Too much of a good thing is Wonderful!
-- Oscar Wilde

Communicating Has Never Been Easier

We receive a lot of feedback from our members.
We have reprinted a few of their comments below.

We have just completed a nine week exchange of house and car with a couple in Gloucestershire through Seniors Home Exchange. We never met each other as we passed each other at about 1,000 miles an hour over the Indian Ocean! However we had exchanged numerous e-mails and felt we knew each other fairly well by the time we set off.

Everything went smoothly and the village they lived in was on the border of the Cotswolds so lovely countryside. The house was comfortable and their car economical as petrol was around A$1.80 a litre.! Our home was left in immaculate condition and the car clean and polished.

This was our third exchange and we would definitely recommend this to anyone - it is a wonderful way to have an extended stay with a base which is a home from home and a car to use. We would think we saved at least A$5,000 on accommodation and car hire.

The beneit of Senoirs Home Exchange is that members tend to be able to go away for longer periods than folk who still have children at school.

Thanks Seniors Home Exchange.
Peg McIntosh

Just a little note to tell you about our experiences. The first exchange we made was in Oct 1999 to Jan 2000. (Yes we are a bit late in writing this). We exchanged our home in Adelaide with a couple in Vancouver. We also swapped vehicles. We used the home in Vancouver as a 'base' and travelled around BC is bit as well as spending many happy weeks with members of our family who live there.

It worked out very well as we did not have to overstay our welcome with the kids. We would not have been able to afford this extended stay if we had to stay in rented accommodation or hotels. To anyone who wants to know - it is a great way to go!

At beginning of November 2001 (just the other day) we hosted a delightful couple from Vancouver Island for 3 days. It is a great experience to meet people in this way.

George & Hazel Ferenczi, Australia

We have just returned from our "inaugural" home exchange and are most enthusiastic.

Tacoma was our destination and we encountered an exceptionally attractive and well situated home. As art collectors we were pleased to be surrounded with things of beauty and to experience and learn from the esthetic that informed our host home.

We are happy to report that we are told by our "other half" that they, too, had very much the same experience.

We feel that the single most important element in home exchange is "trust" and most particularly TRUST in YOURSELF.

It is our hope to encounter other denizens of highly idiosyncratic venues - we live in a rural Pennsylvania community of 800 on the Allegheny River in a restored/historic commercial building - who will enjoy our world and whose world we might explore.

And by the way, our exchanger was "on the spot" for a next-door fire and was able to cover the story complete with color photo for the local newspaper. Talk about fun! (We, of course, are disgruntled since we missed what will probably be the big excitement for years to come.)

Jae Ann Brown, United States of America

After getting to know each other through E-mails, we traveled to Washington state to meet our new friends in the Seattle area for a hospitality exchange. They treated us to wonderful tours of the surrounding areas, and we visited their second home near the Oregon coast. This was our first experience through the Seniors Home Exchange and it worked out very well. We are looking forward to their visit with us this Fall during the Michigan "color season".

Sue & Lou Oles, USA

We've had two excellent vacations through Seniorshomeexchange.com, three weeks in the village of Alcester, UK, in May 2000 and three weeks in London in June 2001.
In both instances, the couples with whom we exchanged provided information and superbly prepared homes that made our experiences most satisfactory. We are encouraging our friends and family members to consider home exchanging and would be glad to share more with anyone who is considering trying it.

Bill and Fran Marscher, USA

We recently joined your senior's home exchange and have already had one experience while a member. We exchanged with fellow seniors in the USA and found this to be a good experience. We were able to communicate quickly via the internet and make all arrangements and in fact met our exchange partners one day before our departure.

Although we are experienced exchangers with other clubs we particularly liked the fact that this club was designed for seniors. It helps to be in the same approximate generation and therefore probably more in tune with what others may be looking for in a trade. The expectations of both exchangers are more often met and certainly scheduling of the exchange is much easier.

This has been a positive experience and definitely one we will try again.

C. Patterson, Canada

We have exchanged homes three times and have enjoyed each of them immensely! Each time, we have stayed for a two week period. We were able to live as a real citizens of the town and not as tourists. It was also nice to have more room, cook at "home", and have a center to our wanderings. I recommend home exchange highly!

