Home Exchange Travel

Invite Family and Friends to Discover the World of Home Exchange for Only £5 a Year

2011-06-16T02:27:00.000+01:00

Invite Family and Friends to Discover the World of Home Exchange for Only £5 a Year

Buy a membership and invite up to 4 members of your family and/or friends to join for a year for 5 pounds each.

Your friend/family must fill out the membership form to have their own listing. Do not try to add them to your listing; this will only cause you to have a second listing. They must select Plan 1. They will receive 80% off their one year subscription by filling out the form as detailed below.

How to Fill Out Home Exchange Membership Subscription
http://www.gti-home-exchange.com/ihea/memberform.cfm?language=english

Fill in box titled "Promotional Code" with the word - FAMFRIEND

At bottom of form titled QUESTIONS (for admin use only), do the following:

"Where did you hear about our service?" Select Recommendation

"If the response you selected above was followed by an * please be specific." Put in home exchange number of your family/friend who is a current member.

Reference will be verified. No refunds if Green Theme International is unable to verify reference.

www.gti-home-exchange.com

Explore the World. Spend Nothing on Lodging.

2011-06-11T14:30:00.000+01:00

Enjoy the London Olympics for Practically Nothing

2011-05-14T16:55:00.003+01:00

Enjoy the London Olympics for Next to Nothing

With the 2012 Olympics just around the corner in London, tickets are already sold out. In fact, most of the tickets sold almost immediately when applications were made available in April. While the Olympic games are something that both diehard sports fans and the casual observer look forward to every four years – an unprecedented unity of nations and cultures across the globe -- newly constructed sports event flies in the face of those working toward a green society. In 2012, the Olympics is trying very hard to not only be just green, but sustainable. If you don’t have your ticket, don’t fret. As you may be asking yourself the question that London’s legendary punk rock band The Clash made famous: “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” consider this Olympics an opportunity to go green and find an alternative way to join the games.

“Should I Stay or Should I Go”

Go if you have an open attitude. Go if you believe that London’s sustainability goal will set a new precedent for events worldwide. Go if experiences mean more to you. Go if you will do your part to travel green. The London Olympics published an environmental status report in April 2011.

http://www.london2012.com/publications/london-2012-sustainability-report-a-blueprint-for-change.php

It is possible to enjoy the Olympics without a ticket – and to travel green – and I am living proof of this testimony. I went to the Olympics when it was in Atlanta. I did not have a ticket in advance. I did not pay for a hotel room. I did not rent a car. I brought a backpack full of local food into the event.

To this day, I rank that experience as one of the best in my life. Where I ended up made it memorable. I bought tickets from a scalper/touter and saw events that would are rarely – if ever -- at the top of the list. The one event that I will remember for a lifetime is a field hockey game between India and Pakistan[. As I stood among thousands of people cheering, the whole word suddenly seemed smaller. I truly understood how international sporting events allow even those countries who have a rocky history with each other set aside their differences and unite toward a common celebration of the best, across cultural, language and, oftentimes, even political boundaries.

Tickets

I never buy tickets in advance for events. I approach getting tickets with a fail-proof attitude: If I cannot get in, I will just walk away. I never pay more than face value for any and never pay the high ticket handling fees. I usually get in for less than face value, and I have never bought a false ticket. (Although we all have our limits – even broke my rule once to see The Pogues. But that’s a story left for another blog.)

So how could this approach help during the 2012 Olympics? Touting/scalping laws for the London Olympics apply to the sellers only; buyers will not be fined for any purchases. Plus, the laws apply to reselling at a profit: “There is no generally agreed definition of ‘touting’, but the term ‘tout’ is commonly understood to be refer to someone who deliberately buys tickets to an event in order to resell them at a profit.” http://www.parliament.uk/briefingpapers/commons/lib/research/briefings/snha-04715.pdf

Your best bet is to try to buy tickets on the day of the event – when most people try to unload their tickets for face value or even less so they do not lose money. I recommend researching what a real ticket looks like in advance, examining the ticket offered to you, and making a low-ball offer. Don’t be afraid to use your intuition. If the situation doesn’t feel right, just walk away. You’re the buyer, and you have nothing to lose.

Home Exchange/ Hospitality Exchange

Worried about finding a hotel room? During the Olympics, most hotels will increase their prices as much as four times the going rate, and rooms will sell out well in advance. Instead, see the Olympics without paying for a hotel room by exchanging your home or arranging a hospitality exchange. Green Theme International, www.gti-home-exchange.com, has hundreds of homes listed near the rails, better known in London as “The Tube,” so you can ride a train to Olympic venues. London’s Underground train is notoriously reliable and the most efficient way to get around the city. On the days that you do not have tickets, explore the area by train and other forms of public transportation. http://maps.google.co.uk/intl/en/landing/transit/#dmy Search for homes and select “car not needed” to find listings where you do not need a fossil fuel hog, also known as, a car.

Staying in a home, instead of a hotel, will also save you a lot of money on food. With a kitchen and refrigerator to store food, you have the option to eat in or eat out. Food from a local grocery is always less expensive than from a restaurant.

Food and Water at Olympic Venues

This list of rules and regulations can be disheartening: "Food, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, liquids in containers of greater than 100ml in size, umbrellas, horns, whistles, drums, rattles, musical instruments, or any other devices that in the opinion of Locog may disturb a session (including mobile telephones), flasks, Thermoses and in general any material that Locog may deem dangerous or that may cause damage or disruption to a session."

Unfortunately, you will not be able to pack your own food. There is a food vision for the Olympics, http://www.london2012.com/documents/locog-publications/food-vision.pdf, but two major sponsors are McDonalds and Coke - two junk food giants. Other caterers at the event will be serving local food do your research ahead of time so you can buy from the caterer serving locally grown food.

Free tap water will be available at all Olympic venues. Thirst not at the games.

These are a few of the tips that will guide you in your “green” quest to enjoy the 2012 Olympics. This is a great way to enjoy – without breaking the bank or the environment.

Visit www.gti-home-exchange.com to start looking – and booking – your home exchange now!

2011-05-10T05:16:00.002+01:00

If you do this, then that happens, but if you do that, this happens….

2011-05-05T03:15:00.004+01:00

Doing the best thing for the environment is never easy. There never seems to be a black and white book to tell us what to do. A choice equals a consequence, and what seems like an easy decision looks complex upon further research. This is the case with the Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL); is it truly the best option?

The media and governments worldwide seem to be falling over themselves to promote the virtues of the CFL and how much energy it will save. The bulb does use less energy than an incandescent light bulb, but it also contains mercury.

The amount of Mercury concentrations in the environment is a worldwide problem and is considered a global issue. Mercury is often emitted through the air and deposited far from its source. Mercury is a toxic chemical that causes environmental and health problems. The toxin enters the human system mainly through the consumption of fish. For a sound bite chemistry lesson, please check out: http://nadp.sws.uiuc.edu/MDN/why.aspx Chronic low level exposure to mercury can build up and affect the nervous system; it is especially harmful to fetuses. Countries worldwide have taken action to reduce mercury emissions and are working together with United Nations Environment Programme.

