'T'is the Season to be Jolly planning your next Home Exchange Holiday

Best wishes for the New Year to all our GTI Home Exchange members.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Meilleurs Voeux de Bonne Année

Prettige Kerstdagen en een Gellukig Nieuwjaar

Frohe Weihnachten und ein Gutes Neues Jahr

Buon Natale e Feliz Anno Nuovo

Feliz Navidad y Prospero Año Nuevo

Unfortunately I myself have not felt quite so jolly in recent weeks having had to spend a period of time in hospital, and therefore apologies for the break in publishing articles on the GTI Home Exchange Blog. However, I was glad to discover that others have been keeping up the good work for me viz. the article Holiday Home Swapping on the Guide me Green web-site.

We’d love to home exchange, but . . . .

‘We’d love to home exchange, but we don’t think we live in an area which will attract much interest.’ Despite emphasising again and again that there are many reasons why people might want to stay in the most unlikely destinations, such as to visit family or retrace their roots, I often hear statements such as this. If someone with this point of view takes the time to think laterally, there are other possibilities – they could offer their services as housesitters, for example.

‘But are there many people seeking homesitting?’ The answer is yes: whilst not so prolific as those seeking direct home swaps perhaps, there are many reasons why someone might seek this alternative. They might be going on a conventional holiday for a change, taking a cruise, visiting friends or relatives, or even have exchanged their second home rather than their principal residence for their holiday, and would most definitely prefer that their home is occupied during their absence rather than left empty.

Green Theme International Home Exchange members, the Oostveen family who live in HARDERWIJK, Gelderland THE NETHERLANDS HE19888 are eager to provide homesitting services and this is how they describe their offer:

“We're a Dutch family with two well-behaved children who are very fond of farm holidays and quite crazy about animals. It would be great if we could help someone out by doing housesitting and looking after animals while enjoying the countryside.”

As you can see, the Oostveens are not just offering to housesit, but they are also willing to look after animals. Unfortunately, because they are not listing a property for exchange but a service, there is no photograph accompanying their listing, which might attract more attention to it. In these circumstances, it would be nice to include a picture of the housesitting group with the listing.

Because housesitting does not embody the concept of mutual trust as in home exchange where each party is occupying the other’s home, I would always recommend that before allowing anyone into your home to housesit, that you try to obtain at least some references as to their trustworthiness and ability. A considerable time ago my husband (who had had previous experience of working with animals in his youth and later on on our smallholding in Cornwall) undertook the milking for a neighbouring farm whilst they went to visit their family in Canada and it all worked very well. But, of course, the responsibility is so much greater when it applies to a farming situation, and this should be borne in mind before embarking on such an exchange
too lightly.

Write a new byword for GTI Home Exchange

To help us through the more dismal months of the year, it's nice to have a pat on the back once in a while, so we have decided to invite you to contribute a new byword for home exchange in general, and for Green Theme International Home Exchange in particular.

To start the ball rolling, a former GTI Home Exchange member wrote to say we were:

"Bringing a lot of people joy in an affordable way."

That was nice and very encouraging. Now it's over to you to add to that feel-good factor!

Make Sustainable Tourism a priority

At the World Travel Market taking place in London this week delegates endorsed the declaration issued by the second International Conference on Climate Change and Tourism in October. It calls for the development of "truly sustainable tourism" and demands the sector responds to climate change by mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, adapting to the changing climate and improving energy efficiency.

United Nations World Tourism Organisation secretary-general Francesco Frangialli said: "It is in our interests to ensure it is possible to ski in the Alps at the end of this century, to dive at the Great Barrier Reef or experience the wildlife of Africa. To consumers, we say give priority to sustainable tourism and avoid wasteful choices."

UK Tourism Minister, Margaret Hodge, said: "It is not for the Government to deny people the right to travel or deny the industry the opportunity to respond to demand. We need to reflect people’s desire to travel and the opportunities this brings, but also minimise the impact of aviation growth.

The industry is doing a lot, but more can be done. Aircraft technology is improving, airports are taking measures to minimise emissions, and some parts of the industry are offering carbon-offsetting schemes."

She emphasised: "Offsetting is not the only answer and is just one tool in combatting climate change. It is up to all of us to reduce energy use.

Offsetting can help people to appreciate their impact on the environment. This is essential if we are to meet the Government’s carbon reduction targets.

Air Passenger Duty has played a valuable role in signalling the environmental costs of travel to passengers and we will replace APD with a per-aircraft duty in 2009.

This will create a better correlation with the distance travelled and encourage more airlines to fly at full capacity."

Whilst Green Theme International Home Exchange is an organisation which enables people to travel, we have always acknowledged the need for and encouraged sustainable tourism, and are seriously concerned about the increasing environmental costs of travel. Please send us your comments about what you see as the future for the travel industry and how carbon emissions should be reduced.

Member Messaging Changes at GTI Home Exchange

A recent email from GTI Home Exchange member Shane, indicated that he may have been confused by the recent changes to our member messaging system when he sent us the following message:

"I am a current member and I am concerned that "recently contacted" is not showing all. Afraid I will contact a member more than once! What are the perameters? Does it show up to a 100? Only last 30 days? Please advise. Thanks.

Love your site. Have had 3 exchanges from it."

Whilst full details of the changes have been posted within the Site Administrator's Message in the Members' Area on the web-site: in case some members have missed the details about these changes, we are repeating them again here.

Site based messages between members

For your security, and to protect your privacy, all contact with other members is now done from your member area. Your sent and received messages are stored there in folders (Inbox and Sent messages). Your on-going correspondence with each member is stored separately for easy reference. Please note: as all contact information you entered on your form (email, phone, fax, mailing address) is hidden, you choose when you are ready to provide contact details to another member.

New message alerts by email

Whenever there is a new message for you (a reply to a message you sent or a message from another member), you will receive a brief email, with the subject line, New Home Exchange message for you from HExxxxx, to alert you to log on to your member area to read and reply to the message.

A few new message alerts may end up in junk folders by mistake and so it is important to skim through all mail in your junk folder before deleting it if possible. It's tedious but, until there are better filters that can sort all legitimate messages from the masses of unsolicited mail, there may be a few 'good' messages that need to be rescued from your junk folder and moved to your in-box. If you can't check through your junk folder, be sure to log on to your member area regularly to check and read any recent messages you may have overlooked.

Home exchange offer messages

When first contacting a member with your exchange offer, use the form at the bottom of the member's listing. If you have compiled a standard exchange offer message and saved it on your computer, you can copy and paste it into the form and then personalise the message before sending. The subject line is already completed and includes your User ID so the member can easily find your listing. When you have finished your message, click Submit. As soon as your message has been sent, you will see the member's User ID under the Recently contacted list in your member area. You can save a record of up to 20 messages sent at a time and delete any you don't want to keep by clicking the 'x' beside it.

After receiving my response to his email, Shane followed it up with:

"Thanks for your response. I thought I was going crazy! Look forward to the new changes. Because of the low storage on recently contacted I was starting to really zoom in based on advanced search because I was afraid to become a pesky American to your members. The ideal improvement might be to note that a listing has already been contacted when searching. At this stage I'm not sure if Shane's suggestion is possible, but we will certainly look into it. The new messaging system does allow the recording of message threads, so perhaps this will assist Shane in keeping track of the results of his communications.

