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My house,
your house
"Forget about hotels
and rushed itineraries, swapping houses with someone on the other
side of the globe is an affordable and relaxing way to see the
world."
Our adventures with house exchanging
started about 8 years ago when, on watching one of the holiday shows
on TV, I saw a program about exchanging houses. At the time we
were still working and in our fifties and were planning on retiring
in the next few years. We had thought we would do a bit of
travelling when we retired. Back then we were thinking more
about caravanning or motor home type trips. But when we saw
the show about house exchanging we thought this may be just the
thing, as long as it works. Like everyone we were just a bit
worried about how it would work? and would our house be trashed when
we got home? what will we do with all our things? .. all the
thoughts everybody has before exchanging.
I was
keen to get in and have a go. Not that easy as at the time we
did not have a computer, and I had no idea how to use one. The
Homelink site had very few e-mail addresses and most were still in
to writing letters or phoning. So our first thing was to use
our daughter's computer, as at the time we were managers of a block
of holiday units on the beach on the Gold coast, and I did not have
time or the energy to start to have computer lessons. We
decided to exchange one of our holiday units, as we owned a couple
of the units in the complex, and we could not use our own unit as it
was the managers unit for the complex. So to start with we had
to find a relief manager so we could take a holiday. Not an
easy matter, but we did find a couple who would mind our business
and look after our cat, and so we joined Homelink. Who would
think it would lead us to where we are
now.
I guess
I should tell you something about us. We are a normal middle
class family, if there is such a thing. We have three
daughters and we now have four wonderful granddaughters. We
were married in Sydney more years ago than we care to remember .. we
were both young, 20 and 26. I had come out from the UK with my
family when I was 15, and Brian my husband was born in Brisbane, a
dinky di Aussie. We lived in Sydney most of our married
life. I am a bit of a gypsy according to my husband, and I get
sick of the same view out of the windows all the time. I like
a change, so as you can see, Homelink was just the thing for
me.
We had
been overseas once, when Brian took his long service leave when the
children where young, and we went to South Africa to visit the game
parks and see the animals. We always liked a little
adventure.
Other
than that and a couple of weeks up or down the coast from Sydney, we
had just our annual holidays once or twice a year to the Gold Coast
which we have always loved, and twenty years ago we decided to move
to the Gold Coast. Have never regretted, it we love it here.
When
the last of the children left home, I said to Brian that I wanted to
go back to Ireland where I was born to see family. I had not
been back since I left in 1958, and felt that I wanted to go
home. But I was of course an Aussie citizen, as being married
to an Aussie on our first trip to South Africa when I had to get a
passport, we all wanted to be the same nationality. So I
became a proud Aussie.
I was
happy to go back and just stay with relations. But Brian, who
had never been out of Australia except for our South Africa trip,
said if we can get our daughter to look after our business for six
weeks he would take time off and come with me. We had
unfortunately never heard of Homelink at the time, so we booked our
flights. We were going to Ireland, England, and then a 32 day
trip around Europe. Brian had never been in Europe before, and
it was a real eye opener. We loved all the different places we
visited. Who would ever think we would go to Paris, Madrid, or
Athens, and we really enjoyed our trip. I loved it, but at the
time I thought, "Well this is it, I will never go over to the UK
again", as it was very expensive and we were saving for our
retirement. We planned on retiring to go on lots of trips, as
we both wanted to travel but were thinking more along travelling in
and around Australia.
But now we had found Homelink.
Where would we go? How do you start?
We have
a lot of friends who think, "What a good idea!", but then never do
anything about it. They go overseas and stay with relations, and
then come back and say, "Well, we did not get to do all the things
we wanted to do", or "It was just OK", as when if you have ever
stayed with relations or family, "The time just gets eaten up by
cups of tea and talking". Or, "They take you to the places
they want you to see, not necessarily the ones that you want to
visit". And, "What can I say about the beds in the second
bedroom!" Usually the old one they put there when they got a
new one. They can be really uncomfortable, but how can you say
anything without upsetting them as they have had you to stay.