To demonstrate the impact of mercury emissions on locations far from the source, consider Florida in the United States. It is land with pristine Everglades and barely any coal power plants, yet the mercury level is so high in the rivers that citizens are taking a risk if they eat any fresh water fish. http://www.dep.state.fl.us/water/sas/mercury/index.htm

“Coal fired power plants is the single largest emitter globally of mercury to the atmosphere,” according to United Nations Environment Programme. It is important to decrease the output of plants, but CFLs are not the answer. In a perfect world where everyone recycled, the CFL would be a good alternative. But let’s be realistic – many people and companies sneak their fluorescent lights into the trash. Check out your local landfill and incinerator and see what standards they have in place to prevent hazard material from entering the environment. This is a challenge since I came across a lot of fluff and “we save the world mantras”, but it was difficult to gather hard-core evidence.

CFL is not necessarily the answer for everyone. What if home owner’s receive power from nuclear plants, or other sources of energy? Incandescent lights do not sound like such a bad idea when doing energy consumption risk assessment. LED light are on the market and sell for about $17 http://www.amazon.com/Dimmable-Household-Incandescent-Replacement-LED/dp/B002ZBJ25G/ref=pd_sim_hi_1. The price is not out of the stratosphere, and the few widely used lights in the house should be replaced with LED. Governments should push for the mass production of this product and champion lowering the prices. It’s safer to use and make.

Trains Are Missing From Many Credit Card Reward Options

2011-04-10T21:37:00.006+01:00

Credit card companies offer many ways for people to receive cash back or points for different purchases. But they are are not taking the opportunity to promote green living to card holders.

Their rewards for travel, unfortunately, seem to focus around air travel. They even have nice plane logos next to their travel sections. The partnerships built around airlines and credit card companies may be fiscally sound, but it is not environmentally conscientious.

Traveling by train is the responsible method to go places. Railways and credit card companies should join forces to market traveling by train as intensely as by plane. Rail travel rewards of 2-5% cash back need to be standard and easily identifiable in company literature.

Chase Sapphire Card state the following in reference to travel, with nary a reference of train: "There are no restrictions or blackouts dates when you book airfare through Ultimate Rewards^SM. And if you can't find the flight or hotel you want, simply buy it elsewhere with your card then use your points to Pay Yourself Back with a credit to your statement. Plus, you can redeem your points for anything you want from travel and merchandise to gift cards and cash back."

Train should be synonymous with travel too.

P.S. - I am also curious as to why hotels receive cash back opportunities but not home exchange, a clearly better choice.

Home Exchange Insurance and Car Insurance

2009-02-14T15:20:00.004Z

HOME EXCHANGE INSURANCE

CHECtravel proudly announces the first and only travel insurance plan exclusively for the home exchanger: Travel Guard’s Home Exchange Protection Plan. The policy can be purchased with any home exchange, whether driving to the exchange home or flying.

Coverage starts at just $15 and your policy covers all members of the insured exchange party. Trips must originate in the US or Canada.

There is no deductible and no age differential.

http://chectravel.com/insurance_landing.html

CAR INSURANCE

England

Zurich: http://www.zurichinsurance.co.uk/insurance/home/welcome.htm
• It is cheapest to put exchanges on the insurance (with all their details) and take yourself off - then put yourself back on when you return.
• Used to insure swappers from Australia and South Africa to drive personal car. The company will request full details of the drivers and any driving convictions.

HSBC Corinthian http://www.quotezone.co.uk/corinthian.htm

LONG-TERM EXCHANGES

Exchanging between England and New Zealand for 6 months:
• Convert house insurance to a tenanted property insurance, notwithstanding no monies being exchanged. The excess was increased. Contents policy was noted and they stipulated that the 'tenants' personal belongings were not covered

Request for information about insurance companies that offer home content insurance for home exchanges

2009-02-10T23:31:00.002Z

A member in England is having problems finding an insurer for his contents during a home exchange. We would like to build a database of companies that offer content insurance for home exchangers. Please comment to this blog with a company name, country, company website and/or company phone number.

In general, your insurance policy may cover some situations, but be sure to check with your agent about your particular coverage. Usually home owner's insurance remains in force to cover guests in your home, and because no financial transaction is involved, your exchange partners are your guests. However, you should advise your insurers that guests will be staying in your home and the duration of their stay. Sometimes there is a limit of 30 days, but this is the only restriction we have come across.

Use Pedal Power when in Portland on Home Exchange

2008-05-10T13:26:00.004+01:00

New member Michael and his wife Wendy (HE20927) moved to Portland for its quality of life, and it seems that one reason why life might be more pleasurable in Portland is because there is less reliance on the car. Michael says: "Portland, also known as 'The City of Roses', has it all, a great downtown full of museums, galleries, a concert hall, world class restaurants, a stunning riverfront, more coffee shops than you can count and over thirty micro breweries and all this easily connected by bus, streetcar & light rail".

"Portland is also the perfect size for pedalling and is widely considered the premier cycling city of North America. Portland offers everything we need in a city but in a compact size so we don't have to own a car. We have two cats and lot's of bicycles (even a cargo bike for hauling our son Nathan & the groceries)and we enjoy camping and hiking. Dedicated bike paths and bike boulevards guide you safely through Portland's charming, leafy neighborhoods and into the country side".

"Out of town you are spoiled for choice as well. Within two hours of Portland (but by car this time) you can reach some of Oregon's most outstanding natural scenery, waterfalls, deserted beaches, outdoor activity areas and picturesque towns".

How refreshing to hear about people enjoying the location in which they live, but doing so in such an environmentally considerate way. So if you want to try out living by pedal power, why not consider a home exchange in Portland?

Home Exchange Activity Holidays

2008-05-01T11:22:00.004+01:00

Although Home Exchange has perhaps not yet entered the arena for extreme sports such as skydiving or base jumping, a recent GTI Home Exchange member listing highlighted the fact that it is perhaps time to extend the list of leisure activities that can be pursued on a home exchange holiday. The particular listing that I am referring to is HE20672 at Dahab on the Red Sea in Egypt.

Lynne says: “Our house is less than one minute from the beach in Dahab which is a very beautiful area with lots to do including; snorkelling, diving, camel riding. It also has local restaurants and shops nearby. The house has 2 large bedrooms, bathroom, lounge (with Satelite TV), kitchen (with washing machine and microwave) and a cool outside tiled area with trees all around. Dahab is well known for diving and you would be able to use the facilites of Dive Urge, our dive club. We have a private beach for you to enjoy. Dahab suits all types of people looking for a great holiday. We can also easily organise a transfer from Sharm Airport.”

