Keeping your Post safe while on home exchange

Royal Mail Keepsafe Service

House swapping is one of tourism's booming trends, thanks in large part because of something it can offer which hotels or B&Bs will never be able to - it's free. And people taking part have a fairly good idea that their house will be looked after while they're away.

But occasionally for the more reluctant home exchangers, a comment that is sometimes expressed about embarking on a home exchange is: "I would be okay trusting someone to look after my property. But what about the more personal things...Such as mail? The "strangers" could open any mail that comes through the post box. . . !!"

Therefore I thought it might be useful to mention that in the UK at least you can pay Royal Mail to hold mail at the delivery office until your return home. This service is known as Keepsafe.

The service can be set up within five working days. You have to tell Royal Mail when you want the service to end and they will deliver to your address on that date. If you return early from your trip, you must send a written cancellation note. Your mail will then arrive with the next available delivery. You can use the Keepsafe service for up to two months. If you are moving business or home temporarily for a longer period, try the Royal Mail Redirections service .

Can any members in other countries please tell us what similar services are provided by the mail service in their country?

House swap for a cheap holiday

House swap for a cheap holiday

On MSNBC today, Dec. 28: TODAY host Matt Lauer talks with the show's consumer correspondent, Janice Lieberman, about how you can exchange your home for someone else's and save money. You can launch the video to view the show and listen to the advice and experiences of a variety of people who have embarked on a home exchange holiday from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16371926/.

Janice also gives tips on how to save money on your next holiday in her article published on the same page:
House swap for a cheap vacation

A quick glance at the home swapping Web-sites annual fees charged for membership reveals that Green Theme International Home Exchange is still one of the best deals available from a long established home exchange agency.

Who will descend your Home Exchange chimney this Christmas?

Father Christmas did not always have the appearance that he has today. In fact, as nobody has ever seen the real Father Christmas it is difficult to know what he is like. In each era and in every country children and adults alike have tried to guess his appearance and to give him a name: Father Christmas, Saint Nicolas, Santa Claus. The first traces of Father Christmas as we know him today originate from the United States about 173 years ago. This version of Father Christmas is in fact a synthesis borrowed from each tradition and belief in the world.

In Germany, Belgium, the German part of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Austria, north and east France, Greece and Slovakia, children have already received their Christmas presents on the 5th December, St Nicolas day. But that is not so very surprising when you know that for a long time Christmas was not celebrated on December 25th.



Jul Tomte - or Little Christmas elf - is the Swedish vision of Father Christmas. He is a small thin little man, half imp, half gnome. He has a long white beard, a little pointed red hat, a coat and wooden clogs.

In France, before being known as Père Noël, the mysterious person was also known as 'le bonhomme Noël'. He gave treats and presents to good children on Christmas Eve. He wore a large cloak with a hood, often covered with snow, and had a long white beard. He was always accompanied by 'Père Fouettard' who dealt out dizzying blows to the children who were not good enough.

In Savoy and the south-east regions of France there was also 'Le Père Chalande' who came down the chimney on Christmas day to leave presents for the children. He, too, had a long white beard and a pointed hat.

If you're away from home on a home exchange this Christmas and receive a visit from a mysterious figure who ressembles Father Christmas, but is not quite the same, do write and tell us about him.

GTI Home Exchange Winter Newsletter

The GTI Home Exchange Winter newsletter has been distributed to subscribers registered on our mailing list, and is now available for viewing on the web-site.

Topics covered in the issue include:

-- Homesitting - Help!

-- Positives and Negatives of Home Exchange

-- Is there anybody there said the emailer?

-- Dotting the 'i's and crossing the 't's on home swaps

-- Renters Beware

-- Feature Homes

If you would like to receive future copies by email, please subscribe to our the GTI News mailing list on our home page.

Merry Christmas to all.

The Holiday - romantic comedy on home exchange

After including an article on GTI Home Exchange weblog some time ago entitled "The Romantic Angle on Home Exchange", a new film, The Holiday, featuring Kate Winslet as Iris and Cameron Diaz as Amanda, is about to bring holiday and home exchange into the limelight. Without disclosing the plot, the romantic comedy revolves around a Christmas home swap arranged on the internet through a fictional home exchange agency, and reveals what happens when Iris and Amanda, each in need of a refreshing change of scene, find themselves transplanted to another person's world. A short preview of the action may be found at IMDb where you just need to click on the hyperlink View trailer, but you might prefer to wait until the UK release date for the film at a cinema in your area on 8th December.

Longer Term Swaps

Hello Kath,

Its quite exciting setting up an exchange…first time!

Brian and I are hoping to have an extended stay, longer than our potential swap partners, to London during the spring months. There is a possibility of these folk being home in their house in Marlow for a week or so between visiting Perth WA and spending the summer in their caravan in Cornwall. We are wondering if there is a facility in GTI for a house 'sit' for these 2(approx) weeks in between rather than trying to arrange another swap at suchlate notice. We are planning to take up residence back in their house while they are in Cornwall.

If this is not available thru GTI, do you have any recommendations of organizations we might use for such a short stay please.

Many thanks, Regards, Joy and Brian

Thank you for your email, and I am very pleased to hear that your plans for an extended home exchange to UK in the early part of 2007 are well advanced.

With reference to the short period when you will need to vacate the home for your exchange partners to return to it before departing again for their summer in Cornwall, I have searched the database and found the following request HE16462 for pet/housesitting in S W London for April 2007, but as you do not mention specific dates I do not know whether it matches the dates your require.

We do have the options 'housesitting offered' and 'housesitting wanted' within our system, but unfortunately the number of request for 'housesitting wanted' is limited. You could amend your own listing to say 'housesitting offered' as well as 'home exchange' to see if any members approach you requesting your services.

Other alternatives which come to mind as a last resort are to do an Advanced Search using the search criteria of 'Non Simultaneous' exchange for Type of Exchange, and ticking the check box for 'Second Home', which may bring up other potential possibilities; or to search the listings which offer the Rental option as an alternative, as the rents requested by home exchange members are often substantially lower than those wanted for properties rented on a full commercial basis, and there is, of course, the added advantage that no commissions are paid on top of the rental requested.