Beatrice Wharton, United States

We had never done a home exchange before we joined the Senior Home Exchange, but did talk about it a lot. We love the reassurance that the exchange is with older, hopefully more responsible adults. So far we have exchanged our home twice and both times we never met the couple. They arrived after we left and left before we came home. Couldn't even tell they had been there, except for the thank you notes! That is a good thing!

We did not do a direct exchange, so we now have two "free" vacations waiting for us to collect. Thanks to everyone who helps make this such a success!

Carol A. Harmon, USA/AZ

My wife Diane Foster and I did a 10 day car and home exchange in Late May, 2001. We live in Alameda CA and exchanged for Taos NM. Our exchange partner from Taos drove her car to Albuquerque, flew to Oakland and left her car parking receipt and keys with us. We flew to Albuquerque and picked up her car and drove to Taos. We loved the Taos area and had a great time. The exchange worked perfectly and we are looking forward to many more exchanges in the future.

Peter Hannigan, USA

Last month we visited Vancouver, Canada, on our "hospitality return" trip.

It was really nice to see our new friends once again. Their home was in a lovely setting and easy to get into Vancouver city. They showed us a lot of Canada including Whistler to the north and the Boeing Factory near Seattle to the south. We went to Victoria Island for three days and explored many areas of the island which we certainly couldn't have done had we been by ourselves. Hospitality exchanges really work as 'locals' we know our local areas of interest and beauty and it is a pleasure to show visitors around. We are off on our second "return hospitality exchange" in September to Ontario and looking forward to it.

Coral Alford, England

Having accomplished our first exchange, and communicated with the people we exchanged with, all our imaginary fears have been dispelled.

We have had a wonderful vacation and comfortable in the knowledge that our home was in safe hands, a reciprocal feeling for both parties. We look forward to many more exchanges and the development of new friendships. A brilliant concept.

Malcolm Tilley, England UK

We recently completed a four week home and car exchange from North Carolina to England. We enjoyed our visit there, the house we lived in was very nice, clean and attractively decorated with a beautiful garden. We did some touring by car as there were many things of interest in the area. Most of our longer trips were by rail as the location and a flexipass made this easy, inexpensive and carefree. The couple in our home took excellent care of everything.

Ernest and Shelby Lane, USA

We live in Kurtistown, Hawaii, on the island of Hawaii. We completed our first home exchange this past March, 2001, with a lovely couple in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was a wonderful experience, but took lots of communication and planning. When we finally met in Santa Fe, we felt like we had known each other for years. They greeted us at the airport, and we spent the afternoon and evening exchanging "instruction lists," as well as sharing food and fellowship. They left for Hawaii the next morning and we had a good friend greet them on this end. As it turned out, we had so many things in common. We exchanged homes, automobiles, and pets! Mahalo to Seniors Home Exchange.

Santiago and Miriam Agcaoili, U.S.A.

Did our first exchange between Scottsdale, AZ (our home) and Carmel, CA. Met the exchange couple the evening before at a pre-arranged overnight stay at a B&B; enroute. Had delightful dinner and breakfast together, which helped overcome the initial jitters of someone unknown in our home. They left loads of helpful information on the Carmel area, including favorite restaurants, golf courses, sunset vistas, etc. Great experience! Off on our next exchange-related trip next Monday.

Vincent Cannella, US

Last year after we exchanged homes with Pat and Wayne, of Fremont, California, Both parties to this exchange really enjoyed their vacations, it was a wonderful experience. I would estimate it conservatively saved us $1,000 per family, plus we all were able to cook our own meals, so there was a considerable savings there. And to have the use of a whole house instead of a small hotel room is beyond a price! :) I've recently been in touch with another 22 people to see if we can do it again this year. Nothing definite yet, but a couple of promising replies. Thanks for all your good work.

Regards, Jim & Erika, Nanaimo, BC

Weve had an a countless flow of contacts from people all over the world and through the Seniors Home Exchange made several new friends. Our NZ house is in frequent use.

Robt and Barbara, Cromwell, NZ

In the summer of last year we exchanged with a couple on Vancouver Island. We had a super time, home from home. Especially as my Mother was out visiting from the U.K. She so enjoyed watching the humming birds in the garden. I would imagine we saved $500 dollars easily, certainly the spaciousness & quality of furnishing, would not be anything like a hotel room. I think the Home Exchange program is just great.

