Seasoned, experienced seniors are great promoters of the concept. They are well qualified to recommend it to their friends and acquaintances; some even give talks and presentations at their clubs and gatherings. Their contemparies listen to them and catch their enthusiasm.

For seniors, home exchanging is a great way to vacation. It completely eliminates inflated hotel prices or vacation rental charges that will eat up a large part of your vacation budget, and very often this means you are able to travel further, or more often. No money changes hands other than for your club membership and in addition to a longer vacation, further afield, many seniors also opt for multiple weekend exchanges or quick breaks that involve just a few hours in a car, or a short airline journey. Also, with a little planning ahead and shopping around, discound air fares can cut costs even further.

Home exchange provides the opportunity to spread out and relax in a real home in a real neighborhood rather than the cramped constraints of an expensive hotel room, and even if you plan to eat out most of the time, the availablity of a fully equipped kitchen for snacks and beverages is still hard to beat. It trully provides you with a home away from home.

The unititiated frequently voice the old concerns: How about theft? Will my exchange partners wreck my home? Will I even find a home when I arrive? The simple answer is: Stop and think, is it really likely that your home exchange partners are going to fly or drive hundreds, possibly thousands of miles to steal your tv? Remember, you will be living in their home while they are in yours; they will assume your intentions to be honorable.

As an example, during the 2010 Football World Cup, ExchangeHomes.com had a large number of people join and specifically request exchanges to South Africa. Likewise, with the 2011 Rugby World Cup scheduled to take place between September 9th, and October 23rd, we are already noticing mention of this in several home exchange listings.

The Winter and Summer Olympics, Grand Slam Tennis Tournaments, Formula One Races, Super Bowl, Tour de France, Major Golf Tournaments and Cricket Test Matches are just a sampling of events where sports fans could plan ahead, arrange a home exchange and save a fortune in hotel or rental expenses.

Unfortunately, the Baseball World Series is not so early to plan ahead for because the venue is determined by the final two teams, but horse racing opens up a wide range of opportunities that allow a home exchange to be arranged in advance.

Horse racing, on grass, dirt and synthetic surfaces, on the flat and over obstacles, all has a large following, and each has major events and championships that attract a dedicated and enthusiastic following.

For the second consecutive year, the Breeders Cup will be held in 2011 at Louisville, at Churchill Downs, the legendary home of the Kentucky Derby. The Cheltenham National Hunt Festival for four days, beginning March 15th is another horse racing event with a dedicated following. Another emerging highlight is the Dubai World Cup, which traditionally takes place on the last Saturday in March, and is one of the most anticipated fixtures on the international racing calendar.

Of course, the entire gamut of sports fixtures and events will always attract sports betting, which, with just a little luck, could even pay all the travel expenses as well. Not a bad vacation prospect in these difficult economic times!

Our more than four hundred French home exchange listings come from all over the country and include apartments in central Paris, gracious detached homes in the suburbs, villas on the French Riviera and Cote d’Azur, spectacular homes in the French Alps, and just about everything else in between!

When you stop to think of the savings, it’s no wonder that a great many people are ‘Googling’ the terms ‘home exchange France’ and ‘home exchange in France’. Vacation rentals throughout France tend to be exorbitantly high but savvy home exchangers completely eliminate all the usual accommodation costs, all they need to budget for are travel expenses. Okay, I know that they can be high too, but in an earlier post I wrote about how my brother manages to eliminate them as well by making every single household and business purchase through a credit card that accumulates travel miles. Every year he takes his family on what most people would consider luxury vacations that don’t cost them a cent.

Over the years we’ve received many reports from members who have enjoyed immensely successful home exchanges to just about every corner of France. It’s a beautiful and especially diverse country, in fact many Brits and Americans have chosen to set up home there permanently.

To see our host of exciting French home exchange opportunities, just >>Click Here, and let your imagination run wild!

Anyone that has ever gone on vacation can testify that the most expensive part of traveling is paying for hotels and other accommodations. Some vacations may even last longer if the expenses were not so high. The solution is simple: exchange your home. Most people are not aware of home exchanges and how they can benefit from them. If you wanted to travel to the United Kingdom, but have found the hotels and accommodation to be quite expensive, now you can. You can find a British family who would swap homes with you, rent free. An equal trade on both sides for both families to enjoy the benefits of a home while traveling.

Home exchanges are becoming increasingly popular in major cities everywhere. The participants in home exchanging often have their friends and neighbors take a part in entertaining their visitors by providing the home exchange visitors with information on local sightseeing and attractions. The home exchange is an attractive idea to many families and individual travelers. The families with children can arrange to swap houses with another family with children of similar ages. This way there is no need to cart around a lot of child toys and equipment. The individual traveler finds swapping houses as a great way to relax in the comforts of a home after a day of sightseeing and to have more time to get to know an area better.

Some retired travelers make a great home exchanger because they can be more flexible with dates and the length of the home exchange period. The only major expense on a vacation, when swapping homes, is basically the airfare. An arrangement can also be made to exchange the use of vehicles as well; this can save in renting a car and other traveling expenses, so all you have to pay for is gas. If pets are involved, you may be able to make an arrangement to keep the pet at home and save on boarding fees, if your home exchange partner is willing to take the responsibility.

Even more home insurance companies are more in favor of home exchanges because it’s much safer than leaving your home unoccupied for an extended amount of time and therefore vulnerable to thieves and vandalism. When agreeing to a home exchange, it’s important to make sure that your insurance policy will cover your visitors during their stay in your home. If you’re worried about letting strangers into your home, get to know them before-hand. You can exchange pictures, phone or email your intended partners and share information of area attractions with each other. Be sure to ask questions and clarify any agreements in your communication, so all things are clear. If you need further reassurance, ask for references. You will need to feel comfortable in exchanging homes so that you can enjoy your vacation and not have to worry about leaving your home and all its possessions in the hands of total strangers.

Numerous families have had wonderful experiences with home exchanges, but sometimes problems to arise by a swapping partner who have not met with the others expectations or a family is unhappy with how the swapping partner had treated their house. Although home exchanges are a great chance to enjoy an entire house with the benefits of a full kitchen and laundry facilities for free, you need to be comfortable to those you do the swapping with. Get to know your swapping partner before any permanent arrangements are made.

When you look for a home exchange, don’t worry about searching for a similar house or apartment. Just look for a place that will suit your needs in a destination that meets your interests. Home swapping is increasingly popular in big cities and expensive countries such as the United Kingdom. If you have a home in a vacation area or a large tourist destination city then you will find it easy to locate something that fits your needs. Even if you have a home in the country you can find people to exchange with since many city dwellers are looking for a break from the crowds.

Hotel costs can be a big chunk of your holiday funds so a home exchange will save you money that can be spent on sightseeing, nice dinners, shows or allow you to visit more expensive destinations. Not only will it save money on accommodations but since you will be living at a home you can prepare you own meals. Another cost savings includes pet boarding since many are willing to pet sit for you. Car exchanges can also be arranged and therefore save on car rental expenses.

Switching homes is popular with single travelers, couples and families. If you have a family with small children you may be able to find a family with children of the same age; their home will be kid friendly and the children can use each others’ toys and games. Retirees and those with flexible work schedules find it especially beneficial since they can schedule their trip after they find a suitable home exchange.

Many people worry about letting perfect strangers into their homes which is a valid concern. The most important thing is to get to know your exchange person or family and clarify any matters upfront. You can chat in email, exchange photos and even chat on the phone. If you still want reassurance you can ask for professional references. You should also clarify cleaning expectations since that is one area that can be left to interpretation. You may want to have a third party, such as a family friend, do a walk through of the home at the beginning and end of the home exchange.

Finding a holiday home or hotel for your next vacation doesn’t have to burn a hole in your pocket. Home exchange can be the answer to an affordable and enjoyable vacation.

Your budget level mainly depends on the season and the time of the year. Some vacation destinations will be very cheap at some times of the year.

If you want to travel to a popular destination in peak times, you never find it cheap. For instance, planning to stay at luxurious hotel in a party city on New Year’s Eve is not expected to exist as budget holiday, while travel to an established summer resort over New Year’s may be extremely a different story.

The most important thing that you need to realize is that low seasons cost low for a reason. A typical example of this is hurricane season in the Florida and Caribbean. Other low seasons that vary include – very hot regions such as Egypt in summer months, excess heat makes the holiday less enjoyable.

Summer resorts are usually very quiet in low season. This can be the best for recoil, but once it comes to a violent nightlife you may be disappointed.

Travel destinations for the specific season at a low cost:

Winter:

Winter is very interesting time of the year for travelling. Before Christmas, most of the people are trying to do final shopping trips. So, after the festival, most individuals are dealing with the bills of credit cards so that, holidays on far off beaches are often incredibly cheap during the winter period.

Asia is a great destination for winter months. Probably the flight costs will decrease and they offer various discounts. In Asia weather varies greatly in winter season. The climate in Asia is surrounded by snow in just one minute and then suddenly you will see glorious sunshine. These conditions make lot of visitors cancel their trips. Hence there are some exceptional bargains for those who want to take the risk.

Shoulder season:

This season is a perfect time to travel for those individuals who want to get a glad medium among low and peak seasons. Recognizing where is in shoulder season when you like travelling or when your preferred destination is in shoulder season can save you hundred of dollars.

Take a glance at guided books. Even they don’t tell you when the shoulder season is, just they inform you when low and peak seasons are. The time in between is referred to as shoulder season.

The best travel destinations in shoulder season are Caribbean in late spring and Europe in the fall.

Fall:

Fall is the best season to travel to Europe. You will find flight tickets for many Europe popular destinations at a cheaper cost. From October onwards you will get tickets at low cost. Temperature is also perfectly pleasant until the mid of November. So, take a trip yourself for fall in Europe.

Summer:

It is very hard to find discount in summer. Americans, Europeans, and Japanese are all on the move. This is a peak time for weddings, thus honeymoon destinations are also in great deal of demand.

In early summer days, i.e. in between June and July, you will get a good deal for Caribbean destinations. It is better to book before Europeans begin to flood during the school holidays at the end of July.

Also, the period between June and September is a good option. Safari holidays are good choice for this period. During the summer months, you will get the flight deals at a reasonable cost in Southeast Asia. But, during this period the climate will be very hot. So, it is better to avoid this destination during summer season.

