Who are we ?

• Carine & Vincent 
  

 

 

French, married since 1986, we were both involved in culture fields : Vincent worked for the ministry of culture on  heritage (historical monuments belonging to the State, such as famous abbeys, cathedrals & castles), I was a free lance journalist for 35 years. Main topics ? town planning and architecture.

We both love to travel. We've exchanged homes the first time in 1988, after I wrote an article on that subject for an economic magazine. That way of traveling was not yet fashionable (Internet did not exist). 

We have done since more than 40 swaps, mostly in northern and southern Europe. We've visited Belgium, England, Scotland, Ireland, Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain. We swapped also in Northern America (USA, Canada) spending holidays  in all kinds of flats and big homes.

 We have experienced short exchanges (long week-ends, Xmas or Easter), longer ones overseas (up to one month) during summer. We are used to take care of our hosts' belongings. 

When we worked, we owned a flat in " le Marais" - a district in the historical center of Paris.

We spent all our week-ends with Jim, our dog, in our second home, near Chenonceau facing the river Cher. We left Paris in 2006, moved to Touraine where we lived for nearly a year.

 We "emigrated" to Provence, in  the south of France in 2007 when this country home was finally sold. It was not easy : we  had faced floods in the past !

 We bought first an old farmhouse near Carpentras, that we restored, adopted 2 new dogs, Foudre & Nuage,  and ran a small gite -open from may until the end of september and labellised "Gites de France"- during 8 years.

 We moved again in 2015, 6 km further,  to Pernes-les-fontaines in another old house,  built in the end of XVIIIth century, with a garden and pool, that we restored too.

As we don't work anymore, we try to travel as often as possible.  Italy and Spain are four hours drive only from where we live.  Paris 3 hours away by train !

Marseille-Provence international airport is only 90 km distant from our home. The world is easy to reach. (A little less under Covid times unfortunately...)

Home swaps make travels more economic for sure, give opportunity to live in bigger homes and less anonymous than hotels rooms or B&B. But if we like this way of travelling, the main reason is not (only) economic : we do prefer to live like the "locals", doing our shopping, living in non touristic places, taking time to rest and doing nothing,  sometimes far from museums and "places of interest" recommanded by so many guides, even in remote locations.

Trust is important. We were used for so long to give our keys to perfect strangers  that  it became very easy to behave with unknown petsitters the same way.

If exchanges of homes rely on reciprocity, the "deal " between pet owners and sitters is also a win/win :  We offer our services (caring for your home and pets), and you are giving us a place to stay and an opportunity to discover a new region or another country. 

When we cuddle pets, we miss less ours...