We are thinking of trying to get out of Sydney during the
2000 Olympics (to take advantage of cheap flights) and are
interested in the possibility of doing a house swap with
someone in Europe or just renting a house/apartment (like
the idea of a rural village in Spain, France or Italy). We
will travelling with our toddler and thought it would be
easiest to base ourselves in one spot and just do short
trips away from our base. Has anyone had any experience
with any of those house swapping or rental agencies? Also
does anyone have any experience with this sort of European
holiday with a toddler? I haven't actually been to Europe
before apart from 3 weeks in Italy on the tail end of a
Middle Eastern trip but my husband has done a lot of travel
in Europe and lived in Spain for a while and is itching to
get back.
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there is a new home exchange agency, international but
based in Qld. with exactly this in mind. We are desperate
to get out of Sydney during this period and will be doing
the same thing. Otherwise, with the exchange rates the way
they are, we could never afford Europe. This way, you pay
for travel, but can self cater. The web site address is:
www.vacnet.com.au run by a couple called Rob and Ailsa
Hughes.
There are other international agencies, you could do a
search using international, home exchange. Some of the
international agencies have been going a long time. There
is one in Denmark called Blue Planet. There is still plenty
of time to make the arrangements and personally I would
prefer an Australian scheme.
Perfectly possible, butyou need to know what your getting
into. eg-if your toddler can't handle stairs yet, or likes
them too much, are there any moveable gates in the house?
We have previously done this twice, once privately,
(through friends in italy) when we had no kids and once
through an agency in London when we lived in Bath for 6
weeks. You need to get photos and a good description of the
place. Otherwise, great idea, you can self cater and pay
fares but not to stay somewhere.
Perfectly possible. I think the agency you are after is
called vacation network or similar, someone is following up
on that for me. Hope fares out of Oz will be cheap during
the Olympic period. It makes sense that they will be, but
apparently about a quarter of the population is planning to
leave while the games are on. After all, can anyone
actually remember voting to have them???
I got the names of places through a site home exchange
clubs. Also exchanging your car saves a bundle. I looked for
someone with similar socioeconomic background and age kids.
Have your phone fixed so they need a calling card for non
local calls. it was an improved way to travel.
need a family in this area that wants to swap for a month,
with afamily of 5, on business- vacation.
must have references, and good back ground check.