Home Exchange University faculty member Didier Leclerc has written a book on home exchange in French.  It is called Voyager en échangeant sa maison.

I read the initial draft.  Didier’s a beautiful writer.  He provides a succinct and clear look at home exchange from the French cultural perspective.  We recommend his French language website on home exchange which is www.vacances-echange.info.  I liked this book so much I wanted to immediately translate it into English.  His publisher has the foreign language rights, so this might take a long time.  Didier is also working on a home exchange television project.  We will talk more about that as it develops.

Most exchangers find their own way to their house exchange.   We recommend a more complicated approach: Meeting the exchange family, either at our house, their place, or occasionally at the airport.

This face-to-face meeting builds trust, confidence, and friendship.  There’s opportunity to be shown how the TV system works with an expert right there to guide you step by step.  This is easier than reading the manual and trying to figure it out.  You might get to meet friends or neighbors, eating and drinking with them is easier than calling them up because their name is in the manual as a resource.

Case Study: Netherlands

Our exchange with Jan and Maria of the Netherlands illustrates this process.  He was there to pick us up at Schiphol.  It feels great to be met at the airport by a respectable guy holding a sign with your name on it.  We arrived at his mini-van, he gave me the keys.  I benefited from learning to drive in the Netherlands with an experienced teacher.  He also found time to instruct my wife in the use of his navigation system.

We arrived at their lovely home and got a complete tour of it. We had time for him to show us the town center, supermarket, wine store, discount shop, and railway station.  They had invited neighbors and we shared a convivial dinner under the stars on their patio.  Their home was large so we all spent the night there.  We went over a list of instructions for our house and gave them the keys to our van with detailed instructions on where it was parked at SFO.   The next morning I drove them to Schiphol.  As we chatted he mentioned a fact I didn’t know—their town had the second highest per capita income in the country.   After dropping them off I managed to get home safely making only one wrong turn.  Meeting Jan and Maria was practical, the greater reward is that Jan and I stay in touch by e-mail and have become and remained friends.

The Alternate Approach

Preparation and planning can substitute for the red carpet treatment recommended above.   If you are picking up their car you need to have keys and its exact location.  Be sure you have a map and directions to their house.  Avoid traversing a city during rush hour.  Make sure you know what kind of gas the car uses.  Have local currency in case you need to pay tolls or buy coffee to stay awake.  Be sure you understand how to open the front door.  Many European homes have complicated systems that require the handle to be pushed up or down while you are turning the key.  Yes, we have heard of more than one exchange family that couldn’t get in their exchange home because of this problem.  If the home has a burglar alarm you need the code, location of the keypad, and special password when the monitoring service calls to ask why the alarm is ringing.

Our next lesson will be tips on how to quickly get up to speed on your home away from home.

Thus far in Home Exchange 101 Lesson 6, we’ve looked at such concepts as organizing your vacation, preparing your home for guests,  creating a user’s manual for your home and agreeing to the rules and regulations.  Today, we conclude lesson 6 by looking at preparing for the arrival and welcome of your guests.

Meet the Partners

We at Home Exchange University are huge fans of meeting our homeswap partners before the exchange, live and in person.  This happens at their home, our house, or occasionally the airport.  It’s important to personally know your partners.  It’s also helpful for one family gets a complete orientation to their home away from home.  Everybody appreciates the chance to ask questions and discuss concerns.

Organizing this meeting requires cooperating on travel arrangements. The family hosting this meeting may have a house large enough to share for one night or they may choose to stay with relatives or at a hotel.   We have enjoyed the hospitality of our friends and on several occasions have taken them to the airport the following day.

Things to Remember

Here is a checklist for the arrival and welcome of house exchange guests:

• How will they get from the airport to your home?  If they are picking up your car they need to know its exact location and have the keys.  They need to know how to find your home, even if it is dark.
• If you can’t personally welcome your guests to your home perhaps a friend or relative can do the honors.
• Keys and doors work in different ways.   We have heard several stories of families that could not figure out how to unlock and open the front door of their exchange home.  Specific and detailed instructions are advisable and you need to figure out how they get the key.   If you have an alarm they need the code. I f you get a new key cut for your guests try it out on the door to make sure it works.
• Have each other’s cell phone numbers.
• Extra credit for leaving flowers, fruit, or a bottle of champagne to welcome your visitors.

