The value of a kitchen on your vacation

One of the greatest things about home exchange is having a kitchen on your vacation. Sandra Pearson, a home exchange expert and world traveler, writes about the joy of a kitchen on home exchange in this guest post. **Read below to find out how you can be in the running to win a copy of Sandra’s new book ‘Home Exchanging: Your Guide to Enjoying Free Vacation Accommodations‘.**

A home, in comparison to a standard hotel room, has the feature that sets it apart - a kitchen. It offers a place to prepare meals. I know many of you will be reading this and thinking…‘No way - I’m on vacation and I’m not going to be cooking dinner every night!’ And you’re right! This is your vacation and your escape from such daily routines. But let’s look at all the options a kitchen can offer you.

Your first morning waking in a foreign city or town, knowing that you can just walk into a kitchen and put on a pot of coffee or kettle for tea, is priceless. And convenient! In fact, it almost immediately is starting to feel like home. You don’t have to get showered, dressed and head out in ‘who knows what direction’ in search of a simple cup of coffee or tea.

Make use of this tidy kitchen on your vacation in Oulu, Finland.

In one of my more recent visits to Paris, I stayed in a home in the form of an apartment in the trendy Marais neighbourhood. Every morning while my coffee was brewing, I slipped out to the boulangerie located across the street and bought croissants still warm from the oven. What a joy it was to have this with my morning coffee in the comfort of my ‘home-away-from-home’. Along with this I added a chilled glass of orange juice which I bought the day before at a local supermarche and stored in my apartment fridge. This breakfast at a Parisian café would have easily cost 10 to 12 Euros (approximately $13 to $15). Instead, my delicious and convenient breakfast was only a few dollars.

WIN: A copy of the book ‘Home Exchanging: Your Guide to Enjoying Free Vacation Accommodations’ - read to the bottom of this post to find out how.

I love food markets and whenever I travel to a foreign city or town, I am sure to visit the local markets. I do this mainly because I love to see the pride of ownership among the stall vendors and the way they painstakingly display their produce and wares as though they were creating works of art. I especially like to people watch. I enjoy observing both the local shoppers and vendors and I’m always entertained by their friendly and familiar interaction. However, what amazes me is the number of fellow travellers that I see at the markets, admiring the food offerings as much as I do. Often I witness them buying a few pieces of fruit or pre-made picnic foods. I also hear them lament that ‘if only we had a place to cook, we could buy more food to prepare a wonderful meal ourselves’.

Take a home swap vacation and cook up some Israeli dishes in this kitchen in Tel Aviv.

The market is the ideal place to meet the growers, fishermen and bakers responsible for the abundance of fresh produce, seafood, baked goods and more. As the vendors are most likely involved firsthand in the production of the food offerings, they can readily answer any of your questions. Plus it allows for a deeper experience when you stand shoulder to shoulder with the locals and interact with the vendors and shopkeepers directly.

At markets in western European countries for example, you’re discouraged from touching the fruits and vegetables to check for ripeness as we do in North America. Instead, you’re required to ask the vendor to select the items for you. They will ask how many you want but more importantly, they will ask when you plan to eat them. They will then select for you the fruits and vegetables at the perfect ripeness to when they will be consumed. I have also had a fish monger offer me complete cooking instructions after being sold a piece of fish. As different as this might be from your experience at home, you miss this wonderful interaction when you don’t shop like a local.

Make your full English breakfast in this London kitchen on a home exchange.

Having access to a kitchen when you travel means that you can buy whatever food appeals to you at a market, neighbourhood food mart or local supermarket and head back ‘home’ to prepare a satisfying meal for you and your travel companion. I always feel like a local walking around a market when I’m there with the purpose to buy food. Plus, you and your travel companion can discuss the food options and together can create a very fulfilling meal to your liking. This is a far more enjoyable and memorable experience than walking from one restaurant to another, reading the menu boards posted outside the entrance (printed in six different languages!) attempting to find a ‘good’ restaurant that will satisfy everyone in your group.