Finally, you knew which season is best for travelling to the specific destinations. You can choose the destination depending on the season and at a reasonable cost. Visit Travelers Zone

As a matter of fact, for the past several years the low cost air carriers have been the only ones able to turn a profit. While many traditional airlines are struggling to make a profit,have been profitable almost from their inception. In addition, low cost airlines have helped to lower prices across the board in the airline industry.When a low cost air carrier starts flying out of a specific destination, the traditional airlines often have little choice but to lower their prices in response to the new competition. This has helped make air travel affordable for a large segment of the population that had never before been able to take advantage of the option of flying.

When low cost airlines first began operations, they kept costs lower primarily by cutting out the extras; anything that did not focus directly on getting passengers where they were going on time was cut back or eliminated. For instance, where traditional air carriers served entire meals, low cost carriers offered bags of peanuts or boxes of snacks. Most low cost carriers also cut out movies and entertainment on their flight, although low cost Jet Blue was the first to offer live television on their planes for a low fee. The irony in this situation is that traditional airlines have begun to cut back on these very items, with many traditional carriers now offering no meal service at all, or charging fees for the meals they do serve.

What all this means to the budget minded traveler is that airfare costs can be much lower than in the past. While airfares still do fluctuate widely, it is generally possible to find a reasonable price for destinations around the country and around the world.

The key, of course, is to shop early and shop well. The internet provides a great way to search for the lowest airfares. Every low cost and traditional airline has its own web site, and it is important to check these web sites often for prices to your particular destination. There are also a number of comparison web sites where you can simply type in the originating and destination airports and the web site provides the lowest fares on various airlines.In many cases the lowest price will be a low cost carrier, but the increased level of competition means that the lowest price will sometimes be with a traditional carrier as well.

The lowest airfares, both on low cost airlines and traditional ones, are often those that are booked at least a month ahead. Fares for last minute flights are often extraordinarily high, even on the low cost carriers. So the key to getting the best deal is to shop early.

There are various kinds of home swapping practices you can consider. In the traditional, the exchange partner goes on a trip and stays in their primary residence. For those who occupy several homes, non-simultaneous exchanges frees them from worrying about arranging dates and traveling simultaneously.  Here exchange partners occupy a vacation home while the other family continues to reside in their own home. In hospitality exchange, the exchange partners alternate as guests in their respective homes.

If your target is a specific destination, you can succeed in finding the right property if you would work with an agency based on the area you are considering. You are more likely to find an available house than looking for one in a global network. For example, Home Base Holidays if you plan to trade houses in the U.K. or Aussie House Swap if you are going to Australia or New Zealand.

However, home swapping is not suitable for everyone. Some people like to swap and does it several times in a year because it offers them the opportunity to travel to new places without spending for hotels, restaurants, or transportation costs. Likewise, this can also give you an opportunity to integrate the culture of the local community, since the practice involves providing information about the area and introduction of newcomers to neighbors or friends.

For some people, however, they feel awkward or uncomfortable cooking or cleaning during their vacation. Others do not like strangers staying in their homes. Bear in mind that arranging home swaps can be easy or difficult depending on the location of your property. If your home is located in the city, it is unlikely that you will trade your home on the outskirts of the country, unless there is a valid reason.

On the other hand, if your place is located in a popular destination such as Orlando or Manhattan, it provides you with a wide range of options. If you live in a remote area, it is still possible to swap your home. However, you will need to exert a little more effort.

Home trade is suitable for slow travelers who will travel for a short period of time. It is ideal if your length of stay is from one day to four weeks. Ideally, this is for those who are going on a trip for one day of for the weekend. The host partner will do the introductions to friends and the community. This can give you an assurance of security and likewise makes you comfortable in unfamiliar territory, and can help you immediately immerse yourself in the culture of the community where you are staying.

However, just like vacation rentals, swapping homes is a do-it-yourself endeavor unless there are maids at hand. One disadvantage of home trade is that your options can be limited and you have to be open minded in the choice of date, location, or property. Home exchange is more affordable than staying in a hotel room.

When the movie, “The Holiday”, starring Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, and Jack Black hit the big screen in December 2006, many Americans became aware of home exchange programs. However, the Europeans have been using home exchange programs for more than 50 years.

Basically, there are two types of exchange programs: home exchange and hospitality exchange. With home exchange, you swap houses with another interested party. They stay in your home, while you stay in theirs. With hospitality exchange, you host visitors in your home for a specified period of time, than they host you in their home for the same amount of time.

Most people prefer using a home exchange opposed to hospitality exchange, as they feel somewhat awkward inviting guests they do not know to stay with them. And, while you might be somewhat apprehensive to allow strangers into your home unattended, most home exchange programs encourage you to develop a personal relationship with the individuals long before the exchange takes place.

According to statistics, more than 250,000 successful exchanges occur annually. The majority of established home exchange organizations require a membership fee. These generally range from $50 to $200 per year.

This fee allows you to post information about your home, including photos. In your listing, you can list specific details such as whether your home is pet-friendly, allows indoor smoking, is handicap accessible, and what amenities are included. Additionally, you can include a detailed description of the type of home and location of where you would like to visit.

Using a home exchange service provides you with more flexibility than booking a hotel reservation or searching for a apartment on your own. It also provides you with the opportunity to meet new friends and offers the benefit of knowing your home is being looked after while you are away. It also allows you to stay in a nice home for free!

Every home exchange is unique and dependent upon developing a relationship of mutual goodwill and trust. Obviously, there are some risks involved. But, there are also risks involved with booking a hotel reservation or locating a apartment rental. The difference is that the people you are exchanging homes with are taking the same risk.

There are many reputable home exchange services available via the Internet. To locate the different organizations, type in “Home Exchange Service” at your favorite search engine and begin researching the ones of interest to you.

You’ll want to spend several hours conducting research on each organization before making your final decision. Visit each website in order to determine which service offers the types of homes in locations you desire. Once you have made your selection, sign-up as a member and begin entering your information. If you are new to home exchanging, I suggest you consider investing in Home Exchange Academy. This is an excellent guide written by a very experienced home exchanger of more than twenty five years. She takes you by the hand and walks you through the entire process from how to select the club that right for you to how to conduct yourself on the home exchange. The author, Athena Rickby has absolutely no ties with any home exchange organization and her guide tells you this. She simply provides a ton of good information and many refer to Home Exchange Academy as the “home exchanger’s bible.”

Never, ever exaggerate information about your home. If you reside in a small home out in the middle of “nowhere”, you might be surprised at how many people are looking for a place where they can get away from it all. Focus on providing information about the benefits staying in your home will offer to potential visitors, and be honest about what type of home you own.

Home exchangers consist of people from all walks of life. Some are single, others are married, and many have children. You can decide what type of person you prefer to exchange with and how long you would like to exchange. Generally, it takes four to six months to complete the transaction, so allow plenty of lead time.

If you do your research and plan ahead, you can potentially save thousands of dollars in accommodation expenses by using a home exchange service. Give it a try. You just might discover a new way to explore the world!

Jet lag, simply defined, is fatigue and disorientation caused by extensive air travel that crosses a number of time zones. In addition to fatigue and disorientation, you can experience other symptoms with jet lag. One symptom you can experience is broken sleep once you reach your destination. Like a newborn baby, your body may confuse your days and nights. It could take days to readjust your body to the new time zone. If you’re on a vacation, this could completely change your plans. If you’re traveling for business, this could make business impossible. Another symptom you could experience is confusion and fuzziness. This could make you less aware of your surroundings, which could cause safety issues in an unfamiliar location. You might also experience dehydration with jet lag. This can make you more susceptible to illness, which can ruin any vacation or business trip.

There are a number of tactics for dealing with jet lag. First, before you ever leave the airport is one of the most important times to deal with jet lag. Make sure everything you need to take care of is dealt with in the manner it should be. This can help improve your mood and emotions. Stress can only contribute to jet lag, as can exhaustion. Being tired or having a hangover can make this worse. Be sure to get lots of exercise, too. This can help you to avoid sickness, and it can help your body adjust to the time changes you will be facing. If you do get ill, like with the flu or a cold, it might be a good idea to postpone the trip as long as possible. If you must, though, be sure to bring medications along to treat your illness, as it can be difficult to find those medications once you have reached your destination.

You may want to consider both which way you are flying and what time of day you are flying. There are a number of old tales that say it is better to fly east or west or that it is better to fly during the day or during the night. It is only a matter of personal preference as to which works best for you.

Drinking plenty of fluids is a good way to avoid dehydration. As dehydration sets in, the blood capacity is lessened, and the ability of your blood to carry oxygen is depressed. If dehydration continues long enough, it can cause a dip in blood pressure, along with dizziness, nausea, or fainting. Essentially these are the same symptoms as heat exhaustion. Continuing past this point may cause heat stroke. If heat stroke occurs during dehydration, the body temperature rises. During heat stroke, the body no longer sweats. Serious consequences like seizure, coma, and death can be the result of untreated heat stroke because not only does the blood carry oxygen to muscles, it also carries it to the brain and other vital organs. Symptoms of dehydration include thirst, infrequent urination, fatigue, and dry skin. It is best to drink as many fluids as possible.

You might also consider some sleeping aids while you are traveling to prevent jet lag. If you must rely on medication, do so only under the advice of a doctor. Otherwise, try things like blindfolds, soothing music, ear plugs, or blow up pillows that airlines offer. You might even consider taking your shoes off on the plane for maximum comfort.

One final thing that can help you with jet lag is to get plenty of exercise before, during, and after the flight. Running and other exercise are the ways of helping the body cope with the stresses it is facing. Even if you have to do some simple plane exercises, you too can combat the jet lag. Some plane exercises include holding your carry on bag as close to your body as possible at a ninety degree angle. Do a few bicep curls. That should give you a good workout. If you can, balance the bag on your ankles and do a few leg lifts. Try a simple walk around the cabin. It might be difficult, but if nothing else, it should help you to stretch your legs. You can also try placing the palms of your hands together. Push as hard as you can and hold the position as long as possible. Then try grabbing the nearest book. Hold your arms out flat with the book on top. Hold the position as long as you can. Rest for a few minutes and then repeat. Finally, stretch each muscle of your body any way you can. One important thing to note as you try your exercises is to be respectful of the passengers around you.

I always used to buy my PG Tips from a company in Pennsylvania, then I found a better price in California, now Amazon have started selling groceries, my research shows that they have much the best price. As I write, Amazon are selling a case of two boxes, each containing 240 bags of pyramid PG Tips (total of 480 tea bags) for $32.35. Add to that their free Supersaver Shipping and Amazon are definitely the winners! Click Here to see their sales page.

