Q: I don’t want to board my pets at a kennel. Will my exchange partner take care of them?

A: Yes!

Pet exchange, like car exchange, is an option you are able to select when searching for your next swap. While it’s likely that you’ll find it easier to swap with a fellow pet owner, it’s always possible that another member without a furry friend at home would love to take care of yours (or be happy for you to bring your pal along for the adventure). HomeExchange.com members care for each other’s dogs, cats, hamsters, even chickens! Here are some tips for setting up shop before you leave your pet in the hands of your exchange partner:

• Leave a detailed info sheet with your vet’s address and phone number, the contact information for a friend who lives nearby and is familiar with your pets, and feeding info.
• Does your cat hate tummy rubs? Make sure to include that information to avoid accidents.
• Label all food clearly, and include measuring scoops for easy feeding time.
• Make sure to list any allergies your pet might have, and what to do if he accidentally gets a hold of something he’s not supposed to eat.
• Leave toys, leashes, and treats in a basket so that everything’s in one place.

Some things to consider before committing to care for another Member’s pet:

• Are you planning on staying at the home every night or using it as a jumping off point for nearby locations? A cat might be able to stay by itself overnight, but most dogs need someone at home with them.
• Will you be able to spend time walking a dog a few times per day? If not, does your exchange partner have a dog walker you can hire?
• Are your children comfortable with animals? A one-way pet exchange can be a great way to find out of your family is dog-compatible, but make sure the kids won’t be scared of a pet that they don’t know.

A pet exchange is a great way to feel even more at home while you’re away…you might still miss your pup, but having another one to snuggle with on the couch will certainly help!

Do you have any pet exchange tips to share? Tell us in the comments!

Photo: Dean Souglass via Flickr

Daniel Sánchez Alonso is a photographer and longtime HomeExchange.com fan. Through IntercambioCasas.com (HomeExchange.com’s Spanish site) he has traveled to Denmark, Switzerland, and Oviedo. As a photographer and traveler, Daniel knows how important photos of a house are in catching the attention of other exchangers. He is excited to share some tips for taking ideal photos of your home to help highlight all of its best assets. So, get your camera ready…3, 2, 1, say cheese!

Tips for taking highlighting your home in photographs:

Use natural light or lamps, not your camera’s flash. Natural light makes each of the rooms more inviting in photos.

You don’t need a professional camera; with enough light, you can take fantastic photos with a smartphone.

When using a compact camera or DSLR, make sure you hold your camera steady or anchor it on a solid object. A tripod is even a tripod if you have it!

Take photos from the corners of rooms to show the most of each space.

What’s special about your home? It could be the light shining through the window at breakfast, the views from the balcony at sunset, a beautiful piano, a barbecue, or even open space where you can cook while the rest of the family or friends are sitting at the table. Think about that one special thing in your home and take some extra photos to highlight it.

It’s a great idea to take some outdoor photos too; highlight your garden, patio, or even the view from the window.

Think about what you like to see highlighted in other members’ homes when photographing your own, such as the kitchen, the terrace, the space you have in each room, or the number of beds.

Many HomeExchange.com members add family photos to their listings. It’s a great little “extra something” that makes your listing even more unique, and introduces you to other Members. Photographs are important, but a personal touch is everything.

About the Author

Daniel Sánchez Alonso describes himself as a storyteller. He is a portrait photographer and videographer, and enjoys cooking and baking. He is also a fan of design and typography. Daniel likes to enjoy the local cuisine of each place he travels to. Currently, he discovers the world with his family. You can find him on Twitter and in about.me.

That means more than 6,000 opportunities for a spur-of-the-moment getaway, a trip to visit family, or a place to stay near a special event.

Not every exchange needs to be planned a year in advance! Here’s how to find a great last minute exchange:

1. Log on to HomeExchange.com and select the advanced search link as shown here:

2. Enter your destination just as you would when searching for any exchange
3. Check off the box for “Last Minute exchange”

Find your your next trip!