Yes, it is a lot of work to prepare for a house exchange.   Fortunately enjoying your homeswap is much easier than getting ready for it.  Our next topic in Home Exchange 101?  The arrival!

Enjoy this article?  Be sure to subscribe to this blog via email or RSS.  We have some great stuff coming this summer as we prepare for our own home exchange.  Click here and subscribe by entering your name and email on the top left of the page!

John Mensinger is co-founder of HomeExchangeuniversity.com and an experienced home exchanger.  His passion is helping others experience the enjoyment (and cost savings!) of home exchange.  John can be reached at jm[at]homeexchangeuniversity.com.

image credit

Thus far in Home Exchange 101 Lesson 6, we’ve looked at such concepts as organizing your vacation, preparing your home for guests,  and creating a user’s manual for your home.  Today, we’ll delve into negotiating details regarding duties and expectations.  Such issues should be clarified and handled during the preparation period.

Reciprocating Favors

Exchange partners often request favors of one another.  Here are examples of such favors:

• Perhaps you promised your partners use of your health club.  Be sure to set this up before they arrive and let your guests know the rules for visiting the club.
• Maybe you agreed to find a baby sitter for their children.  Let them know the person, contact details and the hourly fee.
• You may want your guests to pick up the mail, water the house plants, or feed the pets.  Provide instructions.  Figure out how these tasks will be completed if they leave your house for a three day excursion.
• If you are trading cars agree to mileage or usage limits.  Understand insurance coverage and your possible liability while using their vehicle.  Have a copy of their driving license and make sure they are covered by your insurance.

How We Do It

Our policy is that we will use the exchange home, make a reasonable amount of telephone calls, leave about the same level of food and household supplies as when we arrived, and freely use their heating and air conditioning.  Our children will spend inordinate amounts of time on the Internet.  We will eat fresh vegetables and fruit from their garden.  We generally don’t plan on reimbursing them for any of this and in return they can enjoy our home in the same way.  This plan may not work for you, in which case you need to figure out your own preferred system.

For the end of the exchange we know that we won’t have time to wash and dry all the dirty sheets and towels.   We agree that we will leave these dirty items as a welcome home present.  We make up the beds with fresh sheets and put out fresh towels. If you are lucky your partners will have a maid who you can pay to restore the home. You will want to know the fee in advance.

Emergency Measures

You need to arrange for friends, family, or others to be available if there is an emergency.   This could be the toilet tank breaking, water running down the stairs from an improperly sealed shower, or a dead microwave oven.  Yes, our family has experienced all of these minor calamities.

Join us next time as we prepare for your guest’s arrival and welcome.

Enjoy this article?  Be sure to subscribe to this blog via email or RSS.  We have some great stuff coming this summer as we prepare for our own home exchange.  Click here and subscribe by entering your name and email on the top left of the page!

John Mensinger is co-founder of HomeExchangeuniversity.com and an experienced home exchanger.  His passion is helping others experience the enjoyment (and cost savings!) of home exchange.  John can be reached at jm[at]homeexchangeuniversity.com.

Home Exchange University recommends creating a “User’s Manual” for your home.  The manual prepares your exchange partner for handling emergencies, maintenance issue and anything else that may come up during the exchange.  And remember: the more thorough your User’s Manual, the less often your exchange partner needs to contact you during the exchange and the more everyone can enjoy the experience.  Our fourth part of Home Exchange 101 Lesson 6 look at key elements to include in your User’s Manual:

The (Partial) List

Your User’s Manual should include:

