spanish,  I could not understand what I was buying. So I went with the library and the neighborhood bars!

 You will find much more information on line about AirCards.

 In my next post, I will talk about couch surfing. If you want a preview, you can check out www.courchsurfing.org

Contracts between Exchange Partners

One of my earlier posts talked about animals. I neglected to mention then that some exchanges will come with "animals"-like it or not! In August 2009 this was our "pet" salamander living (mostly on the ceiling) in the house my daughter and I exchanged in St. Raphael, France. When I asked exchanger Elisabeth about him, she wanted to be sure I didn't kill him, not that I even thought about it. We were just not used to having a salamander overhead! 

Before I talk about contracts-since this is about Vacation Home Exchanges AND other travel issues after all, l wanted to fill you in on a future Vacation Home Exchanges I am trying to arrange. Next September I am planning to go to France, as I especially want to visit friends in Metz and Toulouse. And I do want to revisit Paris! The other night I sent out seven inquiries inviting people to come to Boston. I went into the Vacation Home Exchange website I joined four years ago, and I can sort by many categories. In this case I looked parties of two who would like to exchange in September. 

Michael responded that they might be able to exchange their home in Brittany near the coast with me. http://www.homeforexchange.com/ID=7302  He is an American who also owns homes in California and Canada. It would have to be a non-simultaneous swap, which would work for me.

I will call him on his Skye number after the holidays to discuss this more. I’ve never talked with a potential exchanger before, but this makes sense to me, especially since he speaks English. I know approximately where his house is in Brittany, and I also need to see what there is to see and do around there. They are located about 135 miles from the nearest airport, so I need to explore the logistics of getting there.

The process of arranging an exchange takes time, and this was just the first step!

Every Vacation Home Exchange website provides a “contract”. Each website suggests that the participants sign it. Everything I have read and heard about Vacation Home Exchanges contracts makes it sound like it is highly unlikely that a contract would ever hold up! So I do not find bother with the “contract”.  Once again, successful Vacation Home Exchanges ARE BASED ON TRUST!  Both parties are committed to a positive exchange experience. They will take care of your house, as you take care of theirs. Accidents happen; things do break. You need to work out the details in the case of any type of accident on a "case by case" basis. You do want to be sure that your “treasures” are put away, so they won’t break!

When I did an exchange with Angela last August in Rome, she asked me to let her know if something got broken-NOT to rush out and replace it, as there might be another solution!

The only time I tried to complete a contract with my exchange partner, we never actually completed it. I had a feeling, which was accurate, that there were issues there. There was a problem, but the contract would have been useless to help solve the problem.  

Some people who do include cars in the exchanges give each other $500(or any amount agreed upon prior to the exchange)  in the event of any trouble with the car. I'm not sure how this works in practice, but I have been told that it does work! When the ground rules are determined beforehand, both parties have agreed how they will handle problems with cars in an informal or more formal agreement or "contract". 

Thanks again for checking in here. My next blog will focus on computer usage while doing a Vacation Home Exchanges. And please, send me any comments or questions!

Ah, the Beaches You Will See-and Enjoy ….

Dog in Nice, France.(Note the rocks under the chaises!)

First of all, let me state unequivocally, I am the quintessential beach lover….rocky or sandy-gritty gray or golden sand. It is usually easy to relax at the beach, read my book, enjoy the company, and feel the sun warming me deliciously! The ocean totally won me over the summer before my sophomore year in college, when I waitressed at the Seaside House in Kennebunk Beach, Maine. We were in the dining room seven days a week three meals a day for very poor tips. But the great opportunity of heading down to the beach between meals was a very worthwhile trade-off, as I anguished over what I was going to do the next year. (I went back to the University of Massachusetts.) And ever since that summer and the many miles I walked the beach, I have been a card-carrying member of "Beach Lovers’ Anonymous"!    

