Still Nervous about Home Swapping?

Several comments reached me admiring how brave we are to do home swaps. Yes it is a great and cheap way of traveling, but...
Let me alleviate your concerns. You mustn't forget that you are in your exchange partners house while they are in yours! They might be equally nervous about their precious possessions. (if they are really valuable- just lock them away) . Apply the Golden Rule: Treat others like you want to be treated yourself!
In addition these swaps are facilitated through an American agency. You sign a contract that you will pay for possible damages you incur. And so do they. Also, we have had many conversations with them via email, and even Skype. So you get to know them a little. We already consider them as friends. It has been working for us.
In 2 weeks we will be arriving in Duesseldorf. From there we'll start out round trip and visit my family on the way.
Maybe you think I'm foolish to post this fact. Our house will be occupied by our swapping partners. Never empty. Doesn't that give you extra peace of mind?
Still lots to do. For example put a hold on your mail. In our case we have it forwarded to our respective destination through a Texas based company. That costs a bout $100.
Starting to think about what clothes I need in Europe. At the moment, it's fierce hot in Germany, but that may not last. So naturally we need more when we're over there for 7 weeks. Coming here to sweltering holiday for a beach holiday, all you need is a shorts, a bikini and flip-flops. That's why we always travel wit several "enormes valises" as my dear French called them in surprise when she saw them.

Leaving for home...

Leaving my native country is the saddest part of the trip even after almost 2 months. Every time. Maybe I should take up a part-time residence there and “divide my time between….”as any author worth her reader will write in her bio.

When we swap homes, I always try to get a cleaner in place to make it easier for our departure. I also organize a cleaner for my house after our exchange partners have left. Before our arrival home.  Just to be sure…to be sure! (I still had to clean the garage and car from sand after our return!)

In a hotel or vacation rental, you simply pull shut the door behind you and leave. When swapping homes, besides packing, you have to clean up, strip beds, put the washer on etc. The second home we were staying didn’t have a helpful hand ready for us. She was on vacation herself. So the last day was utter chaos.

My tip: leave a day earlier than the owners are expected back even if that involves staying in a hotel. Flights from the States do come in early.  So the owners will be at their / your doorstep while you’re still tidying up.

We always choose to depart a day early anyway and spend the last night  at an airport hotel every time. Flights from Europe to the USA usually leave by 10 a.m. Check in time is two hours before. If you also have some distance to drive to the airport from your location, it means getting up at 4 of 5 o’clock ─ something hubby and I are not keen on anymore.

On departing this time, we made a mistake not to verify that the hotel had air condition. Bed & breakfasts in Germany usually wouldn’t have it. But it never dawned on me that we would end up in a hotel without. Temperatures had been in the high 30s (around 90 +) for the past week and that hotel room was like an incubator. Opening the windows didn’t even let in cool air because it didn’t cool down at nights in high summer. It only let in noise from planes and traffic. The night manager brought us a portable AC unit which we had to refill with water several times. Whatever technical genius had invented that - It didn’t work. No sleep was to be had.





     (One of our 6 bags containing office equipment +tools. Imagine that splayed out on the pavement!).

Arriving Stuttgart airport in the morning in good time, my husband pulled the car up to the curb and hauled  all the bags on the sidewalk before parking the car. “I don’t know where my passport is”, He said. Then the search for his passport began right there on the sidewalk. It wasn’t in its usual place, his computer bag. He started to open one bag after another while hundred streamed through the arrival/ departure doors trying to avoid our unwanted display. Hectic set in. I suggested  we put each bag back in the car to conduct a proper search there instead of having nosy-parkers getting a glimpse of our dirty laundry.

In the meantime, just after 8 o’clock, the heat was sweltering again. Sweating and adrenaline rushed, we eventually found it in his computer bag, right where it was supposed to be. Only one hour to departure. US officials and airport personnel don’t particularly like that. Hubby still had to park the car. As a result of our tardiness, everybody else had boarded, and we were upgraded to business class. The welcome drink, a Mimosa for me, was so welcome!

Summing up our experience this year:

-Home swapping is so worth it. It saves you literally thousands of dollars. Enjoy what your host country has to offer. Your exchange partners are likely to leave  recommendations for you. We were even given goodies, i.e. local specialties on arrival. We likewise prepared a folder for our guests about our area and Florida in general together with emergency information. A welcome drink is a nice gesture as well as providing staple foods and food for their first breakfast/meal. Exchangers from Europe are like to arrive late at night.

Swapping homes lets you experience a foreign country in a different way—not as a tourist but like a local even though you may not speak the language. You get by in most European countries with English.

I also want to emphasize the possibility of swapping homes within the US. Maybe home owners from Maine or California would like to visit Florida?

For more general tips see eBook 2: Intrepid Homeswappers - Secrets to Successful Home Swapping, Season 2

Insider Tips for Successful Home Swapping
 

A home swap needs some careful planning, especially if you do two or more after another. The best part of the deal is that your house is not unattended. People will take care of it (at least more or less)) and alert you if anything is wrong. So it's not an open invitation to burglars.

Will we do it again? Sure!

Home Swapping is like Dating

Being an old hand on dating sites, my experience with a home swapping site took me right back.

As new hopefuls on a home exchange website, my hubby and I enthusiastically put up photos of our house, plus a catchy description together with details about us. We felt like kids in the candy-store: all these great places and houses all around the world up for grabs at the click of a mouse.

We approached desirable potential partners, sometimes we got replies, and sometimes not: “sorry but...or you're too late”. Then we thought we had found the right fit and we started to communicate by email with the prospective swappers.  At the same time we asked a couple of questions about what they were offering on their part. After a bit of research, at last we were ready to commit: “Let’s do it” only to get blown off: We've found somebody else.

It reminds me of Internet dating. After crafting a compelling personal profile, you click though gazillions of pictures and prospects; you wait for responses or actively approach potential partners. You communicate, sometimes slowly; sometimes unexpectedly excited, making quick progress in getting to know the other side. Then boom—you’re blown off and don’t know what hits you. They disappear from the radar or have the courtesy of informing you that they have met somebody else while you were getting your hopes up. Happens all the time. It’s called double timing.

We lost out while trying to cover our backs and avoid being disappointed if things turned out to be different to what they were portrayed to be. 
We are still "virgins" on the home swapping front so to speak, but we learned our lesson: Apparently one has to jump "into bed" here even more quickly than on dating sites.

The above was posted last year. Season 2 was about to start last week when we were approached by a German couple in a tempting area where we'd like to go very much. We agreed but had to talk about the timing to be able to synchronize it with a stay in the Bordeaux area. We had also gotten a nice request from there. When I didn't hear anything for 10 days, I was forewarned. The Germans had found somebody else, more exciting...As second- time- rounders we're learning fast: Truly a case of touble-timing as described before. Now we're waiting whether the French come through or not. Let's make a bet!