Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Live like a local

Recently we participated in a home exchange with a couple from Instanbul in Turkey.  We even exchanged vehicles!  It was a wonderful, problem-free experience.  While our Turkish friends were at our home in Canada, we were being entertained by their family in Istanbul.  The second picture below was taken in their apartment in Istanbul with grandmother, brother and sister in law.   The first picture shows their friends at Mordogan where they have a weekend retreat.  This is what home eschange is all about:  "living like a local",  meeting family and friends in their own settings and discovering what it is like to "be a local".  Only home exchange makes it possible for that to happen.  



Tuesday, October 16, 2012

About Hurling and Curling



We have just returned from The Republic of Ireland.  Loved it!  This morning I found myself back in Canada on the curling rink and was vividly reminded of the conversation I had with an Irishman in a pub about the mysteries of Curling and Hurling.  He had no idea what curling was and how one could spend a Winter throwing a large stone across the ice.  I tried to explain that it is a bit like lawn bowling played on ice and that seemed to make a bit of sense of to him.  But I was equally intrigued by the game of Hurling which I had just been watching on TV when Kilkenny won another All Irish Championship over Galway.  Being a patient man he was happy to explain the intricacies of hurling, its history and rules.  

During the course of our conversation with both learned something about each other:  what makes us as Canadians excited and what makes Irishmen exited.  We also learned something about other issues that preoccupy us in these times:  the economy, religion, family life etc.  The kind of conversation we had is  why we travel and visit other countries.  It may be possible while sitting on a cruise ship but is less likely to happen in that kind of setting.  When you take advantage of the benefits of the Affordable Travel Club or Home Exchange,  allowing you to stay for extended periods of time and "living" the culture and country you are visiting, this kind of encounter is happening all the time.  
Affordable Travel knows no geographical limits

The Town of Galway in Ireland

The Affordable Travel Club is especially popular in the US, Australia and Canada.  But you will find members almost anywhere in the world.  We have hosted and have been hosted by people in the US and Australia with great success.  We have done home exchanges with people in France, Turkey and the USA.  Remember that both are possible within the boundaries of your own country!