The Home Exchanger

Tips from Experienced Home Exchangers

Now that the summer is winding down, I've heard from a number of members who have successfully completed their home exchanges.  I asked them, what was the key to completing a successful home swap? Here's some feedback:

- "We had a wonderful stay in England.  The family we did the exchange with was kind and thoughtful and had friends stop by to see how we were doing. One thing we did that helped our exchange go well was asking our home exchange partners for references. We spoke with a family in France who had done a home exchange with them before, and they gave them a high recommendation." 

- "Just got back from a home swap in Paris.  We saved so much money and the place we stayed in was a beautiful apartment, very centrally located. We are very glad we signed a home exchange agreement with our partners - it put into writing things like who would be responsible if there were car problems, etc, so it really took a load off our minds and the experience was without any problems!"

- "Our home swap in Cape Cod this summer was phenomenal.  The home was beautiful and right near the beach. Some tips? We mapquested the home to see where it was and asked the owners for mulitple photos of the inside and outside, so we knew exactly what the home was like before we got there. "

Diary of a Home Exchange: Our Top 10 List

The Home Exchanger is very happy to share with you part fourteen of the story of Michael and his family's home exchange in the US!

Our last night in NYC, we had dinner at a great Irish restaurant (however the food was very international and the draft beer was Yuengling from Philladelphia!) and we used the opportunity of being together to talk about our trip and all the things we fancy so much about the US. My idea was to make a Top 10 but it soon showed out that 10 "best things" were not enough. However, sticking to that concept here's our prioritised Top 10 on the US:

1. NYC - just being there and feeling the pulse..........
2. 24-7 shopping.....Or at least almost! We loved never having to worry about opening hours.
3. NFL American Football!
4. "Spaceiuos": Americans have a strong sense of self confidence and they are proud of who they are, there's no "Jante Law" here (a Norwegian/Danish phenomenon! -  we ARE fighting it but it pops up from time to time!)
5. Big cars and trucks - 5+ lane Interstate Highways - Fuel prices (1/3 of European level!)
6. Donuts!
7. Right turn on red light!
8. Shops with aircon! Getting into the cold from the hot outside! And getting back into the heat again!
9. Always being met with a "How are you" or "Can I help you?" Might be a phrase but we enjoyed it!
10. Unlicensed restaurants where you can bring your own wine! So typically American!

There were many other great things we had to leave out to to keep our list to 10, but trying to be objective (which is one of the characterictics of being Danish) we wanted to do also "The 10 things we don't like about the US". This was a very tough one and we didn't succeed! But here's our Top 3 on things we don't like that much:

1. Supersize Me! We do recognize that the increasing physical size of the population is a big problem. And we do see how it happens! Everywhere you're asked if you don't want this or that extra with your purchase and the price structure sure does encourage you to take a dozen donuts or bagels instead of just half a dozen. Just to give an example.
2. Traffic! We wonder how so many cars and people can be on the run everywhere at all times!
3. The 3 T's! Tax, Toll and Tips! Tax is OK and it is much lower than here in Denmark (we do have a 25% tax on everything) but it is very confusing that tax is not included in the prices displayed. We do that! Toll is also OK but very disturbing as it ruins the rhythm of the traffic. We don't have that system here in Denmark but if you want to put an extra charge on using highways, bridges etc, we do like the Swiss system where you buy a license for one year putting a sticker in your front mirror. Tips! Again it's OK, but not as something mandatory or expected. All service charges are included here in Denmark but you're always welcome to put some tips if you had a great service experience or what ever. But no one gets mad at you if you don't leave tips. Like I said before, it would be nice if service was included on the prices displayed.

Our pros and cons are of course very affected by just being tourists in the US. We have no doubt that by understanding more about social security, political systems and other stuff concerning daily life we would have a more nuanced picture, but these are our immediate responces to being a tourist in the US. And we just loved it! :-)

Home Exchange Diary: Back in NYC

The Home Exchanger is very happy to share with you part thirteen of the story of Michael and his family's home exchange in the US!

This will be the last part of our diary telling you what we actually did do during the last days of our stay in the US. The final installments will give you our Top 10 on US and a little about the savings we enjoyed doing a home exchange instead of a more '"traditional" holiday.

One of the nice things about staying at our home exchange property in New Jersey is it gave us a good "home base" from which to make daytrips.

Sunday July 31st we started out by going to an outlet store mall, in Central Valley, north of NYC. We made some great purchases, but the biggest experience was the drive back to NYC. We just followed the signs and right from the outlet center we came straight onto a highway formed like a "corridor" of trees leading all the way to the G.W. Bridge close to NYC. Never seen any thing like it!