She continues: “We are a family of 5 including 3 kids: 2 girls 10 and 4 and a boy who is 18 months. We own and run Dive Urge in Dahab and have lived here for more than 11 years now too so we have lots of helpful information on getting the best out of your time here. We like to enjoy our annual holiday in England for 6 weeks over July-September time but, as we do not live in our exchange house, we are able to offer it year round and are flexible. We do a fair bit of exploring here and are active in trying to preserve this amazing place. Myself and my hubby are both scuba divers and I also ride horses locally too with my daughter.” Lynne is interested in visiting England, preference being for the counties of Berkshire, Somerset or Dorset.

Another gentle activity like diving is hot air ballooning, mentioned by new Green Theme International Home Exchange members Barbara and Brian, HE20831 who live in Canterbury near Christchurch, New Zealand. They describe their area as follows: “10 mins from city centre, we are also close to the port hills and surrounding bays and beaches, and yet only an hour and a half drive to the closest ski field. There are many outdoor activities locally situated including hot air ballooning, fishing, jet boating, swimming and many more.”

“We are Barbara and Brian a family of 5 with 3 children aged 9, 12, and 14. My husband Brian was born in England and hasn't returned since he immigrated here over 15 years ago, so we are very excited to have the opportunity to go back. We have never done an exchange before but have heard it is a great way to travel to other countries without accommodation costs and a great way to meet new people.” Barbara and Brian obviously can’t wait to fix up their first home exchange, so anyone interested in a home swap to New Zealand, please contact them as soon as possible.

Travel the Home Exchange Way can include Riding your Bike

2008-04-11T11:37:00.006+01:00

Congratulations, Paris, for the introduction of the 'velib' service. Vélib’ is a Self Service “bike hire” system available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Multi pick up and drop off location points allow you to pick up your bike from one service point and drop off to another.

The Vélib’ Service Points are available 24 hours a day 7 days a week. They are located 300 meters apart, consisting of terminals and stands for fastening the bikes.

At the Vélib terminal you can:

- Hire a bike
- Take a short term subscription using your bank card (1-day or 7-day Vélib’ Ticket)
or take out an annual Vélib subscription.
- Find out information on how to use Vélib’ and access information regarding our services
- Consult a map for a nearby Vélib’ Service Points
- Top up your annual Vélib’ card using a bank card

Every Vélib’ station is equipped with roughly twenty bike stands (the exact number has been determined depending on the location of the Service Point and the estimated level of use).

The Bike Stands consist of :

Bike locking mechanism
Pilot light (the color of the pilot lights lets you know whether the bike is available or not)
Card Reader

Even better, if you subscribe for a Vélib’ Account they give you the first 30 minutes of each journey free of charge. The Vélib’ Bike Card allows you to make an unlimited number of journeys for one year. Cost of journeys longer than 30 minutes will be debited from your Vélib’ account. Top up your card anytime at Vélib’ terminals near you or on the web using a bank card.

Of course it takes a little nerve to ride a bike through a big city, but think how much more easily you can stop at will and take a closer look at the sights, whilst doing your bit for the environment!

Dream Home Exchange Holidays for all the Family

2008-03-21T11:37:00.011Z

Exchange on Island of Arabella, south of Venice, Italy

Dear Kath,

This year I'm trying to arrange a double linked swap in Ireland in summer or, second option, in Denmark. Due to the fact that this year I can't ask my father, as last year, to supervise the cleaning and the checking that all is OK at the end of the stay of the first family and before the arrival of the second, I need that one of the two swaps be non simultaneous, that means, that one family must come in my second home in Albarella - stay and live, before my departure or after my return. Looking at Ireland in our GTI I found listed only 37 homes and if I remember well, no second homes. Anyhow for the first swap I’m in contact with a GTI home/family in Dublin.

Only due to this fact - linked to a my particular situation and requirement - I feel me forced to move to another home exchange web site, maybe Home For Exchange. On the contrary last year Green Theme International did me the opportunity to do a double linked swap in London (more that 157 entries) - the first swap of my life and dream holidays for all my family.

I'm really grateful to GTI and I cherish it. I think also that Green Theme is a really beautiful Home Exchange web site, fine, welcoming and with a very nice design. GTI is also easy for all, well functioning and not expensive (thanks for the discount offered).

If of interest, GTI can feel free of keeping listed my home listing HE19622 and give to interested members my e-mail. Anyway consider me please at complete disposal for the present and future.

Very kind regards and thanks for the important work done since 1989.

Alessandro

P.S.: apologize me for my bad English

Dear Alessandro

Thank you for your email and for the very kind comments that you have made about GTI and our web-site. Of course, I am disappointed that we are not able to offer you a great selection of homes in Denmark to facilitate the double linked exchange in Ireland and Denmark that you are seeking this summer.

Naturally I am also disappointed that you feel it necessary to join a competitor agency, Home for Exchange. As this agency is based in The Netherlands, it may well be able to provide more opportunities for you in nearby Denmark. It certainly has a very attractive and innovative web-site regularly introducing some very nice features. However, it has not been operating for many years (only since 2005) and in order to achieve the number of listings it now claims, the owner did indulge in some dubious practices at the outset, such as pirating other agencies listings, or offering free listings. (See earlier blog item The Home Exchange Poacher posted on the GTI Home Exchange Travel blog on 16 December 2005.)

We have always found that the agencies which offer free listings are never as effective as those clubs which require people to have paid a small sum to participate, because they encourage many people who are not so committed to home exchange to list their homes with many free sites just to see what offers turn up without they themselves having to put in any effort. Many people who join free sites even seem to forget which ones they have in fact joined, as we have found on a number of occasions when people have mistakingly contacted us with their queries, or to say that they are not receiving replies from a particular listing which turns out not to be one of ours anyway. Now that Home for Exchange has become more established, it no longer offers free listings, but nevertheless unless I am mistaken, I don't think the listings on the site display when their members joined and when their listings are due to expire as do those on GTI. In contrast on GTI Home Exchange we prefer to be totally transparent about when a member joined and therefore how old the listing is, and consequently how active the members are likely to be in genuinely seeking exchanges.

Anyone reading my comments may feel that it all sounds a little like 'sour grapes' (I don't know whether you know that expression in Italy?) because you are finding it necessary to register with another club this year in order to find an exchange in Denmark. But in order that you may be able to make a true comparison between our two agencies, I would like to offer you an extension of six months to your membership in the hope that at a later date you wish to renew your membership and can continue to benefit from our discount for renewing members.

Once again, thank you so much for your very encouraging comments about us.

With very best regards
Kath

IMPORTANT REMINDER about GTI Home Exchange Site Based Messaging System

2008-02-12T15:22:00.000Z

Whilst full details of the changes have been posted within the Site Administrator's Message in the Members' Area on the web-site: it appears that some members may have have missed the details about these changes, as some messages remain recorded as UNREAD in Members' personal Admin Areas.

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.