Discussion Point

Do you feel that the number of "Recently contacted" messages stored, ie 20 messages, is adequate? Please let us know your views!

Last Day to enter our COMPETITION

ENTER OUR HOME EXCHANGE COMPETITION - Closing date: 30/09/2007.

Gagnez un abonnement gratuit à l'Echange de Maison Green Theme International

Ganar una calidad de miembro libre en nuestra competición del intercambio casas

Eine freie Mitgliedschaft in unserer eigene Vermittlungsstelle Konkurrenz gewinnen

Vincere un insieme dei membri libero nella nostra concorrenza di scambio casas

Ganhar uma sociedade livre em nossa competição da troca Home

GTI Home Exchange is offering the prize of a free year's membership of Green Theme International Home Exchange chosen at random from entries identifying which of the companies mentioned in the Contact List published in the London Evening Standard Homes and Property article charges just £25.00 for a 12 month membership subscription. Just forward your name and email address and your answer to admin@gti-home-exchange.com. A runner-up prize will be a copy of the new Home Exchange Academy e-book recently reviewed on the GTI Home Exchange Travel blog. This book is an invaluable resource for anyone participating in home exchange and particularly for novices who are about to join the home exchange community for the first time. Don't miss the chance to win either of these prizes in our competition!

Stepping into the Unknown

The above is the title of a recent article about home exchange in the Evening Standard Homes and Property magazine, published on 5th September. Although the article emphasises London's global popularity and that therefore home owners living there should find it easy to swap their homes and get their dream holidays free, it is a way to make the most of your investment in your home wherever you live. While those living in London and the home counties have easy access to a choice of airports to take them to such exotic destinations as India, Brazil and Costa Rica;



in effect a veritable worldwide choice of exciting destinations to be found when browsing through the lists of swaps on the Green Theme International Home Exchange web-site, those visiting the capital on a home exchange basis will be saving enormously on their costs too.

The article quotes "The hurdle is accepting people you have never met will be living in your home, eating off your china, and possibly, even driving your car, if that is part of the deal." People who are having difficulty facing up to this might find it encouraging to obtain a copy of the Home Exchange Academy e-book that I reviewed yesterday by Athena Rickby who has had experience of more than forty exchanges over 25 years.

Lastly, there is, of course the cost of membership of one of the many home exchange agencies now in existence, and which of them to choose. Home-swap companies annual charges range from £25.00 to more than £100.00, depending upon how many photographs you want in your listing. But there is more to consider than just the fees charged, as Athena helps you to discover.

ENTER OUR HOME EXCHANGE COMPETITION - Closing date: 30/09/2007.

GTI Home Exchange is offering the prize of a free year's membership of Green Theme International Home Exchange chosen at random from entries identifying which of the companies mentioned in the Contact List published in the Homes and Property article charges just £25.00 for a 12 month membership subscription. Just forward your name and email address and your answer to admin@gti-home-exchange.com. A runner-up prize will be a copy of the Home Exchange Academy e-book reviewed yesterday on the GTI Home Exchange Travel blog.

Home Exchange Academy

Having previewed a copy of this new e-book on Home Exchange written by Athena Rickby, 25 year veteran of 40+ home exchanges, I found it to be well written in a clear, concise style and with very useful content for prospective home exchangers.

As Athena herself says: "From my personal observations, there is a host of potential home exchangers who continually "window shop", but always hesitate from joining a club at the last minute because they suffer from the "what if" syndrome. Home Exchange Academy goes to great lengths to allay their unfounded fears. Also, a great many of those that have committed to joining a club never make use of that membership fully. They enter some information initially, then seemingly forget all about it. They don't realize there's so much more they could be doing to attract interest and invite inquiries."

Other books published in the past tend to have leaned towards promoting one or other of the major clubs to the exclusion of the competition. Athena's book is impartial and she merely hopes that her book will help other home exchangers make better use of their club memberships.

To give you a taste of what the book contains and how useful it could be to novice home swappers, here is a list of Contents:

Introduction 6
What Is A Home Exchange 8
Who Exchanges Homes 9
Bonus Features 9
My Own Experiences 10
How Home Exchanging Began 11
Selecting Your Home Exchange Club 12
The Major Differences 13
How their members are contacted 13
Paid Memberships or Free 15
Directory Based Clubs 15
Points System / Full Service Clubs 16
How Do You Find A List of These Clubs 17
How On Earth Do You Decide 18
Clubs' Home Pages 18
Membership Fees 19
Clubs' Published Contact Information 19
Listings' Published Start and End Dates 19
Some Clubs' Inflated Membership Figures 20
Hiding Your Contact Information 21
Privacy Policy 21
Listing Demographics 22
Additional Customer Support 22
Guarantees 22
Evaluate Your Selections 23
Test Them! 23
Call their Customer Service 23
Send questions to their email address 24
The Adventure Begins 24
A few tips 24
How should you set up your listing 25
Illustrate your listing with good photographs 27
Children and pets 28
Your location 28
Your own Home Exchange Web Site 29
Contact Between Members 30
Receiving Inquiries and Replies 32
Declining Inquiries 33
Your listed email address 34
Developing likely inquiries 34
References 35
A Written Agreement 36
Car Exchange 36
Sample Car Exchange Agreement 37
Payments 38
Pets 38
Watering Plants 38
Clarification 39
It's A Matter of Trust 39
Perfection rarely happens 40
Sample Home Exchange Agreement 42
The Next Step 46
Preparing Your Home 46
Family Treasures and Irreplaceable Items 47
Your Insurance 47
Pets 48
Your Home Exchange Book 48
Sample Home Exchange Book 50
Warning 60
My Ten Golden Home Exchange Rules 60
General Tips and Advice 61
In Conclusion 65

For anyone contemplating a home swap for the first time, this book has a wealth of information and valuable references. To obtain a copy of the Home Exchange Academy e-book from Green Theme International Home Exchange the cost is just GB£10.00 or Euros 14,50. GTI Home Exchange members based in the USA may obtain the e-book direct from Athena's Home Exchange Academy web-site.

Travel Insurance for longer term Home Exchange

Dear Kath

I like the new clean layout of the website.

Haven't been able to travel to NZ these past two years - 2 knee replacements! I am still not sure I am up to the walk to all those longhaul, far distant, departure gates just yet.

One matter has worried me, as I now exceed the age most insurance companies are keen to cover - travel insurance for longer periods. 20 odd mainline insurers didn't want to know, so it has been down to brokers only. My doctor suggested Help the Aged and their broker offered the best amount of £600 for three months; others quoted up to £1200. I also discovered that the price of air fares has rocketed since last going out to New Zealand in 2004 - with hardly any discounted business class fares these days, compared with the 90's.

I'm trying to achieve an exchange in Christchurch for next Spring, preferably three to six months. Something might 'turn up' for me in South Island, New Zealand, so I can visit not only my relatives there, but also the earlier exchange partners with whom I am still in regular touch.

Best regards
Godfrey HE12473

Kath's Note

If anyone can suggest other sources for competitive travel insurance quotes for the more elderly traveller and for longer periods, please let us know at Green Theme International Home Exchange.