Therefore, I have been delighted by the variety of beaches which I have visited while enjoying Vacation Home Exchanges! That being said, beaches are not my primary reason for visiting a particular place. Enjoying the beaches is secondary. Travelling 3000 miles and going to the beach is the frosting when I am in a foreign country. Last September I stayed in Badesi, Sardinia; all of Sardinia is known for spectacular beaches. However, they have amazing and unique archaeological locations as well! They also have some of the narrowest and curviest roads I’ve ever driven! So every other day I would go sight-seeing one day; on the alternate day I would drive three miles down to the beach to enjoy time reading and swimming! European beaches are different from American beaches I have ever seen. Usually there is a food stand right on the beach where patrons can order lunch and drinks. Many of them rent padded chaises, towels, and umbrellas for €15 or€20 for the day. Most Europeans seem not to care about using a beach chair; they just lie or sit on the beach on a towel.

You will find, if you do enjoy the beach, when you travel, that you will probably have a variety of beaches to choose from wherever you go.

In case, you missed these comments from previous blogs....

SASA98 said...
"When I did my Europe trip in '98, I ripped out pages as I was done with a country. I had a book for all of Europe; before I left, I'd torn out pages I knew I wouldn't need. As I went along, I tore out pages that had become irrelevant. That way, I had more room for that fabulous bath mat I got in Nice :)" 

"Sometimes, it (Back up plan) works out for the best and you end up going to places you never thought you would -- and it turns out, you love that new place!" 

Susan said:

"I think it's awfully smart of the cars to have a vest such as you are sporting! I'm going to add one to our emergency kit. Thanks for the car rental tips!"

In my next post I will talk about Vacation Home Exchanges contracts. 

Books-Books-Books!

How do books fit into a Vacation Home Exchanges? Most people like to read when they are on vacation! Probably as you are planning your trip, you will want to get one or two travel books, in addition to the information you find on-line.

Often I choose my travel books for practical reasons. If I am going to several countries, I do not want to be weighed down with two or three 500 page books-no matter how helpful they are! (If I will be taking Ryanair, my checked bag cannot exceed 15 kilograms; the only one carry-on cannot exceed 10 kilograms.)

DK books advertise that they are “The Guides that Show You What Other Guides Only Tell You”. So they do include lots of pictures and maps. They had a compact guidebook to Sardinia I used last fall, but many of their books are pretty hefty! They have a Top 10 guide to the many American and European cities that are very easy to follow. DK also has a new Back Roads series, if you are planning a driving trip. To date they have published Back Roads of France, as well for Italy, Spain, Ireland, and Great Britain.

I also like guidebooks published by Frommer and Fodor, which are very comprehensive and thorough.

Perhaps you have seen.the popular and personable travel guru Rick Steves on PBS. He has a variety of guidebooks about Europe in addition to the many tours,which are conducted all over Europe. However, his books are very selective; he only includes the places he likes. His housing choices are usually good and reasonably priced.

I like the detailed Michelin books, because they are quite compact at about 8 3/4”x 4 ½”x1/2”, even if they do have 500 +/- pages! The size makes them traveler-friendly and easy to drop into my backpack! And, of course, while I am mentioning Michelin, their maps are excellent and as detailed as their guidebooks!  

The Baedeker books are equally well regarded and cover most countries. The Lonely Planet series tends to be geared to college students and back-packers, but is also very thorough.

You may take some books with you to read when you are on vacation. It is not easy to get a very good selection of books in English when you are out of the country. You might find it worthwhile to invest in the Amazon Kindle or Barnes and Noble Nook to give you a huge variety of books to download. My daughter gave me a Kindle to take with me last summer, and it was a wonderful way to be sure I always had a good selection of books to choose from! Interestingly enough, two people I met on my trip both recommended Shadows of the Wind, which I downloaded and loved. I suspect I would have been hard-pressed to find it in English on that trip! (Somewhere I read that it takes longer to decide which cover you want for your ebook than the actual Kindle or Nook!)