A kitchen provides you with the option for meal preparation. However, the meal does not have to be an elaborate fare. Rather, it could simply be a variety of prepared foods selected at the local market that only need to be reheated. One night in Venice, we opted for eating in. We visited the deli counter of a local grocer to purchase a few pre-made salads, roasted potatoes, rotisserie chicken and a bottle of wine. When we arrived back home, we set the table, lit a few candles and enjoyed our dinner on the balcony overlooking a canal with the singing gondoliers passing below. It was our own private dining experience and on reflection, it was one of the most memorable in this remarkable ‘floating city’.

Sure, you can take all your deli food purchases to your hotel room to eat. But the significant difference between a home and hotel room is that a home is equipped for dining. It will be outfitted with flatware, plates, glasses, napkins along with salt, pepper and various condiments. You won’t need to eat from plastic or styrofoam containers or sip your wine from a hotel supplied plastic cup. And speaking of wine, a home will also have a corkscrew!

GIVEAWAY: We’re giving away a copy of the book ‘Home Exchanging: Your Guide to Enjoying Free Vacation Accommodations’ - read to the bottom of this post to find out how to enter the prize draw.

Another benefit of a home over a hotel room is that the former will have a ‘place’ to eat. It could be a dining room table or table on a terrace or balcony. A hotel room may offer you a small desk or side table but you often have to use the bed as an alternative to a table. This option offers neither the ideal solution nor comfort. Plus the flatware, plates and glasses are not provided.

A kitchen also offers you a fridge. I know it sounds simplistic, but it is worth mentioning to give you more ideas and options on ways to save your travel dollars. While at the market, you can purchase bread (or a baguette), deli meat, cheese, lettuce and tomatoes for sandwiches to enjoy while sightseeing the next day. A fridge also offers you a place to store restaurant leftovers. It has happened to me many times whereby I can’t eat all of my meal and without access to a fridge and reheating facilities, I would have had to leave the food behind. But with a kitchen, I was able to store my food and reheat it for dinner the following day. A fridge offers a place to store your purchased beverages such as milk, juice, sodas, wine or beer. And, there is a freezer for ice cream!

This kitchen in New York city could toast your bagels on a home swap vacation.

Now, let’s tie this all together and look at the cost savings to your travel budget. The savings themselves will depend entirely on your eating habits and how extravagantly you choose to dine. Like at home, preparing a meal yourself with food purchased from a market or store will undoubtedly be more economical than having the meal served to you in a restaurant. The mark up that a restaurant adds to alcohol alone should be a deciding factor.

Home exchanging can be the solution for anyone wanting to save money when they travel, whether for business or pleasure! It’s a great way to have an affordable and memorable vacation! Why not give it a try on your next vacation.

This guest post was brought to you by Sandra Pearson, a home exchange expert and world traveler who shares weekly posts about all that is involved in home exchange on her blog.

GIVEAWAY: Sandra has kindly offered a copy of her book ‘Home Exchanging: Your Guide to Enjoying Free Vacation Accommodations’ for CasaVersa members! To be in the running to win, join CasaVersa and upload at least three photos of your home listing by December 21, 2013.

About the prize: The e-book ‘Home Exchanging: Your Guide to Enjoying Free Vacation Accommodations‘ offers you practical details to make the experience of home exchanging rewarding for both the host and the guest. The book is in Kindle format, which you can read it on your phone, Kindle, computer or tablet.

GIVEAWAY CONDITIONS
*To be in the running to win, you must join CasaVersa (http://casaversa.com) and create a home profile with at least three (3) photographs of your home or neighborhood uploaded to the site. You must do this by Midnight (12am) on December 21, 2013.
*If you are already a member of CasaVersa and have at least three photos of your home uploaded, you will automatically enter the draw to win the book. You might like to Invite your Friends though!
*The prize is one copy of the kindle book ‘Home Exchanging: Your Guide to Enjoying Free Vacation Accommodations‘, by Sandra Pearson.
*The winner of the prize will be selected by random at 10am GMT on December 22 from CasaVersa (http://casaversa.com) members who have three photos or more uploaded to their profile. The prize draw will take place at the CasaVersa offices.
*The winner will be notified by the email address they provide when registering with CasaVersa.
*The winner must respond to our notification email within 7 days or they’ll automatically forfeit their prize, and an alternate winner will be selected at random.
*The prize will be delivered electronically with a link via email.