My best friend's son lives in Beijing, so when last November an ad popped up on my screen proclaiming cheap Air France flights to the Chinese capital, it caught my eye. Closer examination revealed attractive fares to many other destinations, including San Francisco, a city I'd long wanted to visit. Travelling from Birmingham via Charles de Gaulle seemed a small price to pay for the remarkably good value £460 return fare departing at the end of April. Thinking this might be a flash sale I called my wife out of her shower to make an instant decision. We settled on three weeks in California and booked via my usual agent Dial-a-Flight, whose extra £5 per person is well worth it, as they are often able to reserve favoured seats at the time of booking and have proved invaluable dealing with problems when airlines get it wrong.
Then we formed a loose plan of what to see and where to stay: week one would be around San Francisco; then south via Yosemite National Park towards LA, so we could take in two more national parks – Joshua Tree and Death Valley; further down to San Diego, a city many friends have raved about; finally, meander up the Pacific Coast Highway to San Francisco for our return flight.
Being semi-retired we are a bit more careful than we used to be about discretionary spending. Three weeks accommodation and meals was clearly going to be expensive. I began investigating home exchange. Our itinerary suggested three potential swaps for the £100 to £164 membership fees charged by the three major websites who facilitate exchanges among subscribers. No other money changes hands, so our exchanges would cover 14 nights of our 21, leaving only seven nights of hotels to be paid for in addition.
It sounded to me like a no-brainer. Especially when our son told us a friend in Ireland had swapped his tiny two-up two-down cottage in a small village for the multi-million dollar New York apartment overlooking Central Park belonging to a businessman of Irish descent who wanted to visit the place of his father's birth.
Val wasn't so sure. We checked our home insurer's view – Direct Line. On the phone it sounded encouraging. The customer service agent I spoke with hadn't been asked about home exchange before, so took a while to check. It seemed all was well, and that the main implication was theft from the property, which would understandably be excluded. Val's angst duly settled, we decided to take the plunge.
We settled on joining Homelink for a fee of £115 per year, for the simple reason it had been around the longest. The others considered were Home Exchange and LoveHomeSwap.
I found 54 Homelink members around the bay area of San Fran who had expressed interest in coming to the UK in their preferred swaps. Messages to them all explained that I'd probably done this the wrong way round, but would be arriving on April 26th come what may. The first day saw around twenty responses, most regretting they couldn't help, but one offering to move out of their house for the week so that we could use their home.
Veterans of 20+ exchanges, photographer Terry's email was effusive in its championing of home exchange. She and partner Pete couldn't come here on the same dates, but could flex their work to make their house available. So began a series of emails between us, to the extent we felt we knew each other pretty well by the time we actually met (they thoughtfully offered to also put us up the night before we flew home). As it happened, they had a job in Hawaii the exact time we planned to be at their home. They will stay in our house in the first week of September – a 'non-simultaneous exchange'.
After confirming dates, we got an email from Direct Line saying there were massively more exclusions than originally quoted, which both annoyed and disheartened us. It made us review our options at our insurance renewal date, which came before our departure. We found similar levels of cover for a slightly better premium with a policy underwritten by Axa, so still a major player we could trust. Axa confirmed that home exchange guests would be covered while in our home, with the only – reasonable - exclusions being for theft and malicious damage. Since January 2017 Homelink have also introduced a reasonably priced policy arranged by a leading insurer, Hiscox, that provides cover for those exclusions.
What a home Terry and Pete have. Nestled high in the hills above Oakland, across the bay from San Francisco, we decided we'd never find a restaurant that would match the view of the twin cities at night from their dining table, so elected to buy fresh produce from the super supermarket Terry recommended and cooked in every night. A wonderful start to our break. The view is the cover image at the top of this feature.
Whilst there, we drove and hiked on the two mountains visible from San Francisco – Mount Diablo to the east and Mt Tamelpais across Golden Gate bridge to the north;toured past countless vineyards along the Silverado Trail (in preference to Highway 29) through Napa Valley, stopping for lunch at the excellent Meadowood Resort's Grill restaurant. Further north, the drive across winding Highway 175 back to Highway 101 saw virtually no traffic but afforded spectacular mountain views.
After a hiccup with a broken down rental car in stunning Yosemite National Park was excellently dealt with by Hertz, our next stop was Pasadena. The LA search on Homelink prompted a reply from a retired couple travelling to the UK before going on to safari in Botswana. They'd been in the Cotswolds many years ago, and wanted to revisit old haunts. Their plantation style home in Pasadena attracted us most for not being in sprawling LA itself.
