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.