I’ve also just noticed they have a “Grocery Back To School Offer”. Save 25% when you enter code PGTPS343 at checkout. AND if you set up a future delivery schedule (you can cancel at any time) you will save another 15%.

With Free Shipping and the two options I’ve listed above, you will save a whopping 40% Your two boxes of 240 PG Tips teabags will cost you just $19.41. I challenge you to beat THAT!

A currency will be either free floating or pegged. A pegged currency is fixed by the government relative to the value of another currency. For example, the Hong Kong dollar in the 1980’s was fixed or pegged relative to the US dollar and always worth a set percentage of the currency it was pegged to. A free floating currency is allowed to fluctuate in value relative to all the other currencies on the foreign exchange market. When discussing currency people also refer to the nominal exchange rate, and the real exchange rate. The nominal rate is the rate at which a currency of one country can be traded for the currency of another. The real rate is the rate at which goods and services of one country can be traded for the goods and services of another. If, for example, the price of a product increases by ten percent in the US and there is a ten percent appreciation in the Canadian economy against US currency, the price of the product would remain constant for Canadians despite the US price increase. This is of course assuming that no tariffs are involved.

As a practical matter exchange rates will change from country to country and can be used to make travel and tourism more attractive in certain countries at certain times, so if there are several countries you’d like t visit and you have a flexible schedule, keep an eye on the exchange rates. If a person is a visitor in New York City it is easy to see how people in other countries follow this rule. At certain times the city of New York will be flooded with visitors from Germany, France, the UK, or Japan. The reason for this is quite simple. When the exchange rate favors the Japanese or the Europeans, then visiting America becomes much cheaper for them than at other times. If for instance, one thousand Euros, due to a favorable exchange rate, will purchase twelve hundred Euros in value, then they have a net twenty percent gain and a twenty percent cash incentive to visit the US. In recent years this exchange rate has usually worked in favor of Europeans, but in years past it worked in favor of Americans. For instance, before the Euro became the standard currency of Europe, Italy used lira, Germany the deutsche mark, Switzerland the Swiss franc, Austria the schilling, and France the French franc. In the early 1980’s the exchange rate was five French francs to the dollar, two and a half Swiss francs to the dollar, one thousand lira to the dollar, and two and a half schillings to the dollar on average. The German mark was fluctuating, anywhere from 1.7 marks to the dollar to 2.5 marks to the dollar, so when the dollar was worth 2.5 marks Americans would be ahead to trade in their dollars for marks. When the rate was 1.7 they were better off not spending German marks.

Keeping an eye on exchange rates will always benefit the traveler. Even if you are just crossing the border to visit our neighbors to the North in Canada or the South in Mexico, knowing what the normal value of the other nation’s currency is, and planning your trip for when the fluctuation is in your favor will increase spending power.

The Hometown Getaway

Who says that the only remedy for the hustle and bustle of life is a full-fledged vacation? On the contrary, your hometown is full of amazing sights and sounds that you, with a bit of creativity and know-how, can turn into a magical getaway, without crossing the city limits!

The Hometown Jungle Expedition

While your hometown may not be a tropical rainforest habitat, it is bound to host a large number of city and also municipal parks. Some of these parks will even offer nature walks! Check out the phonebook for a listing under “nature center” and you may be well on your way to a hometown jungle expedition.

If you are planning this trip with your children, this is a wonderful opportunity to incorporate some hands-on learning experiences. Have a backpack for each member of the expedition, complete with binoculars, paper, pencils, collection jar, and magnifying glass. Encourage the children to “spy” flora or fauna before you do, and you will be well on your way to having a relaxing afternoon at the park. If you remember to pack a picnic lunch, you will be able to spend most of the day in the “wild.”

The Hometown Fishing Trip

Granted, your hometown probably does not sport lakes as rich in trout as Colorado’s Lake John, but looking on the bright side, it won’t take you six hours of bumpy roads to get there either. Contact your local wildlife and game department for fishing reports pertaining to your area.

If you are fortunate enough to live close to the ocean, you will be able to enjoy a leisurely fishing trip to the local pier, followed by a relaxing dinner. If you live in a city that has several lakes within a short driving distance, you will be able to choose from any of these locations to cast a pole into the waters.

This may even be the perfect time to take out the RV for a last late summer or early fall weekend trip before storing it for the winter! Taking your family to a local RV park can be a real treat. This takes off the stress of packing for a long distance trip since you will be camping right around the corner.

The Hometown Gourmet Extravaganza

Unless you live in Las Vegas, your hometown getaway will probably not include a trip to the Mandalay Bay’s famous buffet, but this is no reason to stop you from having a gourmet experience within city limits! If you budget wisely, you will be able to have breakfast at the local hot spot, a cup of coffee or tea a little way down the plaza, complete with the possibility of soaking in the morning rays while leisurely reading the paper. If you’re up to it, try a different restaurant for lunch and dinner.

There are several family restaurants that offer entertainment as well as fine dining. The Elephant Bar offers a refreshing décor, with a safari environment. Or enter through a cave shaped aquarium to the jungle themed restaurant known as the Rainforest Café. While you’re eating enjoy the swinging monkeys, active volcanoes, and the dimming lights while thunder roars overhead. Children will especially enjoy the Rainforest Shop where they can purchase souvenirs.

The trick to a successful hometown gourmet getaway is to choose restaurants you do not usually visit. This adds a touch of adventure, and you may quite possibly discover your new favorite hangout!

Hopefully you are inspired to look to your hometown for a wonderful getaway opportunity. Get to know your surroundings! Who knows, when looking at your hometown through the eyes of a tourist, you may discover sights and sounds so enticing that next year you decide to vacation at home, at the perfect hometown getaway within four hours of your front door!

If you want to go the lower cost route while traveling, it is definitely a good plan to generate a travel budget.  Determine the approximate costs and prioritize the different portions of your trip, such as hotel, airfare, car rental, visiting attractions and sights, food, and gasoline.  Once you have a good idea of what you want to spend on each part of your trip, then you need to begin shopping around for the best deals.

When it comes time for you to formulate a budget for travel, you should first prioritize by deciding what is most important to you and what you can cut back on.  For example, while some travelers would rather spend a more on a higher class of accommodations, others would rather save money by staying at lower priced hotels or motels splurge on sightseeing or their food budget for the family.

Once you have prioritized the elements of your trip, begin researching what the best deals are.  Often, discounted admission rates on area attractions are the most common and easiest to find, since many theme parks, museums and other attractions run specials to draw tourists.

To get big discounts on local attractions, the best place to start is the Internet, specifically the web site of whatever attraction you want to visit.  Often you will find great deals online, such as two-for-one deals, free admission for children, special reduced admission days, even discounts on food and lodging.  

There are other ways to get great discounts.  If you are in the military, a senior citizen or a member of an organization such as AAA, you will find that there are many discounts available to you.  Most AAA offices sell discounted tickets for theme parks, museums and other attractions within driving distance, and most AAA offices sell discounted tickets to popular destinations like the Walt Disney World Resort, too.  The secret to making the most of your travel budget is to research and take advantage of any discounts available.

If you plan to drive your car on your trip, make sure you get it serviced so that it is in good condition before you leave.  Something small like under-inflated tires or worn spark plugs or brake pads can affect your gas mileage and increase your fuel budget.

A good tip for keeping your fuel spending under control is to invest in a map of your destination.  It will keep you from getting lost and therefore wasting gas.  Being able to find your way to and from the hotel or other destinations without trouble will make your vacation less stressful and less costly.

No matter how work to save money on your next vacation, planning a budget and adhering to it will let you enjoy your vacation more, and worry about the costs less.

 

1. Have a valid passport and all visas required for your trip. Make two copies of your passport. Keep one in a separate part of your travel luggage and the other leave with someone at home.

2. Be aware of any travel warnings for the country you are visiting. Find out about security and safety conditions in your destination.

3. Secure travel insurance!

4. Ensure you have been vaccinated against any infectious diseases prominent in the area you will be traveling to.

5. To make sure you can be contacted in case of an emergency, make a copy of your itinerary and leave it with someone at home.

6. Travel light and don’t pack valuables that you wouldn’t want to lose. Leave your jewelry at home but take an extra pair of glasses if you can’t live without them.

7. Remember you are a foreigner when you travel. You are a guest in their country and therefore should abide by their laws, and to a certain extent, their customs. For example, if you are a female traveling in an Islamic state, be considerate of your dress. 

8. Try not to bring too much attention to yourself when traveling. Don’t go out looking like a tourist with a flashy camera and expensive clothes. Try to blend into the scenery.

9. Travel in a group where possible and in well known areas. There will be times you want to get off the tourist track, so make sure you always have a traveling companion with you.

10. Only carry small amounts of cash on you. Your credit card and travelers checks will pay for most things.

11. Watch out for pickpockets! Wear a money belt and keep your purse/wallet in the front of your body. Report any loss or theft immediately to the local authorities.

12. Don’t leave your luggage unattended. Apart from having it stolen or items from it taken, you could also become an unsuspecting drug courier.

13. If traveling with a partner, pack half your clothes in their luggage and vice versa. This way if one of you loses your luggage, you will still have some clothes. 

14. Lock your luggage and label everything.

15. Lock your hotel room. Keep money and valuables with you, not left unattended in your room.

16. When using public transport be aware of possible theft. If you are traveling overnight, secure your luggage and sleep on top of it if possible. It is not uncommon for tourists to be drugged while on trains and buses so don’t accept gifts of food or drink from strangers on public transport. 

 

If at any time you feel unsafe, whether it is on the streets or in your accommodation, get out. Follow your instincts. Stay safe when you travel by being aware of the dangers and obeying the laws of the country you are visiting.

 

This article is brought to you by: Stuart S. Travel – Your Online Travel Guru

www.stuartstravel.com

The fall of the year is the time when the kids are heading back to school and anxious travelers are no longer dreaming of beach resort towns.

For the smart budget traveler, however, the autumn season offers some tremendous opportunities for lower prices, smaller crowds and an overall better vacation value.

The very items cited above make fall a great time for budget minded travelers to head to some of the best known resorts and enjoy lower prices on airfares, rental cars, food and hotel rooms.

Every vacation destination has its own high and low season, but the autumn of the year has the advantage of being the off season for both summer and winter destinations.