• Contact information for emergency services such as Police, Fire, Ambulance, alarm company, and utility providers.
• Names, phone numbers, and addresses of your friends or family that will help your guests with problems or questions.
• Contact information for your insurance agent, mechanic, doctor, veterinarian, or anybody else that might be useful for your visitors.
• Detailed information on how systems work such as the telephone, satellite television, alarm system, or wireless broadband. Access code if they are using their own computer on your network.
• Location of gas and water shut off valves. Location of electrical panels.
• Location of manuals for the washing machine, dryer, dishwasher, etc.
• Advice on local shopping, tourist attractions, and restaurants.
• Information on public transportation.
• Rules and schedules relating to trash pickup. Location of recycling points.
• Local laws or regulations. For example, in certain countries you must have the car’s ownership documents and proof of insurance with you at all times.
• Rules relating to your home. For example, we have a swimming pool. It has a motorized cover. For safety reasons this cover must be closed if the pool is not being used.
• Warnings of hazards or potential problems. For example we live next to a park with a Disc Golf course. If the players throw their Disc into our garden they will often climb the fence to retrieve it. We advise our guests on making the distinction between criminal intruders and errant sportsmen.
• Costs and charges that your guests might have to pay. Normally this is zero but if you had to pay for Internet access by the minute or megabyte, had pay TV, or had an expensive rate for International calls your guests could inadvertently rack up huge costs.

Additional Items to Consider

Besides the User’s Manual be sure to include specific information requested by the incoming family.  Perhaps they want advice on local festival or camping opportunities.  Maybe they want to ride horses, play golf, or go sailing.  Either include this information in your User’s Manual for them or create a supplement with specific details for the particular exchange.

Consider maintaining a box or file with up to date brochures and tourist information on your region.  Equip your vehicle with a detailed road atlas, even if it has a GPS system.  Your exchange family will appreciate detailed city, bicycling, or hiking maps as well as public transit timetables and maps.

Click here for the next article in this series.

Enjoy this article?  Be sure to subscribe to this blog via email or RSS.  We have some great stuff coming this summer as we prepare for our own home exchange.  Click here and subscribe by entering your name and email on the top left of the page!

John Mensinger is co-founder of HomeExchangeuniversity.com and an experienced home exchanger.  His passion is helping others experience the enjoyment (and cost savings!) of home exchange.  John can be reached at jm[at]homeexchangeuniversity.com.

In this, our third part of Home Exchange 101 Lesson 6, we’ll look at some critical steps in preparing your home to receive your homeswap partners.

To Each Their Own…

Families vary in their approach to house cleanliness, condition, and order.  Standards tend to be higher in families without children, which is one reason we recommend trading with families with similar family structures.

There are also differences on this topic among cultures.  Some of our friends exchanged with a Danish family and had the sense that nothing had been done to prepare for their arrival.  That reflected the relaxed and casual attitude of the Danes.  This was OK for our friends: it meant they could enjoy the home and not have to worry about cleaning it up when they left.

In thirteen exchanges we’ve had only one family express disappointment with the condition of our home.  They were from Switzerland, a country renowned for its high standards.  We could sympathize with them as their place was immaculately clean and in brand new condition despite being ten years old and housing two younger kids.

Use Home Exchange as a Reason to Clean and Organize

A house exchange is an appropriate time for spring cleaning, repair, and renewal.  It is not a time for major construction projects which are rarely finished on schedule.  You need to organize everything to be as simple and easy for your guests as possible.  Here are some Home Exchange University tips for preparing your home:

• The home should be clean and orderly.
• Provide fresh towels in the bathrooms and fresh sheets on the beds.
• Clean (and hopefully empty) the refrigerator.  It’s OK to leave staples such as ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, etc.  We move everything to our second refrigerator/freezer in the garage.  Our guests are welcome to use anything in either of our refrigerators.
• Put away anything fragile or difficult to use/understand.
• Put away anything really valuable in a secure location.
• Fix any deferred maintenance items such as a leaky faucet, loose cabinet knob, or broken chair.
• Be sure the house is safe for the incoming family. If they have young kids disclose any hazards and put away household chemicals where they won’t find them.
• The incoming family should have closet space in their bedrooms, space in the kitchen pantry for food they buy, and a place to put their empty suitcases.
• If any basic equipment such as a toaster, cutlery, or cookware is shabby, give it to charity (or to your children living at University).  Buy new products to replace them.
• If there are items such as bicycles that you know your guests will use, verify that they’re in good operating condition.  Extra credit for having accessories such as helmets, locks, spare tubes and a pump.
• Secure your computer and back it up before your guests arrive.  If you are going to let them use it set up a guest account.
• The garden should be looking good.  If you have a pool it should get a service and cleaning just before your visitors arrive.
• If you are trading the car it should be clean with a full tank of gas.  It should have had a recent service and oil change.  The user’s manual should be in the glove box.

