Following the success of the previous year's home exchange holiday we decided to get a swap for 1999. 

The previous year we were not on the internet at home and had to rely on a friend passing on e- mails to us.  This year we were connected at home so we made a web page with full details of our offer. We put in pictures of the house, inside and out, as well as more details of us and the locality.

We had left the organization a bit late but the Homebase web site flagged up new entries so I started e-mailing people in the USA who were new additions. I didn't bother with those with no e-mail address.  I gave them our web site address so that they were able to get loads of information about us and what we were offering.

Eventually we received a favorable reply from George who lived in Texas.  He was offering his daughter, Jennifer's, home in Hollywood in exchange for our home for use of himself, a friend and Jennifer.

We bought our air tickets from Travelbag and arranged insurance and insurance for Jennifer to drive our car. We attempted to keep in phone contact to ensure no one was going cool on the idea.

Jennifer was an actress; she lived with her four children and cats about a mile and a half from the center of Hollywood. She had two lodgers, Stuart (her best friend) and Laura, although we did not know about them until we arrived.

Jennifer wrote to us and sent pictures so we would recognize her at the airport.

This time we staggered our visits by 24 hours at each end. I fetched Jennifer from Heathrow and we showed her around the house before we left.

Next : More of Our Home Exchange to Hollywood