Home Base Holidays: 1985 - 2010
Issue: 63 April - May 2010
Greetings!

Home Swappers Newsletter is published 6 times a year to provide information on home exchange vacations for current and recent members of Home Base Holidays and Newsletter subscribers.

Home Base Holidays 25th Anniversary Quiz!
Home Base Holidays - 25th year!Win Free Membership

There are so many aspects to arranging home swaps that we'll never run out of topics for our blog, Travel the Home Exchange Way!

Occasionally guest writers are invited to write posts on the blog. We're always grateful for these contributions and were really pleased at the high standards of recent posts - two, by experts in their fields, and at least two by Home Base Holidays members in the last couple of months.
 
Join in our 25th year in business celebrations by entering this month's competition:

To win a free one year membership to Home Base Holidays, value �29 (either as a new member or an extension to current membership), send us a message (subject: Competition) with the names of three of the most recent guest bloggers on Travel the Home Exchange Way. Send your entry by 15 May 2010. One entry will be selected at random, the winner informed and announced in the next issue of Home Swappers.
Join Home Base Holidays!
Join Home Base Holidays
Home Base Holidays is now in it's 25th year of helping people arrange home exchange vacations all across the world.

Join today to start contacting members and arranging your home exchange vacation!

One year membership still only �29
Two year membership just �39!

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Featured Listing!

Woodstock, Ont, Canada
Home Base Holidays member - HE24058
Our 1894 Victorian home offers 3000 ft2 of period charm with its turret, double staircases, long windows, high ceilings, fireplaces, library and sunroom.
 
Exchange Request: London Olympics 2012 and/or sunny beach Christmas 2010.

View this home exchange offer...
Save 25%
As a way of celebrating our 25th anniversary year, and to encourage more first time and lapsed home swappers, we are pleased to offer a 25% discount on the membership fee. What are you waiting for - join today!

Join Home Base Holidays!  (Enter promotional code: hb25)
Offer Expires: 15th April 2010

First Time Exchangers and Loving It!
Home Base Holidays listings - HE21504Members Home Exchange Experience

"I wanted to tell you what a great experience we had exchanging our cottage in Canada for England and Scotland and how well it all worked out.
 
We had planned an exchange for the fall, a great time to visit Ontario as the fall colours are out of this world but October is a difficult time for families with school age children. And, anyway, Canada is at its best in the summer!
 
So we arranged a non-simultaneous exchange with the English family using our cottage in August. We were meant to have their house in Bath in October while they spent time at their cottage further north. In the meantime their situation changed and they needed to be in Bath and now found themselves homeless, because we were due to move into their house for 12 days.
 
Amazingly they quickly arranged another exchange with their cottage (for different dates), so when we arrived at the train station, we were offered three choices: their own house as agreed, their cottage (as they did not need it any more for our 12 days) or another older house in Bath they had just secured on a second exchange.
 
We looked at the older house first and fell in love with it and the other exchange family were happy for us to move in instead of our exchange hosts. It was a very old, large former farm house, beautifully redone with an Aga stove in the kitchen and close to everything in Bath. We walked everywhere and just did some train trips to London, Bristol and the seaside/Minehead (West Somerset) and bus tours (Stonehenge) and sightseeing bus tour in Bath. We never needed a car. We had the most wonderful time and did not want to leave at the end.
 
Before our exchange in Bath we had arranged our 'exchange' in Bo'ness, Scotland, again close to everything. We did not need the owner's place for this exchange, and we just had a very private suite in her very large apartment, which was wonderful. We overlooked the whole town. With her help we did excursions into Edinburgh and the Highlands. There was a special train trip (with a steam engine) just around the corner and the Scottish Train museum. My husband was in heaven, as he is a fan! We will never forget the Scottish meal our host cooked for us and the special Scottish breakfast she prepared every day! We would love to do another exchange like that, just with an apartment or part of it, as two people do not need a full house all the time for fairly short stays. We could offer the same, a self contained suite. We just loved the extra attention and help our host gave us and would do the same for the other party in our home. We only had four days in Bo'ness and, without our host's help, we would only have seen half of what we experienced.
  
What a wonderful, exciting way of travelling. We can't wait for our next exchange!"


Hans and Barbara Richter. See the couple's exchange offer and lovely cottage on Lake Eugenia, Ontario, HE21504
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Note:
When a simultaneous home exchange is not possible, Hans and Barbara's story demonstrates how arrangements can be adapted to best suit the needs of those taking part or to fit in with changed circumstances. Their exchange in Bath was non-simultaneous while they were hosted in Bo'ness, a hospitality exchange (if reciprocated at another time) or bed and breakfast (if one way hospitality for an agreed charge).
 
To find members offering any of these additional options, use Detailed Search and choose an option that interests you from the drop down list beside 'Type of Exchange'. Mention any types of exchange you would be interested in when contacting members with your offer.

Information for Potential Home Exchange Guests

Initial exchange offer inquiries are generally quite brief messages to gauge interest in a possible swap. Members will be able to see your full listing and photos from the link beside your message. Once you get a 'bite', now's the time to provide more detailed information on your home, local area and distances to attractions and to answer any questions. Tim, from Wimbledon Village, London, shared his excellent detailed information sheet recently (click here to read). The first section describes the family's home in detail, public transport in the area, followed by local and London information and ideas for day trips out of London. The final section includes a number of links to websites for further information.
 
Tim's detailed information sheet is a good guide on what to include in your own information to send to members who show interest in your exchange offer, as well as helpful for your exchange partners when making their holiday plans once an exchange has been agreed.
 
View Tim's current exchange offer in London, HE21307

"Just a quick note to say I love the new look of the newsletter!"

                             Carolyn, New York City (see current exchange offer, HE13121)

Quick Links

Further Info

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

Be Alert:
The Home Base Holidays private member area is for one-to-one exchange offers between members only, not for any other purpose. Please let us know if you receive any other type of message via your member area. Never respond to unsolicited messages from unknown sources.

Further Information:
Check the archives to read past issues of Home Swappers Newsletter. Also, don't forget to visit the Travel the Home Exchange Way blog for regular information and updates plus special exchange requests. To receive notices by email whenever a new post is added (generally no more than three a week), add your email address to the box above 'Get email updates' in the left hand column of Travel the Home Exchange Way. And you can now follow us on Twitter!

Copyright:
All Home Swappers content is copyright and cannot be used in any form without written permission from Home Base Holidays. However, please feel free to forward the newsletter (in full) to friends and colleagues who may be interested in home exchange (use the Forward Email link below the newsletter).

Happy Home Swapping!

Lois & Mark
Home Base Holidays
 
email: info@homebase-hols.com
phone: +44(0)20 8886 8752
web: http://www.homebase-hols.com