Faire face au récent changement de présentation de GTI Home exchange

Bonjour,

Nous sommes inscrits sur votre site depuis mars dernier et avons d'ailleurs échangé notre maison cet été avec des Gallois. Belle expérience. En prévision de nos vacances d'été prochaines nous avons pris récemment contact avec deux autres inscrits sur votre site, des familles espagnoles cette fois. L'ennui c'est que, pour une raison qui nous échappe, ces deux membres nous ont répondu, l'un comme l'autre, qu'ils ne peuvent trouver notre maison sur le site. Pourtant, lorsque nous tapons notre code personnel HE19369, nous accédons bel et bien à notre annonce. Mystère... Serait-ce lié au récent changement de présentation de GTI Home exchange ? Merci de nous répondre et de nous indiquer la marche à suivre. Les deux contacts espagnols en question sont référencés chez GTI sous les numéros HE19361 et HE20114.
Cordialement
Fabien Bonnet

Réponse

Bonjour Fabien

Merci pour votre courrier e-mail sur les difficultés de contact que vous avez eu avec des deux inscrits espagnols qui ont répondu qu'ils ne peuvent trouver votre maison sur le site. Comme vous, lorsque je tappe votre code personnel, j'accéde à votre annonce sans aucune difficulté, même si je l'accéde avec les co-ordonnées des deux membres espagnols HE19361 et HE20114 et de leurs aréas administratifs personnel. De plus, en l'area administratif personnel de membre HE20114, vous êtes référencé dans sa liste de contacts récents. Je ne peux pas expliquer les problémes. Peut-être il serait lié au récent changement de présentation de GTI Home exchange, mais je ne pense pas que cela aurait duré longtemps.

Je pense que le mieux à faire sera que je me mets en contact avec les deux membres espagnols les invitants d'essayer de trouver votre annonce encore une fois, et de me repondre s'ils ne peuvent pas. Je vous tiens au courant.

A bientôt.

Kath Botterill

The New Look at GTI Home Exchange

The fact that I am able to recall Dior's postwar New Look probably reveals a little too much about my age, but nevertheless it seemed an appropriate link to make with the New Look on the Green Theme International Home Exchange web-site. Whilst I do not claim that the changes we have made will affect this niche travel area anything like as much as the New Look changed the image of fashion in the 50's and 60's, I feel that the ultimate result of our web-site upgrade gives GTI Home Exchange a much slicker image with a superb choice of home swap offers in a neat and concise format.

Change is always a little strange at first


The changes to the GTI Home Exchange site have been made to upgrade the database applications, and make the site more technically robust, whilst incorporating the new design to make the site even easier to use than before. However, change often brings in its wake a degree of instability for a very short time, and most people take a little while to adapt too, so do bear with us if you do find negotiating the site a little strange at first, and please let us know anything you find confusing or unclear.

Pets Welcome

You may recall recently the post from members who wanted to be able to find exchange homes where Pets were Welcome more easily, so that they might take their pets on holiday with them. We are pleased to tell you that as a result of the upgrade this option has now been added to the Membership Registration Form and pet friendly home swaps are indicated on the Summary Listings with a dog icon (looking happily and sentimentally like the silhouette of our own Golden Retrievers who both sadly died within four days of each some time ago).

GTI Home Exchange 'Pets Welcome' addition

Hi

Could I ask but do any of the owners allow dogs in their homes as I am a single person but would like to take my two dogs for company.

Heather

Hello Heather

Thank you for your email and your question about whether any owners allow dogs in their homes. Your question has come at the right time. We are about to introduce this option on our web-site as a result of an upgrade which is just about to be completed. A new symbol, 'Pets Welcome', will be added to the summary search results. Pets Welcome will appear on the membership form as an additional tick box option alongside the current Pet Care Offered and Pet Care Required options. The new option and symbol to easily identify homes where pets are welcome (once members start using it) is being added as a result of a GTI Home Exchange member request (many people like to take their pets on holiday, and more so in the future perhaps as many people may now choose to holiday within their own country in order to reduce their carbon footprint, and so to take pets along becomes much more feasible).

Whilst I cannot give you the exact date when the extra option 'Pets Welcome' will go on-line, it should be within the next week or two. Until that time, any members who are looking for exchanges where pets will be welcome so that they can take them with them, and are willing to accept them themselves, mention this in one of their Summaries about their home, surrounding area, interests etc. But the new option will soon make it much easier to identify and extract these exchange offers.

I hope that we shall have the pleasure of welcoming you as a member of Green Theme International Home Exchange in the near future. If you register before the end of August you will benefit from our summer promotion when the membership subscription is reduced from GB£25.00 to GB£21.00 or Euro equivalent. I will endeavour to remember to drop you another line as soon as the Pets Welcome option becomes operational.

Yours sincerely
Kath Botterill
Green Theme International Home Exchange

Caveat Home Exchanger

It would appear from the number of home exchange clubs now in existence that the home exchange sector of the travel industry is expanding, but with this expansion we would encourage you to be even more diligent when selecting your home exchange partners. Whilst the great majority of people participating in home exchange are conscientious caring people and their home exchanges are entirely successful (as evidenced by the many testimonials that we receive), the world is not perfect and there is always a small minority who will spoil things for others.

Points that have recently come to our notice to beware of are:

Abuse of listings information.

As we mention in our Welcome Message when you join GTI Home Exchange, solicitations to members of any other kind other than home exchange or for any commercial purpose are strictly forbidden. If you should get an enquiry from anyone who appears to be promoting another home exchange agency or other commercial venture, please forward this to us for investigation.

Inaccurate or vague description of location of exchange property

Occasionally people may choose to be economical with the truth and deliberately vague when locating their exchange property. If you suspect that this is the case early on you probably will not wish to follow up this exchange possibility, but if it is in a location you really want to visit, you might. If the vagueness about their 'precise area' continues when you are getting nearer to confirmation of an exchange arrangement, be sure to obtain their exact address before you confirm, locate them on Google maps, and check out if they are anywhere near any well-known landmarks or places of interest that you may wish to visit.

Once you have the exact address you can also check out the neighbourhood for levels of crime in the area. Search for crime and the name of the exchanger's home area on the relevant Google search engine.

Home Exchange Switch

As you know, at GTI Home Exchange members are allowed to list 'rental' ONLY as a supplementary alternative to 'home exchange'. The system is not intended for the advertisement of commercial holiday rentals, for which we provide a completely separate site, Holiday Homes Direct. If you make an enquiry in response to a listing which appears to match your co-ordinates in terms of length of exchange and dates, which immediately receives a negative answer to an exchange offer, but suggests a rental proposition instead, or even directs you to a commercial rental web-site, please let us know. The situation is most likely to arise in relation to listings which are for second or vacation homes. At GTI we do not wish to restrict the listings of second homes as this gives more flexibility for non-simultaneous exchanges to take place. However if we receive a number of complaints about the same listing which is suspected to be guilty of the 'home exchange switch' phenomenon, we will investigate.

If you feel that the 'rental offered' option should not be allowed at all on home exchange clubs web-sites, please add a comment to this post and let us know your views.