I do realise that you may have explored all these options yourselves already, so please forgive me if this is the case.

Although I do not know a lot about agencies which actually organise housesitting, I have come across the following:
www.housesitters.co.uk and to offer your services, the URL you require is
http://www.housesitters.co.uk/htm/interested.htm
and
http://www.homesitters.co.uk/
http://www.homesitters.co.uk/html/becoming_a_homesitter.html

and you may find it useful to look at their web-sites before contacting them to see if they can help. I am uncertain whether a specialised homesitting organisation will be able to help because they may be looking for people who can offer their services on a regular basis. I notice that there are a number of homesitting organisations in Australia. Have you by any chance done anything of this nature before because having references could be of great help in this situation?

A Home Exchange of Contrasts in Santa Fiora, Tuscany

Some like it hot! Others prefer to Come in from the Cold



The home exchange that this title aptly describes is HE18614

It offers a nice flat in the mediaeval village of "Santa Fiora" on Amiata Mountain just in the center of the "Borgo" famous for the "Della Robbia" masterpieces.



The mediaeval town is an interesting place well maintained and rich in history and cultural activities. You can quickly reach the top of the mountain to ski in winter, or to walk in the woods and wide fields during the summer and sunny days.



Near the town are thermal places like “Terme di Saturnia” and “Bagni di S.Filippo”. The sea is about 65km away. The place can be reached by bus or by car from Grosseto and Siena. Highway “A1” runs a few km away from the place.

I can remember the exhilarating experience of being on a skiing holiday in the Swiss village of Champery, and of visiting the nearby thermal springs which fed a swimming pool allowing you to swim in complete comfort with the snow all around. I am assuming that something similar is possible in “Terme di Saturnia” and “Bagni di S.Filippo”.

GTI Home Exchange member Sandro describes their offer in Italian as well as English as follows: "Siamo una famiglia composta da tre persone, di cui una bambina di 3 anni. Siamo due geologi e gradiremmo poter offrire in scambio di casa per alcuni giorni/settimane questo appartamentino per 3-4 persone, che si trova in un bellissimo paese medioevale chiamato Santa Fiora ubicato sulle pendici del vulcano ormai spento del Monte Amiata. L’area e’ coperta da castagni e faggi. Oltre ad essere localita’ sciistica invernale, durante la stagione estiva e’ l’ideale per passeggiate nei boschi. Nelle vicinanze si trovano Le Terme di Saturnia ed I Bagni di San Filippo. Facilmente raggiun gibile da Grosseto Siena. Vicino scorre l’autostrada A1.

Christmas Escapes with GTI Home Exchange

Although at GTI Home Exchange we do encourage people to make their home exchange plans well in advance, if you are desperate for a change of environment to avoid the ever escalating blaze of retail festivity (commencing as early as November this year no less!!), there is probably still just time to get away on a home exchange for Christmas or New Year. Here is a small selection of available seasonal home swaps:

Hogmanay Festival, Edinburgh for Melbourne, Australia
HE18615



"Our home in Morningside district is a terraced, stonebuilt, Victorian house built in 1892. Although it is in a quiet suburb it is on a very good bus route 20 mins from the city centre - about 2 miles from Princes Street. We live in a very friendly street. Our house combines modern facilities and period detail and antiques. Edinburgh is a wonderful, historic city which has attractions and entertainments for all ages and tastes.

We wish to exchange to Melbourne over the festive period and Edinburgh at that time has a Christmas and Hogmanay Festival which is now rivalling the famous International Arts Festival which takes place in August."

Disneyland Paris for any European country
HE13942


Detached, comfortable and cosy bungalow, restful garden overlooking small field with inground swimming pool. One hour drive to centre of Paris on weekdays -(35 min in the weekends). Train station in St Mard or RER not very far. Half our to Disneyland Marne La Vallée. Close to Senlis and Chantilly, famous historical towns, with pitoresque country markets. Ermenonville forest, ideal for walking, cycling also several well-known Golfclubs and horse races/riding nearby. Many Castles to visit in close neighbourhood, some with excellent restaurants. 2 bikes available. Friendly helpfull neighbours. Our car is a Citroên C5 diesel.


Home with private beach, Florida, in exchange for European or West Coast ski resort
HE15355

"Our home is directly on the intercoastal waterway with large dock, at low tide a private beach, 60ft lagooon pool with waterfall, Large Gazebo bar that could entertain 20 people easily seated around the bar while you serve up margarita's. House is gated with total privacy on 3/4 of an acre. It is a tropical oasis that offers true indoor and outdoor living. We are minutes from great shopping, fine dining and the beach. Visit gopbi.com and look up Downtown at the Gardens and the Gardens Mall. We are biking distance to both beach and mall. We have 3 bikes with baby seat.

An ideal home swap for a family as "the house has plenty of toys, a babys room with crib, and swings for young and old".

We are looking for a luxury home or large condo located in a ski resort area, either in Europe or West Coast USA during the christmas holidays.


Apartment in seaside town of La Spezia, Liguria, Italy - open to offers Europe
HE18291

La Spezia is a seaside town. You can reach Cinque Terre by train in 10 minutes, Pisa in 1 hour, Genoa in 1 hour; Florence in 2 hours by car. Our home is located 5 minutes walk from station. Our home is located at the tenth floor. We can travel in August or for Christmas holidays, but we can arrange also a non simultaneous exchange. Our home is a 100sq m apartmentwhich was renovated last year.

You can find more information about La Spezia on website www.aptcinqueterre.sp.it

Home Exchange in Brazil

GTI Home Exchange Brazilian Members seeking to make new friends Abroad

Member ID HE17472

Cozy house (180 sq. meters) in condo with security 24 hrs and administration officers in case of need. 220 km (140 miles) from São Paulo by good roads; 25 km from Ubatuba, 90 km from Parati, a lovely colonial town. House is 600 meters (670 yds) from beach, which is very calm (not for surf). Boating facilities in condo. Area has over 80 beaches for excursions; boats for rent in Ubatuba, landscape extremely beautiful. Maid available (not English speaking but has been working 5 years for us). Ideal for families. Telephone, washing and drying machines, dishwasher, cable TV. Further details by email, telephone or fax. We love our house and want to use it to make new friends abroad!



