News

'Since I was raised in England, it was always my desire to go back and see my home. It took 40 years, but thanks to Home Base Holidays, on July 4th, my husband and I realized that dream.

Dave and Thelma made us so welcome and organized our trip beautifully. Their daughters picked us up from the bus depot. They left brochures and print-outs of routes to the places we planned to go. And greeting us on their kitchen table was a bottle of wine, which was much appreciated after 25 hours of travelling. Being in a home as opposed to a hotel, meant we could make our own breakfast and pack a lunch. Since their neighbours expected us, they were helpful and welcoming. Meeting them in the airport on the way out and going home, was like meeting old friends. We swapped stories and had a few laughs, in no hurry to exchange keys and be on our way. We are hooked on home exchange and are already planning the next one. Thank you all for a great idea.' - Shirley Lester, Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada. Read full description of the Lesters' next exchange offer, HE15650.

Note: the photo is of Shirley and Bill at Clevedon beach near the Nelsons' home in Nailsea, Somerset, while on exchange this summer. And, from Thelma and David:

'We recently completed our second home exchange, our first visit to Canada. We were fortunate to make contact with Shirley and Bill in Canada through Home Base Holidays and arranged an exchange for this summer. Our visit to British Columbia was a great success, in no small measure due to the friendly Canadians we met, including Shirley and Bill and their family and neighbours. Also the stunning scenery - our motive for the visit - didn't disappoint us one bit. The whole Canadian experience has prompted us to look for another exchange in that country and province, in particular Vancouver Island, and we hope to be in Canada again next year.' - Thelma & David Nelson, Nailsea, Somerset, England. Read full exchange offer (particularly if you live on Vancouver Island!), HE16093.

Travel the Home Exchange Weblog was one year old on 7 September (blog birthday post). How time flies when you're having fun! I had only just discovered blogging a year ago and am pretty sure that most Home Base Holidays members and newsletter subscribers were as new to the idea as I was. There rarely seems to be any shortage of ideas related to home exchange to write about even if some of subjects may seem a little odd (e.g. under counter toasters, albino groundhogs, Swiss chocolate). Quite a few members have left comments on various posts over the past year or approved use of quotes from their emails on the weblog. I hope that, whether you are an experienced home swapper or not, you will contribute your experiences and suggestions as these are often very useful to others.

A great discovery was the excellent California Dreaming Travelblog written by Home Base Holidays London member, John Edwards (HE15778). John started the blog shortly before his family's holiday in the US this summer, which included two home exchanges in California (the photo is of daughters, Miriam and Catherine, enjoying the hot-tub in the backyard of their exchange home in Santa Cruz). Read the related post on the weblog (which includes links to useful sites for starting your own travelblog) and do check out John's California Dreaming Travelblog.

If any other members have used a weblog to record a home swap in words and photos, I'd love to hear about it. Not only is a travelblog a great way to share a trip with family and friends and save it for your own interest, but it would be an ideal way of providing potential future exchange partners with more information on your family, home and exchange experiences and also to share as a reference for past exchange partners.

It's great to hear about a home exchange from both sides of the swap. This issue we're lucky to have not one, but two, exchange stories from both parties! The first article above, The Kindness of Home Exchangers: Canada - England Swap, gives an insight into the reasons this summer exchange between two couples, the Lesters from British Columbia and the Nelsons from Somerset, was so successful.

The second exchange pairing is the Edwards family (two daughters) from London and the Rufo family (two sons) from Santa Cruz, California (see article above on John Edwards' California Dreaming travelblog). The photo is of Tara and Jason with sons, Nolan and Miles, by Tower Bridge when on exchange in London. Tara wrote:

'We had a wonderful exchange and really can't imagine visiting a metropolitan area in the future without doing a home exchange, especially traveling with young children. In addition to the wonderful benefits of seeing life in another neighborhood, we had enough space and privacy that the kids didn't feel cramped or constrained, as I'm sure they would have in a hotel room.'

In a message to John after the exchange, Tara highlights the main reasons for the success of their (and any) home swap:

'I think the keys to our great exchange were the extensive communication we were able to have in advance, the fact that we were both able/willing to somewhat extend ourselves to help the other family out, that we were both pretty organized, and a bit of luck that both families seem to be similarly-minded in our approaches to things. I tell everyone who asks that I would do it again tomorrow!!'