The Magic of Home Exchange

2008-01-18T11:53:00.000Z

Dear Kath,

Hi, I'm Julia Recasens, HE 19610 and I wish to thank you for your nice website and for the fantastic work you do. I really appreciate it as a means to discover new worlds and cultures by an alternative and real way of travelling. I have some friends who have joined GTI and I keep on recommending it because I truly like it. We have had five nice exchanges and have meet friendly people everywhere. I call it the magic of the home exchange.

Today my husband received a phonecall from Chile asking for information and afterwards I found this e-mail. He answered the girl and did what he could to help. We just wanted to let you know that we are very glad to be useful in any kind of matter which involves cooperate with nice projects like this and we wondered if there is any other way in which we could help. I speak several languages and I would be very pleased to help you from here. I work as a teacher in a secondary school but I think I can offer my collaboration since it is a matter which I really trust.

All the best,
Julia

Julia, Thank you so much for your message: we do so love to receive these accolades from time to time which makes our hard work all seem worthwhile.

Rogue Home Exchange agencies don't deserve your trust!

2008-01-10T16:57:00.001Z

Dear Green Theme International,

What is your policy regarding data protection?
I'm asking as another home exchange company called "All Home Exchange", contacted me directly by email and I'm curious to know who passed on my details.

Also, on that company's website, there doesn't seem to be any contact details nor a company registration number.

Thanks.
Delphine

We have also been advised that another home exchange agency's member reported: "I just wanted to let you know that the information on this site is stolen from other home exchange sites. My name and email address are used on this site (without my prior knowledge or consent) along with a photo of a someone else's house. I am guessing but it seems like all the home profiles are bogus because the details are all sketchy and the locations people desire to go are quite random."

Dear Delphine

Thank you so much for bringing the unscrupulous activities of "All Home Exchange" to our attention.

Firstly let me say, if they have obtained your details from our site and contacted you directly by email, they are acting unethically and your details must have been obtained from our site by illicit means. Our Privacy Policy is very clearly stated on the site on the page:
http://www.gti-home-exchange.com/privatepolicy.html, where you will see that we are registered with the Data Protection Registrar. Please also refer to the final two paragraphs on our Company details page:
which explains our relationship with two other agencies forming the First Home Exchange Alliance group with which we have worked for more than 18 years and who share our database. Reference to our participation within this Alliance is also made on our home page, directing you to the above quoted page for full details of the agencies within it. These are the only two other agencies from whose members you should ever receive enquiries.

The only other means by which the disreputable home exchange company "All Home Exchange" could have obtained your details from our site is if they have themselves registered as a 'pseudo' member in order to have access to the contact details of our members. In order to avoid this type of fraudulent behaviour we have recently carried out a further very detailed upgrade on the site with the sole purpose of increasing member security. The details of this security upgrade are as follows:

"The following recent changes in the Member Admin area have been made to incorporate a site based messaging system for initial contact with other members so that member email addresses are no longer displayed on listings in order to provide members with added security. This allows you to decide when you wish to disclose your own direct email address to another member for further communications.

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 in your own email box, 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.

Please note: if you change your email address, remember to log on and change it in your listing (Edit personal details) so that you continue to receive alerts when you have new messages from other members.

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."

As you will see from the above details, we take the matter of Member Privacy and Security extremely seriously, but at the end of the day if an unethical home exchange agency is prepared to go to such lengths to try to poach other
agencies' members, probably one of the most effective things which we can do to deter them is to Name and Shame Them, and this we do by
confidentially circulating information about such an agency's activities amongst a large group of long established and respected home exchange agencies who are voluntarily working together to eliminate and expose the activities of a small number of dubious agencies which could spoil the concept of home exchange and its reliance on mutual trust for all.

Unfortunately, you have not given me your own Membership User ID: HEXXXXX which would help me to follow up my investigation about All Home Exchange, and their ability to be able to contact you direct by email. It would also assist me with my enquiries if you could send details of the email address from which All Home Exchange sent their contact message to you.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to ask them, and please continue to be vigilant and report to us any other similar unsolicited suspicious contacts.

Kath Botterill

Dear Kath,

It actually dawned on me this morning that the rogue company All Home Exchange must have got hold of my details and this other lady's details through another website than your company or others within the FHEA. I re-read Home Base Holiday's reply to her that she forwarded me, and she's in fact not a member. As for me, although I'm a member of GTI, last July I registered with 2 other free home exchange programmes on Google France (/Le guide du routard/ and /Bienvenue à la maison/) that I've never used nor checked, and that I had completely forgotten about, and I'm now sure the leak comes from them.

The reason why I wrote to you first is that I use your website a lot, and I had just literally completed the first part of a non-simultaneous exchange through your website when All Home Exchange contacted me. So I thought that somehow, because I had actually exchanged, I qualified to be on some kind of bigger network. Also, the names being so similar, I sadly fell into the trap thinking it was all the same group.So, although this story could happen to other members of GTI also registered elsewhere, I
don't think you need to worry about the security of your system. As you said yourself, you've endeavoured to make it very secure.

I like your website a lot, for this very reason. Sorry to have caused undue alarm, I'll delete my details from these 2 websites I have mentioned.
Thanks,
Delphine

WARNING - Please be on the alert should you receive the All Home Exchange agency offer shown below:

Free membership is only offered to world experienced home exchangers.

How to get FREE trial membership?

â— 1 year free membership if you would update your house information in 1 week since today;

â— 1/2 years membership if you would update it in 2 weeks;

â— 3 months trial membership if you would update it in 1 month.

Features of this site:

â—Largest database in the world now, 21,000 + listings. which will highly increase the match rate and more unexpected exciting offers. (As a new agency it is highly unrealistic that All Home Exchange could have attracted so many members in such a short time by legitimate means.

Anyone who inadvertently registers with them is able to delete their details from their website, although they cannot delete the record of the membership which is part of their scam!)

As some Green Theme International Home Exchange members have been targetted, I have added a warning to the member area to not respond to an invitation to join this agency (or any other that sends unsolicited, i.e. spam, messages). Also, should you receive any exchange offers that seem to come from members of this site, don't respond but rather forward the offer message to us.

Once again, thanks to the vigilant GTI Home Exchange member and other individuals for reporting this. When a free offer looks too good to be true, it usually is!

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

2007-12-28T10:51:00.000Z

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 . . . .

2007-11-24T10:23:00.000Z

‘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

2007-11-19T12:42:00.000Z

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

2007-11-15T16:11:00.000Z

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

2007-11-10T12:58:00.000Z

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

2007-09-30T10:27:00.000+01:00

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

2007-09-22T10:55:00.000+01:00

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

2007-09-21T14:42:00.000+01:00

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

2007-09-19T16:43:00.000+01:00

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

2007-09-11T10:51:00.000+01:00

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

2007-09-07T14:43:00.000+01:00

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

2007-08-22T10:02:00.000+01:00

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

2007-08-11T12:31:00.000+01:00

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

2007-08-07T09:06:00.000+01:00

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

2007-07-23T15:33:00.000+01:00

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

2007-07-09T11:07:00.000+01:00

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

2007-06-29T15:02:00.000+01:00

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

2007-06-20T13:12:00.000+01:00

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

2007-06-17T10:20:00.000+01:00

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

2007-05-31T14:35:00.000+01:00

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

2007-05-21T16:45:00.000+01:00

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

2007-05-14T14:34:00.000+01:00

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

2007-05-08T12:31:00.000+01:00

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?