Extra credit if your garage is organized and clean.  We leave it as is and warn our guests that they enter it at their own risk.

So what’s on your home exchange checklist?

Click here for the next article in this series!

Oh, and be sure to subscribe to this blog via email or RSS.  We have some great stuff coming this summer as we prepare for our own home exchange.  Click here and subscribe by entering your name and email on the top left of the page!

John Mensinger is co-founder of HomeExchangeuniversity.com and an experienced home exchanger.  His passion is helping others experience the enjoyment (and cost savings!) of home exchange.  John can be reached at jm[at]homeexchangeuniversity.com.

Frineds,

I have always dreamed of attending the Olympic Games in person. I haven’t yet managed it, probably because I am World Class when it comes to the “Cheapskating” competition. We have all read horror stories about the high costs of accommodation and how enterprising residents will move out of their homes and rent them for several thousand dollars a week. House swapping is an alternative. Vancouver and London each have hundreds of families that participate in home exchange. London is the hub of the British rail network and the Olympic Stadium being built at Stratford is next to a main line station. You could do a house exchange in much of the country and take the train for a day trip to the 2012 Olympic Games. You could watch live events on TV at pubs or in the comfort of your exchange home.

An account from our special correspondent at the Winter Games follows. Andy is an old friend of mine, he didn’t do a home exchange but he stayed in an apartment and had a great time. He’s inspired me to arrange a home exchange so we can attend the London Olympics in 2012.

-John

John-

My family and I are blessed with the wonderful opportunity of attending the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver.

Some of us are here for the whole thing, from the Opening Ceremony to the Closing Ceremony. Others are coming and going.

I thought that I would share some impressions from our first Olympics..

Being here is very different than watching on TV. The experience is much richer and deeper. Seeing with your own eyes makes a big difference. There is no media filter and commentary (and no commercials). You hear the fans from many different countries cheering. The air is cold. You get a real feel for what the events are like.

The Opening Ceremony was a really fun, exhilarating experience. The crowd was exuberant, the show was spectacular and watching the athletes march in was great. There was a high level of audience participation — we were trained for an hour before the event. Each one of us had to put on a light blue poncho to allow for special effect lighting. We were each given a drum stick and a drum box, a flashlight and an electric candle and led by special audience coaches. We drummed and waved and helped with the show. My son Edward said afterwards that it was one of the best experiences of his life.

For the Alpine races, you sit or stand near the bottom of Whistler Creekside and watch the beginning of the race on a large screen and see the finish live. So far we have been to the Men’s Downhill and Men’s Super Combined (Downhill and Slalom), both of which were delayed several days by the weather. We saw Bode Miller win a gold in the Men’s Super Combined and a bronze in the Men’s Downhill (only 9/100 of a second behind the gold medalist). Almost every country has exuberant fans who dress up in their country’s colors, cheer and wave flags. It was unbelievably exciting when Bode won at the end of the Super Combined with the US fans cheering. However, it has to be said that the loudest fans at many Alpine events are the Swiss who carry real cow bells, large Swiss flags, and are dressed in the Swiss colors (and they had a lot to cheer for when they won the gold in the Downhill).

The Speed Skating events at Richmond Oval are particularly cool to watch. You can see the entire race from up close and it feels very different than on TV. We saw Shani Davis win his gold medal in the 1000 m Men’s Speed Skating (the US got the bronze as well). The excitement in the crowd was contagious. At Speed Skating events the most exuberant fans are from the Netherlands, dressed in bright orange, often with big orange wigs – they are hard to miss.

It seems that the events that are the most unpredictable with the most suspense can be the most fun. Short Track speed skating definitely fits the bill. You watch the qualifying, the semi finals and then the final, and lots of things can happen (spills, disqualifying touches etc.). We saw the 1000m Men’s final and witnessed Apollo Ohno winning the bronze. Of course, the Koreans were great as well.

Ice Hockey is the most important event to the Canadians. Their TV constantly runs ads claiming it as “their” sport and their men’s team publicly appeared on TV to say that the only medal worth winning is the gold. We of course are supporting the US team but there is pressure to be discreet… Being at the hockey stadium makes the games much more exciting and you can see the entire rink and action. We have seen the US team beat Norway and Switzerland (twice). All the games had a lot of drama but nothing compared to the game we saw on TV where the USA beat Canada 5 to 3. Supposedly two thirds of the entire population of Canada watched at least part of the game even thought it was a preliminary, non elimination, game. Vancouver was a ghost town during the game and they closed all the liquor stores so people would not get too rowdy. The Canadians were severely depressed by the loss but have since bounced back with their wins over Belarus and Russia.

