GTI Home Exchange Last Minute

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

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

Happy Searching!!

Home Exchange and Temporary Car Insurance Cover

QUESTION

Good Morning,

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

Your help would be most appreciated. Thank you.

Katie Evans

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

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

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

Very best regards
Kath

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

Kath

And a follow up from Katie:

Dear Kath,

Thank you for your quick reply.

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

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

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

Best regards, Katie Evans

To Trade or not to Trade, that is the question

Hi,

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

Answer

Hi Sue,

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yours sincerely
Kath
GTI Home Exchange

GTI Home Exchange Member Suggestion

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

Hi,

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

Best Regards, Cordialement,

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

Hi Alison,

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

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

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

Home Exchange Record - Can you beat it?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Home Exchange opportunities with a difference

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

HE17472
House in UBATUBA, STATE OF SAO PAULO, BRAZIL

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

HOUSE IN BALCHIK, VARNESKA, BULGARIA

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

Kath Botterill
GTI Home Exchange

GTI Home Exchange Renewal Plans

Question

Dear Kate

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

Answer

Dear Sher,

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

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

Response received from Sher

Dear Kate,

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

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

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

Sher

Green Theme International Multilingues et Yahoo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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).