2007-05-05T13:03:00.000+01:00

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

2007-04-23T10:22:00.000+01:00

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

2007-04-23T10:03:00.000+01:00

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?

2007-03-30T14:40:00.000+01:00

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

2007-03-28T10:24:00.000+01:00

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?!!

2007-03-21T17:26:00.000Z

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

2007-03-05T19:52:00.000Z

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

2007-03-01T20:46:00.000Z

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

2007-02-27T11:47:00.000Z

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

2007-02-12T12:52:00.000Z

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

2007-02-05T12:24:00.000Z

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

2007-02-05T11:22:00.000Z

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

2007-02-04T11:20:00.000Z

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.

Celebrate Something Special on a Home Exchange

2007-01-22T17:24:00.000Z

I have noticed over the years that our members often plan holidays to celebrate special events in their lives. One of the most popular celebrations when people really want to do something memorable seems to be their 40th wedding anniversaries. Way back in the early 90’s former member Wendy Painter wanted to visit Bali and New Zealand to celebrate her Ruby Wedding – but be warned, this home exchange trip had momentous consequences as Wendy and her whole family eventually emigrated to New Zealand.

Just recently, two new members have indicated that their 40th anniversaries have played a part in their future holiday plans. Brian (HE19196) and his wife bought their flat in Seaton, Devon, to celebrate their forthcoming 40th wedding anniversary. As they are new to home exchange they are planning to swap the flat (also said to be ideal for honeymooners) initially with other GTI Home Exchange members in the UK. But do I detect a note of dissention after 40 years of married bliss? Brian would prefer the south and west of England, whereas his wife would prefer Cumbria, Wales or Scotland. I am sure they will be really successful in their search for non-simultaneous home exchanges and receive so many offers that they will both be satisfied.

A world away, two other GTI members are planning their 40th anniversary celebration. Robyn (HE18719) and his wife live in Hervey Bay, Queensland, Australia. The hump-back whales visit between July and November to frolic in the bay. Robyn says, “Locals say Hervey Bay is beautiful one day and perfect the next”.
A well travelled couple, they now wish to spend a few weeks in a Spanish village and experience the Spanish way of life and are already learning Spanish. “We will celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary in Spain”, says Robyn.

Oh! I do like to be beside the seaside!

2007-01-13T14:43:00.000Z

Confronted by the hype of holiday advertising at every turn at this time of year, it's hard not to let your thoughts drift to how you might be lazing in the sun (or even under welcome shade) on a beach somewhere in a few months time. For many the organised package holiday might be the answer, but more adventurous types might want to consider a home exchange beside the sea. At GTI Home Exchange you can do a search to find seaside homes in many locations: and on a home exchange you can go further, see more, stay longer, and at a cost much less than for a conventional seaside package holiday, as you only pay for the travel to your destination. So why not take your holiday 'on the house' and give home exchange a go this year? Here are just a few examples of ocean side/seaside home exchanges available.

HE18710 House in Morlaix, Brittany, FRANCE
Located in one of the most beautiful and typical french areas, 10 mns from Morlaix, a britanny idendity town; 15 & 16s centuries architecture, bay (one of the most beautiful in France according to Michelin), castle, market every saturday morning ...
30 mns from islands : Batz, Callot and rocky coasts where you can still find nice sand beaches.

HE17520 House in Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, NEW ZEALAND
Sunridge is a private estate with marvellous views across the Bay of Plenty to downtown Tauranga, Mount Maunganui and the Pacific Ocean. Sunridge has its own thermal swimming pool and tennis court. This coming year I hope to stay preferably at a seaside resort in Denmark, where I could spend 4-5 weeks and so have a base where I could invite my sister, a girlfriend or my daughter to share some time with me.

HE17611 House in Fish Hoek, Western Cape, SOUTH AFRICA

Atractive detached double storey home on the mountainside of seaside village called Fish Hoek, nestled in a valley between two oceans. Ten minute walk to beach. Ten-minute drive to other (Atlantic ) ocean and unspoilt beach in horsey country (beach great for riding). Wonderful beach and mountain walks abound. 30-40mins to heart of Cape Town with its vibrant nightlife. Galleries, theatres, fine restaurants, clubs dot the entire area. Pleasant drive from Fish Hoek into the winelands. Car available.

HE15364 House in Kingston, Rhode Island, USA

Known as "The Ocean State," our area is famous for bird sanctuaries, surfing, sailing, kayaking, and all manner of sports related to the sea. There are a dozen beaches within a 10-15 minute drive of our house. 40 minutes to the west are the world famous Mystic Aquarium and Mystic Seaport, a recreated New England whaling village. Providence, the state capital, is half an hour's drive to the north, and has many fine restaurants, theaters (the Trinity Repertory Theater), and museums.

HE16549 Apartment in Alassio, Liguria, ITALY

We live in Alassio,a small town on the Riviera seaside, famous for its fine and soft sands, a 4 Km long beach which slope down gently towards the sea, suitable for children. Our town has shops,pubs,restaurants,play parks,friendly people,golf,horse riding, an ancient English Tennis club. Excellent public transport:1 hr train to Genoa, site of Europe's largest aquarium, boat trips to Portofino and Cinque Terre. 2 hrs to Nice airport and Cote d'Azur.

A Winter's Tale

2007-01-12T15:28:00.000Z

Nothing to do with home exchange, and only loosely concerned with travel, but men always like us to poke fun at ourselves, so I thought this might raise a smile or two on a dismal wintry January day.

As a trucker stops for a red light, a young lady catches up. She jumps out of her car, runs up to his truck, and knocks on the door. The trucker lowers the window, and she says "Hi, my name is Heather and you are losing some of your load." The trucker ignores her and proceeds down the street.

When the truck stops for another red light, the girl catches up again. She jumps out of her car, runs up and knocks on the door. Again, the trucker lowers the window. As if they've never spoken, the young lady says brightly, "Hi my name is Heather, and you are losing some of your load!" Shaking his head, the trucker ignores her again and continues down the street.

At the third red light, the same thing happens again. All out of breath, the girl gets out of her car, runs up, knocks on the truck door. The trucker rolls down the window. Again she says "Hi, my name is Heather, and you are losing some of your load!"

When the light turns green the trucker revs up and races to the next light. When he stops this time, he hurriedly gets out of the truck, and runs back to the young lady. He knocks on her window, and after she lowers it, he says..."Hi, my name is Kevin, it's winter in PENNSYLVANIA and I'm driving the SALT TRUCK!"

Holiday Home Exchange - What exactly is it?