For instance, while winter is the high season for ski resort towns and other winter destinations, the mountain locations of these resorts often mean that skiing and other activities are available in late autumn, while prices for lodging, meals and rental cars are still much lower.

Likewise, resorts and travel destinations that enjoy great popularity in the summer months are still quite pleasurable, and often more so, in the fall of the year. For instance, autumn offers such benefits as cooler temperatures and fewer crowds in addition to lower prices.

The same restaurant at which reservations were impossible to come by in the busy summer months may suddenly be available in the fall, and that pricey summer hotel room may be quite affordable once summer has ended.

When looking for the best possible deal on fall travel, it is important to thoroughly research your particular destination. While fall is the off season for most locations, this is not true for every destination.

Be sure that there really are better values in the autumn season before booking your trip.

It is also important to check the weather, including average temperatures and average rainfall levels, for your fall travel destination. After all, lower autumn prices will do you no good if rain or uncomfortable temperatures ruin your long anticipated vacation.

If the average temperature and precipitation levels are to your liking, it is time to start searching for the perfect fall travel deals. The obvious first place to start for many people is the internet.

There are a number of very good web sites and newsgroups devoted to the best in budget travel, and they are a great place to start.

It is also important to start planning early for your fall vacation. While the heat of summer is still around, be sure to start shopping for the best fall deals.

Airlines often start promoting their lower fall airfares while summer is still in full swing, and it is important to act fast to get the lowest fares. The same goes for rental cars and hotel rooms, and those fall specials are often snapped up very quickly by other budget minded travelers.

There are many ways to save money, avoid unnecessary cost, ensure you take care of details end up a smart and perceptive traveler. Travel planning is easier that you might think and here are eight great budget travel tips for making your travel dollar go further!

1. Cushion your budget – When considering a trip or planning budget travel, it is important to plan for the unexpected and consider the financial side of things early on. This ensures affordability, liquidity and having the resources to enjoy it to the fullest! Plan for the worst-case financial scenario and prepare for things to cost a little more than you expected. Allow up to 20% increase in cost to be on the safe side of things.

2. Emergency money: Carrying some spare cash somewhere can also be a lifesaver. The rule of thumb seems to be around $50-$100 in small bills. This can be used for incidentals, ground-transportation like cab fare and/or your return home, tips and more.

3. Set your priorities: Set some budget travel spending priorities and criteria in advance, like eating at a special restaurant or attending a concert, even if this means sacrificing a bit on lodgings or visa versa, depending on what is more important to you.

4. Keep an eye on your credit cards: It is extremely easy these days to have access to your financial resources through ATM’s and credit cards. Just remember that it is just as easy to overspend because of it being so readily available. A little discipline will go a long way to protect your financial interest and help you stick to your travel budget.

5. Maximize gas mileage and efficiency: If you’re planning a road trip, make sure that your car has been serviced at least a week before your trip. A well-maintained vehicle will go a long way to ensure carefree driving. If your budget allows, you may consider renting a vehicle to save wear and tear on your own. Small economy cars are better on gas and are much more comfortable than they used to be. Minivans and sport utility vehicles are practical only if you have to transport a large family with a lot of equipment or luggage.

6. Gas fill-ups: For filling up your car en route, avoid pushing to the limit until the gas runs out. Gas will obviously be more expensive when filling up in remote locations. If you miscalculated and the light on the dashboard indicates that you are really in need, opt for filling just half a tank until you reach the next more densely or major populated destination, where gas might be a little cheaper.

7. Pack-a-snack: Bring your own refreshments and snacks. Gas station prices on drinks and snack food are high. Avoid these during a pit stop, if you are counting your budget travel dollars. A cooler packed with lots of cool drinks, water and ice and/or a thermos of coffee or hot water for tea, some fruit, granola bars, or a sandwich, goes a long way to still the hunger and save you money by avoiding all high priced stops en route.

8. Travel necessities: It is advisable to travel with basic necessities, like a cell phone and a first aid kit, since both can prove to be essential in emergencies. Most people have cell phones at their disposal, but in the event that you are not one of them, a prepaid cell phone may be the answer for your trip. The peace of mind it offers is worth the small investment. Cell phones can also save on hefty surcharges and higher long distance rates that hotels and resorts often charge.

Usually I’m able to respond to questions with knowledgeable answers, honed from 25+ years in the home exchange business, but not so this time. Initially the powers that be assured everyone that in all likelihood the oil would remain at sea and never reach land, but this is clearly not the case. This morning the news broke that huge tar balls are washing ashore on the beaches of Grand Isle, Louisiana and heavy crude oil was being seen in nearby Elmer’s Island.

Tar balls were also reported in Port Fourchon today, exactly one month after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that has sent thousands of barrels of oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico each day. In fact various coastal areas of Louisiana have seen tar balls wash ashore daily for the past week.

BP, which was leasing the rig when it exploded, is mobilizing equipment and conducting tests today commencing new effort to choke off the oil’s flow. Crews hoped that by Sunday they can start a procedure known as a “top kill,” which involves pumping heavy mud into the crippled equipment on top of the well, then permanently sealing it with cement.

So clearly, if you have a home exchange arranged with a family in these regions, you very probably will be impacted in so far as beach activities may be concerned. But that’s all.

Please don’t make any last minute cancellations and let down your home exchange partner family. It’s not their fault.

If both parties have already made a commitment and made firm travel plans that most probably include purchasing airline tickets, it would be grossly unfair to cancel and leave your partner family in the lurch.

Most home exchangers are very adaptable folk, so mark it down as one of life’s experiences and make lemonade with the lemons you’ve been dealt. Hundreds of concerned folk are heading to the effected beaches to lend a hand with the wildlife rescue. Join them. Your participation could provide you, and more especially your children with an unforgettable lesson in life.

We check our records and discover that they never joined us in the first place. Maybe they intended to, but they are actually members of another home exchange club and are now trying to log on to ExchangeHomes.com using the log on credentials they set up with that other club.

A couple of people have even gone so far as to say that they had intended to join us and thought they had done. They paid their membership fees to club xyz, therefore we should now allow them membership privileges at no charge.

Because it often happens to us, it must happen with other clubs as well. As I said when I wrote about this same issue a long time ago, the problem probably occurs because there are now so many clubs competing for members, all with virtually identical names, it’s clearly all too easy for people to become confused. But, it still puzzles me that people fail to bookmark or write down the exact name of the club they join. Fortunately they usually keep a copy of their payment receipts, and these are what we point them to because the receipt usually reveals to whom they did pay their money.

During the summer months posts have not been quite a frequent as I would have liked, I regret I was more than a little occupied completely revamping another, pet related blog that I run, but that’s now completed.

Blogging and social networking now occupy a huge chunk of space on the Internet with countless millions of followers. ExchanhgeHomesBlog must be getting something right because our monthly page views have increased slowly yet steadily since this blog launched (initially on Blogger) almost five years ago. Last month (August) we attained 15,254 unique visitors and 39,201 page views.

Unfortunately, I’m more and more having my attention drawn to what I can only describe as “silly” blogs that seem to derive perverse pleasure from deliberately being obtuse and not understanding the concept of home exchange. They then proceed to put home exchange down in a very negative blog post. It’s a pity because a lot of surfers believe what they read or at least assume that there’s no smoke without fire.

Well, thank goodness for worthwhile blogs like The Travel Answer Man.

ExchangeHomesBlog and ExchangeHomes.com are delighted to announce a brand new alliance with BedandBreakfast.com. With summer now over and Christmas beginning large on the horizon, what better gift idea can you think of than a BedandBreakfast.com Getaway Gift Card – Get Free Shipping as well!

I try to be extremely careful who we forge alliances with because I don’t want this blog to appear to be “spammy”, but I honestly believe that the notion BedandBreakfast.com is promoting is an excellent one. Bed and Breakfast is a concept that runs very much on a parallel with home exchange: it’s eco-friendly in that it doesn’t further the growth of concrete monstrosity hotels and allows you to lodge in a situation that’s closer to the heart of the location.

Bed and Breakfasts can also work hand in hand with a home exchange vacation in that you can utilize a B&B on one or two short trips away from the home exchange “base”. Buying one of their Gataway Cards in advance of traveling will make paying for your stay a breeze.

Purchase is also extremely easy—they have an 800 toll-free number, or you can buy online and print out a paper version instantly, or they will happily send you a plastic version, shipped free and usually by Fed Ex.

There are a few points to remember which will often make the task a great deal easier:

1. Use your favorite word processing program to carefully set up a generic email that you can copy and paste into the text box provided in the programmed contact form. This will allow you to send out multiple home exchange inquiries with very little effort on your part.

2. Every city/town/neighborhood has its attractions. Make sure you include all the positive features about yours. If your list is small, take a trip to your visitor’s bureau and ask for brochures, pamphlets, etc. If there is no visitor’s bureau, drop in on a local motel or hotel, all of them have a display in their lobby containing all sorts of local promotions.

3. Don’t limit your contacts to members who list your corner of the world as their desired home swap destination. Pay more attention to age group and family size compatibility and send your attractively worded contact email to everyone living in the area you are hoping to visit. Members may have never thought of vacationing in your town, but that doesn’t mean they won’t consider it.

4. Pay particular attention to members who list their home exchange destination as “open to offers”. You will need to sort the listings under that criteria when you are searching for “who wants to come to me?” otherwise you will miss them, but they are the true gems among your home swapping opportunities. Very often they are long standing, experienced home exchangers who have exhausted their lists of preferred destinations. Now they are simply waiting to see what new offer piques their interest and if you take the
trouble to send out attractive, well thought out opening contacts, it could be yours!

5. You will make your home swap offer much more attractive if you include the family car as part of the deal. Car rental prices are becoming increasingly expensive by the month, inflated not only by the rental companies but also by a list of petty taxes and surcharges that are completely beyond their control.

For your own peace of mind, always stipulate that all drivers have to be 25+ and don’t be afraid to regulate the number of miles the car can be driven. Also, check with your insurance company although there are seldom problems provided the exchange is for 30 days or less.

6. Always, always be courteous and reply to every inquiry you receive yourself. Also, when receiving home exchange requests from other members, keep in mind point 3 above and don’t discount any destination until you are absolutely certain that it won’t work.

