TRAVEL
By Carol Campbell
Sitting in the bubbling waters of the steaming hot tub beneath the pine trees in Alaska’s Matanuska Valley, our Brisbane home never seemed so far away – both in distance and in lifestyle.
We were staying in a typical North American barn-style house, in rural surrounds, and all around huge snow-covered mountains dominated the skyline. It was May, early summer in this part of the world, but still the icy white blanket lay thick in the high country.
And where at home we’d be cooling off by way of a late-evening dip under the twinkling lights of the Southern Cross, instead we were keeping warm under the bubbling waters in an eerie twilight, the long precursor to the few hours of darkness that constitutes summer nights in the Northern Hemisphere.
Alaska – North America’s last frontier – and we were there because of an email requesting a home exchange.
Only a few months earlier I had listed our beach house on a free website. The Alaskans were after a break from their snow-bound home and sought refuge in a beach holiday in sunny Oz.
Had we ever considered a swap in Alaska? Well, not until I received this request. We were already booked to go to Vancouver and, suddenly, the icy frontier at the ‘top’ of the world seemed an exciting addition to our itinerary, especially with two weeks free accommodation and transport awaiting us.
This is the thing about house swaps; you can end up visiting places you had only ever dreamed of. In the last 12 months, we’ve had offers from England, the United States, Norway, Reunion Island, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and southern France.
Our Alaskan exchange to rural Palmer went off without a hitch. The young couple loved our beach house, the long deserted stretches of coastline and the picturesque northern rivers hinterland. And they loved our February heat.
We, in exchange, were rapt in the beautiful Alaska scenery.
The quaint three-level house, set on two acres and surrounded by spruce trees, was very comfortable with all the trimmings, including broadband and the biggest fridge, washer and dryer I had ever seen.
We learned to drive on the “wrong side” of the road and visited the spectacular Hatcher Pass, the world-famous working-dog Iditarod Museum in Sarah Palin’s home town of Wasilla and the frontier city of Anchorage.
We feasted on Alaskan king crab legs and wild salmon, and sampled local produce from the valley that hosts the annual Alaskan State Fair.
And we got through quite a few bottles of champagne. A steaming hot tub late at night, under the pine trees and surrounded by snow-capped mountains, will do it every time.
Now for exchanges to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island in the Fall.
• Log on to www.exchangezones.com to see where in the world you might like to go. Free with friendly, helpful service.
There are many on-line home exchange sites but only one that I can find that offers free listings and free inquiries. Go to www.exchangezones.com to register, and then the world is your oyster.
WHAT ARE THE RISKS?
Of course, there is an inheritant risk in exchanges: someone might trash your home, they might run up a huge phone bill, or, worse still, what if you get to the other side of the world and find that their house doesn't exist!!
But these seem highly unlikely scenarios, given the people we have read about - some have had up to 20 exchanges - and met through home exchange.
There are several obvious precautions to take: adding drivers to your car insurance, limiting your outgoing phone calls etc.
But what a way to make friends across the world, like our London mates. We ended up not exchanging because the dates were wrong but we have stayed with them several times and have even house sat their beautiful Victorian masion in Brixton for them while they holidayed in Ireland.