Have questions about how to find a Last Minute exchange? Contact our customer service team or ask in the comments!

Let me explain. Fellow exchangers, Claire and Louis wanted to come to London for a few days in May. Their apartment in Paris sounded fabulous, but the timing was wrong. I was looking, not for the buzz of Paris, but for peace and serenity and a much improved lotus position. Preferably somewhere sunny.

‘Mainstreet’ in La Quinta Club

Our favourite getaway, La Quinta Club in the heart of La Manga in Southern Spain is always seductive, with an enchanting Andalusian style villa plus golf, tennis, a pool out of a Faye Dunaway movie and a fabulous coastline; but there was no Well Being break on the calendar.

“Why don’t you do it?”, asked Laura Sanchez, the Managing Director. Why not? I am a yoga teacher, lapsed, but the muscle memory lingers on; my daughter-in-law is a Pilates teacher and everything else, including specially prepared fresh, healthy food and delightful accommodation were right there on site. I figured that having to teach it, my lotus position would slip into place in a nanosecond. Melissa, my daughter-in-law decided both she and my three-year old granddaughter deserved a break while my husband looked forward to indulging in a little golf and reading by the pool. Meanwhile, Claire and Louis could enjoy our house in London and we could put their Paris apartment ‘on hold’ for another time when we felt in French mode. You have to admit. It ticked all the boxes.

To wake every day in Spain to certain sunshine is a luxury we Brits can’t get enough of. Each morning I walked to the clubhouse for the pre- breakfast yoga session, relishing the sun on my shoulders, the birdsong and the vibrant colours of scarlet hibiscus, pink cactus flowers and huge, shiny banana palms.

We were 10 altogether, all pinching ourselves at the joy of actually being here, all throwing ourselves into the deep end of well being and loving every moment. Within days, the ‘girls’ (we’re all girls, age is irrelevant) spoke of the wonderful feeling of spiritual well being that only yoga can provide, and the undoubted improvement in body awareness and discipline that comes with Pilates. In between classes we investigated local markets, took long walks in the Spanish countryside, ate delicious high fibre, low sugar food, no booze, well hardly any, and found that we had fewer kilos, especially around the hips, than we started with.

Bras of all shapes, sizes and colours at the Cartegena Market.

Naturally we had our moments. Six of the girls were all best pals from their school days. This get-together with no husbands, no children, no commitments to anything except having a good time in a ‘Well Being’ sort of way was a revelation. They shared a three-bedroom villa, threw pyjama parties harking back to their teenage days and had a ball. The fact that despite all this hilarity and high jinks they finished the week lighter, brighter and more relaxed was a bonus they really hadn’t relied upon.

The others came in pairs and found their own ways to turn the break into a proper holiday. Daytime was for cleansing of mind and body. Evenings were for finding some of the best restaurants in southern Spain and indulging ever so slightly. After all, when in Spain you do as the Spaniards do and eat paella and drink Rioja wine. It would appear rude not to, they maintained.

As for us, Leela, my granddaughter found that ice cream did the same job in the spiritual well-being department as Yoga. Melissa, her mother, found teaching Pilates in such a beautiful environment was almost a holiday in itself, while my lotus position has become as easy for me as – well – it’s supposed to be for a good yoga teacher.

On the day we were due to depart I got a text from Claire and Louis. ‘We love London and your home and the experience we have enjoyed. Please can we swap again some time? ‘ Now that’s what I call a win-win situation.

- SANDRA’S TIPS -

 

La Quinta Club is unique. It operates as a five star, fractional ownership club within Spain’s best known sports and villa complex La Manga Club. Villas can be rented at any time,

 

RESTAURANTS & BARS

 

There are many restaurants within the La Manga complex, including the Principe Filipe Hotel, which is a beautiful, Spanish style hotel with a piano bar, much prized by La Quinta members in the summer and great restaurants. Well worth visiting.