Family of two adults, boy of 10, girl of 7. Would like to exchange above described home for apt. in Western Europe, USA (NYC or near it, Boston, California, Florida...) or countries in Latin America. Place should be equipped with facilities usual in the area we travel to. We have lived in USA and France and would like to spend a few weeks during our vacations (December, January, July) in foreign countries. Our house, however, is available any time. We see this exchange as an occasion to have new experiences and make new friends.

Inspirational India - a rare home exchange opportunity to savour

Yesterday was a day with a difference at GTI Home Exchange: we received our first two membership registrations from India. Even though I had tried in the past to make marketing inroads into India, I had wondered why there was so little results or feedback from a country which is now so technologically advanced in the computing world. So it was with surprise and pleasure that I read these new listings, HE18782 and HE18784

HE18782 - PERIYAR-THEKKADY


In the western ghat mountains of Kerala, in South India. Pleasant to cool throughout most of the year. On a working cardamom plantation, in Idukki District. Offers opportunities for walks in the plantation and in the high mountain grasslands above the cardamom plantations. The wildlife sanctuary of Thekkady is 19km. drive away. Experience rural life in the hinterland of Kerala

HE18784 - AMBASAMUDRAM


Mayuram lodge is on a 350 acre property at the foot of western ghats. It adjoins Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Sanctuary, in southern Tamil Nadu - deep in rural hinterland. The lodge comprises a main house, and ancillary structure, each with two bedrooms. The architecture of the main house is vernacular, with rooms built arounds a central open-to-sky court. The lodge is an ideal retreat for observing the profusion of bird-life that abounds here; it is a good base camp for wilderness treks or to explore and experience the surrounding rural areas. There is a small, working organic farm on the property; but much of it is wild, and management practices are based on ecological principles.


I was particularly encouraged to read the last sentence in our Member's own summary for Mayuram Lodge!

GTI Home Exchange Member Registration and Payment Process

As banks and Merchant Service Providers work ever harder to maintain the security of on-line transactions, the processes are inevitably becoming a little more complicated for purchasers.

At Green Theme International Home Exchange we believe that some prospective members might be deterred by the complexity of the payment process (we know that this has happened in a few cases) and are therefore providing below some assistance on the new authentication services which are being offered to people using VISA cards.

As we currently understand the situation, for your additional security Visa provides authentication services on the following cards: Visa, Visa Delta and Visa Electron. These are additional Security checks: using the three additional security code numbers provided on the reverse of the card, and also a password which you create with your own bank, which refers back live to your own bank/card issuer before allowing the payment to proceed. This additional payment process is called MasterCard SecureCode (MCSC) or Verified by Visa (VbyV). If you are already enrolled for MCSC or VbyV, it is important to ensure that Javascript is enabled on your computer. Pop-up killers should also be disabled before you proceed to allow the authentication pop-up window to display. The cardholder checks their details
including a Personal Message which assures them they are dealing with their issuing bank. The cardholder enters a personal password agreed with their issuing bank before selecting the Submit button to complete the membership registration.

You may use the MCSC or VbyV authentication step if you are already registered for it, or if you wish to enrol for it. But to avoid loss of transactions in the early stages of the introduction of authentication, WorldPay provides cardholders with the option to make a purchase without authentication/enrolment. This is to assist those cardholders unfamiliar with the enrolment/authentication process to continue to make a payment. So .....

If the cardholder closes the pop-up window in error, does not wish to enrol for authentication, or is unable to display the pop-up window because of software problems, they are still able to register their GTI membership and make a payment. If this is your situation, select the third option, ‘I do not want to enrol or authenticate using Verified by Visa, and click ‘Continue’ so that the transaction will be sent for authorisation and processed as a normal transaction.

We hope that this information will help the few people who have been frustrated by the payment procedure and deterred from completing their membership registration.

Vacances bonne marché pour l'année 2007

Green Theme International Echange de Maison : le N° 1 d’échange de maison pour les vacances

Pour ceux qui n’aiment ni la froideur impersonnelle des hotels, ni les circuits organizés, pour ceux qui cherchent des vacances bonne marché et originales, il existe une formule simple: l’échange international de residences. Vous prêtez votre maison à une famille qui elle, de son côté, vous ouvre également les portes de son appartement ou de sa villa. Et maintenant, sur l’internet tout cela est plus simple.

Green Theme International Echange de Maison était lancé en 1990. Sur leur site web: gti-home-exchange.com, la compagnie publie plus de 2,000 offres d’échanges et l’audience pour cette type de vacances ne cesse di croitre. Cette compagnie propose des villégieatures dans le Royaume-Uni, Europe et Scandinavie, en Amerique du Nord et du Sud, en Australie et ailleurs.

Pour une petite contribution les abonnés peuvent ajouter leur maison sur la liste et se servir de la banque de données sur le site pour trouver une sélection d’échanges possibles. On peut chercher votre échange idéale utilisant de nombreuses rubriques, par example “Destinations”, “Thèmes d’Activités” qui vous interessez, “les Dates de Vacances”, “Capacité d’herbergement” etc.

Notre activité principale est l’échange de maison, d’appartement ou de résidence secondaire. En revanche, si vous offrez ou cherchez une maison à louer, si vous disposez d’une chambre avec petit déjeuner pour les touristes de passage, ou si vous voulez recevoir une autre famille avec accord réciproque, nous pouvons vous aider. L’annuaire du site gti-home-exchange.com s’enrichit quotidiennement.

Finding a Home Exchange listing by Member ID#

Hi there,

Yet again I am frustrated by not being able to find a listing using another member's ID #! I have been having difficulties since signing up last year-is there something else I can do other than looking through all the ads!

Thanks,

Alison Schreiber, HE17386

Hi Alison

I am very sorry to hear of your frustration in not being able to find another member's listing by their ID number. If you are in your own Member Admin Area having logged in with your email addrss and password, and then click on the link Message from the Administrator, you will see that I have attempted to include useful pointers in navigating and making the best use of the site, including the following information about listings and finding a Member's listing
by Member ID#.

