ARE YOU INTERESTED IN A GREAT TRAVEL IDEA?

Over the past thirty years, Darlene and I have enjoyed more vacations and trips than I can count. Many of our travels have involved staying in wonderful accommodations, in exotic, or at least very interesting locations, that have not cost us a dime. We have belonged to a house exchange organization where we have swapped our house for places all around the world. It is the greatest way to travel economically that I can think of.

We joined a Canadian house exchange company called HomeLink in the 1990s and have exchanged with other couples in the following places:
Lakeland Florida - an hour from Disneyland, Universal Studios, Epcot Centre and an hour drive from Tampa and the Gulf Coast.
San Diego - in a beautiful house on a hillside that overlooked Sea World with a view of nightly fireworks from a hot tub.
Alburquerque, New Mexico - in the heart of the Pueblo Indian cultures of the American Southwest - a unique location.
Diamond Head, Mississippi - in a golf resort community one hour drive from New Orleans and the centre of Cajun country.
Victoria, BC - a lovely new condo a few minutes from central Victoria and the harbour.
Cape Cod, Massachusetts - another gated community with wonderful access to explore the sand dunes and salty air. A chance to experience the “Kennedy Culture” of nearby Hyannis Port.
Halifax, Nova Scotia - a three-week opportunity for a home base to explore Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and PEI.
Manhattan, New York - our number one favorite - a lovely old brownstone apartment a block away from Central Park. Wonderful!

Over the years many friends have marveled at how “lucky” we were to have these memorable experiences. The purpose of this blog is to let you in on how you too can be as “lucky”.

Join HomeLink, pay your $140 annual fee for your home advertisement on their website, post your ad with photos of your home, and let the good shopping begin. Over the years we have rejected, for various reasons, offers to exchange from members in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands and various cities and towns in Canada and the US.

If you choose to join, you are under no obligation to make any exchange you don’t want to. I often send out 20-30 or more emails a year to enquire about possible exchanges and receive numerous requests from others as well. If some offer is interesting, the two parties communicate directly to work out all of the details - how many people, when, for how long etc. We often also agree to swap cars to sweeten the deal.

In our eight exchanges, we have never experienced any problems of any kind! The people who are able to exchange and own their own home are responsible, employed or retired professionals or semi-professionals. We always stipulate no children (our condo is not suitable), no smokers, no pets and any other conditions you may require.

It is a great way to travel and eliminate the cost of accommodation and often car rentals. If you want to talk with us don’t hesitate to phone 403 474 7520 or email kbobrosky@hotmail.com to find out more information.

If you choose to join, go to www.homelink.ca
 and if you join, indicate that we referred you, if you don’t mind.

Think about it. It’s a deal that is hard to beat!