There are other cities in the UK besides London – although some members seem to believe otherwise! Similarly, Troyes is within very easy reach of Paris, Gosford is just up the coast from Sydney and Burbank, Pasadena and Buena Park all circle Los Angeles. Considering destinations outside of the accepted tourist destinations will increase your chances of locating and setting up a successful home exchange substantially.

• I couldn’t possibly trust strangers in my own home.
• Yes you can. Your exchange partners will be trusting you to live in their home responsibly and ethically so why should they be any less trustworthy than you? Home exchanges aren’t arranged in one day, after a couple of emails. In fact arrangements and discussions leading up to those arrangements frequently extend over several weeks, dozens of emails as well as several phone calls, instant messages, etc. Eventually this all culminates in the exchange of a written and signed agreement. In short, you get to know each other very well. You certainly are not “strangers”.
• Also, provided you’ve found your exchange partners through a legitimate home exchange company that charges a Membership fee, all their personal information will have been been verified and recorded. In short, they are who they say they are. It’s extremely unlikely that anyone is going to provide their personal contact information to pay for a membership then travel hundreds, maybe thousands of miles to rip-off your new blue-ray player.

• I don’t live in an accepted tourist area. No-one would ever want to exchange with me.
• Yes they will. A great many home exchangers enjoy experiencing new lifestyles and exploring places off the beaten track. In fact they actively avoid the usual tourist traps, in favor of more stimulating places. They are seasoned travelers, often professionals, and their prime consideration is to experience the true day-to-day living of a country or location.

• My home is small and “ordinary”, nothing like some of the homes I’ve been looking at on home exchange sites
• You may be surprised. Go back to some of those sites and do a search on homes already on offer in your area. How do they compare? Are there a lot of homes listed? If there are it must be a popular location. Are there very few? Scarcity could work in your favor as well. Published photographs will give you a reasonable idea of the neighborhoods where the homes are listed; are they more up-scale than yours? If not, this could be to your advantage.

  How do the homes listed compare for size? Are they similar in appearance? How do the homes that are actually listed compare with the average home in the same general area?

  If, when making an unbiased comparison, your home home appears to come somewhere in the middle, maybe not as grand as some, but definitely better than others, there is no reason at all why you shouldn’t expect to home exchange successfully. If, on the other hand, all the other homes still appear to be better, what steps can you take to implement improvements? A coat of paint … another bed … some shrubs and pretty flowers in the front yard … a theme park pass … tickets to a sports venue?

  Put yourself in your potential exchange partner’s shoes and ask yourself what you would like to do if you were visiting your location for the first time. Arrange for the necessary passes / tickets then make their existence VERY clear both in your home exchange listing, and in all the inquiry emails you send out.

With all three points I’ve listed, positive thinking and a small helping of ingenuity is the answer!

© ExchangeHomes.com All rights reserved.

So, following this line of thinking, ExchangeHomes.com has recently restructured its memberships to include a 6-month option.

Below is a detailed chart showing the new ExchangeHomes.com membership prices.

Click Here for details about the Multi Club option

Cost of each additional home listed is as follows:

Once you’ve paid your Membership Fee, there are no further costs or charges.

To explain: A one (1) year Home Exchange Membership, with ExchangeHomes ONLY, listing one (1) property, will cost you $39.00.

Listing two (2) properties will cost you $54.00. Broken down: $39.00 for your first listing, plus $15.00 for your second listing.

Listing one home with the Multiple Club option will cost you $45 for the first home, plus $17 for each additional home.

We GUARANTEE that if you don’t arrange an exchange during your first year’s Membership, we will extend your listing for a second year completely free of charge! Click here for more information.

Payment Options

Our SSL Secure Server capable of up to 256-bit encryption combined with the strongest identity authentication standard available today, allow you to use your credit card online to pay for your membership with complete confidence.

We accept Visa, MasterCard, and American Express. We also accept PayPal.

If you would prefer not pay by credit card or PayPal, we also accept checks, money orders, and traveler’s cheques. The only stipulation being that they must be in US dollars, drawn on a US bank

   Or, log in as normal to your Member Admin to RENEW

© ExchangeHomes.com – All rights reserved

I know the immediate reaction to that statement—well, that’s just sour grapes, coming from a home exchange company owner, but I assure you that’s not the case. For their own safety and security, I cannot emphasize enough that home exchangers need to find their exchange partners via an established, reputable home exchange company—ANY company, but preferably one charging a fee, no matter how small.

Why is that important? Because paying a fee immediately authenticates the personal information provided by whomever is purchasing the membership. These transactions are usually managed by one of a handful of very large credit card merchant account providers, NOT as most people imagine, by the home exchange companies themselves. Each transaction is verified by mega-million dollar programming, hence fellow home exchange members can be absolutely confident that the personal information associated with the listings they are viewing is absolutely genuine.

In the highly unlikely event of any problems, the home exchange company will have 100% verified records of every member on their books, a fundamental reassurance you can never achieve when you seek out home exchange partners via classified ads.

The very idea of home exchange means you will be saving hundreds, probably thousands of dollars—even more if a car exchange and pet minding are included. So, why would anyone be so niggardly as to begrudge often much less than $100 to join a genuine, upfront home exchange membership club with all the reassurance that provides? There are dozens of clubs for you to choose from, some, such as ExchangeHomes.com have been in business for 20+ years. Pay the fee and join one or more, I promise you won’t regret it, it’s a solid investment!

© ExchangeHomes.com All rights reserved

My immediate response is always the same, “Why should your potential exchange partners not be worried about having you in THEIR house?”

Be rational and pause for a moment to think: Why should you assume your home exchange partners are joining a home exchange agency for the sole purpose of moving into your home and robbing it, yet you expect them to see you as pure innocents looking for nothing more than an affordable vacation?

ExchangeHomes.com has been continually involved in home exchanging since 1986—that’s 23 years at the time of writing! During those 23 years I’ve never had a single report of theft, vandalism, malicious mischief, or anything else that could even vaguely categorized at a criminal act associated with home exchanging.

Mutual trust has to be the fundamental principle of successful home exchanging, so if you are someone who lacks that inerrant ability, it’s likely that home exchange probably isn’t the best travel solution for you.

© ExchangeHomes.com All rights reserved

The way I see it, there are two distinct types of home exchangers:

1. Those who prefer to vacation in a family home with the plethora of benefits that offers.
2. Those who had used it purely as a means of saving money.

In all likelihood the latter will be enticed by the glitzy ads for $39 airfares, Orlando hotels from $32/night, and cruise deals from $199 (even I’m tempted to look further into the cruises!), but the seasoned home exchanger has already grown to enjoy all the benefits and comfort of vacationing in a proper home rather than a cramped hotel room, or at best hotel suite. Instead, these savvy folk should be able to take advantage of the cut-price airfares to set up an even better home exchange deal.

I agree, there are some unbelievable hotel bargains being touted right now, they are even being featured in news programs, but at the end of the day a hotel room will always be just that—a hotel room. Home exchange will, without question have the edge when it comes to comfort, convenience, and when all else is done, sheer quality of life.

© ExchangeHomes.com All rights reserved

Their best options in likely home swap partners are retired members; folk who are not tied to work schedules. Another possibility would be among entrepreneurs and the self employed; people who have the ability to set their own timetables. You should also add members who have indicated that they are “open to offers” to your list.

On the other side of the coin, it’s probably unlikely that members who have listed specific vacation dates and destinations will have the means to work with a inquiries from last minute exchangers. Similarly, home exchangers with children will have probably finalized their arrangements already.

But—having said all this, it never hurts to send an email inquiry, you’ve nothing to lose and you could be pleasantly surprised by a response!

Equally as important as finding a suitable home exchange, is a warning that you should never be hasty in setting up and finalizing the arrangements. A simple rule of thumb to follow is, never agree to a home exchange if time constraints have prevented you and your exchange partners from fully discussing and agreeing upon every issue that’s been raised. Simply put, those are the exchanges that tend to go wrong, not necessarily because of any bad intentions from either party, but because of misunderstandings.

© Copyright ExchangeHomes.com. All rights reserved.

I agree—they have a point. My husband and I have been checking airfares for a possible exchange to Mexico and we’ve repeatedly found airlines throwing in free hotel rooms as an addition to the flight. Similarly, some of the major hotels in Las Vegas and other resorts are offering free rooms and even free flights just to entice you under their roof. Once there, they assume you will be a captive customer, spending money for services.

So—how does home exchange continue to excel? Simply by dint of those two words—”Home Exchange”. Maybe today’s economy does make it more difficult to justify as a means of significantly saving money, but nothing else has changed. You still get to stay and spread out in the space and convenience of a family home, prepare meals and snacks in a proper kitchen, put the kids to bed in separate bedrooms. Very often you can also exchange cars and get your family pets cared for without the expense of kennels or pet sitters.

ExchangeHomes.com has a lot of members who contact us to tell us of other ways home exchange has saved them money.

• Baby sitting: In a Rome hotel a member reported paying €18 for the first hour, then €17 for subsequent hours. On a home exchange her exchange partners arranged for their regular sitter to assist for just €15 an evening.
• Eating Out: Members are often delighted to eat out in local restaurants recommended by their exchange partners, rather than the usual, glitzy, tourist-trap restaurants. They say the food is usually far better, both in content and price.
• Interaction with neighbors and the local community: We often hear reports of neighbors inviting members to barbecues, parties, meals, once even a christening!
• Toys and Playmates: When families with children home exchange it normally provides a ready supply of toys, games and local playmates.
• Free Memberships: Golf club, spas, private beaches, etc.
• Free Tickets: I’ve had a number of reports of exchangers being provided with free tickets to various sports venues, theme parks, cinemas, shows, etc.

In conclusion—maybe home exchange isn’t quite the money saving vacation it used to be, but without question, the amenities and often unthought of perks it continues to offer, still place it head and shoulders above staying in a sterile, often uninviting hotel room.

© ExchangeHomes.com. All rights reserved.

Jennifer and Jim kept getting huge water bills. They knew beyond a doubt that the bills weren’t representative of their actual usage. But no matter how they tried to conserve water, the high bills continued.

Although they could see nothing wrong, they had everything checked for leaks or problems: first the water meter, then outdoor pipes, indoor pipes, underground pipes, faucets, toilets, washer, ice maker, etc. — all to no avail.

One day Jim was sick and stayed home in bed, but kept hearing water running downstairs.. He finally tore himself from his sick bed to investigate, and stumbled onto the cause of the high water bills.