So the visit may not all that you had hoped it would be. It is
also not that cheap, as you eat out more and then you have to offer
to pay. This can be very expensive depending on the country
you are in. So this is not really the cheap trip that you
thought it would be, and ends up costing a lot more that you thought
it would.
How
much better is it if you have your own home! You can do what
you want when you want. If it rains stay at home, have a day
in bed, curl up with a good book. It just makes the difference
from just a "not so good holiday" to a really terrific one.
With a car exchange you will also have your car and not relying on
other people to take you here and there so can do what you want. A
big plus.
I
suggest for your first exchange you pick a place you would like to
see in Australia till you feel comfortable with exchanging, as the
first exchange is always a bit of a worry .. "Will it work?", "What
will happen?", "What will the other people be like?",
etc
On
watching another of the holiday shows on TV, we saw the Mornington
Peninsular in Victoria and thought how nice it looked. We
discussed it and thought "We should try to get somewhere there .. we
will try for an exchange there". After looking on the site, we
decided on a couple of places and sent out a couple of e-mails. "No"
to both. Oh well. We looked up a couple more and then
got a "Yes" from a couple not quite where we wanted but close.
They did not want to come to the Gold Coast when we had arranged our
holidays in September, they wanted to come in April. That was
OK with us as we would come to them later in the year. This
works if you have a holiday house or unit, ie, if you have somewhere
else to go. They arrived at our units and we found them to be
a very nice retired couple. They told us they had had a very
enjoyable holiday and they were looking forward to seeing us in
September.
This,
our first exchange, was nearly our last as when September came and
we contacted them the husband had just been told he had cancer and
they would not be able to exchange with us. They were very sorry,
and they said they were happy to pay for the couple of weeks holiday
they had at our place. As it was a holiday unit they paid us
the rate for the unit for the two weeks, but we need a holiday and
had been looking forward to it. We were devastated as we had
our relief managers all arranged. What were we going to do at
this late date? I still wanted to exchange so I rang the home
exchange office. They were so helpful and gave us the names of
several people they thought may be able to help. It was at
this time I realised that Homelink is a community, and the people in
it are just great.
We got
offers of a flat under an exchangers house, a house in country
Victoria, and a couple of people said "Come and stay with us".
They were all so kind, but not what we really wanted. I rang
the office again and this time was told, "I think we have a lady
that can help you". I got the phone number (the internet was
only just beginning when we first started), so I rang and
spoke to the exchanger. She had two homes as her partner
had just moved in with her, and his home was vacant. And guess
where it was? Just where we wanted, on the Mornington
Peninsular! What luck!! We arranged where we would find the
key and got the address. We decided to drive down the coast to
Victoria. We were not sure about exchanging the car yet -
"Let's see if the house exchange works first", we decided.
So off
we went on our first exchange. After a lovely few days driving
down the coast, we made it to the house. "Yes, this is the
street". It was so near the beach, and it had a view, both
really great for our holiday. It is always an adventure
finding the house and opening the front door and exploring your new
home.
This
was a big house. Old, but very clean, and well stocked for a
holiday home. We even had a table tennis table. It
was just one street from the bay, and we had a patio with a nice
view where we could sit and relax.
Our
exchange partner just lived in the next suburb, and asked us to her
place for coffee. They were coming to our place on the Gold
Coast the following month. These were a very experienced
exchanger couple, and they had been to so many places. They
gave us a lot of confidence in the Homelink system as they had been
with Homelink many years.
We had
a wonderful holiday after a shaky start, and on driving home we went
via Canberra and thought, "What a great place, we will do our next
exchange here." Yes, we were already thinking about our next
exchange as we felt happy with our first one, and had had a great
time.
We had
not really thought about it but if you want a budget holiday, home
exchanging is the best way to do it.
Barbara and
Brian
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