The objective of this post is not to put people off home exchange, but to increase the confidence and mutual respect between Green Theme International Home Exchange and First Home Exchange Alliance members. To help us in our endeavours to make home exchange as safe and enjoyable as possible for participants in the future as it has been in the past, please take the trouble to complete our Exchange Feedback Form after your exchange. We look forward to hearing from you.

Memoirs of a GTI Home Exchange Globetrotting Pensioner

Hello Kath,

Many thanks for your welcome email, and bearing in mind the passage of time (over 12 years)? and number of folks who pass through your system I envy your memory, I have difficulty in remembering folks I have met in the last 3 years. Looking back on old papers I think I must have registered with you early in 1995 prior to my cycle ride across the USA. That started on 1st May, lasted 6 weeks and covered 3,800 miles made many friends and raised £8000 for a children's hospice in Wales.

When I returned to the UK after that trip in July 95 there were a number of exchange offers from around the world in my mail. Arising from that I went to Canada the following year (May 96) for 2 exchanges of 4 weeks each. Then in September of that year I spent 6 months (with my cycle) in Australia where I had 4 exchanges around the country meeting up with cycling clubs and clocking up another 3000 miles. It was whilst I was in Australia that I read an advert in an American cycling magazine for the ultimate cycling trip in 2000 which is what my website is all about, although that now badly needs updating.

I think my family were hoping that the 2000 trip would get the travel bug out of my system. I have to say it made it worse, as the following year I did a ride down the west coast of the US from Canada to Mexico ( I was in Vancouver Island on 9/11) . Then over the next 5 years I have undertaken organised cycling tours in France, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Brazil (with 3 trips to the last 2 ) and last year the most difficult challenge was an organised ride in Tibet covering 1000 kilometres from Lasha to Kathmandu.

Having moved to Wales from Bath in 1975 with my job where I retired in July 93 I felt I should relocate, but my travels kept getting in the way of those plans. I eventually put my Cottage in the Vale of Glamorgan on the market in 2004. This was eventually sold in August of last year whist I was in Brazil for 2 months. In the meantime I met Dorothy a widow (4 years my junior) who does not cycle but enjoys long distance walking so whilst I still try to spend time on 2 wheels a minor change in my lifestyle has now arisen.

Hence the reason for getting back into home exchange where we can both indulge in our respective pastime. As you will gather we are booked for a 7 weeks trip to South Africa commencing next January, unfortunately there was a report in the Telegraph last week end that due to an increase in crime there has been a big drop in tourism in SA so we hope it will not affect us.

Finally you did ask if I had any experience from my previous exchanges that I would like to pass on for your web-log, not sure if it will be of interest but there is one couple from Australia who I did an exchange with in 96, they came back to my cottage in 2002 and Dorothy & I spent a very pleasant 2 weeks at their Queensland home in Feb. of this year. There is more to add to that experience but if you think it will go down please let me know and I will prepare something.

What I now have to do is try and get some photograhs on to my listing. I am incidently pleasantly surprised at the level of subscription for GTI compared to other agencies in home exchange. No doubt there are more folks into home exchange compared to 96 but am sure I was paying more then than now ? is there another expense I have overlooked ?

best wishes
sincerely
Arthur

A Time to Travel, A Time to Stay

From time to time members contact us to say that they are not in a position to offer their home for exchange this year for one reason or another. Moving home, settling into a new job, renovating the house, or care responsibilities are among a multitude of reasons why people sometimes have to sacrifice their precious travelling time. For these people it is not the end but merely a temporary lull in their travelling days. So it is always a particularly sad moment when a long standing GTI Home Exchange member contacts us to say that they will not be renewing their membership because of ill health. "Unfortunately, we can't travel this coming year because of a health problem. So we shall not renew our membership. We have appreciated your organisation and helpful kindness. Kind regards, Louise C, France."

We wish anyone in this situation a speedy recovery, but time does eventually catch up with all of us when we no longer feel able to travel or it is simply not a pleasure any more. Then is the time to sit back and reflect on your globetrotting years, the friends you have made, the wonderful home exchange travel experiences you have been fortunate enough to enjoy, and to appreciate the pleasures of your own home.

At other times Green Theme International Home Exchange finds itself the victim of its own success, with members not renewing their membership because they do not need to. In reply to our renewal reminder letter, Wolfgang wrote: "I would like to renew my membership, but at the moment have so many exchange requests, that I would rather make a break of about a year before I resubscribe. Is that at all possible? Thanks for your help, it's a great page. Plus I would now like to subscribe to the rental page; what should I do? Wolfgang P, Austria"

Of course it is a member's perogative to take a break from membership. Rest assured that we shall be only too pleased to welcome you back whenever is appropriate. And to subscribe to our rental page, Wolfgang just needs to visit: http://www. holiday-homes-direct.com

Home and Dry with Home Exchange

Summer may appear to be on hold this year, and the weather may be wet, wet, wet, with Britain and most of Europe experiencing its worst June/July for decades, but home exchangers, as long as they are not in the worst affected areas, can be home and dry. Not for them the experience of being cooped up in a less-than-generous hotel room with little or nothing to distract them from watching the falling rain. To date we have not heard of anyone's home exchange arrangements having been ruined by the unseasonal and inclement weather, and we seriously hope that this is the case.

Of course, our sympathies go out to those people in the worst affected areas of central England near Sheffield, and eastern England near the city of Hull which people are beginning to call the 'forgotten city' so little apparently having been done to help them alleviate the affects of the floods.

It would appear that some areas of Europe have fared better than others, Greece in particular experiencing a minor canicule with soaring temperatures, and high pressure stationary over the Azores, apparently contributing to low pressure affecting the rest of Europe.

Hopefully there is still time for summer to get under way and for those of us who have been deprived our little bit of comforting sunshine, a gentle late Indian Summer would be ideal.

Home Exchange Last Minute

Unless GTI Home Exchange members are seriously overlooking the option to add the tag "Exchange Request Fulfilled" to their listing as Bob and Jan have done on their listing HE19401 there are still many wonderful exchange opportunities available for the months of July and August. I know that we constantly repeat that exchangers should try to plan ahead and not arrange their exchanges in a hurry at the last minute to give themselves plenty of time to get to know their exchange partners, but if you have been prevented from contemplating an exchange until now for one reason or another, you have not yet "missed the boat" (excuse the cliché) and there is still plenty of choice.

For last minute exchanges it is probably wise to not be over ambitious and limit your choice to within your own continent or country rather than contemplating long-haul, but this still offers plenty of scope. To cover all corners since new members are registering daily, look at both the Hot List of Newest Listings as well as the Last Minute Offers list for exchange availability.

Whilst I would not wish to encourage members to emulate "Shirley Valentine", you could still get away to an idyllic Greek island, listing HE19898 in Skiathos Island,













locate a break in Italy in an apartment in Giuncarico, Tuscany, listing HE19911,














or a house in Morleschio, Umbria, HE19917.













Other Last Minute locations include a cottage in SINT-KATELIJNE-WAVER, BELGIUM - HE19428, or an Anglo-Swedish family in Stockholm HE18197who have a very specific destination request for North Yorkshire, preferably Beverly, Guisborough, and Bedale.