In NYC we did a short stop close to Central Park, where we had a quick picnic and got a glimpse of what Central Park is really like. No doubt it will take more than a day to get the full picture. That will be the next time! From Central Park we went all the way to Downtown and another visit to China Town. The kids had a list of special stuff  that they wanted to buy and except for the "Gucci" sunglasses, we got it all!

Monday was another day in NYC but started out with a great American breakfast at Raymond's locally in Montclair. Being the age I am I can't help thinking of "Breakfast in America" by Supertramp! And it was a great breakfast!

At noon we took the NJ Transit train to Penn Station, but we weren't very pleased with the delayes caused by the PGA Tour at Springfield. We really couldn't understand how that should affect our trip, but it did, and we were late by more than an hour when finally reaching Penn. On August 15th, the PGA Tour  finished and the Dane Thomas Bjørn won Second Place, so it turns out that the delays were OK by us!

Our last day in NYC was great. We did SOHO, which was a little disapointing, and from there back to Midtown and the great shopping at 5th Avenue and other street close by.  The highlight of the day was Times Square at night!

Sidetrip to Rochester

The Home Exchanger is very happy to share with you part eleven of the story of Michael and his family's home exchange in the US!

We'll jump a bit back in our holiday diary in this chapter, because we would like to tell about the visit to our friends in Rochester, NY at the beginning of the holiday. Quite an exiting story that will end up with a world champion gold medal involving both Danes and Americans!

As already told we arrived at JFK Airport in the evening on July 27th. We found our way through NYC in our rented car to our exchange family in Montclair and enjoyed their great hospitality having us to stay one night before we left for Rochester the next morning.

Actually our friends the Rommels live in Pittsford just outside Rochester, but we believe more people might have heard about Rochester. Our friends there are a Danish/American couple who used to live on the same street as we do and their youngest son, Henrik, is at the same age as Christian. They left Denmark 8 years ago, staying 3 years in Sweden before heading for Pittsford some 5 years ago, and it's been a while since we saw each other.

And we had 4 great days together with Nina, Geoff and the eldest son, Svend.
Henrik was not at home, since he had joined the American national junior team in rowing (8-boat with cox) on the training camp in Brandenburg, Germany, getting ready for the world championship in the beginning of August. More on that later!

So while in Pittsford we did make a trip to the Niagara Falls. Very impressive indeed, but quite surprising (for us at least) that the falls actually are surrounded by cities on both sides, casinos and a lot more tourist stuff. We made the boat tour with Maid of the Mist and walked to the Canadian side, from which the sight is much more impressive. From a nature point of view we did like the Gulfoss Falls in Iceland a lot more with its total wildness there in the middle of nowhere in a wonderful landscape. However we did enjoy Niagara as well!

Alexander was lucky because the Buffalo Bills (football team) had moved their training camp to Pittsford this season, and while Christian and I played golf with Nina and Geoff on a great course called Reservoir Creek at Naples, NY he enjoyed watching the team train and even got close enough to get some autographs!

Sunday we all returned to NJ. We were heading for the exchange family in Montclair and the Family Rommel were heading for Newark Airport and the plane to Germany to be with Henrik during the contest the following week! And as you might have guessed by now the American team, with Henrik onboard, took the gold medals and is now a world champion together with his team! Congratulations!

Actually we've just been together with Nina, Svend, Henrik and his girlfriend Rachel last night at a private party with mutual friends here in our neighbourghood as they are doing their summer holidays here in Denmark before returning to the US next week. Unfortunately Geoff had to go back early because of work.

Home Exchange Diary: Returning Home

The Home Exchanger is very happy to share with you part eleven of the story of Michael and his family's home exchange in the US!

We've reached the final destination of our home exchange this year: Home! We flew back Tuesday night and arrived here in Denmark at noon Wednesday. Still haven't recovered fully from the jetlag here Friday afternoon. It's not the time difference itself but more the fact that you more or less lose a nights sleep. At least none of us are very good at sleeping in a plane!

It's always wonderful to be abroad and explore new and different things, but it sure is nice to be back home. And it's very nice to come home and find everything at your house in perfect order after a home exchange. Not that we haven't done that everytime we've been doing home exchanges, but somehow it is a little exciting to see how the exchange family has been doing!

We've had a great holiday this year and we've been very pleased with our exchange this year. Both with the family and the house itself. It was a big house with more rooms that we could ever use and with all the facilities needed. We did have the fun of looking after the two cats Kelly and Boone and the dog Dylan! And it was great having Ian, the son in the family, home with us. Not that he was that much around, but as he didn't have the time to join his parents and sister on the trip to Denmark it was quite natural that he stayed home in the house even if we were there. Thanks to Judy, Ken, Ella and Ian for a great home exchange!