Apparently this was happening all day long when they were not at home.

Knowing that few would believe him, he taped a segment of the ‘problem’ for posterity.

Watch the video.

At that point I usually give a sigh of resignation. As any realtor will tell you, first and foremost, it’s all about location, location, location. A builder could take the plans for a 3,000 square foot home, build it on an acre lot with rolling lawns, trees and a stream meandering through the property. But—because it’s located rurally, 20 miles outside the nearest town, it may not even be worth $500,000.

Then again, that same builder could take those same plans and build an identical home on just a quarter acre lot in, for example, San Jose or The Hamptons, and suddenly you’re looking at a million dollar’s worth of real estate.

An 800 square foot Thames-side luxury apartment in London would be worth £1,000,000 (not dollars, pounds!). The average New York apartment is probably worth $1,000,000.

Location more than anything else dictates the price of property and I think it’s extremely unfair when the “snob” value becomes involved in a home exchange. Okay, so you may live in a million dollar home in La Joya (California), but why does that eliminate from consideration a member with an exquisitely fitted home with manicured grounds in rural Texas?

I’ve been intending to write this post for a long time, and now at least I shall be able to point future “Million Dollar Exchangers” to my observations.

© ExchangeHomes.com All rights reserved.

My husband and I have recently arrived home following a home exchange. Actually, it was our first 3-way home exchange, and I thought you might like to receive some feedback.

We live in a fairly remote area of Northern England and to mark our more or less simultaneous retirements we wanted to do a home exchange to Hawaii, but try as we might, it was impossible to find anyone listed in Hawaii who wanted to exchange to our part of the word. After almost six months of trying we eventually decided upon a different approach. We made a list of everyone on the ExchangeHomes site who did want to go to Northern England and then took the third step of locating Hawaiian members indicating a required exchange location on that first list.

I suppose we were lucky because we found one, and after twice as many emails and phone calls as are usually involved in setting up a home exchange, everything came together. We went to Hawaii, the Hawaiians went to New York and the couple from New York visited our house.

It worked, but it wasn’t the same. We never experienced that comfort zone of reassurance that our exchange partners were staying in our home As I said, a lot of correspondence had passed back and forth before final agreements had been reached, but the whole arrangement somehow lacked that undefinable feeling that you had really got to know your exchange partners.

Don’t get me wrong, there were no problems and everything went very smoothly, but I just wanted to say that a 3-way home swap definitely isn’t the same as a straight swap and I probably wouldn’t do it again.

I know for a fact that it’s going to be much easier to celebrate Mothers’ Day while home exchanging than could ever be possible in a hotel. The children aren’t going to be crammed into just one, or maybe two rooms with you. After dinner they can be tucked up in bed and the adults can enjoy some significant time together with a bottle of wine and maybe a favorite dvd. Often home exchangers find that their exchange partners have left them a list of reputable baby sitters, so a meal out for just the two of them in a recommended restaurant might also be possible. Even breakfast in bed for Mom, prepared in a proper family kitchen by Dad is a great possibility.

What could be more memorable than waking up to the aroma of fresh brewed coffee, a tray set with a rose from the garden and your family, each bearing a Mothers’ Day card? And the fact that it happened in your exchange home makes it especially ‘once in a lifetime’.

The World Health Organization (WHO), the Global Alert and Response Network (GOARN), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have sent experts to Mexico to work with health authorities.

In short, yes, renters can certainly be home exchangers, with just two provisions:

1. We strongly recommend that you check your lease or contact your landlord/property manager before finalizing any arrangements. Explain your plans and obtain his/her permission.
2. You should also make their exchange partners fully aware that the home they will be living is rented.

Even though no money changes hands, a swap may be perceived as a sublet by some landlords/property managers. Your lease may include subletting rules that include restrictions on the length of time you may be away from home. Or your lease may not allow subletting without the landlord’s written consent.

It is best to discuss your plans with your landlord/property manager and ask them how they feel about guests staying in the home while you’re away on vacation. Be sure to also explain the advantages of a home exchange and having someone living in the home, rather than leaving it empty.

© ExchangeHomes.com All rights reserved.

This simply isn’t true. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not putting home exchanging down—just being realistic!

Unless you happen to live in a home that is perfect in every way, and it’s located in a highly sought after location, joining a home exchange club and sending out just one or two inquiry emails is NOT going to represent the total effort required.

First you need to put together an eye-catching, attractive listing including lots of photographs. Listings that don’t contain photographs get passed over—it’s a proven fact. Even worse, some members even view listings without photographs with suspicion, wondering what the member is hiding.

Second you will need to sieve through all the listings and locate everything that could work for you. Flexibility is the key. Without flexibility your chances of locating and setting up a successful exchange are reduced drastically. It’s very difficult to find another member living exactly where you wish to go and who wants to travel to your home town during identical dates.

If you are tied in to specific dates that simply cannot be moved then try to be extra flexible with your location. The United Kingdom is comprised of many more cities than London. The entire UK is served by an excellent road and rail system and because it’s tiny (compared to the US, for example), access to London will never be much more than a couple of hours.

Exactly the same argument applies with Paris, Rome, etc.

You also need to put a lot of effort into your actual contact emails. Just dashing of a line “are you interested in exchanging to xyz?” won’t win you any friends. In fact a fellow home exchange blogger stated categorically that she flat-out ignores each and every email like that. She considers them to be rude and she has no interest in entrusting her home to such people.

Your Admin Area in ExchangeHomes.com allows you to store a “template” email that you can use repeatedly when initiating contacts. The key here is the word “template”. Make the effort to tweak and personalize it appropriately each time. It’s extremely easy to do, just read the member’s listing carefully first and slot in a few pertinent references.

The home exchange code of ethics also requires that you ALWAYS reply, no matter how briefly to every email you receive. Lack of response to emails represents 99% of the complaints we receive from members and often it’s not the result of bad manners.

Here are the most common reasons you may not receive a response to inquiry emails:

• The member has changed their email address and forgotten to update their listing.
• Their email provider has routed the message straight into their spam folder (which they then routinely empty without first checking).
• They are away from home and don’t have regular access to their email.
• They or a member of their family may be ill and checking email has slipped down on their agenda.
• They are overwhelmed with exchange offers.
• The member’s first language isn’t English and they are struggling to understand your email to them

The last point immediately raises another issue. If you are looking for an exchange where the language is different to your own, your offer(s) will put you streets ahead of everyone else’s if you can have your inquiry email translated prior to sending. There are plenty of free translation services on the internet and the result will be far from perfect, but it will show that you are prepared to try. Send both versions of the inquiry email.

The next effort on your part will be required for communicate back and forth between yourself and the members who respond to your inquiries, and the members who initiate inquiries themselves. This stage is crucial. Communicate, communicate and communicate some more. The more communication back and forth, the less chance for any misunderstandings.

Communicate in every way possible: by email, by instant messenger, by phone. Discuss everything that’s important to you (and the people you’re negotiating with) and don’t close any issue until agreement has been reached. Don’t compromise on anything unless you understand and are fully prepared to deal with the resulting consequences.

These communications will quickly eliminate any exchange partners you clearly won’t wish to move further forward with and when you reach the point where you and another member/family are completely happy with everything discussed, always finalize the process with both parties completing and signing a Home Exchange Agreement (sometimes called a contract). Sample Agreements can be downloaded Here.

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It is also posted online and can be read by clicking Here. Archives of all previously published Newsletters can be read by clicking Here, and anyone interested in joining our mailing list to receive future copies by email can sign up on the same page.

You email address is safe with us, we hate spam just as much as you do and we NEVER share your private information with anyone.

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The story was told during a home exchange while we were visiting in Vancouver Washington, just across the Columbia River from Portland Oregon.
It was completely made up. What made it so memorable was what happened two weeks later.

The story was about a family that decided to visit the Oregon Coast while on a home exchange. They left Vancouver Washington late in the afternoon with the intention of staying in a hotel or bed and breakfast overnight while at the coast. As they were driving through Portland they ran into heavy traffic and made a wrong turn in Beaverton Oregon. They continued driving for hours, mostly on secondary highways. As night started to fall they entered a town and obviously they were lost. The dad decided to drive into a residential area in hope of finding someone still outside to ask
directions. As they entered the side streets they noticed a lady walking her dog. They stopped and asked directions and she explained that it would
be best to ask her husband. They followed her to the house. By now it was dark. The family was surprised to learn that they had missed the Oregon Coast and now were in Crescent City Northern California. After a long chat, the family was invited to stay the night and next day the husband led the family out to the Coast highway so that they could continue to the Oregon Coast .

That was the story, totally made up. However two weeks later, after we returned home from our home exchange vacation, something happened that made me wonder about my story telling.

I was at home watching TV, our son was sleeping and my wife Joanna was out walking the dog. It was around 10 pm and just starting to get dark. The front door opened and in came my wife, our dog and two visitors. Seems they were lost and decided to leave the main highway and drive into a residential area to see if the could get directions. That is when they spotted Joanna walking our dog. My wife suggested they follow her home so that I could help with directions. After a short chat, we found the couple was from Beaverton Oregon, they were lost and looking for a bed and breakfast. She was a teacher who worked in Vancouver Washington. Of course we invited them to stay the night.

Contributed by Members 26761 – Dennis and Joanna

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Case in point. This February we completed a one week home exchange in Phoenix area. Accommodation was zero, we had a beautiful 3 bedroom home, with garage, kitchen, living room, use of two computers, laundry and patio. Many of our meals were home cooked and the total cost was minimal: airfare plus rent a car and a few meals out. The downside of a home exchange, we had to make up our own beds.

This past March weekend we made a last minute decision to visit Seattle during spring break. We stayed two nights in a Seattle hotel. With two teenagers and an 11 year old the five of us needed two hotel rooms. $113 each room , a bargain price. We brought our two small dogs, another $100
sanitation fee plus parking was $10 a night. With taxes and service charges our two nights in a hotel were $680 and we still needed to go out to eat.
Hey! the hotel gave us some free dog treats.