2007-01-12T11:01:00.000Z

Apparently there are lots of people out there who have still not heard of holiday home exchange. If you are one of those people and would like to learn more you need look no further than an excellent introduction published on
The Travel Blog which takes an impartial independent non-hype look at the topic.

School Holiday Dates

2007-01-03T16:15:00.000Z

With travel and accommodation costs of a holiday abroad constantly spiralling upwards, it is hardly surprising that more and more families are turning to home exchange as a way of enjoying a holiday abroad at minimum cost.

But as families with children usually wish to swap with other families, they sometimes find that differing school holiday dates can be a stumbling block. With the dates varying between countries, and even between regions within countries (eg France and Germany), it would be useful for everyone to have advance information of how their dates might be compatible.

Families contemplating a home swap with families in France might wish to consult the government issued 'calendrier scolaire' which shows the dates for all the holiday periods for each of the three regions into which the country is divided for the scholastic year.

The dates of public holidays in Germany vary considerably to those in the UK and Ireland - and there are more of them. By and large, they revolve around key events in the Christian calendar, but different Länder (federal states) have different holiday dates.

German school summer holidays are staggered so that while some children are off from the beginning of July to mid-August, others are free from the beginning of August to mid-September. The aim is to avoid over-congestion during the peak holiday season. Check the tables for who is off when in Germany.

If any members have information of easy reference points for school holiday dates in other countries, we would very much appreciate your posting the information on the weblog.

Year 2007

2007-01-01T11:02:00.000Z

Here’s a quick note and 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

It’s been some time since our last major upgrade on the site, but in 2007 we have many more new features planned which will enhance the experience on the site for members and visitors alike, and enable you to enjoy finding just the home exchange you are looking for.

Keeping your Post safe while on home exchange

2006-12-31T12:41:00.000Z

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

2006-12-29T12:00:00.000Z

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?

2006-12-12T11:21:00.000Z

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

2006-12-09T14:18:00.000Z

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

2006-11-29T12:22:00.000Z

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

2006-11-29T11:45:00.000Z

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

2006-11-28T10:58:00.000Z

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

2006-11-27T12:01:00.000Z

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

2006-11-20T12:06:00.000Z

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

2006-10-17T11:32:00.000+01:00

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

2006-10-14T10:45:00.000+01:00

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

2006-10-11T11:23:00.000+01:00

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#

2006-09-20T09:10:00.000+01:00

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

2006-09-13T09:37:00.000+01:00

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

2006-09-03T10:58:00.000+01:00

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

2006-08-24T13:54:00.000+01:00

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

2006-05-29T19:45:00.000+01:00

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

2006-05-01T10:15:00.000+01:00

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

2006-04-28T15:33:00.000+01:00

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

2006-03-01T13:32:00.000Z

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

2006-02-27T11:03:00.000Z

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

2006-02-21T12:11:00.000Z

(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?

2006-02-15T10:27:00.000Z

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...

2006-02-05T17:24:00.000Z

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

2006-01-24T18:46:00.000Z

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

2006-01-16T11:25:00.000Z

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

Green Theme International Multilingues et Yahoo

2005-12-30T11:10:00.000Z

Pour plus de six ans Green Theme International Home Exchange a offert des pages multilingues de leur site web GTI Home Exchange (Echange de Maison GTI). Maintenant Yahoo! Search vous offre la recherche multilingue (encore en Beta). Si vous voudrez l'essayer allez au Yahoo France et cliquez sur le bouton 'la recherche multilingue' des options de recherche.

Yahoo! Search - Essayez la recherche multilingue !

Plus besoin de parler cinq langues pour profiter de ce que le Web peut
offrir ! Vous tapez vos mots-clés en français, et la recherche multilingue
de Yahoo! Search les traduit en différentes langues puis donne
les résultats traduits en français.
o Découvrez des sites que vous n'auriez pas pu trouver autrement.
o Mots-clés, titres, descriptifs, tout est traduit en français.
o D'un clic, accédez aux sites en VF et en VO.

Une simple option à cocher

Pour activer la fonction, il suffit de taper vos mots-clés dans la boîte de
recherche, de cocher l'option " Recherche multilingue " et de cliquer
sur le bouton " Rechercher ". Par cette simple action :
o votre requête est traduite en plusieurs langues (pour l'instant,
anglais, allemand, espagnol et italien) ;
o la recherche s'effectue sur chacune des traductions ;
o les sites trouvés sont traduits dans l'autre sens et affichés en français.

Des résultats plus nombreux et en français

La recherche multilingue de Yahoo! Search permet à la fois de trouver
plus de résultats qu'auparavant et d'y accéder en français.
o Plus de résultats : 5 fois plus de langues, c'est potentiellement 5 fois
plus de résultats. Voyez la différence s'afficher avec le nombre de
résultats trouvés.
o V.F. et en V.O. : la langue d'origine de chaque site est affichée.
Vous pouvez choisir directement la V.O., mais vous pouvez aussi voir
la page traduite, et grâce au système d'onglets, naviguer sur le site,

The Home Exchange Poacher

2005-12-16T14:46:00.000Z

The purpose of home exchange agencies is to put you in touch with other people interested in exchanging homes for vacations. A good home exchange agency will have spent many years building an extensive member base in many countries, creating an attractive web-site to attract a constant stream of new members and initiating improvements to the web-site to make it very easy for their members to use. A good home exchange agency will build up a dialogue with their current members to provide them with lots of help and be available to answer their questions promptly.

As a result of this close relationship GTI Home Exchange members are usually prompt in advising us if they receive any unsolicited mailings from people who are trying to abuse our system. It has recently been brought to our notice that a lady by the name of Ans Lammers has been sending unsolicited messages to some members to join her new home exchange agency. The only way that this lady could have gained access to the email addresses of our members is to have joined under a pseudonym, as there is no one by that name registered on our database. When questionned, our members are certain
that she could not have obtained their names and email addresses elsewhere(especially for such a targetted mailing as would be necessary to reach members who are interested in home exchange).

Occasionally new agencies trying to establish themselves will offer free membership for a limited period, but it should be appreciated that free membership does not always attract the type of people you would wish to exchange with: if someone is not prepared to pay a small fee to join an agency, consider whether they may be genuinely committed to arranging an exchange. Whilst we cannot, of course, prevent members from joining another agency if the offer seems attractive and they wish to do so, we would hope that members would be cautious in supporting someone who is prepared to adopt such underhand methods to poach another agency's members.

Generally it is best to stay with an established home exchange agency that you can see has a good range of up-to-date exchange offers, and which operates a private, members-only site for extra safety.

A GTI Home Exchange Member's generosity

2005-12-12T15:27:00.000Z

GTI Home Exchange members, Rayne and Bob of Seattle, generously offer non-reciprocal hospitality when their planned exchange does not work out.