Searching the Listings

You can search the listings from your own Member Area, by clicking on the
hyperlink "Property Search". This takes you to the Basic Search page where you enter the appropriate information, ie Search by Continent, State/County/Region, or City and click on the Search Button. The Search results will bring up Summary Listings with just a short summary of the exchange offered, and a thumbnail picture (if the
member has added photos to their exchange offer). Then if you click on the live heading link of a Summary listing, you can bring up the full listing which will display the name and contact details of the member.

If you wish to carry out a more Advanced Search, from the Basic Search page click on the link 'Detailed Search' towards the top left of the page, which will take you to the Detailed Search page which carries a number of Advanced Search options to limit your results further. (Beware adding too many alternatives at once, as you may then get zero results!)

To find a particular listing by its HEXXXXX ID number: there are two ways of achieving this. Either click on the link Find Member by User ID from your own member area, or if already on the Detailed Search page, scroll down the list of Advanced Search options. At the bottom you will find the box Search by Member ID. Enter their HEXXXXX (the HE is essential and no spaces between) to bring up the full Member listing.

Making Searches Easier

Those countries which currently have the largest number of listings (Australia, Canada, England, France, USA) are sub-divided by state, province, county or region. When you do a search and choose one of these countries from the drop down list, you can either search for listings in the whole country or limit the results by selecting from the drop down state list which will appear.
Note: just as only countries where there are current listings are shown in the drop down list, so too only states/counties etc which have members listed will appear in this drop down list. This is to help make searching easier as there is nothing more frustrating than getting zero results!

I think in view of your comments, at our next upgrade I willendeavour to see if it's possible to make the Search by Member ID# made more visible and also to clarify that it is necessary to include the HE prefix before the number with no spaces between.

Please don't hesitate to contact me again if you have any more problems with navigating the site.

Very best regards
Kath Botterill

Home Exchange - Getting started

As this is the time of year when many new members are joining the home exchange community, I thought that it might be appropriate to list a few of the basic procedures for setting up and enjoying a carefree home exchange:

1 Sign up with a reputable home exchange agency. (Compare membership prices too:
Green Theme International Home Exchange charges just £21 for 12 months membership; HomeLink a massive £115, Intervac £65 to register on-line; and HomeBase Holidays £29.

2 Use the site’s search engines to find suitable properties to swap with and start making offers preferably by e-mail. Alternatively, wait for offers to come to you, but you can really only afford to do this if you live in a tourist hotspot. Far better to be proactive and really seek out the exchange you want and contact your prospective exchange partners straight away.

3 Draw a short list from your responses, not forgetting to send a polite refusal to those you have eliminated from your quest. If references are available for those on your short list, do not hesitate to take them up once you feel that you are near to finalising an exchange arrangement.

4 Once you have committed to an exchange arrangement, exchange full information by email, so that you really feel you are getting to know your exchange partners.

5 Draw up a pre-swap agreement, with details of what to do if something gets broken, who pays the bills, whether cars are included in the swap and whether you are expected to look after any pets. Sample agreements, one short and the other more detailed and therefore perhaps more suitable for long-term exchanges, are shown on the GTI Home Exchange web-site at pages:http://www.gti-home-exchange.com/englishcontract.html and http://www.gti-home-exchange.com/GTI%20Sample%20Extended%20Home%20Exchange%20Agreement.htm

6 If possible agree to book your air, train or ferry tickets on the same day, then send details to your exchange partner proving that you have. This will reassure both parties that financial commitments have been made and that neither plans to pull out.

7 Contact your insurance companies and let them know your plans. Take out any extra insurance if necessary.

On the whole, insurance companies are pleased that your house will be occupied while you’re away — it makes burglary less likely. Most insurance companies have a relaxed approach to home exchange. Direct Line says that as long as the company is notified in advance and agrees that the incoming occupants are a “like-for-like” risk — pro-fessionals swapping with professionals, for example — property and contents will be covered for the duration of the exchange, even if incoming swappers damage or even steal items in your home. Others, including Churchill, will continue to cover all losses incurred as a result of forced entry.

Similarly, most car-insurance firms will cover a new driver for a nominal charge, providing they are told of plans in advance. However, some people do find they have difficulty particularly with adding cover for drivers from the USA. A site which you may find useful if you find yourself in this situation is: http://www.moneysupermarket.com/motor/

8 You're almost ready. Finally, clean and tidy your house, lock particularly valuable items away and put together a welcome pack of information about the house and the area. Before departing for your holiday, leave keys with a neighbour who can greet your visitors. Even better, arrange to overlap with your swapping partners so that you can meet face to face.

The Romantic Angle on Home Exchange

This is not the first time that I have written about their being the possibility of a romantic angle on home exchange. Way back in the Green Theme International Home Exchange newsletter of March 1996 I included a little snippet entitled 'Love is in the Air' when a GTI home exchange member told us about her exchange partner from the States who decided to look up an old flame while in England. It wasn't long before romance was rekindled and this time the couple decided to tie the knot.

I have now been asked by a journalist if I can find any other GTI members who have a romantic story to tell:

"I'm not sure if you can help me, but I'm a multi-published freelance writer looking for true love on home exchange stories for potentialarticles in national magazines (and perhaps even a book if response is strong enough).

I believe there will be sufficient media interest in this idea, as it will tie into the upcoming romantic comedy 'Holiday', starring Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet. (In the movie, two single women arrange for a 14-day exchange of their L.A./London houses and each meets a man, and becomes romantically involvedwith him--on the wrong side of the Atlantic, of course!)

If any of your members have arranged to swap homes, and then got into a relationship - I'd ask that you provide them with my contact informationfor interview purposes.

Many thanks for your consideration.
Best regards,
Stephanie Olsen Founder/Owner Family Life Abroad
email address: editor@familylifeabroad.com "

Catching Up

To keep members informed: the company which hosts the Green Theme International web-site is currently migrating the site to a new server, and I am temporarily unable to upload the GTI August/September newsletter to web-site. I have therefore decided to post it on the GTI Home Exchange weblog instead, in the hope that members will log in here and read it.