Despite what the media is saying, the Canadians are doing a beautiful job of running the Olympics smoothly. The place is full of thousands of cheerful and helpful volunteers in blue jackets. Almost everything runs exactly on time without any glitches. The public transport is free for anyone with Olympic tickets.

Speaking of public transit, you can’t drive at these Olympics… There is NO public parking at any Olympic venue and personal cars are banned from the highway between Vancouver and Whistler from 6 am to 6 pm. No personal cars can drive on the road to Cypress Mountain. In addition many of the streets downtown are closed and other streets have special Olympic lanes for buses only. In any case, the public transit is very good which does make it easy to get around.

Canada is making a very big effort to get their people to support their Olympic team. The prime minister of Canada has personally urged everyone to “make a lot of noise” and not be the usual “self effacing” Canadians. The result is that the place is full of people wearing red and white, carrying Canadian flags and logos and cheering loudly.

Security is not obtrusive but there are police and “private security” officers everywhere. Believe it or not, Canada has brought in 20% of the entire country’s police force to protect the Olympic venues. Hundreds of towns in Canada sent their police to Vancouver. And rumor has it that there are 4,500 Canadian soldiers camped in the woods outside Vancouver (you never see them), and that the US has hundreds of agents and special forces stationed at the border in Blaine and Bellingham. To get into any Olympic venue you go through “airport” style security screening. On the other hand, the police seem friendly and I have not seen anyone being hassled.

By a stroke of luck, we are staying in North Vancouver 6 blocks from Lonsdale Quay. We rented a comfortable two bedroom apartment in North Vancouver from a company which rents apartments for short term “executive” stays. From Lonsdale Quay we can take a Seabus (basically a floating subway car) downtown (they run every 10 minutes until 2 am) or an Olympic Network Bus to Whistler or Cypress Mountains (there are only two stops for these buses so we are lucky to be near one). From downtown the SkyTrain (light rail) runs to most places we want to go. As an added bonus, Lonsdale Quay has a large indoor market reminiscent of the Pike Place Market in Seattle.

It is a privilege to be here and we are having a great time.

We recently found two useful home exchange websites from France.  The first is www.camago.com, they provide home exchange advice and information on home exchange agencies.  If you speak French this is an interesting, comprehensive, and valuable website.

On the Other Hand..

If you don’t speak French you can use the English version of their website.  You’ll be amused or annoyed that the translations are quirky and odd.  This does add a certain charm and verisimilitude to the French inspired content.  Unfortunately only a small portion of the website has been translated into English.

And the Other Site..

Thanks to www.camago.com we learned about a home exchange website called www.switchome.org.  This is a free site, based in France, and run by volunteers.  It’s written in both English and French. We found the process of signing up slightly confusing but since we didn’t have to reach in our wallet for my credit card this was fine.  Your photos have to be 100kb or less (roughly the resolution of a caveman drawing) and your listing won’t be available until it is reviewed by one of their volunteers.  Ours was up within 24 hours.

It happens that they have 1,870 listings in France and 6 in the United States.  This doesn’t provide you much choice or hope if you are in France looking for an exchange in the US.   On the other hand if you are not French this is a great home exchange website.  1,970 French listings and no more than 103 in any other specific country.  The odds are in your favor.  It’s like being male in a rest home.

The Results Speak…

We already received three home exchange inquiries from www.switchome.org.  One was from Provence, one Burgundy, and one from the Southeast.  Two were on the ocean and one is home to tasty liquid assets.  Pity I am not retired, I could live in France in 20 or 30 different homes a year with this useful website.

Have you found any great new home exchange sites lately?  If so, share below!

John Mensinger is co-founder of HomeExchangeuniversity.com and an experienced home exchanger. His passion is helping others experience the enjoyment (and cost savings!) of home exchange. John can be reached at jm_at_homeexchangeuniversity_dot_com.

