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Saturday 26 May 2001

Swapping Ottawa for France
It's not for everyone, but home exchanging can be just the ticket

by Jane Naisbitt

'We're eating outside again?" my 12-year-old son protested as I lined up plates, cutlery and wine glasses for him to carry out to the patio table. The novelty of dining outdoors every day had obviously worn off for him, but for me it was the only way to go. I had just returned from the outdoor market a few blocks away where I had purchased the ingredients for the evening meal: tiny new potatoes, delicately thin green beans, a freshly roasted chicken and a crusty loaf of bread. There was an exquisitely inexpensive white wine from the Loire valley chilling in the refrigerator, beside a small box of strawberry pastries. The outdoor patio with its trellis of grapevines, complete with tempting clusters of bright, green grapes, was the only suitable setting for this meal. After all, this was France and I intended to enjoy the meal as the French do -- leisurely, elegantly and with ambience.

My husband, David, and I had toured Europe in the early 1980s, toting backpacks and the infamous Eurail passes. France with its chateaux, wonderful regional dishes and wines, and quaint, rural villages quickly became one of our favourite countries. Some 20 years later we found ourselves lamenting the fact that finances prevented us from returning and sharing a similar experience with our two children. Then we discovered home exchanging. Suddenly we were a family of four savouring the culture, sites and flavours of France's Bretagne region while, across the Atlantic, the Charbonnels, with their two children, were discovering Canada from our home in Ottawa.

A brief conversation with an acquaintance, who had just completed a successful home swap with a family in the United Kingdom, sparked my sudden keen interest in home exchanges. "I've read about house swapping. It's something I've always dreamed of doing," I explained to David that evening as I began to search the Internet for organizations offering assistance in arranging these exchanges. "Just think of the places we could visit if we didn't have to worry about hotel costs and eating in a restaurant three times a day."

A brief Internet search under the term "home exchange" quickly retrieved more than 30 home exchange sites and confirmed that house swapping is an extremely popular and economical form of travel, especially for families. It also verified that there are numerous reliable organizations ready to provide a variety of services and assistance. Many of them offer secure, "members-only" Web sites. While serious home exchangers often register with more than one home exchange organization, we finally decided to register with HomeLink International which has an office in Vancouver.

Arranging a home exchange is a little like finding a match through a dating service, but, first of all, you have to know what you are looking for. What country would you would like to visit? Is there a particular region or city within that country that is of special interest? When do you want to take the vacation and for how long? Are you willing to exchange vehicles as well? What about other conditions? In our case we required a family that would be willing to care for our pet cat as well as our home.

It is recommended that you prepare an introductory letter that outlines your travel goals, the number of individuals in your family and the ages of your children, and includes a brief description of your home and its proximity to bicycle paths, parks and local tourist attractions. Emphasize any special features such a backyard swimming pool or indoor gym that may convince others that your home is the perfect match for them. A family from the Netherlands that indicated they had a pet rabbit certainly had our son convinced that this was our perfect home exchange. Outline any other mandatory conditions in this letter. If your home has a "no smoking" rule, it is best to state this right at the start. Then the challenge and the fun begins as you search and identify families that want to visit your country during a similar time period.

Start the process early. Finding a suitable "match" may require a couple of months of correspondence. We began communicating via the Internet with a number of families in January, although we did not plan to visit France until July.

Be prepared to modify your holiday objectives as tempting letters of offers to exchange begin to arrive. We were definitely intrigued by the e-mail from a family in Turkey and a letter from Cannes in southern France certainly had us reassessing our decision to explore only northern France. Although our original goal was to locate a home in France's Loire valley, we ended up narrowing our correspondence down to two families, one in the Bretagne region, the other in Normandy. By March we were confident we had found the perfect match and were ready to sign house and vehicle exchange contracts with the Charbonnel family from Rennes, France.

The final decision was an easy one. Our planned travel dates and length of stay were very similar, both families required pet care, and both had camping equipment ready to share. Rennes was an ideal location for our home base in Bretagne. We were one hour from Mont St. Michel, 45 minutes from the beaches of St. Malo, two hours from the chateaux of the Loire valley and three hours from Paris. Arranging a home exchange does require some extra effort. If you prefer to just pack your suitcase and head to the airport, then home exchanging is not for you. After all you are not only planning your own family vacation, you are also assisting another family with their planning. At one point the Charbonnel family expressed an interest in making a quick side trip to New York City and wondered if I would investigate the most economical way of getting there. Suddenly I found myself with the time-consuming task of contacting bus, train and airline companies for costs and travel times between Ottawa and New York. At the same time my e-mail to them asking if they could recommend an economical hotel in Paris received an immediate reply and a recommendation that I will certainly pass on to other visitors to Paris.

It is also important to remember that, while you may be going away on a vacation, you are also welcoming guests into your home. A few new towels and sheets may be in order. There is also the task of writing instructions as to where appliances are located in your home and how to use them. Between March and July we also collected brochures and maps that would assist the Charbonnel family in exploring our region of Ontario. A similar package of pamphlets, maps and a home "instruction" book awaited us in Rennes upon our arrival.

A certain level of trust must be established with the exchanging family in order to make the arrangement successful. We notified our home and automobile insurance companies in writing of our holiday plans, indicating the dates of the planned exchange and the full names and home address of the Charbonnel family. Copies of our signed home and vehicle exchange agreements accompanied this correspondence. In both cases the companies agreed to continue their insurance coverage during the Charbonnels' visit to Canada. After that we allowed our sense of adventure to rule.

For us, the economics of the exchange outweighed the few risks. Out of 27 days in France, we spent seven nights in hotels and, thanks to the car exchange, we were able to explore "off the highway" rural villages throughout Bretagne that turned out to be the highlight of our holiday. For our adolescent children there was the luxury of being able to sleep in most mornings, laze around and occasionally "take the day off." Our home in France came equipped with bicycles, soccer balls, tennis rackets, CD players, videos and, to my daughter's joy, a piano. Visiting the local bakery each morning, chatting with the locals, became one of David's favourite morning jaunts. The Charbonnels left a folder of regional recipes that I could leisurely test out in the sunny convenience of their kitchen.

Our vacation's grand finale was a pre-arranged meeting with the Charbonnel family at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. Although this meeting had its practical purpose -- things like returning house and car keys to rightful owners and explaining where each other's car was parked -- it was also an opportunity to compare adventures over cafe au lait. Our children chuckled as the Charbonnels described their first encounter with our Dodge Caravan and how they had to drive it several times around the parking lot before venturing onto the highway. We had done exactly the same thing with their small Renault. As we escorted them to their car, we commented on the weight of their suitcases. They were full of maple syrup! It was the perfect ending to a superb vacation experience.

Would we consider another home exchange? Definitely. In fact, "New Zealand" seems to be popping up in our conversations these days. I wonder if they grow grapes there as well?

Jane Naisbitt is an Ottawa writer.