Swap stories: Penfriends first, then home swap partners!
From Sandra Newnham in London:"My fifties seemed a bit late to gain a penfriend, it being a pursuit of childhood, but that's exactly what happened to Bea and me via the Home Base Holidays website. We began in the usual way by trying to arrange an exchange but, unable to find a mutually agreeable time, we continued to correspond anyway, enjoying swapping news about all sorts of things, friends, family, travel, outings, with a shared love of history, museums and reading.
Last year we finally met. While Bea and Kas were on another exchange in London, they came to Tooting for lunch at our house and we had a happy day chatting. There and then we vowed to make a firm date for a swap and planned a whole year ahead. Which is why, on an evening this summer, Paul and I were sitting on one of Kas and Bea's beautiful flower filled terraces in Switzerland enjoying the meal they had prepared for us knowing that they were in our garden eating the one we'd left for them.
And I haven't told Bea this yet, but I reckon that the Swiss are the friendliest people I've ever met."
From Bea in Niederuzwil, Switzerland:
"Kas and I were back in London for another home swap. We love London and its fabulous galleries and buildings and parks, and being able to spend two whole weeks there was bliss. Thanks to home swapping we often get to know a new area, which makes it a whole new adventure every time. It was July, so extra good to head out to the more peaceful suburbs at the end of the day and relax in a cool garden. This time we were in Tooting, staying in Sandra and Paul's house. We've been chatting via email for years and at last we've been able to coordinate an exchange."
It is lovely to hear when Home Base Holidays members become good friends as Sandra and Bea have done, finding many common interests and meeting each other before swapping homes this summer. They also have something else in common - a love of writing about their home swapping trips! See Bea's full report on her home swap to Sandra's home, 'Touting Tooting' with her many great tips for things to do in London. Oh, and not many people will manage to get a free ride in a black cab in London but Bea did; read her story, 'The taxi driver'. 