In this, our second part of Home Exchange 101 Lesson 6, we’ll look at a few ways to organize your trip to get the most out of it.  But first, enjoy one of our typical slightly-off-mark-but-mostly-true analogies:

Party Like a Rock Star

Let’s say you want a party.  You want a great party.  You want people to get to know each other, experience a great setting, set records for most attendees per square foot and maybe end the night in a crazy drunken stupor.

You have two options for creating this party:

Option 1 is to casually mention the part to a few people, maybe prepare some food and buy some drinks, and then sit on your front porch and just kinda see who pops in.

Option 2 is to charter a jet to the Cayman Islands, invite everyone you know, pay their expenses, fly in U2 and Elton John and Justin Timberlake and Lady Gaga for a concert and provide a week of the best food, fun and drink you can imagine.

Now option 2 would require quite a bit of planning (and a ton of money.)  But, which option do you think would produce the best party?

Why You Want to Prepare for Your Exchange

Planning your exchange is similar.  The more time you put into planning for and learning about your destination, the better your chance of having a rockin’ good time.

We here at Home Exchange University enjoy the anticipation and planning for a trip as much as the actual vacation.  Here are some tips for preparing for your next home exchange.  Have additional tips from your past house exchanges?  Leave them in the comments below:

• Using guidebooks and the Internet, learn as much as possible about the country and region you will visit.
• Come up with a list of thirty must see attractions for every trip.  We’ll be impressed if you visit even half of them.
• Research special events and performances taking place during your trip, like, say, Rolling with the Queen.
• Read topical books.  John read a history of Scandinavia before visiting Denmark.  This allowed a better appreciation of his surroundings.  The book was equally helpful for two visits to Stockholm.  If you’re visiting France we highly recommend Sixty Million Frenchmen Can’t Be Wrong: Why We Love France but Not the French.  You will have an improved understanding of the country, its culture, and its institutions.
• You may want to study the language before visiting a country.  Yes, John has cassette courses in Danish and Swedish, and no, he can’t say more than a few words in either language.

Speaking of few words, if family conversation around the dinner table lags, it’s just the moment to discuss your upcoming vacation and the wonders and history of your vacation destination.

Click here to go to Part 3 of Lesson 6: Preparing Your Home for Your House Exchange Guests!

John Mensinger is co-founder of HomeExchangeuniversity.com and an experienced home exchanger. His passion is helping others experience the enjoyment (and cost savings!) of home exchange. John can be reached at jm_at_homeexchangeuniversity_dot_com.

Deren S. Monday is co-founder of HomeExchangeUniversity.com and father of two. He is also a remodeling coach teaching others how to make their homes exchange-worthy.  Deren can be reached at dsm_at_homeexchangeuniversity_dot_com.

Do me a favor.

Go and find a blindfold.

You heard me.  Go and get an old scarf, or a strip of cloth or something else that you can tie around your head for complete blindness.

Got it?  Good.

Now go and find some liquor.  Something with good kick, like scotch, or whiskey, or Goldschlager…

Now take a few shots.  You heard me.  Go ahead.  I’ll wait…

Good. Now spin around, secure the blindfold, and try to conduct your normal daily household routine.

How did you do?  Oh, not so good?  I’m so surprised!

Remember, when you enter a homeswap, your partner is entering a foreign territory (your home) as will you (their home).  Your job, being the good home exchange partner that you are, is to ensure even a blindfolded, drunken, dizzy exchange partner could function in your home.  Home Exchange 101 Lesson 6 is all about preparing you, your home and your home exchange partner for the exchange.

This is a dense lesson, so we will break it into multiple posts.  Here are the sub-topics of this lesson:

• Organizing Your Vacation to Maximize Enjoyment
• Preparing Your Home for Your House Exchange Guests
• Preparing Your “User’s Manual”
• Agreeing to the Rules and Regulations
• Preparing for the Arrival and Welcome

Click here for the next section of this lesson!

PS: To be notified via email when the new posts arrive, simply click here and enter your email address in the box on the top left corner.  Come on, everyone is doing it.  It’s the cool things to do…

Deren S. Monday is co-founder of HomeExchangeUniversity.com and father of two. He is also a remodeling coach teaching others how to make their homes exchange-worthy.  Deren can be reached at dsm_at_homeexchangeuniversity_dot_com.