 

There are another 15 or so restaurants within La Manga Club. Our actual favourite is La Finca, walking distance from La Quinta and beautiful all year round. The garden in the summer festooned with fairy lights and with a special table over the pool is stunning. In cooler times of the year the interior is exactly as you would hope your own ‘La Finca’ (farmhouse home) might be. With quite a few modern touches.

 

FURTHER AFIELD

 

La Manga means ‘the sleeve’ in Spanish and La Manga is named for a sleeve of land that divides the Mediterranean Sea from the Sea of Menor. It is very built up and looks like a kind of Spanish version of small town main street; a promenade of shops, cafes, apartment buildings and seaside paraphanalia. But there are gems. One of them, right down the end of the 22 km strip is:

 

Escuela de Pieter
Urb Veneziola
30380 La Manga del Menor +34 96843-7059
Lovely food, lovely setting and sun-beds when you feel weary. Try not to go on a windy day!

 

Borsalino
Edificio Babilonia
30380 La Manga de Mar Menor, +34 968563130
Perfect for children, this restaurant is actually on the beach. The little ones can make sand-castles while waiting for their tapas. Food, price, ambience, all lovely.

 

EVEN FURTHER

 

The City of Cartegena is only 20 minutes drive from La Quinta. It has the second larges port in Spain and is a fabulous, baroque style city, with some beautiful architecture, a great restored Roman Ampitheatre and museum and a many good restaurants. Our favourite is La Tartana. Really Spanish, really warm and welcoming and you’ll eat tapas you’ve never even heard of before.

 

The town of Murcia is about an hour’s drive away and has a fantastic cathedral, well worth visiting. Also, some of the best Spanish restaurants in Spain. La Cabana, amazing food, ambience and service.
Taberna Tipica La Pequena SL
Plaza San Juan 2
30003, Murcia Spain
+34 9682 19840

I just returned, this past weekend, from enjoying another wonderful travel experience for about as close to free as possible — courtesy of the methods and resources that we detail in our book.
 
On this trip, I spent ten beautiful days in Southern California with my mother, my daughter and her 18-month-old son. We stayed in a wonderful, large 4-bedroom house in the hills of Escondido, which was incredibly peaceful and relaxing. About half an hour north of San Diego, we were able to enjoy fun family activities like Legoland, the San Diego Zoo, and coastal areas such as Oceanside, Laguna Beach, La Jolla and the San Diego Harbor.

Read on to learn how it all came together, including Shelley’s detailed itemization of all trip expenses!

Where’s your favorite beach? Tell us in the comments!

Flora and her husband, Lee, began exchanging because they thought it would be a great way to save money on traveling, especially on food expenses.

When it comes to finding an exchange, Flora describes her approach as “passive.” “Not everyone wants to visit Chicago,” she says. “So we wait for inquiries to come to us and see where they take us.” It’s in this way that she and Lee ended up vacationing in Northern Ireland, which she says has been her favorite destination so far.

Flora is no stranger to the kitchen. While she studied History and Education at Harvard and Columbia and was very much involved in public policy and educational reform, she decided to try something a little different when she turned 50 – pastry. She attended the prestigious French Pastry School of Chicago for a six-month intensive program. From there, she became interested in the famous and highly exclusive Meilleur Ouvrier de France (Best Craftsman of France) competition and produced the first-ever film about the event (until then, no cameras had ever been permitted inside the competition).

Upon her return to Chicago, Flora decided to put her extensive confectionary skills to work and created her own business, selling the only sweets at Chicago’s Green City Market. Each vendor at the market is carefully juried, and all items and ingredients must have originated within a certain radius to maintain their “local” status. Flora’s favorite market vendor is a purveyor of fresh, handmade pastas. This local pasta is the chief ingredient of her best-loved meal, which you can recreate!