"We had an exchange planned, but because of the vagarys of e mail, it didn't work. We were very disappointed. Within a week we received a query from a family in England. We live north of Seattle. It was too late to buy affordable plane tickets to be able to do an exchange, but I thought what the heck, let's invite them to stay here for a few weeks. They could use our home as a base during the week when we are at work and on the weekends we could take them on our favorite hikes and to favorite fishing spots.

"I was at a point in my life when I really needed to have a new experience and I thought it would be interesting to invite a family from so far away, that we had never met and take the risk. It paid off wonderfully. Our familys were as compatible as if we had been life long friends. Meryl and Chris were relaxed, friendly and very interesting. Their 4 teens were active in a diverse range of things. We had nice interaction with each one of them. Danny, the youngest, might remember the funny american lady (me) who would punch him on the shoulder affectionately every now and then. Ruth and my kids played soccer and Adam and my 17 year old discussed regae music for hours.

"One of my favorite memories was canoeing with the Dad, Chris. The water of the lake was clear and the sunlight reflected thru the depths. Chris is a sound recorder and has worked from Barrow Sound, Alaska to the Antarctica. I asked him if by chance he had ever met Dervla Murphy, my favorite travel writer, and he had !

"Meryl and I did the household chores together and got on in quiet a sisterly way. She and I both have hectic lives. Chris is gone for long periods and so she is on her own with a full time job and 4 kids. To see her canoeing on the lake, by herself, in peace is something I remember often.

"So Kath, best wishes in your business, you can tell it brings a lot of people joy, in an affordable way !"

Rayne

"Dervla Murphy's latest travel book Through Siberia by Accident"

Great Times on Home Exchange - Final Part

2005-12-09T11:50:00.000Z

John & Val's GTI Home exchange partners, Gavin and Ailsa, comment on their first Home Exchange experience.

Gavin & Ailsa outside John & Val's home

This was our first experience of a home exchange of this nature and it proved a magnificent way to enjoy an extended visit to another country. Without it, we could never have stayed for as long as we did. It was made even more enjoyable when we overlapped in Hong Kong and were able to meet Val and John and have a meal together; it blew away the thought of strangers living in our home. The actual exchange of home and car was for 3 months and was completed very successfully. We recommend the concept to others.

Gavin & Ailsa

Great Times on Home Exchange - Part IV

2005-11-28T17:32:00.000Z

Towards the end of our stay we flew to Australia for about 5 days stay in each of Sydney, Melbourne and the Gold Coast at Surfer’s Paradise. We experienced sunny 20-25C temperatures for most of our antipodean trip. Then very regretfully it was time for the long flight home via Singapore.

We have always found everything in order on our return and even though we may move things around a little where we stay to suit, we replace them. Online banking and Visa take care of cash flow. Any problems and there is always a relative nearby to contact, or one can email the exchangers. We always leave guide notes to operate equipment etc., emergency contact phone numbers and details of places of interest.

We don’t regret for a moment the time and money we have spent traveling abroad over the years. Home exchange is such a rewarding, stimulating and enjoyable way to experience the world and its people.

Great Times on Home Exchange - Part III

2005-11-25T10:45:00.000Z

Our trip to New Zealand via Hong Kong

A year ago we decided to visit New Zealand this year for three months (Mar-May 2005) and soon contacted a retired professional couple, again through Green Theme, who were interested in visiting the UK to do some more detective work on their family history. As usual we only made broad plans here. Invariably it is best to book flights on the net, especially any internal ones. This time we decided to fly Singapore Airlines by recommendation, and to spend 10 days in February in Hong Kong on the way. There we met our exchangers on their way to our home and had an enjoyable meal together.
Val & John enjoying a meal with Ailsa & Gavin at a restaurant in Hong Kong

Our visit to a Ceremonial Tea House in Macau

Then on to New Zealand and Auckland where we got a shuttle bus to Hamilton. On the way we chatted to a fellow passenger who was head of a technical college there and he generously offered to lend his holiday home on the Coromandel Peninsula for a few days. Hamilton is a lovely city with a beautiful park; river walks; and of course a rugby stadium. The modern exchange home was in a leafy suburb close to the city centre and the country roads south. We got to know our neighbours and after a couple of weeks we began our grand tour of North and South Islands, seeing over 1800 miles of stunning scenery. Highlights included a railway trip in the mountains near Christchurch; bathing in open air thermal pools; boat trips on lakes and fiords; experiencing Maori culture; Art Deco architecture in Napier; geothermal activity at Rotorua; close-ups of many of their unique animals; and an underwater world in Auckland.

Next stop Australia....

To be continued ...

Great Times on Home Exchange - Part II

2005-11-23T09:10:00.000Z

Northern California - Canada (Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia)- US

Then it was time to fly off to Ottawa having kept in touch by email, and we were met at the airport by our exchanger’s son. Her apartment was well situated in the suburbs on a scenic bus route into the centre through parkland by the river. There we saw the colourful Canada Day celebrations outside the Parliament Building including a display by the Royal Mounties.

Later in our stay we visited Toronto by train. We also drove down to Gananoque near Kingston for a boat trip amongst the Thousand Islands, of salad dressing fame. Our longest excursion in the Mazda sports car was east to Montreal, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia where we stayed in a tiny cabin set in the grounds of a palatial residence where we went for breakfast.

Our return route was across the border through the US seeing F. D. Roosevelt’s home and the Frederic Remington Art Museum on the way. All too soon after that we returned to the UK, via a rescheduled flight, having had a wonderful trip. We finally met our Canadian exchanger when she revisited England last year, having kept in regular contact since our exchange.
To be continued .....

Great Times on Home Exchanges - Part 1 - UK North Oxfordshire to USA Northern California

2005-11-20T11:36:00.000Z

John & Val's Californian Odyssey

We have now enjoyed three very good long term exchanges because we wanted to spend long enough in other countries to get to know the people and their way of life by living there like residents through a home exchange. We decided that we didn't mind someone else living in our home for some months, but wondered if ours was good enough. Our home is in a good location in the South Midlands close to Oxford, Warwick, Stratford upon Avon, the Cotswolds and on the main road and rail transport systems for London, Birmingham etc., which attracted our exchangers.

After some research, Val, my wife, chose Green Theme International as our home exchange agency and we haven't been disappointed. Through their website we posted details of our semi-detached "cosy" home in North Oxfordshire with various stipulations as to where and when we wanted to stay and for what length of time. As we wanted to stay in the USA and Canada we decided to go for broke and to try to do these consecutively. From the offers we received we were able to stay two months (April and May) in Northern California followed by a further two (June and July) in Ottawa before returning home. With a real sense of anticipation we started planning a year in advance so we had time to get to know our exchangers by e-mail. One benefit of an exchange is that it prompted us to get the home up to scratch, clearing clutter and creating storage space. We have very good neighbours who welcome our exchangers with the key and help them to settle in, even give driving instruction where necessary. We usually buy the Lonely Planet guide to get a feel for the country and to get some ideas of the places we most want to see, but we don’t finalise the itinerary until we get there. Then we have a good chat with locals who love to suggest things whilst getting to know us, quite often coming up with the detailed road maps too. Car exchange is also convenient and cost-saving even though we have to pay extra on our insurance.

