Swapping Homes Anybody?

NOW THAT WE'VE WALKED THE WALK, WE CAN GIVE YOU THE STRAIGHT TALK ON HOME SWAPPING. (Season 8)

Thursday, April 5, 2018

Season 8: South of France & Heidelberg

Welcome to our newest season: No. 8! Yes, 8 years in a row we've swapped homes, sometimes 2, sometimes 3 different places on one trip. You might as well make good use of it while you're over in Europe!
For the first time I chose a picture of the actual house in the south of France where we're going to as the blog main picture. Doesn't it look inviting?
We were so lucky to be approached by a French couple back in November before I even had started looking into this year's exchanges. And seeing these beautiful pictures we went for it! After the usual initial email exchanges, both sides decided very quickly to book our flights.
By the way, the same with our second exchange this year, a house near Heidelberg in Germany. This Germany family approached us first and we were just delighted about it. Pictures to follow...

So where are we going exactly? Near a city called Montpellier which is on the Cote d'Azur. You will have heard of Nice or Marseille, Montpellier is a city of approx. 220,000 inhabitants just west of Marseille.

We're flying via Atlanta, Paris on to Nice, then take a rental car to get to our home exchange. There, of course, we have a car at our disposal, as usual. One of the big perks of home exchanges!
From there we will do many side trips along the coast to the east: Monaco, St. Tropez and all the smaller beautiful resorts of the rich and famous; maybe up to the border of Italy where I have been before. And maybe even to the west towards Perpignan where I have friends.
Being very close to the Provence, day trips there are a must: Avignon, Nimes and Arles. And if we have it in us even take in the Dordogne where I spent a wonderful summer as a student. So much to see! We'll be staying there for 3 weeks and after that for 3 weeks in Germany as well. And yes, our house here will be inhabited for that length of time by our swapping partners. One of the bonuses of home trading!
3 months and counting!