Lynn & Keith, BC

We had a very successful exchange with a couple and their daughter and a friend this summer. The exchange was our place at So. Lake Tahoe for their place in Bethel Vermont.We enjoyed their small converted school house (historical site) with a live trout stream in the back yard. They also had 2 dogs and a cat that we took care of with a great deal of pleasure.We stayed around their place until they returned to meet them and they were delightful, much younger but very pleasant. The animals were absolutely no problem, except getting the cat to get off of my suitcase when we were ready to leave. I think he wanted to get in it and go along with us.We did some communications before we agreed with each other, but not one problem came up. I estimate that we saved aprox.$700 dollars as we stayed in B&Bs; for part of our trip back East. The experience and the making of new friends far exceeded the money we saved. We are now looking for another exchange and have updated our listing.

Jack, Lake Tahoe, CA

Last year, we spent March/April in England. On arrival back home, we had an email waiting for us wondering if we would be interested in a home exchange in Australia, Brisbane area. We hesitated for about 10 seconds, then sent off a positive response forthwith. Everything worked out wonderfully - we agreed on the time (Sept/Oct) period, car details, contacts, etc, through emails. We ended up by spending 2 weeks in New Zealand first, then went to Australia and settled into our new home in Maleny - it was just lovely, on the edge of rainforest, rainbow lorikeets at the feeder every morning, easy access to the finest of beaches. It was so nice that we made a decision to stay relatively close to the area during our 5 weeks there and enjoy it - a good decision. The area was great, the home was excellent, the Malone family and friends welcomed us and were very accommodating. We even managed to see a koala in the wild one day. On the way home, we stopped in Vancouver where we were met at the airport by Desley and Tom, whose home we had lived in in Australia. We had a great time exchanging stories in the few hours we had together. We feel that we have made good friends. The Malones took excellent care of our home in Ottawa as well. It was a tremendously rewarding experience all around.

Pauline and John, Ottawa, Canada

We have completed two exchanges, with great success. We have been able to spend a total of 4 weeks in Palm Springs, CA in the winter, which was a great way to break up our wet dreary west coast winter. We are now heading for a month in Austalia, through 2 exchanges there. As we have a guest suite in our home, we are able to host visitors in the nice summer months , and travel in the winter. We have met some wonderful people and made some great new friends. We are now looking forward to meeting and traveling to many parts of the world.

David, Vancouver

My wife and I wanted to arrange an exchange in South Africa for last summer. Scheduling problems prevented the exchange, but the couple in SA invited us to visit anyway. We agreed and arrived in Johannesburg before dawn one morning in July. They picked us up and drove to their home, about 5 hours away. We knew we would get along before we arrived at their home. They not only showed us around the Northern Part of South Africa, including Kruger National Park, but also introduced us to several of their friends via 'bar-b-ques'. Three outstanding memories are getting to know their friends; getting to play golf on the Skukusi Golf Course in the middle of Kruger National Park amongst the hippos, wild pigs, giraffe and elephant! The hazards were populated by crocodiles, and hippo tracks on the green had to be putted through as a natural obstacle. Finally, after hosting us for 10 days, they helped us plan our 2 week trip via rental car through Swaziland, and around KwaSulu-Natal. We ending in Sun City where we played golf on the Gary Player course the day before we returned home after 23 days in South Africa. Without the contact via the Senior Home Exchange, we would not have had nearly the fun we did have.

Victor and Christina, Hanford, California

Dear Home Exchange folks, I'm happy to report that we have worked out a 3-week house and car exchange with a lovely British family who live in Holland. We've had a flurry of e-mails over the past two weeks, a round of snail mail pictures and maps, and it feels as though we are old friends already. We'll be doing this exchange in August. Thank you very very much for making it possible.

Linda Jo Scott, Bellevue, MI

Hello - I am several days into a wonderful exchange in the Washington DC area. We are enjoying a lovely home in a great community, with a location that's convenient to many of the popular "spots", and also close to our adult children. Our "hosts" have made us Very Comfortable, and we are so pleased with the exchange program, and plan to utilize it as often as possible, in the future.

Helen