Green Theme International Home Exchange August/September Newsletter

In this issue:
-- My Summer Sabbatical
-- It's never too late to renew your Membership
-- Uploading your Photographs
-- Swap-Spammers
-- Protecting your Privacy

My favourite Hobby Horse

This year I took a three months summer sabbatical. (It seems ironic that the last article prior to it that I posted on the GTI Home Exchange weblog should have been on Home Exchange and Sabbaticals). It would be nice to relate that my sabbatical was from choice, but it did in fact stem from a family health problem requiring me to help look after my four young grandchildren. It was great seeing so much of them for a change, as in normal circumstances we do not live closeby. It would have been even better had we been fortunate enough to find an extended home exchange in the area where we needed to be, the English Lake District, but as this is very much a holiday hotspot this was almost impossible. So many properties there have been bought up as investments to be used as holiday rentals at astronomical prices, causing all sorts of problems - the diminution of true village communities, weakening of community spirit, lack of affordable accommodation for people wishing to work in the area - in fact many of the reasons why I established Green Theme International Home Exchange in the first place, hoping to encourage people to make maximum use of their existing resources without the need to indulge in second homes etc. On a trip to the hairdresser, John (the hairdresser) told me that there are just six houses in their hamlet but that he and his wife are the only full-time occupants, the rest being either weekend homes or rental properties. The Lake District National Park Authority belatedly introduced a local occupancy restriction policy on the sale of certain properties, to try to redress the balance but this will take many years to have an effect. As my daughter Alison has been involved in the administration of the GTI Home Exchange for more than a year now, operating from our UK base, my absence was probably barely noticed, there being no reduction in level of service to you whilst I was away. The only area that we did not manage to keep up-to-date with was the GTI Home Exchange weblog.

It's never too late to renew your GTI Home Exchange membership

"Nous avons deja fait un echange en 2002 avec succes. J'aimerais une abonnement pour 2006. Merci de me renseigner. Jacques"

"We have already had a successful exchange in 2002. I would like to become a member for 2006. Please advise me. Jacques"
Thank you for your e-mail. As the period since your membership expired is more than two years, I regret that you will have to complete the Membership Registration form again as if you were a new member. This is because as soon as a member's listing expires it is hidden from view to ensure that all exchange listings are current with up-to-date offers of exchange. However, even when the membership is expired and not available for viewing, the listing remains on our database for a further period of two years, making it easy for the member to login and renew their listing. A reduced concessionary renewal fee is offered to members who renew within that 2-year period.Unfortunately because a period of more than two years has elapsed since Jacques' listing expired, it will not only have been hidden, but have been deleted completely from our database. Perhaps the fact that members are returning after a period of more than two years means that we should consider extending the period before we finally remove them from the database, especially as more and more people are making arrangements for long haul exchanges, but perhaps travelling less frequently because of the expense of the actual travel and the distance involved. If you have an opinion on this please let us know so that we can guage the need to extend our Membership Renewal period?

Uploading your photographs

As the old cliché goes, "A Picture is worth a 1000 Words", but it is true. Photos are virtually essential to a home exchange listing, they can make the exchange offer come alive more than anything else, and encourage many more enquiries than those without. And remember if your listing carries a photograph it will take its turn as the Feature Listing right on the front page of our web-site!

New member from Paris, Nicolas, wrote "I would like to introduce pictures of my apartment in my dossier, how can I do?" Thank you, Nicolas

Firstly ensure that the photos which you are uploading are in Jpeg format (it will have either a '.jpg' or '.jpeg' name extension). The Pictures will be automatically resized to be no more than 220 pixels in height, and pictures in landscape format (ie wider than they are tall) work best. Also, if possible ensure that the original picture which you are using is over 220 pixels in height, to minimise loss in quality, but no more than 100K in size to minimize the time taken to upload from your computer.

To upload your photographs, log on to the Members' Area with your Email Address and Password. When you arrive in your own administration area, click on the link 'Manage your Photos'. Browse your pictures file on your own computer, locate and open the first photograph which you wish to upload, the picture Filename will appear in the box, label it by selecting the appropriate image number (ie 1) from the drop-down list, and then click the 'Upload' button. Do this for each of the subsequent photographs labelling them 2, 3, 4 and 5 as appropriate. That is all there is to it.

Although Nicolas' enquiry was made in English, as he is a French member he might have found it easier to follow the upload procedure in his own language. So . . . .

Au sujet de l'emplacement des photos, voici le procédure à suivre:
Entrez dans la partie administrative vous concernant par cliquant sur le 'link' Login au-dessous du titre 'Members' Area' sur la page anglaise ou 'Adhérents' sur la page française respectivement pour arriver au page: http://www.gti-home-exchange.com/ihea/memberlogin.cfm
Entrez votre adresse email dans la première boite suivi par votre mot de passe dans la seconde. Cliquez sur le hyperlink 'Manage your Photos'. Vous arrivez à la page où vous pouvez ajouter ou modifier vos photos. Notez, s'il vous plait, que toutes photographies doivent être en .jpg format et, si possible, pas moins de 220 pixels en taille, afin de maintenir la qualité des photos. Photos avec une largeur plus grande que l'hauteur sont les mieux.

Souvenez ce que vous avez intitulées vos photos, et le titre du dossier où vous les avez sauvegardé sur votre ordinateur.

Utilisez le bouton 'Browse' pour choisir une photographie de votre ordinateur. Marquez la photo numéro 1, 2, 3, 4 ou 5 qui convient, et puis cliquez le bouton 'Upload'. Bientôt vous verrez la photo pour l'image que vous avez selectionnée dans la boite pour cette photo au-dessus.
Pour remplacer une photo, il faut supprimer la vieille photo avant d'enregistrer une nouvelle photo. En cette instance, vous retrouveriez peut-être que la vieille photo apparaîsse encore une fois après que vous avez cliqué le bouton 'Upload', mais actuellement elle a été remplacée, et quand votre 'session' à ce moment sur votre ordinateur s'est terminée, vous verrez la prochaine fois que vous entrez le site que la nouvelle photo est en place.N'hésitez pas à me contacter si vous avez besoin de renseignements complémentaires.