Wishing you happy hunting and happy home exchange.

Choosing your Home Exchange Club

With the plethora of home exchange clubs now in existence choosing the right club must be daunting to anyone considering participating in the world of home exchange travel for the first time. At one time the name of the club was all important to differentiate itself from others, but with so many new clubs struggling to include the words "home" and "exchange" in their web-addresses to optimise their search engine results, all the club URLs are now very similar, leading to a degree confusion. Some might claim that the more clubs there are, the greater the home exchange opportunities for all, but this is not necessarily the case for a number of reasons which I will try to clarify below.

As far as I can ascertain the number of home exchangers is not growing exponentially as fast as the number of home exchange clubs. As the home exchange market matures, just as copies are made of branded goods and offered at a much reduced price, so many of the new clubs are simply copying the style and format of long-established clubs, but whilst imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, because they need to grow a client base rapidly many choose to offer their services free of charge.

Now 'free' may seem to be good on the surface, but dig a little more deeply and you may begin to question if this is so. People who are not really serious about home exchange may register for free on the spur of the moment with a free club. Members who have paid for their listings with other established clubs may register with a number of the free clubs to spread their net more widely - we often receive communications from people who have forgotten which clubs they have actually registered with and so confusion reigns. Far more important considerations than whether or not the club is offering 'free' membership are whether or not their members' exchange success rate is high; whether their members are pro-active in seeking exchanges ie they do not just sit back and wait for offers; whether they have satisfied members ie their members renew their membership year on year.

What is really worrying about the new clubs offering 'free' membership for a limited period is that they may be here today, appear to succeed for a while, and be gone tomorrow when they discover that it takes much more time, comittment, energy and investment than they ever imagined to launch a successful home exchange club. If this is a potential exchangers first encounter with home exchange and they do not manage to arrange an exchange through such a club before it disappears they may be lost to the concept of home exchange travel for ever.

Now, from the above, you may think that the aim is to eliminate new competition. This is not so. Fair competition keeps us all on our toes. But some clubs are not always ethical - they have been known to register with other clubs under false names or email addresses in order to gain access to contact information so that they may solicit other clubs' members, or to try to poach other club's representatives.

As far as the more established clubs are concerned, some are consolidating by collaboration with or acquisition of other smaller clubs. Others choose to play the numbers game (a stance encouraged by journalists who always want to know how many listings a club has without regard to whether the listings are balanced, how long they have been in circulation with join and expiry dates shown, whether the numbers include rental offers too etc.) Others have extended the periods of membership offered, even including lifetime membership (one wonders how current these lifetime membership listings are). Others, of which Green Theme International Home Exchange is one, aim to provide the very best of services by constantly upgrading their web-sites and introducing innovative features.

So to return to the initial question, how to choose your home exchange club. The answer, of course, is with care. Study a club's web-site in depth, see if you like their proposition, the clarity of the information provided, and get a feel for the people behind it from the style of their communication.

• Be prepared to pay a modest subscription for the privilege of membership.
  
• Ascertain whether the club has built up a good reputation, been around a long time, been recommended by others, including the press/media?
  
• Is privacy important to you? If so, choose a closed site, open to members only, that has no visible contact information.
  
• Where do you live and where do you want to go? Most established clubs have worldwide listings, but some clubs may be stronger in particular areas than others.
  
• Some clubs offer a Reverse Search feature: which allows an exchanger to look for other exchangers who are interested in coming to their location.
  
• Do you have specific needs for your home exchange: eg pet care required, disabled access etc? Choose a club with Advanced Search features which enable you to select listings matching your specific criteria.
  

We hope, of course, that you will choose Green Theme International Home Exchange as your home exchange club.
You can rest assured that we will try to live up to your expectations.

Go Green with The Trainline European and International rail travel

In the GTI Home Exchange blog article Going Green on Home Exchange published in February, we suggested that for non-intercontinental travel it is a good idea to let the train take the strain because this produces fare less carbon emissions than other forms of transport. The drawback was that travel by train tends to be expensive, but passes are available which help reduce the costs. Eurail passes aren’t only good for slower, state-run trains. Customers also have access to privately owned, premier, high-speed trains in the countries their passes cover. For example, there’s Artesia between Italy and France; Thalys in Germany, Belgium, and France; and the Eurostar between England and France. Pass holders do need to pay a small fee for a seat reservation.

For United Kingdom based GTI Home Exchange members, TheTrainline have announced that they now offer European and International rail travel. Whether it’s an InterRail pass for backpacking through Europe or a luxury holiday in Australia they can cater for all international rail needs. See below for what’s included.

COMPETITION
To celebrate TheTrainline have teamed up with Rail Europe to offer 2 pairs of tickets* to one of the following destinations – Paris, Lille, Brussels, Calais or Disneyland Resort Paris®. To win simply email competitions@thetrainline.com with your answer to the following question:

Q. What is the capital of France?
- London
- Sydney
- Paris

Good luck and happy travelling!

THETRAINLINE EUROSTAR DEALS
Travel to Lille, Paris or Brussels and take in the delights of those beautiful cities.

Lille from £55pp
Paris from £59pp
Brussels from £59pp

INTERNATIONAL RAIL
Try out the new InterRail pass. Choose a single country or a global pass.

Europe rail pass
One country from £24**

USA passes
USA Amtrak Rail passes from £90**

Australia passes
Australia rail passes from £44**

UK based GTI members may book their Eurostar deal tickets or International rail passes from our Travel Partners page at TheTrainline.

Handy Home Exchange Hints

We have come a long way since the days when members joining GTI Home Exchange received directories containing worldwide home exchange offers and pages of advice on how to arrange a successful exchange which they could browse over at leisure. .

With the move to the internet as the base of operations, some things such as easy communication with prospective exchange partners have become much easier, as has our ability to provide more help and guidance to members. As much as we try to avoid falling into the trap of providing information overload, it is inevitable that the more we try to improve our service, the more sophisticated the system becomes and therefore the more guidance is necessary to enable members to make the most of the facilities available to them.

When I received an email earlier this week I realised that for some members with little time to spare in their busy lives, it is all too easy to miss that vital piece of information that could make setting up their home exchange so much easier. Davina wrote: "Hi, we have a house swap arranged for August - this will be our
first swap. Our guests will be coming from USA. Can you give us some tips on what we do to our home etc to make their holiday enjoyable. Thanks Davina"

Davina had obviously missed our Exchange Guidelines which are available by clicking on the menu link in the Members’ Area.

Similarly, when a new member joins, the Administrator’s message in the Member Admin Area may seem daunting, but it is there to help and I would advise a new member to try to spare a little time to read it through.

I hope that the web-log topic headings on the righthand side of the GTI Home Page will also attract attention to the subject of Handy Home Exchange Hints. America’s Fine Living TV web-site magazine includes a reference to GTI Home Exchange: Advice and Recommendations on taking a Home Exchange Holiday in their Fine Living Essentials articles, Introduction to Home Exchange, Selecting a Home Exchange, and Home Exchange Guests. Thank you Fine Living.

