After a quick peek at Miami it was time to head up the coast to our exchange home. The 2-bedroom suite we used in South Beach was several times larger than the average hotel room. Newly renovated, it had a full kitchen and jet tub. It was convenient and very large for any short-term accommodations. We were very pleased with it compared to a standard room.
However, when we looked at it with the eyes of home exchangers it fell short. At 800 square feet it was smaller than just about any exchange home we could have found. Even though the furniture and kitchen equipment were new they were aimed at short-term hotel guests. Everything was adequate but nothing had the touch of pride one would find in even a modest home.
Still, this extended-stay suite was a big improvement over regular hotel rooms. We hoped that our next stop would be even better. We were headed about two hours up the coast from Miami. Our swap home was a four-bedroom, four-bathroom, 3,500 square foot behemoth on a river and across the street from miles of undeveloped beach.
We were splitting our vacation, spending the first part in a city and the second part in a more remote area. To make this less logistically complicated we flew into an airport exactly halfway between the two locations. That way we would have a short drive to and from the airport, reducing our stress on days we flew.
Vacation splitting for home exchangers could involve back-to-back swaps, or it could combine home exchange and hotel stays. Europeans and Canadians hoping to exchange with Americans should pay special attention to this possibility. Americans average just two weeks of vacation per year, compared to four to eight weeks for every other developed country in the world.
I often receive inquiries from Europeans who think nothing of swapping for a month or more in the same location. There are almost no Americans who would be able, or eager, to do this. With our very limited vacation it isn't practical. Neither is it desirable for someone with few chances to visit culturally dense yet distant areas like Europe to stay put for weeks at a time. If we're going all that way we typically want to see a variety of areas.
There are a few ways European home exchangers can approach their vacation-deprived American peers. We will go into that another time. For now, we were headed to paradise.
SUBSCRIBE NOW
You can subscribe to this blog to receive each day's post. Just enter your email below :
No comments:
Post a Comment