Swap-Spammers

I cannot claim to have coined this phrase myself, having come across it recently when I became aware of the home exchange blog at http://homeexchanger.blogspot.com/ written by home exchange enthusiast Nicole. As a very experienced home exchanger, her blog contains a tremendous depth of insight into the 'ins' and 'outs' of this fun way to travel. As she so aptly says, whilst we all celebrate the benefit that the internet has brought to the world of home exchange and the ease with which we are able to communicate with potential exchange partners with a few taps of the keyboard, as responsible and caring people home exchangers should avoid the pitfall of becoming swap-spammers. With so many exciting exchange opportunities on offer it is all too easy to paste your carefully prepared offer into the email form of a Member's listing and click the Send button, only to suddenly realise when you look at your 'Members I have contacted list' that you have far exceeded the number of enquiries you can sensibly deal with. And if you are lucky enough to receive many responses, it's tempting to take the expedient way out and just reply to the one or two offers that you wish to explore further leaving all the others who have expressed an interest dangling and frustrated without any explanation as to why they never heard back from the person who made the enquiry in the first place.

Home exchange is a community of like-minded people who all need to treat each other with respect for home exchange to work. Because of the philosophy of caring with which we differentiate our site and our enthusiasm for promoting ethical home exchange travel, we are sure that the vast majority of our members are respectful of each other and would never fall into this pitfall but it is always the exception that proves the rule.

Incidentally, if conversely you feel that you are not receiving the replies you should be, have you changed your email address recently? Make sure your email address within our system is up to date, login and check your settings (not forgetting that you will have to login with your former registered email address before you can access your Member Area to change your settings). After verifying that the email address displayed is correct, you can also then login to our website and view your own listing and send yourself an email to make sure that email is getting through your own SPAM filters and your own email protection. Sometimes we find that what members are using to keep out junk mail restricts legitimate email, or they have their level of security set too high.

Protecting your Privacy

Small can be beautiful when considering the important topic of protecting your privacy. We make every effort to avoid you from being subjected to spam and any solicitations that are not valid home exchange offers, but the nature of home exchange requires contact, and despite our best efforts we cannot always prevent unauthorized, unethical abuse of the system. Recently the activity of an upstart home exchange organisation was uncovered blatantly encouraging another agency's members to join their organisation, Trade to Travel, under the guise that it was a home exchange enquiry. Fortunately this was uncovered when only a few members had been contacted. Another organisation HomeWelcome actually plagiarised a listing from another agency's site and placed the listing on theirs, even sending the person in question a User ID and password!! Again, because the member immediately notified the agency of which he was legitimately a member, asking if they had given permission for this, the scam was promptly uncovered and the rogue agency required to remove the unauthorised listing. At this time GTI Home Exchange does not appear to have been attacked in this way, and being a relatively small agency enables us to maintain a high level of communication with our members and to quickly identify the perpetrators of any such activity. As GTI Home Exchange is a private, members only home exchange agency the type of conduct described is unethical and illegal and against our stated terms of use. If you do get any improper solicitations of this nature, please do NOT respond to the enquiry, but assist us by forwarding the emails directly to us. We will remain vigilant and will continue to work with our selected established home exchange associates to aggressively expose this unethical behaviour. We feel sure that potential home exchangers will feel inclined to trust an agency which is not trying to live off the back of another agency's hard work and has not illegally plagiarised another site. It would seem likely also that agencies whose members are required to pay a modest sum to join, (and who are therefore a known quantity to that agency because it has a record of the billing address from the credit card transaction) are more likely to be responsible, trustworthy and reliable people than those who have been tempted to list with an agency purely because that agency is offering free listings.

Home exchange for sabbaticals

If you are an experienced home exchanger you will have learnt that there are many different types of reasons for exchange. Whilst many members are simply looking to fill their regular holiday slot, home exchange agencies such as Green Theme International also attracts a number of exchangers who are planning for sabbaticals or career breaks.

For these members, home exchange is an ideal opportunity to ensure that their home is occupied whilst away for long periods and at the same time secure accomodation of a similar standard in their chosen destination. Accomodation designed for short term rental often lacks those extra facilities which are make longer stays more convenient, such as washing facilities, freezers, transport etc.

Home exchange can also often be a means to engaging with other people in the community more easily - many exchange partners also end up exchanging a network of friends too!

If you are looking to exchange for a sabbatical or career break, look for offers where the member has said they are seeking a long term exchange. You may want to mention the reason for exchange in your offer. And don't forget to check the box in your own administration area saying that you are seeking a long term exchange too. This will help attract members in a similar position.

Rens and Anneke explain why Home Exchange is for them

New GTI Home Exchange members, Rens and Anneke HE18245 explain why home exchange is their kind of family holiday:

















"We are Rens (organic food entrepeneur) and Anneke (teacher). We have three children, Marthe is 7, Tijn, our eldest son, is 5 years, and Jop is 3. Two years ago we changed home with a family in Austria and we liked it very much. Swap homes is more than a vacation, it is very special to live another life in another country."

"We used to go on cycle-tour in several countries, but when Tijn was born we plannend other vacations. Last year the children were old enough to make a cycling tour through Holland in the holidays, Tijn and Marthe were cycling themselves. We liked it very much but it was hard work too. Both cycling and swap homes is a way to get a glimpse of a country and the people living there."

Rens and Anneke offer a "Comfortable family home (build in 1934) in a very pleasant street in Utrecht. Our three floor house has a sunny livingroom, two double bedrooms, two children bedrooms, a city garden. And very nice neighbours. Town-centre 5 minutes by bike, or 12 min. walking. Excellent links to Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, 30-40 min. by train. Close to the Veluwe, Betuwe, beach, and lakes."

"Utrecht has a historic centre, good museums, several theatres, cinemas, concerts, festivals, many restaurants and a lot to do for children. And of course we have enough bicycles for you!"