Accessible travel with Holiday Homes Direct

Mablethorpe, ENGLAND
6 Berth disabled caravan, 2 bedrooms, on Haven Caravan site, all mod coms microwave, sandwhich maker, t.v. dvd player and some dvds surrounding area flat, access to all areas for wheelchairs.....

Time travel on Home Exchange

Over the years I have become aware that many a GTI Home Exchange member's motivation to embark on a home exchange is often the desire to return to their roots or trace their ancestry. Members will travel from Australia, New Zealand and Canada to Scotland and Norway for example, from the US to Italy and so on.

I have always been amazed by the diversity of homes that are offered for exchange ranging from one person studios, to cottages and suburban homes through the whole spectrum to great mansions and on the rare occasions even castles and chateaux. For some people though it is not the home which is the prime consideration, but the location, as the appeal is history itself. So, for example, a small loft in Paris could be all you need to follow the Da Vinci trail, an apartment in Rome to soak up the wonders of the eternal city,

a nice atelier, with a mezzanine in a Venitian palazzo in the historic center of Venice,

or a home in Cracow, Poland, sadly perhaps because of its close proximity to the concentration camp Aushwitz-Birkenau.








Moving further afield, the Curates House in Speightstown, St Peter Barbados is a wonderfully historic Caribbean home having all the comforts you could want whilst retaining a genuine Caribbean charm.


And finally, to bring us back to the future a spacious, detached ex-farmhouse
situated on the outskirts of the holiday town of Bude on the North Cornwall coast, would allow a visit to the acclaimed Eden Project, with its climate biospheres which recently hosted The Sexy Green Car show.

Home Exchange and Pets

One of the great attractions of a home exchange holiday for many people is that when listing their offer on a home exchange web-site, they can request simple pet care for their pets from their home exchange partners. Care of a variety of animals has been requested on the GTI Home Exchange web-site in the past although usually the pets involved are cats and dogs. As not everyone wants to be tied down to pet care, this may limit potential home exchange partners, but for some, particularly families with children, having pets included as part of a home exchange is a welcome bonus.

However, some people do not have pets and would not wish to visit homes where there are animals, perhaps for allergy reasons or simply because they are not used to caring for animals. In order to try and meet every requirement our membership registration form gives people the opportunity to indicate in the Conditions of the Exchange the variations on the subject of pets by clicking on the various boxes: No Pets allowed (perhaps for allergy reasons, as mentioned above, or because their homes are not suited to pets), Pet care required and Pet care offered, and on our Advanced Search page people may search for exchanges where Pet care is offered.

But it would seem that there is always one more variation that we ought to include, and as yet do not. I recently received an email from a prospective member saying “we have been swapping for a few years now – but I was concerned that you don’t have an icon for ‘pets accepted’. It means that I have to search each property and view all of their text/info before knowing if pets are allowed whereas an icon, alongside the property itself (as with children – pensioners etc) can be seen at a glance. Would this not be possible?”

I agree with Ron, not only because I think it is a very good suggestion, but for another reason too! As more and more people are becoming aware of the damage we have been collectively causing to the environment, there is a growing trend for many individuals and families to want to do their bit to reduce their impact on the planet by reducing their frequency of air travel and choosing to take their holidays within their own country, perhaps opting to travel to their destination by public transport too if possible. This prompts the thought that if people are spending their holiday within their own country they might wish to take their pets with them more often, particularly their dogs who are usually so much part of the family, and who can become very stressed and melancholy even if left in the care of kind strangers for only a short time.

It would seem therefore that prospective member, Ron’s, suggestion of an icon indicating “Pets welcome/accepted” is a suggestion which should be seriously considered. I have put the proposal to our associate agency members of FHEA ( First Home Exchange Alliance), and hope to arrive at a positive decision in favour. However, the immediate reaction from one of our associate colleagues has been that we have enough icons already. Failing agreement on the inclusion of another icon with our FHEA partner agencies, at the very least we could change the negative condition "No Pets" showing on the full listing, to Pets welcome/accepted, and include this as an Advanced Search option.

Hospitality Exchange – What exactly is it?

Until I received an email this week asking the above question, I had thought that the concept of hospitality exchange was a comparatively simple one: ie that you host a guest and the guest reciprocates at another time. But when I began to think about it a little more I realised that there could be any number of levels of hospitality exchange; for example from the simple offer of a bed for the night or a specified period of several nights, to bed and breakfast, bed breakfast and evening meal, or full board accommodation for a specified time. Some people might wish to take the concept even further and escort their guests to places of interest in their area, cultural events, sporting activities and so on.

Therefore I think that the aim with hospitality exchange would be to “do as you would be done by”: in other words to try to offer a fair exchange at whatever level of hospitality might be agreed upon.

GTI Home Exchange listing HE19750 is an example of a very generous hospitality exchange offer, where your hosts would be willing to show you throughout Arizona and the American West.

GTI Last Minute Home Exchange offers

Hello Green Theme,



We haven't anything organised for this summer yet. Could you put our property on the "last minute" part of the site? Many thanks for all your help. Tom Hunter.

Hi Tom

Yes, I will do that for you, but for future reference you can do this yourself. You just need to login to your own member area using your email address and password, and then click on the hyperlink "Boost my Profile". I will also include an item link to your GTI Home Exchange listing HE10545 in the weblog, which may bring you some more enquiries.

It is also worth adding for the benefit of new GTI Home Exchange members that 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). We rely on members to respect these terms and only place themselves on this list as appropriate so that the Last Minute feature can be a really useful tool for members still searching for an exchange.

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 all the listings thoroughly , including the Last Minute offers still available, and contacting members with your own exchange offer). Note: once the feature is 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 (in red) each time you log on). (On occasions members mistake this information to mean that this is the total length of their membership subscription remaining, but it merely refers to the length of time their listing will remain on the Last Minute list.) Once the month has expired if you wish to remain on the Last Minute Offers list, you will have to login to your member area and click on the hyperlink Boost my Profile again to be placed on the list for a further 28 days.

Very best regards.

Kath
Green Theme International Home Exchange
http://www.gti-home-exchange.com
email: gthomeexchange@btinternet.com

GTI Home Exchange blog resumes publication

Regular readers of the GTI Home Exchange blog may have thought that I have been figuratively 'struck dumb' owing to the lack of posts during April, or that I had become lost for words. But this was not so! On returning to our French location, we were happy to find that we were now able to benefit from a highspeed internet connection in our village, something which we had sorely missed before. We promptly signed up for the service, but then our troubles began. Our landline was cut automatically (as we anticipated according to the terms of the contract), but our ADSL service provider was unable to re-establish the connection of our line. It appears that we have been at the mercy of two major telecommunications suppliers who are not able to agree between them on the terms of provision of the service, and as a result, we the customer, have been caught in the middle. I am pleased to report that we are now back in action and I have posted this brief item by way of apology for the interruption to the continuity of the GTI Home Exchange blog and our email customer service. I am happy to say that at no time did the telecommunications problem affect the operation of the GTI Home Exchange web-site.

Who's seeking a Home Exchange at Christmas?

Who would have thought that I could be so audacious (or mad even?) to mention Christmas in March. But at GTI Home exchange I have always been keen to encourage people to plan their holidays well in advance, especially if it involves long-haul travel and more than once in past issues of the GTI Newsletter have I emphasised that it is the 'early bird' that catches not the 'worm' but the exceptional home exchange opportunity.

