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

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 ...