After reading that she was like most cats - pretty independent but liked a bit of fussing over occasionally - we agreed we'd look after their aged cat Dinah. A couple of weeks before departure we got their house manual. This explained that Dinah lived in the master bedroom, with her food and litter tray in the en-suite. Also, she liked to sleep on the bed and would pat your face if she wanted to join you under the covers. It's somewhat bizarre to expect visitors to conform to such an arrangement, however, with plans well in place, it seemed the easiest option was to carry on and sleep in the guest room.
We were glad we did. The crowning glory of this comfortable property is the garden – in particular the patio area. Owners Susan and Charles charmed our friends they met while in our home, and were very accommodating when we asked to bring forward our dates at short notice because I suffered an attack of plantar fasciitis (a particularly painful condition of the heel) that made us rethink our hiking in Death Valley. A couple of days relaxing in the garden with my foot up was exactly what I needed to get back on track.
Pasadena is a very appealing city, with easy access to LA 12 miles away. We also had a fabulous day in stunning Joshua Tree National Park, a little over 2 hours away.
While Susan was driving my car (our insurer had charged £80 for the privilege of being added to my policy for 4 days – extortionate in my view but still less than a hire car) her regular bumping into the kerb resulted in one of the tyres I'd had fitted the week before going flat. It's expected that rectifying any damage to property of your hosts is your responsibility. The replacement Susan bought at £150 was an expensive reminder for her of the challenge of driving on the 'wrong' side of the road. Although it's expected, unless both parties complete and file one of the exchange company's contracts there is no legal basis for recouping losses if your guests don't pay for damage they cause.
Our final 'exchange' wasn't an exchange at all. Members can offer hospitality to other members, which is exactly what a San Diego resident did in response to my message. Stan's beautifully appointed house sits on a hill overlooking the city, with similar night time views to the Oakland house. Stan directed us to some particular favourites of his, all of which quickly became favourites of ours. Coronado Island is a lovely beach destination close to the city, with its stylish eponymous hotel dominating the boardwalk; Cabrillo National Monument is home to the US national naval cemetery, but also tells the fascinating story of San Diego's history, from earliest Spanish settlers to its present day strategic naval base, all while offering stunning ocean and city views; downtown, Balboa Park is home to the world famous zoo, but the park itself is an amazing space, with a first class restaurant, specialist gardens, a stunning artists' quarter and 15 museums, with a great value weekly pass entitling entry to all of them (and two more in the city) for $55.
La Jolla (pronounced Hoy-er) is a beachside suburb that is a must for a day out. Chic and home to some of the most expensive real estate in the region (I thought the $26million estate in one agent's window a tad overpriced) its pristine beaches and soaring cliffs are home to a spectacular close-up array of wildlife, featuring sea lions, seals and pelicans amongst others.
In exchange for putting us up and putting up with us, we took Stan and a friend to his favourite Thai restaurant. Supannee House of Thai serves spectacularly good food in a very pleasant and buzzing room, and sits next to a really nice wine bar where waiting for a Supannee table becomes another pleasure to enjoy.
A few bottles of Stan's favourite local dark beers as a parting gift was small reward for a hugely fun stay with a most agreeable host (who we have heard from since, with a plan for him and his daughter to visit us in August). Thanks, too, for the introduction to frozen yoghurt.
Our verdict on home exchanges? There are many practical considerations you'd have to make sure you are comfortable with before committing to your first home swap. If you can make the emotional leap too, for the savings, the comforts of home, insider info and making of new friends, I'd say we should have done it years ago, and will definitely be doing it again.
Points to consider:
Spend time making your listing as attractive as possible, including the best photos you can get.
None of the exchange companies undertake what I would call a formal identity check, so it makes sense from a reassurance and security perspective to research potential swaps on Google and social media to find out as much as you can about the owners. Arrange a phone or Skype call, which also helps engage with them.
Prepare your home thoroughly; write a House Manual to help people settle in quickly; ensuring the property is as tidy and clean as you'd expect to find in paid-for accommodation.
Our car insurer (Tesco) wanted £80 for four days of cover and full underwriting information on our guests. Cheaper than a hire car still, but a bit of a pain to ask for detailed info from people you barely know. Axa won't cover exchange guests at all for motor insurance, so check with your insurer before offering availability of your car. As mentioned previously, house insurer viewpoints also differ.