So, when GTI Home Exchange member, Bruno, HE17670, renewed his membership today mentioning "Our aim in this home exchange is for our family to have another Northern Hemisphere Christmas in a new and interesting area", I thought that it was time to make the point again. If you're looking to spend Christmas in warmer climes or perhaps meet up with family in Perth, Western Australia, do take a look at this fantastic offer. Only 269 days to go and counting!!!

GTI Spring Newsletter

The Spring issue of the Green Theme International on-line Newsletter is now available. The GTI ezine is published to keep current and recent members, enquirers, Newsletter subscribers and journalists informed of developments on the GTI Home Exchange web-site.

We are publishing just a few days later than the official commencement of Spring. This is quite an achievement as we have just moved back into our home after a six months absence with all the re-organisation that this entails. It is amazing how much you can accumulate and have to find new homes for in so short a time.

In this issue:

-- GTI Home Exchange Survey

-- Web-site Enhancements

-- Very Specific Home Exchange Requests

-- Home Exchange in Winter Sports Destinations

-- Featuring a Green Home Exchange

.

Swap Homes, Cars and Wild Birds?!!

Yes, I am talking about the feathered variety. For the last six months we exchanged our home in mid South-West France for a cottage high up on Cartmel Fell in the English Lake District. The cottage was just above the cottage in which Arthur Ransome lived and wrote his children’s books, the most famous of which is Swallows and Amazons. It was easy to see where Mr Ransome got his inspiration as the view from the top of the Tor just behind our cottage, on a good day, was incredible.
But as autumn faded into winter and the wet weather prevailed the mists closed in and we were often lucky if we could see more than ten yards ahead.

Surrounded on the Fell by sheep, bullocks, badgers, pheasants, the odd hare or two, and many other creatures, we soon discovered that a very handsome pheasant, although nervous of us at first, seemed to think that this was his territory. As the weather deteriorated poor Frederick as we named him would appear looking very forlorn and bedraggled. It wasn’t long before we took pity on him and offered a few titbits, nuts, seeds, and homemade bread. Obviously to his liking he began to makea daily visit to see what was on offer, becoming so bold as to eat out of our hands, a particular favourite of his being cold chips. He would even enter the cottage if the door was left inadvertently open.

Well, I know that dogs are very intelligent animals, and cats even more so judging by the way that they are able to twist their owners round their little paws, but when Frederick took to visiting three times a day at breakfast, lunch and tea-time, knocking on the door with his beak to let us know he wanted feeding, or jumping up on the windowsill and croaking to attract attention, we were amazed! Were we really at the 'peck and call' of a pheasant?! (Excuse the pun!)

When the time came for us finally to leave the cottage, we were happy that it was almost the first day of spring, as we felt that Fred should have a relatively easy time fending for himself and we comforted ourselves with the thought that the new residents would surely respond to his forthright requests should the need arise!

Accessible travel the Home Exchange Way

As regular readers of the GTI Home Exchange blog will be aware, we have illustrated before how home exchange can make the world more accessible for people with limited mobility or other disabilities. In the past members have written telling us how well they coped when undertaking significant journeys such as between UK and Australia, or Canada, accompanied by their scooters, confident in the knowledge that when they arrived at their destination they would find a home that met their specialist needs.

It is always gratifying to learn that the word about home exchange is spreading, and particularly so when it reaches those people with special requirements to whom it can make such a difference and perhaps allow them to take that trip or holiday they have always dreamed of. We were therefore delighted to learn that an article about home exchange appeared in the March issue of the French magazine Faire Face, published by the French Association for the Paralysed, which selected GTI Home Exchange as being one of the most helpful to paraplegic exchangers seeking accommodation with compatible exchange partners. Nos lecteurs français peuvent lire l'article dans le magazine Faire Face, "Séjours: pretez-vous à l'échange?".

Homes which are accessible for disabled people are indicated in the GTI Home Exchange listings with a wheelchair pictogram. Advanced Search criteria allow the listings for homes with Disabled Access/Facilities to be found, and a Free text search can be used for more specific criteria such as 'wheelchair', 'ramp' 'hoist' etc. So please, if you are listing a home which has very specialised equipment to offer, be sure to include as much detail as possible in either the 'Description of the exchange property' or 'Information on the exchange party' fields when completing the membership registration form so that others who are seeking an accessible home are aware of what it has to offer.

GTI Home Exchange can help you take that dream holiday, stay longer, spend less and live like a local! Overseas accessible travel with no surprises...
the way you imagined it should be.

Learning your Home Exchange Partner's Language

Learn to speak the Language to make the most of your Home Exchange

GTI Home Exchange takes pride in being a multi-lingual home exchange agency and encourages members to use their language skills when communicating with each other. If you are prepared to make an effort and can learn just a little of your exchange partner's language, it will make all the difference to the rapport that you can build up whilst getting to know them and making your home exchange arrangements. The BBC provides some excellent on-line language learning videos with methods and materials which not only rapidly improve your language skills, but what's more, actually make learning a language fun. The courses include videos, quizzes, games whilst at the same time helping you to improve your vocabulary and grammar along the way. Take a look!

Retirement Travel : a possible dream

Every day I seem to come across new blogs on home exchange: one of the most interesting I have read recently has been retirement travel : a possible dream. The blog, written by Pat and Lew Weinstein who reside in Key West, Florida, contains a mine of information both about home exchange and the possibilities of spending part of your retirement in another country - in this instance France. They write about how they found their apartment in a seaside village in the South of France and use it as a base for home exchange travel all over Europe. But not only is their residence in France part-time, it would seem that for Lew, an author, retirement is part-time too as he has just published his book "The Heretic" which is receiving acclaim reviews.

Going Green on Home Exchange

Now that global warming and environmental issues have moved from being issues of concern for the conscientious few to being seen as a major issue of persuasion in the political arena, it is hoped that more effective policies for sustainable development will emerge, and with more urgency than they have received over the last twenty years or so.

Launching and administering Green Theme International Home Exchange over that last twenty years has shown that home (or hospitality) exchange is gaining favour with those who are concerned about the negative impact of package holidays and the tourism industry on the environment and the social fabric of local communities.

But, you will say, people still have to reach their destinations, and travel involving the burning of fossil fuels is one of the major contributors to global warming. It is true that most of us travel to international destinations by aircraft and they are serious polluters. Whilst you may not think there is much you can do other than to stop travelling, you could consider calculating your carbon dioxide flight emissions and paying an equivalent voluntary carbon neutral tax as suggested at the Carbon Neutral Company site.

Another suggestion for non-intercontinental travel is to let the train take the strain. Travelling by train produces fare less carbon emissions than other forms of transport. However, travel by train does tend to be expensive, but you can RIDE THE RAILS FOR LESS! if you buy a pass. Eurail passes aren’t only good for slower, state-run trains. Customers also have access to privately owned, premier, high-speed trains in the countries their passes cover. For example, there’s Artesia between Italy and France; Thalys in Germany, Belgium, and France; and the Eurostar between England and France. Pass holders do need to pay a small fee for a seat reservation.