GTI Home Exchange Last Minute

My apologies for having taken some respite from blogging during the Spring. As the year progresses, some people may be wondering if it is still possible to arrange a home exchange for the Summer season particularly in the northern hemisphere. I thought, therefore, that it might be useful to draw attention to the fact that new listings are being added to the GTI Home Exchange web-site on a daily basis throughout the year, so there are always new home exchange opportunities to pursue. Click on Search to arrive at the initial search page, and after you have selected which Country or region you wish to search, you will be taken to the Summary listings: you can then select to sort these listing either by Membership Date (ie most recent listings shown first) or by Dates of exchange requests.

To Search the Last Minute Offers list, click on the hyperlink on the left of the GTI Home Page to search the listings of members who are still seeking a swap. This feature is intended to assist members who haven’t yet arranged an exchange when their exchange dates are getting close (three months away or less). If you are a new member you won’t see information or a link to add your listing to this separate list during your first week of membership (when you should be searching listings thoroughly and contacting members with your exchange offer). Note: once available in your member area, if you click the link Boost my Profile, this will add your listing to the Last Minute Offers list for a month and cannot be removed before then (you will see a countdown of how many days your listing has left on this list each time you log on).

Happy Searching!!

Home Exchange and Temporary Car Insurance Cover

QUESTION

Good Morning,

Would you be able to recommend a car insurance company who will take American and Australia drivers without an additional charge. We recently changed from More Than to Zurich who now require an additional £21 per week for our American exchangers. As we like to exchange for a few months this does mount up.

Your help would be most appreciated. Thank you.

Katie Evans

Thank you for your question. I don't think I have any easy answer here for you. In fact, I had understood that More Than was a company who were quite lenient about accepting other drivers and providing temporary cover, and I was wondering why you had in fact moved from them to Zurich.

It seems to be insurance for Americans that always causes the most concern to the Insurance companies. Have you tried Direct Line to find out what their terms would be? Or perhaps the only answer is to go to an Insurance Broker who may be able to suggest a number of alternatives to try.

I seem to recall that I posted a few items on our weblog about car insurance, but currently haven't been able to find the one which I thought was relevant to your situation. I will post your question on the weblog too and hope that someone will come up with some feasible suggestions for you, and if so, will let you know as quickly as possible.

Very best regards
Kath

Comment
The question of finding insurance companies who provide temporary car insurance cover for additional drivers at reasonable cost is one which home exchangers seek advice on more than anything else. If anyone has useful information to pass on, or if there are any insurance professionals or car insurance companies who would be kind enough to provide GTI Home Exchange UK-based member Katie, Member ID HE17900 (and many, many others) with advice on this perennial problem, it would be most appreciated.

Kath

And a follow up from Katie:

Dear Kath,

Thank you for your quick reply.

Unfortunately we had to change our car insurance from More Than after being with them for years as they wouldn't insure our exchangers.

We are currently with a broker who has only been able to find Zurich who are willing to cover our American exchangers. I have heard about Direct Line and will give them a call.

We joined your site whilst in Florida a few weeks ago and immediately received 3 enquiries! Amazing.

Best regards, Katie Evans

To Trade or not to Trade, that is the question

Hi,

We're rookies at this and need some advice. For a few weeks we've been registered HE17744, trading from Canada for France, and have just been offered a trade. It's great, other than our boys really wanted a pool. It's mid-February and I'm not sure if activity will increase and other offers will very likely be forthcoming or someone will accept our request.....or should we "get while the gettin's good"?
Thanks so much for any advice you can give.
Regards, Sue
Sue's home in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada's capital

Answer

Hi Sue,

Thank you for your e-mail. Unfortunately there is no straight answer to this - it is true that many members subscribe or renew in the first few months of the year, and this is the busiest period for enquiries if you are seeking a summer break and you may indeed receive further offers. There is no obligation to accept the first offer that comes your way, but we cannot guarantee that you will receive a better offer. I notice that you state on your property listing that you are looking for a farm if possible, but you do not mention a pool - it is perhaps worth considering that there may not be a large number of farms which also have pools.

If you have specific requirements, the best way of securing a suitable exchange is
to be pro-active in sending out offers to members with properties you have identified as desirable. You should be able to find suitable properties by using the search facility on the website. In the meantime, you could promise your current exchange offer partners to commit within a period of time (perhaps within 3/4 weeks) being open about the fact that you are looking for a property with a pool, and then pro-actively send out offers to any properties that fulfil your requirements completely. It is also advisable to stress to those you send enquiries to that you need a quick reply because you have an outstanding offer.

Of course, this might mean that you lose the chance of this exchange in the meantime if they manage to confirm another offer. I don't know whether there are any other significant advantages to the offer you have received as you don't give their name or membership number, (do they have children of a similar age? are lakes, swim holes or the sea accessible? etc) and obviously you need to weigh up what other attractions there might be at the property or nearby that your sons would enjoy - you could ask for more information from them in the meantime.

We do encourage all members to reply to offers whether they are interested or not, so people know where they stand, so please do make sure you give a final decision one way or the other.

I hope this helps. I realise that it is difficult to make a decision, especially if you are first time exchangers, but being clear about your requirements, asking questions and communicating with exchange partners is the only way to make sure your exchange meets your expectations.

Please do get back to me if you need any further advice.

Yours sincerely
Kath
GTI Home Exchange

GTI Home Exchange Member Suggestion

(Include a hyperlink to your property listing when sending an enquiry using the GTI Home Exchange Email Enquiry Form).

Hi,

How about including a hyperlink to the property listing in an enquiry email submitted from your website - that way the person receiving the enquiry would be able to go straight to the property lisitng to see the exchange offered.

Best Regards, Cordialement,

Alison HE17138
Alison's townhouse in Romney, Hampshire, England

Hi Alison,

Thanks for your suggestion - this is a good idea and it would obviously be easier to access a listing with one click if it were possible. I suspect however that there may be technical difficulties implementing something like this as we have to make sure our e-mails are suitable for people using different email formats and software all over the world and therefore keep them as simple as possible - we have to be careful not to introduce complications that will prevent them reaching their destination or being blocked. Some mail servers security checks may also classify messages as potential spam if they contain hyperlinks. However, I will include it as a possible feature when we come to our next upgrade specification later this year when we can properly assess feasibility and/or look at other ways we could make it easier to access a listing from an e-mail enquiry.