View the Edwards' exchange offer in London, HE15778

View the Rufos' exchange offer in Santa Cruz, HE16212

I am pleased to introduce a new travel partner, WEXAS, the club for independent travellers. With a dedicated travel booking service exclusively available to its members, you're guaranteed a personal service from experts. And the WEXAS Price Guarantee ensures you'll always get value-for- money: if you find a flight for less elsewhere WEXAS will match it.

Membership benefits extend far beyond an expert booking service. Members also receive the award- winning Traveller magazine, published six times a year (normally £29.70 in bookshops). And there's free access to 23 airport VIP lounges in the UK (conditions apply), and modestly priced access to lounges worldwide. Among its Honorary Presidents are Michael Palin, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Sir Chris Bonington, David Bellamy and Kate Adie.

WEXAS are offering Home Base Holidays members the chance to experience WEXAS membership for three months free of charge. Join WEXAS now and receive a three-month free trial followed by half price membership for the first year i.e. 15 months for the price of 6. The subscriptions (in pounds sterling) for the 12 months following the free trial are:

Blue Card UK Individual £29.50 (overseas £37.50)

Blue Card UK Couple/Family £36 (overseas £44.50)

If you are a current Home Base Holidays member log on to your member area for further information and details on how to claim your free trial membership to WEXAS. Non-members will have access to this information on joining Home Base Holidays.

The article, 'Home Exchange: Much More than a Cheap Vacation?', in the June/July newsletter provoked comments from a member and a subscriber, which were published as feedback to the article in the Aug/Sept issue. Interestingly, this has lead to further, quite similar comments which take the discussion in a slightly different direction from the original article.

First, from Tami Ryan (the photo is of Tami's home in Ames, Iowa. See her exchange offer, HE16632):

'I've read the ongoing discussions about travelers’ motives with dismay. I admit that money is a factor for me when traveling, but that just means that I rank travel - and all the learning that it can encompass if done right - high on my spending priorities. In the past I have only stayed in B&Bs and hostels because I don't want to end up in a cookie- cutter hotel room that may as well be down the road from my home as in a different country. I look at home exchange as a way to save money on housing while taking the meet-the-locals attitude of good B&Bs to the next level. And yes, saving money on housing also means I can visit more places, meet more people, experience more new things. Moreover, I hope that a home exchange with me will provide people from outside the Midwest a chance to learn there is more to the US than New York, California, and Florida. Yes, I spend time in London when I go to the UK, but I also enjoy visiting villages off the beaten path. So those people who respond to people like me (the ones without a fancy house on the beach) as though we are inferior travelers frustrate me.

Home exchange shouldn’t be about whether the travelers have enough money that they could stay somewhere else if they wanted or about whether the house you're going to has four thousand square feet, a pool, and an ocean view. It’s about the opportunity for people to see how the locals really live and to maybe get in a bit more travel for those who might not otherwise be able to. Hospitality, whether you're in your home or not, is about sharing. I’m just glad we met and swapped with some people in Home Base Holidays who know what it’s all about.'

And, from Glynis McCauley, from Edinburgh (membership currently lapsed 'due to circumstances'):

'I first heard of Home Base Holidays years ago before the "web" came along and always thought home exchanging was all about experiencing someone else's lifestyle in their part of the globe. In those days the quality of the interior of the house, size of the house, make of car etc., was not really the main attraction - it was all about somewhere different away from the package holiday, eating in local restaurants, visiting tourist attractions that only the locals know about, all those secret things that only the people who live there know. After all we can all go to the Eiffel Tower and meet a fellow, Brit, German, Spanish person, whereas on exchange holidays that rarely happens.

During the two years I was a member I couldn't help noticing that the selling techniques of your subscribers seem to be emphasised on the size of their home, the car or cars they drove, the antiques inside their home etc. Now, whilst we all like lovely homes and cars, I somehow feel the original meaning of exchanging holidays is lost. As a matter of interest we had an exchange with a great American couple who had a fabulous home and belongings but didn't use them as an exchange tool. Thanks for a great Newsletter which I look forward to reading as soon as it arrives.'

Editors Note: What has come across to me in the comments from both Tami and Glynis is the importance of swapping homes with like-minded people, not that the homes need to be 'equal' in value or in luxury (except to those, likely very few, members who may feel that's important). It is a concern if any members are made to feel that their exchange offers are inferior to others. The most successful home exchangers are, like Tami and Glynis, open minded about offers, homes and areas they will consider for swaps. Members will, of course, receive exchange offers that are just not what they are looking for. Such offers can be declined politely with no need to comment on any perceived deficiencies in the offer!