 In addition, guidebooks will usually tell you about book stores which will have books in English. However, when I went to try to find the bookstore in Sassari recommended in my Sardinia guidebook, I arrived during the three hours that it was closed, so I was out of luck! 

Prior to recent trips I have started to read some of the many recommended books about the different countries.  I especially enjoyed Henry Miller's The Colossus of Maroussi before I went to Greece. The summer that I visited France and England I once again read Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage, which took place in those countries, as well as Germany. It was great fun to be visiting the same places and seeing the Louvre paintings which Maugham described!

And, as former English major, I love finding and visiting the homes of writers which I studied, such as John Keats' home near the Spanish Steps pictured here!

Thanks for taking the time read this blog today. I'd love to hear your questions or comments!

What About the Need for Backup Plans?

At the beginning of this blog, I stated that I think that Vacation Home Exchanges are based on trust, and I stand by that. Over time, you will build an interesting relationship with your new friend/home exchange partner. Joan and I had been emailing about our Vacation Home Exchange that would take me to Aguilas, Spain, for about eighteen months. (Picture is Aguilas from the Castle.) Shortly before Joan and her husband came to Boston (and had a great time visiting Boston as well as Maine and Vermont), she wrote, “We have been communicating since April last year now, I shall really miss your messages when all this is over.”

But I also think that you need to be flexible when you are travelling, since so many things are totally out of your control! “Is the train/bus/flight/boat on time?” “Will we make our connection to get to our destination?” “Is the flight overbooked?” “Is the grocery store open today since we have no food to eat?”  “Did I leave my bathing suit hanging on the hook in the bathroom in Badesi?”

Well, the list goes on, of course! So you do have to be creative and find the solution to the temporary little glitches along the way! But what if there is a major change in your plan? 

What if your exchange family has had a major health issue so they cannot do the exchange now or ever? What if the home turns out to be not what you had expected, so you do not want to stay there? Perhaps you cannot stay there due to something in the home that causes an allergic reaction. (Luisella explained ahead of time that she is allergic to feathers, so she wanted to be sure that none would be near her in the house)

So you will need to come up with a Backup Plan-and sometimes quickly! (In the case of allergies, you would want to be sure to add that to your list of questions before you have committed to your home exchange. Spell things out in your early emails so you would either decide not to exchange with that family, or they would be able to accommodate your needs.)

In most cases, you probably won’t know until the last minute that you will even need a Backup Plan! So here your flexibility helps you to solve the problem! Remember that your exchange partner has made this arrangement in good faith also, so if the problem is something that involves them, they will be as anxious as you to find a positive solution so that you both win!

If you need to quickly find another place to stay, it will-in all probability-require that you pay to stay somewhere! Since you’ve arranged the exchange to keep your expenses down, you might want to explore hostel options in the area. (Hostels are not just for young people! Families all over Europe use hostels, as a very workable, low-cost housing option!) There are also books about monasteries in France, Spain, and Italy which now provide lower cost and sometimes Spartan housing to travelers. Eileen Barish is the author of these books; the Italian book is called The Guide to Lodging in Italy’s Monasteries. When you are looking for other housing, you can check out www.tripadvisor.com, which has many hotels with good feedback to help you decide quickly where to go.

When we were in southern France several years, we decided to move out earlier than planned and used Rick Steve’s book as our guide for alternative housing. He usually has good hotel choices in central locations. Unfortunately our choice was not one of his better recommendations, but we had not checked www.tripadvisor.com!

Of the seven exchanges which I have done to date, this was the only time when I decided to leave early. I think you do want to “keep in the back of your mind”, as you are planning a Vacation Home Exchange, that you MAY need to do something not planned, so it is wise to keep in mind the need for back-up plans.

PS. I did not address any health-related things which might also call for a back-up plan, as I will address that later…..

AND PLEASE, send me any questions that you have about doing Vacation Home Exchanges! Thank you…