RECIPE: LOCAL PASTA WITH ARTICHOKES AND FETA

Ingredients
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp olive oil
1 package garlic or herb pasta from Pasta Puttana
2 bags frozen artichoke hearts (available at Trader Joe’s)
1/4 lb feta cheese from Prairie Fruits Farm [http://www.prairiefruits.com/]
1/2 tsp dried fennel seeds
salt & pepper

Boil water for pasta.
While water is boiling, sauté frozen artichoke hearts in 1/2 cup oil. Cook until all water is evaporated and artichokes are brown and crispy. Add fennel seeds and season with salt and pepper.
When water has boiled, add pasta and cook for 30 seconds. Drain and toss in remaining oil.
Cover pasta with artichokes, crumble on feta cheese, and serve immediately.

Makes 2 dinner portions or 4 antipasto servings.

Flora and Lee’s home, complete with chocolate-tempering machine, is available for exchange. 

Q: Would anyone really want to stay in MY house/apartment/flat/boat?

A: The short answer is YES! For every home, there is an exchanger.

Now for the longer answer. Think about your dream destination. Is it Paris? Florence? Morocco? Now, if someone offered you a free stay in an apartment or house similar to yours, you’d probably take it, right? That’s exactly how others will feel when considering where to stay on their next trip. You might even be surprised by the inquiries you receive!

What if your home is in a “less desirable” or “residential” area? Well remember…not everyone travels for vacation! Maybe you’ll find a home exchange partner who’s visiting their daughter at college, or a family that has relatives in the area. Or possibly you’ll find someone that just wants to have a change of pace for a bit. It’s not unheard of for a big city resident to want to escape to the country for a bit.

Really, what’s most important is how you portray your home. Straighten up a bit, take some great, well-lit photos, and write what’s so great about your hometown. You might think living an hour away from San Diego is a trek, but someone traveling from 1000 miles away will be thrilled to be so close to such a desirable city. Think of the great things about where you live. Is it a small community with some great local restaurants? Are you just a short drive to a theme park? Live ten miles from the world’s largest thermometer? Add it to your listing. If you love where you live, chances are someone else will too.

Do you have a question for the HomeExchange.com team? Ask it in the comments!

Time has moved on, as have I, and Italy, while she has landed on tough times and could be accused of letting herself go, is still as tantalizing and seductive as ever.

So, here I am, my daughter with the map at my side, driving further afield to an area comparatively unexplored for us both; the countryside beyond Pisa, in between Florence and Siena.

We’ve been told we mustn’t miss San Gimignano, dating back to the 10th century, but we are looking for the unexpected, secret places under the Tuscan sun, and San Gimignano, wonderful as it might be in the first light of dawn and the last light of the moon is known to swarm with other tourists for all hours in between.

Instead, in my pocket is a crumpled card from two friends. ‘If you’re coming to Tuscany come to see us, Nick and Piero’. They’ve bought an old farmhouse outside a town called Volterra.

So here we are in the Tuscan foothills, ignoring the signs for San Gimignano and going ‘off piste’ towards Volterra. There are hairpin bends to be negotiated and then a small sign, eminently missable ‘Montebradoni’, pointing straight down. Thankful I am no longer in the cake tin called car, which was my little fiat 500, we rattle our way along a dirt track and suddenly, there it is Casa Costello, bathed in the last rays of the setting sun.

Our friends have done what Proust described as ‘turning my dream into my address’. Casa Costello was a bit of a wreck when they found it. In need of much care and attention and almost entirely surrounded by scraggy, unkempt trees and undergrowth, but once they cleared all that away, a bit of magic was revealed. Nick and Piero found they had one of those views that Hollywood makes movies about.

As we get to know our way around a bit more, visiting locals and other friends who are ‘simpatici’ with this hidden corner of Tuscany, we find that vistas like this that change daily- misty and mysterious one day, as clearly defined as a renaissance painting the next – are not so unusual. Just driving around, leaving the motorway behind and letting the side roads beguile you opens up vistas you might ordinarily miss.

Then there is Volterra itself. Almost completely walled, stuffed with Etruscan artifacts and Roman ruins, yet cosy and welcoming to us newcomers who feel we have stumbled upon a jewel. The 12th century Duomo is magnificent; there is a Roman ampitheatre, filled with ancient ghosts and memories. On the highest point of Volterra, within a finger tip of the sky, is an Estruscan Acropolis, with that view you’ve been looking for, from the sea to the Appenines. Volterra also boasts one of the nicest, friendliest cafes in italy, L’incontro.

