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Berkeley Home ExchangeHome exchange to San Francisco and Berkeley California is the fun and affordable way to travel. By swapping homes in the San Francisco East Bay area for vacations you can enjoy free spacious accommodation. An entire home, multi rooms, fully equipped kitchen, with room to stretch out and FREE home exchange accommodation. No wonder more and more vacationers are swapping homes as a vacation alternative. A Berkeley home exchange is a frugal money saving holiday travel alternative whether you vacation near home or around the world.
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Berkeley Home Exchange
We were painting and landscaping this past summer, so any extensive travel plans were put on hold. Instead of summer camp, our kids decided to stay home and read books.... Nice thought but a no brainer to think that would last.
Perhaps it was our hot July weather or the constant, "What's there to do?" that drove us to our decision but we knew we needed to get away for a week, a sanity break. We couldn't afford much so looked at opportunities to do a short trip, enjoy some change and get our kids off our backs.
I was sitting in the chiropractors office when another patient started talking with the receptionist about home exchange. They just returned from a weeks trip to Disneyland and stayed free by swapping homes. I was intrigued.
"You let strangers stay in your home while you weren't there? She answered that home exchange was built on mutual respect and trust. She added two thought provoking questions. Why would someone come all the way from LA to rob or trash my home? Don't you think that they may be just as concerned about you being in their home as you are about them being in yours?
That night I browsed through the listings on the website she belonged to. Global Home Exchange had several listings and I spotted several that were open to swaps this summer. I joined taking out the least expensive option. After sending out 15 emails with no positive response, "too late we arranged a exchange", I was starting to give up on the idea. That is when an email inquiry came to my inbox from the East San Francisco Bay area. A family from Berkeley California whose oldest was going to be attending University in our area wanted a home base to search out possible places for him to stay. They asked if we were open to a last minute 8 day exchange. They added their 4 story home was older, built in 1904 and had a home based business on the bottom floor. We were welcome to stay on the other three levels.
We exchanged photos, phone calls and arranged to also take our dogs, we had a Bichon, they had a Maltese.
Two weeks later, after a long drive we arrived late. We honestly didn't expect much in the way of a house. But wanted the break and opportunity for free accommodation. The house was old on the outside but wonderfully decorated inside. Huge and spacious with room to move around and be away from the kids. The 4th floor bedroom had an awesome view. The city of San Francisco in the center, Golden gate bridge on the left and Bay bridge on the left. A full moon was positioned just over the Golden Gate.
During the next 8 days we took BART (Bay area rapid transit) to downtown San Francisco, drove across the Golden Gate to Marin County, shopped at outlet malls, spent a day in Monterrey at the aquarium and relaxed as a family on their porch and in the back yard. As most of our meals were eaten in our home away from home, the short vacation cost was quite minimal. When we returned, we found our own home looking cleaner than we left it. The family from Berkeley even watered our plants and cut the lawn. We appreciated staying in a large home, having the opportunity to cook our meals and really loved that it didn't cost us a dime. We are eager to try a home exchange again. Home Exchange Experiences Oregon USA home swap experience House swap to Portland Oregon Phoenix home exchange Phoenix home exchange non simultaneous home swap Home exchange Berkeley California last minute home exchange to Berkeley USA - France (3 way) three way home exchange Canada - Europe Ottawa to UK home exchange New York home exchange to New York state. Australia - America Swapping homes to Western Australia Nebraska USA home exchange experience Omaha house exchange St. Louis Missouri home exchange St. Louis home exchange Manhattan home exchange Vacation home exchange to Manhattan Amsterdam home exchange Home swap to the Netherlands |
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