Just to complete our diary on what we've been doing through out the holiday we will post another three short stories. One with a quick update on what we did since we reported in last, one with a flash back to our stay close to Rochester, NY and finally an epilogue on why we fancy the US that much as we do!

Home Exchange Diary: Bronx Zoo

The Home Exchanger is very happy to share with you part ten of the story of Michael and his family's home exchange in the US!

It's been a great weekend! The weather cooled to the mid 80's and the sun hasn't been as powerful, so even while it is still warm and humid it's more bearable compared to the previous days...

In the afternoon on Sunday, we went to the Bronx Zoo.  Our tourist guide praised the garden and we were excited to visit it. There were many good sights in there, but we were not that impressed. Not disappointed either, but still left with the feeling that it could have been different. Traveling in the last 15 years, we have seen many zoos around Europe and there is one great one that stands out: the Emmen Zoo in Holland.

No offence to the Bronx Zoo, which is surely doing many good things for preserving wildlfe and protecting vanishing species, but we still recall the Zoo at Emmen as a better place for the spectator, knowing that the animals are also being take care of very well there.

Home Exchange Diary: Lessons in US Golf

The Home Exchanger is very happy to share with you part nine of the story of Michael and his family's home exchange in the US!

The golf at The Meadows (in Essex County, NJ) was great. It's a a rather short course but still challenging because of the trees and water. Christian did quite well and made the round at his par net. I did OK except for two holes that really went down the drain or water! We enjoyed the company of American John and learned from him how memberships and that stuff works over here. And we must say that it's completely different from our Danish system - and not in a good way!

What we do enjoy playing here in the US is that a golf cart is part of the game. Not that we don't like walking the course, because that is what we always do at home, but it's fun to drive the course. At The Meadows it really wasn't necessary because it was a flat course and not that long, but we took the cart anyway!

Diary of a Home Exchange: Jersey Shore

The Home Exchanger is very happy to share with you part eight of the story of Michael and his family's home exchange in the US!

Friday was another very hot day, so we decided to go to the beach. The family we are doing the home exchange with in Montclair recommended that we should go to Sandy Hook and so we did. One hour's drive from here, but it was worth the driving and we were not disappointed by the place. Wonderful beaches, great water and a breeze that made the almost 100F almost bearable. And the history around Sandy Hook was quite interesting too!

This afternoon and evening we've been to the Willowbrook Mall nearby to do some shopping. And shopping is great here when you've come from Denmark. Almost everything is cheaper here and we have made some good buys on shoes, jeans and clothes in general. The favorable exchange rate on the dollar helps a lot too!

Saturday Christian and I got up early for a round of golf at the Meadows Golf Club here in Essex County, NJ and later we all went to the Bronx Zoo! More on that later, and we'll also fill you in on some local stuff here from Montclair and the great house we're staying at...

Home Exchange Diary: More NYC

The Home Exchanger is very happy to share with you part seven of the story of Michael and his family's home exchange in the US!

From Chinatown, we went by the Court Buildings (quite impressive) on our way to Ground Zero. We've never been there before so we knew only from pictures how it would have looked before 9-11, but we can imagine it must have been an impressive sight with the Twin Towers rising above everything. With the constructions for the new building going on at full speed we couldn't help but be caught up by the intense atmosphere from a sight with so much to tell. We took the time to just stand there and think about how the world has changed in so many ways since in 9-11.

The last act of the day was the great free ride on the Staten Island Ferry! Amazing that New Yorkers still have that service for free - we liked it! Thanks to NYC for a great hour of sailing and sights!

Home Exchange Diary: NYC's Chinatown

The Home Exchanger is very happy to share with you part six of the story of Michael and his family's home exchange in the US!

Thursday (August 4th) we went into New York City to walk through Chinatown and other downtown areas. It was actually the second time we went to the city - the first time was on Monday, our first day in our home exchange property in Montclair after arriving home from our trip to Rochester (of which we haven't written about yet!). That time we went by train from Walnut Station in Montclair to Penn Station in NYC and mainly walked the streets and avenues (including the impressive Times Square) up to Central Park.

On Thursday, however, we went by car via the Lincoln Tunnel, parking the car close to 42nd Street and 9th Avenue. From there, we went by subway to Chanel Street right in the heart of Chinatown. It was another hot day, must have been close to 95F if not more, and it was truly hot in the city. But Chinatown was cool! Somehow just as we'd expected with all the small stores we'd imagined. We didn't count how many times we were offered "Gucci" bags or "Rolex" watches in the middle of the street. But it was quite a few. We didn't buy any however!

For lunch, we went to what seemed to be a very local small restaurant. We were the only non-Asians in there, and everything was written in Chinese (luckily there was also a menu in Chinese). Lunch was good and cheap!