One point Glynis raised is whether the profiles of members may have changed in recent years. The internet has certainly enabled us to reach a much wider audience but, what hasn't changed from pre- internet days, is the type of people attracted to the idea (independent, open-minded, generous - nice people - who want to swap homes for the positive experiences both Tami and Glynis have described). Glynis' comment on the selling techniques of some members is interesting as one of the main advantages of an internet based home exchange service has been the ability to provide more space for descriptions and photos in listings. The necessity for brief descriptions and small photos to keep the size of print directories reasonable may have had the effect of acting as a 'leveller' in pre-internet days. There have always been some members with homes much more luxurious than others but these may not have stood out so much as such homes may appear to with fuller descriptions and more photos on the website.

My own hunch is that most members who may seem to be into 'selling' their homes, with lengthy descriptions of features and facilities, are probably doing so with the best of intentions, i.e. they are pleased to share their attractive homes with other members, rather than that they are obsessed with having a lot of desirable possessions. Such members probably aren't aware that, rather than attracting members with more modest homes, they may actually be putting some members off who might feel their own homes wouldn't be considered 'good enough'. If you feel this may be the case with your own exchange offer, rather than down playing what you can offer, if you are more interested in arranging a swap to an area of interest than in finding an equal match in terms of house size, etc, perhaps it would help to make this clear both in your listing and in your exchange offer messages by including a sentence or two along the lines of, 'As there are just the two of us, we don't need a large home and are happy to consider all offers.' After all, small, modest homes are often in prime locations. If you want to visit all the attractions of Paris, a one bedroom apartment in the centre of the city in exchange for a large, luxury home with pool in a remote area with no public transport doesn't seem an unequal exchange at all!

I would, of course, welcome further feedback. Variations on this discussion could run and run!

Visitors to the Home Base Holidays website sometimes let us know that they find it very user-friendly, even for technophobes! However, we are always looking for new ways to enhance the site, make it easier to use, add new features, etc (some we pursue as a result of members' feedback, which is always welcome). Our programmer has been working on an upgrade to the site in the last few weeks. Although many changes are not noticeable to members and site visitors, you will see some additional options on the membership form, in the search pages and in the member area. If you are a current member log on to your member area and check your form (View/alter your details) for any additions/changes you might like to make (remember to click Continue at the end of the form to save any changes):

1. Mailing address will no longer be a required field (still useful as another means of contact, but not compulsory if you prefer not to include yours).
2. New box to add a second email address. As, when members change their email addresses, they sometimes forget to make the change on their forms, having an additional address (perhaps a free web based one like Yahoo or Hotmail) would be very useful. Also, occasionally, members' exchange offer messages are blocked and undelivered by a member's ISP. Again, it will help to have a second email address to use.
3. Type of Residence - Motor Homes/Houseboats added to the drop-down list.
4. Type of Exchange - Non simultaneous Exchange Possible (additional tick box option).
5. Ages of Children - As well as the number of children in your exchange party, you can now also include their ages.
6. Dates of Exchanges - You will be able to indicate a specific range of dates for two separate periods.

There is additional search functionality including a new Advanced Search option, Type of Residence, a drop-down list. You will also notice a few additions to your member area, including a direct link to View Your Listing, a Member Logout link on all pages once you are logged on (to save having to click back to your member area to log out after browsing listings).

Newsletter Contributions: We are always pleased to hear from members and newsletter subscribers and to receive contributions for the newsletter - short reports on your exchange experiences, tips you feel would be useful to those new to the idea of home swapping and any questions you have on home exchange. Please incude 'home exchange' in the subject line when contacting us as messages with no subjects (or dubious sounding subject lines!) or unexpected attachments may end up in our spam folder and deleted unread.

Reading this on the Website? Use the newsletter subscribe link to add your email address and receive the newsletter regularly. If already on the list but not receiving your copy by email, there can be a number of causes:

• Incorrect email address - let us have your correct address Add our email address to your address book or 'white list' for accepted messages
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All Home Swappers content is copyright and cannot be used in any form without written permission from Home Base Holidays. However, please feel free to forward the newsletter (in full) to friends and colleagues who may be interested in home exchange (see Forward Email link below newsletter).

Home Base Holidays, London, UK 1985-2005: 20th year providing a home exchange service worldwide