Vacation Home Exchange

Vacation Home Exchange
By Miharu Hamasagi

Now, when people mention holidays or trips, what comes to mind is usually a flight to another country, with the stay in a hotel with sightseeing tours for the entire duration of the trip. For this article however, we will focus on something more unconventional, Vacation Home Exchange. Personally, I myself had never known that such vacations actually existed, but it’s interesting to know how it actually works and what the experience is like. In a nutshell, it’s basically 2 families swapping home for an allocated period of time and have their holidays there. This article will go a little more in depth on this category of vacations.

First, a vacation home exchange can be a new and very rewarding experience. It can be an interesting insight into her people’s lives and their lifestyles, how they live and what their houses are like. An interior of a house reflects on how well a family lives together. It’ll be quite an experience for them as well. Only set back is some people are very cautious with other people living in their homes, with regards to theft and invasion of privacy and so on and so forth.

Secondly, if you want to visit a place, but don’t wish to spend exorbitant amounts on lodging, this can be a much cheaper alternative. After all, if you feel that the place you are visiting is more important than the lodging, why not? And it can give you a pretty down-to-earth feeling as well, if you want to cook or just have a vacation while still feeling at home without the luxuries most hotels provide.

Lastly, with regards on how to find such programs, there are many web sites dedicated to helping people find such vacations. Just take some time and mess around with the search engines a little. There is sure to be something good you can find.

In conclusion, a vacation home exchange can be a very good idea if you want to experience something new, and perhaps know more people in the process. However just do take note that many people are still not open to this kind of vacation, so don’t lose hope if you can’t find a vacation home exchange program just yet. Keep looking, and I’m sure you would find something soon!

Can’t seem to find affordable travel packages?…Get my free report at http://budgetholidaytips.com and feel free to download the free travel guide in pdf format.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Miharu_Hamasagi
http://EzineArticles.com/?Vacation-Home-Exchange&id=1272756

Select Exchange makes it into the FT

We were lucky enough to get some great exposure for Select Exchange when an article was published in the FT.  You can find this article discusing the merits of home excahnge and villa exchange here

 

MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME WHILE AWAY ABROAD

By Ellen KelleherPublished: May 30 2008 19:27 | Last updated: May 30 2008 19:27 The value of the pound is falling, inflation is rising and the economy is slowing. But still, holidays must be arranged in the face of the gloom.

Cash-strapped Britons are looking to swap houses with strangers in Cape Town, Bermuda and a range of other glamorous holiday spots. And many are turning to the internet to arrange these exchanges.

This article can be found at:

 

 

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6877e29c-2e70-11dd-ab55-000077b07658,_i_email=y.html“FT” and “Financial Times” are trademarks of The Financial Times.

Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2008

Fantastic Winter and Summer Resort

I have recently launched on behalf of Select Resorts a new website for a fantastic new resort destination in Humber Valley Newfoundland Canada – the site is www.humbervalleyholidays.co.uk 

Humber Valley is a fantastic resorts offering Chalets and apartments.  The nice thing about this resort is that it offers something different all year round.  In summer you can play golf, kayak, take part in white water rafting, caving, whale watching and a host of other energetic activities or alternatively you can just sit in the spa or your hot tub and watch the world go by!

In winter you can ski on marble mountain, snowboard, sleighing a number of other exciting winter activities.  From all the feedback we are getting the resort is fantastic and offers something for just about everyone.  As the summer season open in June there are also some great deals available on flights from the UK – we can also look at flights for you from other countries.

Beat the credit crunch

At the moment it seems the media is full of bad news about the effects of the credit crunch – especially on the housing market. And I should know as Mrs SelectExchange  and I are trying to sell a house at the moment and are waiting for our buyer to get a mortgage – been over 8 weeks since we accepted his offer. So time area little tough at present especially as we have moved into our new home early. 

What amazes me though is that his mortgage company, who shall remain nameless, have said that due to the volume of mortgage requests they have had that they have had delays -HOW???? I keep hearing everyday how houses are not selling and being left on the market – so who are all these applicants?? Me thinks someone somewhere is telling a few porkies.

Fortunately what we are doing at Select Exchange might just be launching at the right time …certainly it is a great way for people to saves £££s or $$$ on their hols – which given that just about everything else is going up can only be a good thing.  Certainly if things continue this way it might be a good way to keep cost down and still go on the one or two hols you have become used to. – well fingers crossed from me on that.

My recent trip to St. Lucia

I recently spent 10 days with my wife in one of our exchange properties in St. Lucia and we had a fabulous time.  We stayed in the Discovery Hotel in Marigot Bay, which is a sales and leaseback development.  We were able to use some of the owners available weeks and it was stunning.  

Marigot Bay is famous for being a refuge for sailors during hurricanes as well as for being the place where the original Dr. Doolittle was filmed.  It is a great resort to go and relax and get some well need RnR.

During our stay we got to see a little more of the island, doing a little snorkeling as well as hiring a boat for the day and travelling around the Pitons. We also met some potential new clients for home exchange.  One of the great things about St. Lucia is the diverse range of holiday makers it receives, from the uber rich to your honeymooners as well as lots of families and retirees. 

I expect St. Lucia to continue to grow as a destination, particularly given the volume of new developments and golf courses in the offing.  Keep your eyes on www.selectexchange.co.uk for new home exchange opportunities and if you are lucky enough to own a home in this fabulous island please let me know, as for a limited time only we are offering free membership to St Lucian properties.

 

Hello world!

This is our first post from www.selectexchange.co.uk - the home exchange network. 

My name is Mike Reilly and i work in the home exchange market for a new company called Select Exchange.  I am writing the blog as I want to have a forum to discuss issues that might arise within home exchange and to hopefully get some positive feedback on what we are trying to achieve.  I hope to be able to discuss among other things our experiences on some of the trip we have undertaken as part of work – some of the people, the sights and even some of the problems we encountered. 

I haven’t done a lot of this before so you will have to be patient as we get to grips with things but hopefully we will have something interesting to tell you.  In the meantime any stories or anecdotes which you may have about your home exchange experiences or your thoughts about it  would be great.