Kami and I have thrown out our map. Each morning we go off exploring, finding valleys and nooks and crannies where only Italian is spoken and where tourists are looked upon as interesting curiosities, not annoying intruders. We sip coffee in our favourite Volterra Café, we buy jars of local honey wherever we see a sign saying ‘mielle’, we dowse our salads in dark green olive oil that comes from big terracotta jars in local cellars and hurry back to Casa Costello to see the flowers that were only buds that morning, wonder at the colours of the butterflies and sip local wine on the terrace as the sun sets over our view.

There are scenic splendours to be discovered all over the world. For me, the ones that touch my heart and send my head in a spin are in Italy.

SANDRA’S TIPS

TURN YOUR DREAM INTO YOUR ADDRESS
There are many Tuscan possibilities on the Home Exchange website. Here is just a small selection:

 

---

HomeExchange.com Listing 386967 – Large Luxury Apt in Center of Famous Tuscan Medieval Hilltop Town of Cetona.
Take me there

HomeExchange.com Listing 417083 – Il Cipollino. Ideal farmhouse for 8 or more in the heart of Tucany.
Take me there

HomeExchange.com Listing 72102 – Old house dating back to the 17th century near Florence with a beautiful view.
Take me there

HomeExchange.com Listing 416069 – Typical apartment in the centre of Chianti, Castelnuovo Beraregna great for wine-lovers.
Take me there

 

EATING AND DRINKING
Tuscany is the region of wild boar and it features prominently on all menus. Give it a try. It’s delicious. Coffee and cakes or pastries are also beautifully made and presented here. You can go in for a coffee, come back and you’re a friend.

 

Best Bar & Café

L’Incontro
Via Giacomo Matteotti 18, Volterra, Italy

 

Restaurants

La Vecchia Lira
Via Matteotti 19, 56048 Volterra, Italy
Italians love children so most restaurants are child-friendly. Also reasonable prices, with good food and friendly service

 

Osteria La Pace
Via Don Minzoni, 55, 56048 Volterra, Italy
Another good choice for families, very good on local cucina.

 

La Carabaccia
Piazza XX Settembre 4/5, 56048 Volterra, Italy
Very simple with a limited menu, two or three dishes, but each quite delicious. A decidedly Italian way of eating and well worth trying here in Volterra.

 

Great Pizzas
Alla Vecchia Maniera
Via Ricciarelli 38, Volterra, Italy

You may not be so wild about them that you’d drop $500k on a single flower, but there’s no disputing our love of these beautiful blooms. And while the best place to see them is undoubtedly the Netherlands, there are many wonderful festivals held right here in the states (and not a half-million price tag in sight!)

• The Tulip Festival of Albany, New York takes place in the historic Washington Park. Each May since 1949, both locals and visitors alike have gathered for the celebration, during which a Tulip Queen is named and a Mother of the Year award presented.
• Lehi, Utah‘s Thanksgiving Point is home to a festival during the months of April and May. The celebration includes garden tours, performances, and a celebration of Dutch music, dance, and food.
• Holland, Michigan‘s nickname is Tulip City, so you can be sure that their annual festival is top notch. The Tulip Time festival is the largest of its kind in the United States, and has been held every year since 1929.  The festivities include three parades, fireworks, a Dutch Market and craft fair, shows and concerts, traditional Dutch klompen dancing, and more.
• The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival in Washington is a 30-day celebration of local tulips and their farmers. Rather than taking place in a specific location, this unique festival is designed as a driving tour of the hundreds of acres of tulip fields in the region.
• Thanks to the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm, Woodburn, Oregon has been celebrating since 1986. Every year, the farm opens its doors to the public, which can enjoy carnival treats, pony rides, a craft fair, and a pick-your-own tulip field.

Headed to a tulip festival this year? Let us know in the comments!