In the meantime, any members who are familiar with html coding, and "a href" statements wishing to include a direct link to their own GTI Home Exchange property listing from their email enquiry to a potential exchange partner, may like to paste their own link into the email form before sending it.

Many thanks for your input - ideas for improving the smooth running of home exchange are always welcome!

Home Exchange Record - Can you beat it?

With records being broken daily at the Winter Olympics in Turin, our thoughts at GTI Home Exchange turned to records of a different kind. We ran an article a short time ago inviting members who thought they held the home exchange record to contact us. Until then it seemed that the record for GTI members was eighteen exchanges, but we now discover that that record is beaten by GTI member HE14636.

Their property, located in Sheffield, which has attracted so many exchange partners is described as a "spacious 5 bedroomed Victorian house on three floors overlooking parkland. Small secluded suntrap garden. Within walking distance of beautiful Peak District National Park. Conveniently placed for a city and country break. Easy access to historic York, Chester and Lincoln. Cinemas, theatres, swimming, cycling, walking, horse-riding, top sports venues and shopping mall all within fifteen minutes of house. Experienced exchangers (more than 20 in Britain, North America and Europe)".

Eluned goes on to say: "We are a family of five (two away at University) Youngest still at home (17). Although Sheffield may not immediately strike you as your dream holiday destination we have previously exchanged very successfully with families from Venice, Toronto, Brittany, Oxford, London, and Catalunya. We even have some references. Some have been repeat swops, so we must be doing something right! We have a wealth of local information and the natives are friendly if you get in a fix. We will endeavour to look after your home as if it were our own".

Home exchange for the very disabled - wheelchair and hoist required...

This week we had an enquiry from a potential home exchanger regarding the suitability of exchanges for the 'very disabled' ie for those that need to use a wheelchair and hoist. Unfortunately there is no straight answer to this one. Home exchange is often the best way to travel for disabled people if you can find someone to exchange with that has similar needs to your own, but obviously this becomes more difficult the greater the need for specialist apparatus - this is the reply that we sent...

"You can search listings on the website for disabled access by clicking on the Search tab at the top of the page, and then checking the 'disabled access' box. You can then refine your search depending on what other criteria you require. Currently 147 listings come up as offering disabled access, however unfortunately there is no way of telling whether a hoist can be accomodated or provided. Some members may mention a disability in their own listing, and this may give you a clue as to how well equipped a potential exchange would be for you, but really there is no quick shortcut to asking them directly in most cases.

GTI Home Exchange does have disabled members who exchange successfully and who are wheelchair users, indeed member HE16184 travelled from her home in Vancouver to Australia with her wheelchair and scooter this year, but I don't think she required a hoist. Similarly, GTI Scottish member HE14242 also travelled to Australia, using her scooter. In answer to your question about the possibilities for the more seriously disabled, it would really depend if you can find a match for your own requirements and unfortunately we can offer no guarantees. I am sorry I cannot be more helpful.

You may also find the Accessible Journeys website can provide you with useful advice and links to specialist holiday companies if you are not already aware of it: http://www.disabilitytravelcom."

On the other hand, if by any chance any of you blog readers feel that you could accommodate such a request and are interested in an exchange, or indeed you are aware of other specialist sites that we can signpost people in this position to, please do let us know so we can pass on details to this or other enquirers.

Home Exchange opportunities with a difference

I always like to draw destinations which are unique or out-of-the ordinary to the attention of GTI Home Exchange members. Two such destinations have recently been added to our database of home exchange offers.

HE17472
House in UBATUBA, STATE OF SAO PAULO, BRAZIL

Described as a cozy house in condo; security 24 hrs and administration officers in case of need. 220 km from Sao Paulo with good roads; 25 km from town of Ubatuba, 50 km from Caraguatatuba. Located at 600 meters from the beach which is very calm (not for surf). Boating facilities in condo. Area has over 80 beaches for excursions; town has boats for rent, and the landscape is extremely beautiful. The family would like to exchange their home for an apartment in Western Europe, USA (NYC or near it, Boston, California, Florida……)

HOUSE IN BALCHIK, VARNESKA, BULGARIA

The following listing HE17656 is the first we have had located in Bulgaria. It is a holiday home with three storeys, and described as a newly renovated villa in a traditional Bulgarian village, the house is about 15 minutes from the nearest beach and 45 minutes from Varna Airport. Varna is known as the Barcelona of Bulgaria and has galleries, museums, restaurants and a fab ‘café’ culture. The family consists of four adults and two children ages 9 and 2 and they would like to spend one to two weeks in France in August 2006.

Kath Botterill
GTI Home Exchange

GTI Home Exchange Renewal Plans

Question

Dear Kate

Thank you for your renewal reminder, but owing to changed circumstances I am not able to renew immediately. But I have just one query, why is there so little difference between the GTI Home Exchange new membership rate and the discounted renewal rate?
Sher

Answer

Dear Sher,

Thanks for responding and advising us of your current situation. Your long-term loyalty GTI Home Exchange over previous years is much appreciated, but regrettably if we were to increase our discount for renewing members, we would then have to increase our annual subscription for new members. The success of home exchange depends on growing a wide and varied membership and we therefore aim to keep the cost to new members competitive and affordable.

I hope that we shall have the pleasure of welcoming you back soon when your situation is different.
Regards
Kath

Response received from Sher

Dear Kate,

Fair enough, I quite understand your point of view, and as soon as I'll have something more permanent to offer on an exchange basis, I'll be only too glad to join gti-home-exchange again, as I really greatly appreciate its quality, services and contents, and I'm looking forward to being part of it all again - all the more so as a new membership doesn't even cost more than renewing an old one!

Personally I've had 2 happy experiences, with Barcelona and Bristol, and I keep telling everybody around me about you, but it seems that the Swiss are a bit hesitant (or scared?) about letting anyone into their precious houses...

Thanks a lot for your speedy reply anyway, and all the best for 2006!

Sher