To be continued tomorrow …

Contributed by Members 26761 – Dennis and Joanna

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Travel Guard’s Home Exchange Protection Plan offers the following coverage:

• Trip Cancellation & Interruption (Maximum of $10,000 per booking)
• $ 1,500 Home Exchange Damage Waiver
• $ 500 Trip Delay ($100 maximum per day)
• $ 1,000 Baggage & Personal Effects Including Loss, Theft or Damage
• $ 100 Baggage Delay
• $ 20,000 Medical Expense
• $ 50,000 Emergency Medical Transportation

Qualification to purchase this excellent Home Exchange Protection Plan requires that:

You are a current, advertising member of ExchangeHomes.com
You are also a current member of CHECTravel.
You are a resident of either Canada or the US

You should also remember to enter “ExchangeHomes.com” when asked to enter the name of your “Agent” on the second page after the entry page. The application form is very simple and shouldn’t take more than five minutes to fill out.

For full details, please click Here!

© Exchange Homes.com All rights reserved

Pet boarding facilities are always expensive and most dogs and cats don’t like them. They would prefer to be with their owners. Having said that, make sure your exchange partners are 100% happy with the arrangement; never take a pet without first receiving written permission. Also, don’t take a pet on vacation with you if you’re likely to be busy sightseeing for most of the time. You need to have your pet in an environment where it will be in your company for a good part of the day so that it’s vacation will be enjoyable as well.

Prior to departure make sure that all your pet’s shots are current and check with your vet whether any special shots would be advisable for the area you will be traveling to. Also, have a nametag made displaying your exchange home’s address and phone number and attach it to your pet’s collar IN ADDITION to his regular tag. If your pet is a cat, it’s a good idea to fit it with a cat-harness, should it escape a cat wearing a harness is much easier to grab hold of. A word of warning—don’t buy a cheap harness, cats escape from them!

Throughout the month of February new ExchangeHomes.com members can sign up and list their home exchange for just $9.99. That’s right, a huge 78% saving on our regular listing fee.

To be absolutely fair, we are including all current and expired members in this Valentine’s Special as well. Renew your ExchangeHomes.com Membership for one year during February and you will be charged a mere $4.99. It doesn’t matter if you have weeks or even months remaining—renew during February and the year you purchase will be added to your current membership.

Similarly, if your ExchangeHomes.com Membership has expired and you haven’t got round to renewing—renew during February and it will cost you a paltry $4.99.

Don’t forget—your Membership with ExchangeHomes.com also entitles you to a Multi-Club Membership!

Join 4 worldwide home exchange clubs for the price of one

Thanks to our cooperative arrangements, a one year multi-club ExchangeHomes.com listing can optionally be displayed on three other international home exchange clubs’ websites working out out at about $2.49 per club a year, or about 20 cents a month per club. Multi home exchange club members are able to access and contact other members on all our partnership clubs’ sites to inquire about and arrange a home exchange. This provides you with access to listings on 4 home exchange sites for the price of one. All our partner clubs’ members who take advantage of a multi-club membership will be able to contact listings on ExchangeHomes.com as well as on their own home exchange sites.

The clubs we have cooperative arrangements with are:

* Global Home Exchange (Canada)
* Echangeimmo (France)
* HomeForSwaps (UK)

IMPORTANT: First you need to sign up, then, from your Admin Panel you add your Home Exchange offer and pay the $9.99 fee to activate and display it.

Another consideration is expense; the cost of living in a big city is usually significantly higher than in a small town, so this as well could be a point worth consideration.

Home exchanging can be enormously helpful in the process of deciding just where to move to. A list of possible locations is a good starting point. From there begin the process of setting up short-term home exchanges to places on your list. Usually, a long weekend is more than long enough for you to evaluate somewhere. Live in a house in a real neighborhood, shop in the local markets, eat out in local restaurants, chat with the locals and neighbors. It won’t take long for you decide whether a location is right for you or not. Frequently intuition plays a big part and you will quickly develop a “nose” for what you want.

For the most part, folk usually retire within the country or state where they have previously lived, but even if your aspirations lead you beyond those horizons, fact finding home exchanges could still be an important tool in your decision making arsenal. Vacations spent in Puerto Vallarta or the Amalfi Coast are one thing; pulling up your roots and moving lock stock and barrel to Vila Verde or Castiglioncello could be traumatic.

A fact finding home exchange could turn out to be invaluable. Here at ExchangeHomes.com I spoke recently with a lady who, for years had dreamed of retiring to the south coast of England from Manchester. She took part in a number of exploratory home exchanges and quickly changed her mind – the reason she gave was her feeling that she would find it unexpectedly difficult to strike up friendships with the people she had encountered in the south. She and her husband completely changed their plans and looked instead at Cumbria and the Lake District, did a couple of home swaps and decided a move to Keswick would be right for them.

It’s also worth remembering that a well chosen retirement location could provide a wealth of opportunities for future home exchanges.

She explains the concept of Home Exchanging beautifully and has even included details on one less than perfect exchange she made. She has visited some delightful places and struck up a number of enduring friendships.

It’s time for vacation. Your house or mine?

Home exchanges are a good way to see places you otherwise couldn’t afford.

I almost had to pinch myself to believe it was true. We were sleeping in an apartment on the Italian Riviera, one of the world’s most expensive playgrounds. And we were doing it for free.

>>CLICK HERE<< to read this excellent article in full. The link will take yolu to the Orange County Register.

This should definitely NOT be the case, simply because with a correctly arranged home exchange, NO up front cash payments are ever involved. No home exchangers should ever ask for, or expect to receive any form of security deposit. Your home exchange partners or “guests” stay in the home you are contributing to the home exchange arrangement, while you live in theirs. That’s the arrangement. The security for both parties is structured around this.

Furthermore, a detailed Home Exchange Agreement or Contract should always be completed and signed by both parties, and that agreement should specify how payment of utilities, etc. should be met. Normally, all utilities: electric, gas, water, etc., are paid by the home-owner, while phone bills are often stipulated as being the responsibility of the guests in the home. This being the case, an average phone bill is not likely to attract the attention of the scammers currently being written about. ExchangeHomes.com provides an excellent Agreement / Contract.

From the perspective of the vacation rental owner, the scam works this way:

You (the property owner) accepts a reservation from someone who makes payment with a cashiers check. They “unintentionally” overpay and when you inform them of their overpayment they instruct you to send them a refund using Western Union. Mission accomplished!

How? It’s simple—the cashiers check was fake and because it frequently takes your bank a while to ascertain as much, by the time its actually established, you’ve wired the money to the scammer via Western Union. You are left holding a loss of whatever the amount was you wired, plus probable bank fees.

This type of scam has pervaded the Internet so badly, it has been given a name: the 419 scam. 419 is the Nigerian Criminal Code that deals with fraud. The majority of these scams originate from Nigeria, some have also come from Russia, South Africa, Spain and The Netherlands.

A full report on the “419 Fraud” can be found on Wikipedia.

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At the time I was enchanted by the member’s story, then a few days ago I received another email from the same member and her latest news was bittersweet. I’ll let her email tell its own story …

I recently added a story to the blog “A Home exchange dream comes true”, and promised to do a follow up message.

Well this will be short but I did want to say that our first home exchange was brilliant. We met some really lovely people and I hope that we will remain friends for a very long time. We did get caught with the Zoom airlines failure and had to rearrange to get home, but our hosts were very accommodating and offered us the use of their house for as long as we wanted.

Unfortunately my husband died suddenly one week after our return. None the less I will treasure the last holiday that we spent together and look often at those last wonderful photos of him. I hope to be able to continue exchanging but time will tell.

What can I say, other than to offer our true condolences. Now she’s done a home exchange and been left with such wonderful memories, I hope she will decide to venture to try again. Maybe making new memories will add another dimension to the memorial she has of her husband.

Anne

© Copyright, ExchangeHomes.com. All rights reserved.

The cost of this insurance would be $30/per year in addition to regular membership costs. Briefly, the terms of the insurance policy are as follows:

• Home exchangers who have paid for non refundable airline tickets, prepaid hotel reservations and/or car rental will be reimbursed to a maximum of $2,500 USD (less $250 deductible) if either the exchanger or the exchange partner cancels for any of the covered reasons, which are:
  • Medical Emergency
  • Accident Emergency
  • Death
• This same coverage applies to your immediate family (up to a maximum of 4 people per listing).
• Coverage applies to all home exchanges made during a membership year, regardless of the number of exchanges made.

Prior to the home exchange, the member will be required to record details of their upcoming home exchange using a CHECtravel interactive form.

ExchangeHomes.com has been surveying members and people generally inquiring about home exchange to discover whether there is an interest in this insurance. It would be greatly appreciated if you too would complete the survey below:

Thank you. Your participation is much appreciated!

© ExchangeHomes.com All rights reserved

She reminisced and said that she had first joined ExchangeHomes.comwhen she was 52 years old and her husband had been alive. Together they had taken part in home exchanges all around the world. Her husband had died in 2002 and after a hiatus of a couple of years she had resumed home exchanging in 2005.

This year Laura had exchanged with Mexico, but she had found the flight taxing and subsequently she had undergone knee surgery and recovery has been slow and difficult.

She felt she had no recourse other than to cancel her listing with us, or at least put it on hold.

Our conversation jolted me into thinking: ExchangeHomes.com first began promoting home exchanging back in 1986 and in the intervening years we’ve accumulated an impressive band of Lifetime and renewing members who’ve been with us for 10, 12, 14, 16 plus years just like Laura. It really is a sad thought they many of them may soon find that traveling is no longer a pleasure for them.

This issue has been covered in great detail on the ExchangeHomes.com website, in earlier posts on this blog, in our Newsletter, and in stored copies of email replies, but I thought a good solution might be to write a new, especially detailed post that I can then refer people to directly. Repeatedly reinventing the wheel with a fresh response to every inquirer wastes an enormous amount of time.

First, I will list the basic, commonsense precautions every home exchanger should adopt to protect their possessions:

• Golden Rule Number One: ALWAYS try to home exchange with people or a family similar to your own. If a retired couple with a houseful of expensive antiques and treasures exchanges with a couple with young children, they are asking for trouble. Even the most well behaved children can be clumsy and awkward and accidents can occur without any naughtiness or misbehavior being a factor.
• Golden Rule Number Two: Set aside an “off-limits” area of your house, ideally a cupboard or closet that locks. Then take a careful tour round your home and take EVERYTHING that is of especial value, either monetary or on a personal level, and lock it away in that closet. To give items a personal value is very simple: if you would be especially upset by their loss or breakage, they need to be locked away.
• Golden Rule Number Three: NEVER embark upon a home exchange without both parties first completing and signing a Home Exchange Agreement or Contract, samples of which can be downloaded from Here. In that Agreement detail very clearly what resolutions are required should any breakages or damage occur.

