The Home Exchanger

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!

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: 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!