For more train travel advice see Telegraph travel journalist Sophie Butler's article European railways are a far cry from our own - and new passes will make exploring them even more attractive.

Tickets and passes For more information on tickets and passes contact Rail Europe (08708 304862; www.raileurope.co.uk) or visit the Travel Centre at 178 Piccadilly, London W1. For planning itineraries see the Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable – Independent Travellers’ Edition (published quarterly at £15.99). Contact Thomas Cook Publishing (01733 416477; www.thomascookpublishing.com). Details about the new TGV line are available at www.tgvesteuropeen.com.

Cars and other motor vehicles are major contributors to greenhouse gases and other pollutants because, traditionally, they burn fossil fuels. The condition worsens daily with detrimental consequences to the earth's fauna and flora. If you are unable to consider travelling by train, and you have a choice of what vehicle you use, or which car you choose to hire, try to use vehicles which rely less on fossil fuels and instead burn a proportion of renewable fuels. Comprehensive information about which cars can be considered the most green is available at the following web page.

If you want to access more information about caring for the environment, Envocare is one of the best sites I have come across for impartial non-commercial information on the topic. The site was “conceived as a central source of data on environmental issues by a small group of individuals, with backgrounds in the electronics and IT disciplines, who wish to encourage the preservation and improvement of the environment”. Their philosophy is pragmatic. “To encourage change it's got to be an easy process, or maybe we won't bother. Also we believe that it is better to be Light Green than not Green at all. Perhaps with encouragement we can evolve painlessly from Light to Darker shades of Green".

Also see Untangling the Global Warming Paradox", Guardian Unlimited article on Monday 12 February 2007, and the great comment by the Sceptic Optimist.

Around the World on Home Exchange

Or at least half-way!! Who would have thought it possible?

But when I think back, years ago, former GTI member Arthur Benbow, a widower, cycled the length of Australia visiting six states consecutively interspersed with home exchanges for his home in Wales. The last I heard of Arthur was that he was planning a charity cycle ride across America. Unfortunately I haven’t heard from Arthur for some years now, so I doubt that he is still on his travels.

Heather, who featured in my last blog item, achieved 9 consecutive exchanges, visiting Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Scotland (2), England, France (2), Italy and Malta, and people were so amazed that she was able to arrange so many exchanges that she decided to write a ‘how to’ book..

Even a half-way round the world trip is not beyond Charles it seems, who sent us the following notes: “We planned half world trip, usually (ie Melbourne) based in one place, then travelling on exchange friendships, exchange hospitality, and rarely (Bali) low rental: we covered the entire east coast of oz in 04...up and back, sailed the barrier reef, etc...


Exchanges serve us best as a base for about one month...thereafter cheap travel. Not all our exchanges originate on the web site, sometimes from conversations with others when we travel.

Our quietest was in Devon, River Dart, and our most exhilarating was Venice...








HE14404 An apartment in Venice currently on the GTI Web-site

Second homes serve best for us: people should know they exchange home for home, (to be respected) not like for like. We get about six enquiries a month for our city centre (Granada) house...

We would, maybe, go back to Australia for a fifth time...but it’s a pity the exchange idea hasn’t caught on yet in South America! When we go off for several months, we would like our time to be about fifty /fifty on exchange bases, or cheap travel. I reply to every enquiry (many are polite "no" s!) as a matter of principle. We place a high value on both our homes, and have so far not rented them out, which seems to me to be a very different proposition. In future our exchanges may be more precisely directed towards waterside exchanges... for our boating activities.
I applaud the exchange principle,

Regards.........Charles

I feel obliged to add that it is probably almost essential to enlist the help of friends or family when proposing to undertake consecutive exchanges, so that there is always someone on hand to deal with the handover and any problems that may arise during a long absence, and also to ensure that housekeeping standards are being maintained, sometimes perhaps requiring professional cleaning services to be employed. Apart from these provisos, with time, initiative and energy on your side, the world’s your oyster!

Travel the Home Exchange Way

Former GTI Home Exchange member Heather (HE15595) recently wrote telling us of her 9 consecutive exchanges in 2005. She writes “I am currently completing a book about the experience from an Aussie's point of view combining a 'travel diary' and a 'how to' section. GTI features prominently as THE best exchange site!. Plus we had some brilliant experiences.”

“We live in a rural area of South Australia, probably the least visited state (many exchangees hadn't even heard of Adelaide) so it was difficult enticing people at first until I hit on a few ways to make our destination attractive. We don't all live in Sydney! There seems to be no books on the market (apart from one - poorly written in my honest opinion - American one) and I'm keen to address the shortfall. And most Aussies we met during our six months overseas, were extremely interested in the idea of home exchange, wanting to know how I organised so many and how to do it themselves. Eventually I said flippantly to one couple in Florence: "I'll write a book when we get home!". And I have.”

“My draft book is 'doing the rounds' of everyone I know for their comments before having it professionally edited. I have been to a couple of Workshops on 'travel writing' and 'getting your work published' so am fairly familiar with the process. Then - the hard part - it just has to appeal to a publisher! “

“If that proves impossible, it will be a good yarn to pass down to our grandchildren.”

“The working title is "Way to Stay"; I'll keep you informed of what's happening.”

So good luck, Heather, we hope a publisher soon snatches up your work for publication.


We currently have 238 listings in Australia, admittedly not so many of them in South Australia, so why not support Heather in putting South Australia firmly on the home exchange map?

Home Exchange Enquiries by Email

If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again!

A recent message from new member Sue in New Zealand HE18885, who was concerned at not receiving replies to her email enquiries, has prompted me to address the problem of non-response again. It is so disappointing for a new member who is all enthusiastic to join the home exchange community to find that she is not getting any replies, not even a kindly 'No thank you, we've already arranged our exchange', or 'We cannot venture so far this time'.
HE18885

If you don't have a valid email address in your member profile, then you won't get full use of your membership and you may be the one who is missing out! Check and double check your email address to make sure it is correct. Login to your member area on the GTI-Home-Exchange.com site, go to your own listing and send yourself a test email to make sure everything is working and that email is getting through your own SPAM filters and 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.

Also, please check your SPAM and BULK email folders regularly, especially those who use EARTHLINK, HOTMAIL, YAHOO or BT YAHOO, just in case your ISPs spam filter is being over zealous. Some services are very tough on email, and there could be many times when a member has sent you an email which ended up in your bulk email folder but you won't have any idea unless you CHECK there regularly. As our contact enquiry form is sent via the server "mail2.ramesystravel.co.uk" check whether this is being flagged as a spam address and blocked.

And finally, if you suspect that your messages are not getting through using our email contact form, try sending your message via the member's email address hyperlink beside the member's name which uses your own email server to send the message and put their address in your "safe" contacts. Unfortunately this does mean that you will not have a record of the enquiries you have sent in the Recently contacted List in your Member Admin area.

Sue, who has been experiencing an email problem, now uses the alternative Email mode and just lists the people that she writes to in her safe contact list, just in case they had previously been scanned and deleted by hot mail. As she says,"At least I have had an acknowledgement now of my enquiry from another member."

So do be positive, we cannot allow spammers and the like to spoil what has been a wonderful contact facility for arranging home exchange holidays.