I’ve been continually involved in the Home Exchange concept since ExchangeHomes.com began back in 1986—that’s 22 years! In all that time I’ve never received a report of malicious damage, theft or vandalism of any kind.

What the inexperienced skeptic doesn’t give consideration to is that fact that home exchanging involves two families, not just their own. While the other family is residing in their home, they are in sole charge of their partner’s home and possessions. This fact alone provides a great incentive to treat the home entrusted to you with immense respect and care.

Look at it this way, home exchanging has been around and steadily gaining in popularity since the 1950′s. After more than half a century, would it really continue to be so popular if it didn’t work? The Internet loves to report negative issues so if there were any disasters they would have been well documented.

Another good suggestion is that people new to home exchanging should try to exchange with members who are experienced. They can then obtain references from previous exchange partners, or maybe earlier partners have taken advantage of our Feedback option where they can leave reports for all to see.

© Copyright, ExchangeHomes.com. All rights reserved

I was amazed to hear this. We constantly attract new members who have never participated in a home exchange in their lives and although we often never have occasion to discuss their successes with them, a great many are quick to renew after notification that their listings are due to expire and I find it hard to believe that this would be the case had they been ostracized by experienced exchangers during their first year. Furthermore, we clearly publish the fact that we offer a Guarantee—if you don’t arrange an exchange during your first year’s Membership, we will extend your listing for a second year completely free of charge! In an average year we only receive two or three claims against this guarantee.

So I decided to investigate a little further. I checked the web site logs to determine who she had initiated contacts with and emailed a sampling of these members myself. Two were long time members of ExchangeHomes.com so I knew I would receive informed responses from both of them.

I quickly discovered what the problem was. All were up front and admitted that with first time home exchangers they tend to be somewhat more cautious, but the issue was different matter altogether. The lady had worded her home exchange offer listing the exchange party as just her husband and herself—a retired couple. But, once correspondence with likely exchange partners had been established, she had suddenly introduced a number of teenage grandchildren into the mix.

The majority of members she had contacted were also retired folk with small homes (some just small apartments), so it was hardly surprising that they all had balked at the idea of their homes being invaded by four (one said five) rowdy teenagers!

The moral is clear: be honest and up-front from the start. We have a number of members who successfully arrange home exchanges that include their grandchildren, but usually they take one, or possibly two at a time and they explain their intentions openly in their listings. Also, they initiate exchanges where the homes already have teenage occupants, and the home they offer is usually larger and a fair swap.

© Copyright ExchangeHomes.com. All rights reserved.

He explained that before phoning me, he had tried repeatedly to call their exchange partners in their home in the UK, but had been unable to reach them.

As luck would have it, I was able to put him in touch with my daughter who lives just a few miles away from his exchange home. She has survived many Southern California natural disasters, both wildfires and earthquakes, so she was quickly able to advise and guide him. Good fortune also prevailed inasmuch as the fires did not require our member (or daughter) to evacuate.

Coping with earthquakes has already been covered in an earlier post. Click Here to read.

Again I will stress the importance of leaving clear and concise instructions for your exchange partners in the event of any type of emergency, especially if the care of pets is involved. Similarly, if you own a valuable car—off limits to your home exchange partners—in could be prudent to provide them with means of moving it in a crisis.

© ExchangeHomes.com All rights reserved

So—I thought it was about time I shared a method my brother uses, and has passed on to me, where even the traveling can be 100% free as well.

Use a credit card with mileage rewards!

No—I mean REALLY use the credit card for absolutely everything—grocery, gasoline, paying utilities, buying clothes for the kids (and yourself!), medical and dental expenditure—EVERYTHING!

The clincher is that at the end of each month the outstanding balance on the credit card is always paid off in full—NO EXCEPTIONS. Instead of writing checks or using your debit card for various day to day transactions, leave all your cash in the bank and use it to pay your credit card, then the next month begin the entire process all over again.

My brother does exactly the same thing with all his business expenses as well.

Both last year and this, he used his accumulated mileage rewards to take his family (wife and two children) to England on vacation, flying out of San Francisco. All their travel expenses were covered and of course, they exchanged homes. This year the exchange included a car; last year it did not, but he was able to fund a rental car with mileage rewards.

Of course you have to be disciplined and always pay the balance in full every month, but when the routine is established that’s easy enough, after all the necessary money should be sitting in your bank. Another nice touch—deposit your paychecks into a savings account and transfer out just the amount necessary to pay the credit card balance. The fact that it’s not available in your checking account will force you to use the credit card, plus it will earn a little interest for you.

© ExchangeHomes.com All rights reserved

A blind girl hated herself because she was blind.

She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He was always there for her.

She told her boyfriend, “If I could only see the world, I would marry you.”

One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her. When the bandages came off, she was able to see everything; including her boyfriend.

He asked her, “Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?”

The girl looked at her boyfriend and saw that he was blind.

The sight of his closed eyelids shocked her.

She hadn’t expected that. The thought of looking at them the rest of her life led her to refuse to marry him.

Her boyfriend left in tears and days later wrote a note to her saying “Take good care of your eyes, my dear, before they were yours, they were mine.”

————————————————————————–

This is how the human brain often works when our ‘status changes’.

Only a very few remember what life was like before and who was always by their side in the most painful situations.

Life Is a Gift.

Today before you say an unkind word – Think of someone who can’t speak.

Before you complain about the taste of your food – Think of someone who has nothing to eat.

Before you complain about your husband or wife – Think of someone who’s crying out for a companion.

Before you complain about life – Think of someone who went too early to heaven.

Before you argue about your dirty house that someone didn’t clean or sweep – Think of the people who are living in the streets.

Before whining about the distance you drive – Think of someone who must walk the same distance.

And when you are tired and complain about your job – Think of the unemployed, the disabled, and those who wish they had your job.

Before you think of pointing the finger or condemning another – Remember that not one of us is without error and we all answer to God.

And when depressing thoughts seem to get you down – Put a smile on your face and thank God you’re alive and still around.

© ExchangeHomes.com All rights reserved

However, The Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund has invited me to use this blog as a means of spreading the truth about Sarah Palin’s awful record on protecting wildlife, and having read about her extensively, I’m happy to oblige.

Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund are getting the word out to voters about Governor Sarah Palin’s barbaric record on killing America’s wildlife, especially her active promotion of the brutal aerial hunting of wolves and bears.

As governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin has proposed paying a $150 bounty for the foreleg of each dead wolf. The aerial hunting program she champions has already killed nearly 800 wolves. She’s opposed efforts to save America’s polar bears from extinction. She’s fought against efforts to save some of the world’s most endangered beluga whales.

At nearly every opportunity, Governor Palin has sided with Big Oil, mining companies, wealthy trophy hunters and other entrenched special interests in support of policies that would greatly harm the wild animals we treasure.

Click to watch this video of their new television ad on Governor Palin’s support for aerial hunting and help them run it on television stations starting in Ohio, one of the handful of swing states that will decide the election.

The program featured two ExchangeHomes.com members: Member 25493 from Santa Cruz, and their home exchange partners: Member 26013 from Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

The comments of both sets of members was absolutely typical of true “Home Exchangers”, appreciating and taking full advantage of their stays in their exchange partners’ homes.

Do take a look …! To start the video, click the arrow in the center of the screen. Be patient, it may take a short while for the video to load.

This video is the © Copyrighted property of ABC Television.

The phone bill is easy—everyone pays for their own calls. Having said that, these days a great many people travel with their cell phone(s) and never even use a land line. I made two earlier posts on this very subject and you can click the links below to read them:

•  Home Exchange and Telephones
•  More About Home Exchange and Telephones

As you will see, a great many phone companies offer free or virtually free phone calls, all you have to pay is a flat monthly fee. If you are, or plan to be, a serious home exchanger, I suggest you look into one of these services. We switched from AT&T to Vonage a year ago last May and after a year with the new service I calculated that we have saved in excess of $2,000!

As for the remaining bills: utilities, electric, gas, heating, etc., and of course mortgage, the property owner usually pays these as he / she usually does.

Bill paying responsibilities are something that needs to be agreed and documented in your Home Exchange Agreement. You can download some excellent samples of all the forms and documents you will need by clicking  Here!

If there is likely to be a mis-match of usage (for example a large family setting up a home exchange with a much smaller one) then I suggest the smaller family provides bills showing what they paid at the same time a year ago and following the home exchange, the larger family pays the difference, if it is significant. Again, this is something that needs to be addressed and included in the written agreement.

Personally, I would not go to these extremes. As I see it, by taking part in a home exchange I’m already saving a huge amount of money on either hotel bills, or a vacation rental—even more if we exchange cars—so picking over the utility bills following the event, would, to me seem to be somehow ungracious.

As with the references I made above regarding phones, you can use the link below to an earlier post covering general bill paying.

•  Who Pays What

Just let fair play and common sense prevail.

© ExchangeHomes.com All rights reserved

The author, Athena Rickby, circulated an email recently indicating that she had decided to sell the book, explaining that her family, other commitments, and yes …. a full schedule of home exchanging, meant that she was unable to devote the necessary time to maintaining, marketing and selling the book herself. She had planned a full scale update of the book for earlier this year and she was especially disappointed that she had never found time to complete this.

To maintain the integrity of Home Exchange Academy, I only plan to make one change to its contents, and that will be to include a reference to both Know Your Trade and CHECtravel. Other than that ALL the text will remain exactly the same. The author made it absolutely clear that the book wasn’t written to promote or advertise any home exchange club above another and I do not intend to violate that intent. Home Exchange Academy will promote and advise on the entire concept of Home Exchanging while remaining 100% neutral.

All I shall be doing is marketing the book and probably offering copies in membership promotions occasionally. Oh, I have lowered the price slightly, from $19.95 to $17.00.

© ExchangeHomes.com All rights reserved

Actually residing in the area you tend to become blasé—if you live in California you have to, after all earthquakes are often a part of everyday living. But, it gave me pause for thought regarding home exchangers. Here we are at the end of July—there must be thousands of home exchanges currently taking place in California and I bet virtually none of the participants had ever encountered an earthquake in their lives before.

I realize it could be a difficult subject to broach without scaring off potential home exchange partners, but clearly written advice and directions covering how guests living in your exchange home should react to and deal with an earthquake should almost certainly be left in an obvious place. Here is a link to a very useful  “What to Do After an Earthquake” List provided by the Red Cross.