Un petit coin de paradis

When you tell people that you are planning a house exchange you get the same response every time. "What about your house, what if it gets trashed?" Sometimes people say "Gosh, aren't you brave letting strangers stay in your house". But they have forgotten that in the months spent corresponding with our exchange partners to plan the thing, we have become friends, and why wouldn't you let your friend stay in your house, even if you weren't there? We have arrived in Salon de Provence for our umpteenth exchange. We've been to California, New England, Hawaii, New Mexico, skiing in Colorado, Brooklyn, San Francisco, Canada, Iceland, Denmark, France and we have 'one in the bank' for New Zealand? Our lovely Kiwi friends stayed while we were in Mauritius and we are desperate to go and see them in NZ - when we can afford the flights! You get much more space than a hotel room, often with a garden and you get experiences you otherwise wouldn't have. In California we took on our friends' shift making community meals, in New England we were invited to the family 4th July celebration and we explored Hawaii in the company of our exchange partners who had stayed at our house some monthus earlier. What's not to like? So that's the marketing pitch over with. Next time I'll tell you about the current holiday, which has started really well. A lovely, stylish and welcoming house, with drawings done for us by their kids, a fridge full of Provençal goodies and a basket of local soaps. Wonderful.