Our first exchanger’s red Ford Thunderbird enabled us to travel round California, Reno, Lake Tahoe, the Hoover Dam, Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon. We also met up with a couple in Sacramento who Val had got to know on a previous visit. Other outings included supper at a llama farm, a tour of a gold mine and a rodeo near Grass Valley. We were also introduced to a local group of hikers and saw much of the beautiful scenery close up and went for an exhilarating swim in the Yuba river. So the two months flashed by. Then it was time to fly off to Ottawa .....
To be continued ...

Comment ajouter vos photos sur votre page du siteweb Echange de Maison GTI

2005-11-08T10:23:00.000Z

Question

bonjour,
nous étions précédemment inscrits sous le numéro ID:HE14632;
Mais nous avons effectué une nouvelle inscription, cette fois sous le numéro HE17428. Nous voudrions faire quelques modifications sur cette page, mais ne réussissons à y accéder, car ayant choisi le même code secret, nous sommes ramenés sur l'ancienne.

Aussi merci de supprimer notre ancienne inscription et de nous indiquer comment faire pour ajouter des photos?

Réponse
Cher Bernard

Merci pour votre email conçernant votre reinscription avec Nom de Utilisateur: HE17428
et votre problème avec accés à cause de duplication de votre code secret. J'ai supprimé votre ancienne inscription comme vous avez voulu et maintenant vous ne devriez pas avoir difficulté à accéder la partie administrative du site qui vous concerne, utilisant le même code secret.

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 en anglais ou sur la page en français pour arrivez 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 garder 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.

Kath Botterill

Home Exchange at Christmas

2005-11-02T10:07:00.000Z

With Halloween's witches and hobgoblins now back in their hideouts for another year, thoughts naturally turn to the Christmas festive season, and if you have not yet made your plans and fancy a change of scene there are a number of home exchange opportunities available on the GTI Home Exchange website.

If the lights and markets of Paris appeal, New Yorkers might well wish to consider Harry and Isabelle's offer, HE17340.

"Apartment overlooking Paris (Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame... )next to Père La Chaise cemetery, 20 minutes from city centre (Les Halles) with direct metro line. Lively quarter with cheap restaurants, a lot of shops and markets. Nice neighborhood, a lot of friends and a janitor in the building always ready to help you !"

"We hope to spend Christmas in New York, December 19 until Tuesday, December 27 and need an apartment for this period. We can leave ours even longer, because we can go to Normandy."

Another Christmas offer comes from Spain, HE13924

"We offer a lovely cottage near Seville(km), with a large garden and a beautiful decoration. During Christmas lovely city center located appartment available. 2 adults (seniors) and 2 young people,of 24 and 18 years old."

And another from Arnhem in Holland, HE16553 whose owners are interested in England, Italy, Finland and Europe in general. We are open for offer around Christmas time, one or two weeks.
"Comfortable house with a large living, 3 bedrooms and a garden, build in 1974, in Arnhem, on the edge of National Park De Hoge Veluwe, one of the Netherlands' oldest and largest national parks. Together with the Kroller-Muller Museum and the sculpture garden it offers a unique combination of nature, art and architecture. Arnhem, fames from World War 2 “A bridge to far” is one of the fascinating cities of the East of the Netherlands near the German border and has everything to make your stay unforgettable. If you love culture, a walk, ride a bicycle, if you want to visit the large attractions, pleasantly go shopping or go out to the woody surroundings. Children welcome. We have a 5 years old boy, toys available for use and two large playgrounds behind our house and the a big sandbox."

Home Exchange - Let's go skiing

2005-10-27T10:11:00.000+01:00

Following up on the 33rd Daily Mail and Ski Board Show last week, I thought it was appropriate to draw attention to home exchange ski opportunities which occur on the GTI Home Exchange website. Holidays relating to a particular theme are easily found by using the Detailed Search and clicking on the appropriate Theme from the drop down list. In the case of skiing, there are no fewer than 184 listings which mention the possibility of skiing. For example:

HE13107
Apartment of 2 rooms situated at the 1st floor of a pretty chalet with a balcony giving a magnificent view of the Alps.

HE17293
80m2 flat situated on golf course with view of the Alps. 10 minutes walk to village via the golf course. Country skiing directly at the door. Downhill skiing up to 3000m altitude. Also possibility of exchange of our house in San Jose, Costa Rica during school holidays.

Home Exchange Agreements

2005-10-19T10:04:00.000+01:00

Believe it or not, very few members take the precaution of completing our simple Holiday Agreement Form, so it is gratifying when one does occasionally drop through the letter box. The Holiday Agreement Form is provided for members to exchange with each other, sending a copy to us to hold on file. It not only helps to clarify the terms of the exchange arranged, but also means that in the unlikely event of the need to make a claim against your travel insurance, evidence of an exchange having been arranged is held by a third party (ie GTI Home Exchange).

Having received the Holiday Agreement Form from Barry and Joyce of Rotherham, we are aware that they are off to Queensland, Australia, in November to enjoy Christmas down under in Gladstone. The Great Barrier reef is accessible by launch from the marina or by road from their exchange home. The beach, where there are bbq's, tables and play areas, is a short drive. As well as the family’s new car they will have the use of a Pajero 4WD with fridge, small boat and all fishing and camping equipment.

Meanwhile their exchange partners will spend what will probably be a somewhat cooler festive season in South Yorkshire, compensated by the fact that they will be able to spend Christmas with the family. Needless to say it was important for Terry and Patricia from Queensland to be in a comparatively precise location within easy access of Sheffield where the family live. So, whilst we recommend that the most successful exchangers are people who are able to be flexible about destination, we have proof here that you can be quite specific about a destination, and with ‘Lady Luck’ on your side, link up with compatible exchange partners using the GTI Home Exchange system.

We hope everyone has a really splendid time and look forward to hearing from you on your return. (Don't forget the Exchange Feedback Form is available for you to give us your feedback about your exchange experience. You may either copy and paste it, and send it to us saved as an MSWord .doc file attached to an email, or post it to us).

GTI Home Exchange 2 Year memberships

2005-10-12T10:38:00.000+01:00

GTI Home Exchange member, Catherine, has just renewed her membership for our Membership option Plan 2 which gives her membership for a further two years at a discounted subscription rate.

Catherine says: "We did a home exchange to France this past summer and are hooked! You may view our listing HE15845. Please contact us with questions!"

From the picture that Catherine has posted on her listing, Davis, a sunny university city in California, certainly looks a lively place to visit. She says "It's a great place for touring Northern California; 10 mins to Sacramento (state capitol); 1½ hrs to San Francisco, the wine country, the Pacific Ocean; and 2½ hrs to the Sierra Nevada mountains (hiking, 1849 gold rush sites, Lake Tahoe, and Reno casinos)".