Laurie Deppa, Author at Kangaroos & Kimonos

Save Tons of Money with a Home Exchange

August 1, 2015 by Laurie Deppa Leave a Comment

Save tons of money and stay like a local by doing a home exchange. Home exchange sites are becoming more popular because you save TONS of money on the costs of accomdation, food and even transportation. Yes, you can even exchange a car! You can have all the amenities of home – washer, wifi – maybe even a pool or a maid.

On sites like www.homeexchange.com and www.homeforexchange.com, you join for a fee of about $100-150 a year and list your home. Then you can proactively contact others who want to come stay in your area or you can wait for people to contact you.

A lot of people are open to anywhere they say “just ask”. If you live in a popular area like me you will probably get get some, if not many, requests. I have to often turn people down.

I have been telling my friends for years that your vacation overseas can be cheaper than a week at the local beach. I have done exchanges and it is a great way to stay like a local and be financially smart. The only cost is joining the site – and you can exchange the whole year if you want! Take a year sabbatical and swap your vacation home or your primary residence.

There are so many scenarios – simultaneous, non-simultaneous, your vacation house for their primary, exchange RV’s, boats etc. We have had many families stay in our house with us and we will stay at their house in the future. Tomorrow I have a family from Malaga coming to stay for 10 days then in September I will go stay with them!

It’s totally up to you and the party to set the parameters of the exchange.

So get out there and exchange!

Hospitality Exchange – Better than Hosting Family!

July 26, 2015 by Laurie Deppa 1 Comment

Peter, a gentleman from Amsterdam, contacted me a few months back through Home Exchange. He asked to exchange homes for a week but as usual, I was not able at that time. I offered a hospitality exchange instead, one where he and his family would come and stay with us in our home, then sometime in the future we would visit them. We are fortunate that we have four bedrooms and an office with a futon, so we can accommodate several guests.

With our guests at Chesapeake Beach Water Park

With our Dutch guests at the Maritime Museum Concert

At a party with our guests

At first Peter was surprised by the concept and peppered me with questions… “will you be there?”, “will we have free reign of the common rooms in house?”, “what is the interaction between us like?”. These were all great questions. I say, “yes”, “yes” and “however you want to interact”.

They arrived last Thursday and right away we were pleasantly comfortable with our new friends. We had many meals together, breakfast on weekends – one day we cooked our favorite banana-chocolate chip pancakes and the next day they made us their famous savory and sweet Dutch pancakes. We all chipped in helping to prepare or clean up and enjoyed great company and conversation. They loved sitting in our backyard and we introduced them to s’mores in our outdoor fireplace. We also enjoyed some dips and conversation in the hot tub.

We took them to a fantastic party, to our favorite restaurants, to Chesapeake Beach Water Park and to many local outdoor concerts – really giving them the experience of being with locals. We even got them out on the water for a boat ride – one of their biggest requests. My daughter really loved the dad Peter, he has a company that does theater for children. We really were very sad to see them go.

If you ever done a home exchange, try hospitality exchange – it really does take the whole cultural experience up about 10 notches!

Renting a Home through Sites Like VRBO and airbnb

July 24, 2015 by Laurie Deppa Leave a Comment

View from AirBnB apt in Play Blanca Panama

I know that most of the time I talk about free homestays but if you “can’t do that” there are always options like airbnb and VRBO. I actually have used both of these sites and had good experiences as a renter myself. I just started renting recently and have had great success in renting my entire house and sometimes just a room within my house.

As someone who has rented for USNA graduation over many years, I thought why not try renting for an occasional weekend. I have had a lot interest during the Navy games and boat shows but there are also several summer weekends we have rented.

This weekend we rented and we are going to the Hyatt Chesapeake Bay and we will have the whole weekend paid for by renting our house. Kinda genius if I say so. My house is going to be vacant anyway, why not capitalize on the opportunity to pay for my weekend getaway!

I just have two examples to share with you to learn from my experiences in renting on these sites…
1) Be very explicit in your descriptions, almost to a fault. I had one guest, who did not read the top word that said “PRIVATE ROOM” and she ended up running out the door like some crazy person because she thought it was a private house :-0. Yes, her fault but I am putting more and more detail to be sure that never happens again!
2) I rented on airbnb in Playa Blanca, Panama (my first experience). I was unsuccessful in trying to CouchSurf so I thought I would try renting a house. It was kind of a nightmare. We got into the apt – it wasn’t clean, there were no towels and no hot water (and no Wi-Fi). I should have just said I’ll clean and have them knock money off. Instead we moved to another property they owned and that had a water leak and ants. The first one was a beautiful place with an amazing view. I think with a lot of these experiences (like in life) you just have to roll with the punches and make best of it. I had my daughter and it was so stressful moving 3 times.

Lagoon and water park at AirBnB apt complex Playa Blanca

As I always say, staying in the apt was “nice” but so culturally unrewarding. I really don’t know what Panamanians are like because I only met them superficially. It’s a shame because I was there three weeks!

Au Revoir (Again)

July 15, 2015 by Laurie Deppa 5 Comments

The whole gang at the Towne Center concert

Raphael contacted me through Facebook. He and his family – mom, dad and two siblings stayed with us two years ago. They were a LOVELY French family from Lyon whom we met through Couchsurfing I believe. Hard to keep track sometimes.

Raphael and his friend came to tour the area and spent the weekend with us. We had a great weekend catching up with Raphael and hearing all the updates on family members. We had a great time at our favorite Friday night summer hangout – dinner and concert at the Annapolis Towne Center. Then Saturday, we had an engagement party to attend and we invited them along. They had a wonderful time and got to meet more locals and enjoy a lovely event!

Definitely going to Lyon sometime, been to France many times – but never Lyon!

🙂 Au revoir amis

Costa Rica

July 13, 2015 by Laurie Deppa 1 Comment

Laurie, Paul, Julie, Brian & Laurie at Towne Center concert

We had a great visit with some guests from Home Exchange – Paul, Julie and their daughter Laurie. They spent a couple of days and it was a very enjoyable visit.

We had a great night out with dinner at Paladar, one of our favorite happy hour spots. Our favorite summer Friday tradition is enjoying the free concert series at Parole Towne Center. Afterward, we headed back to our house to roast marshmallows in the outdoor fireplace and soak in the hot tub. We really had a great time enjoying our favorite activities with our new friends.

Why bother taking a vacation?

July 9, 2015 by Laurie Deppa 4 Comments

I read article after article that we, as Americans, are really bad about taking time off for vacations. In many countries, workers get an entire month and they take it! Companies don’t fall apart, everyone does it and the world does not come to an end.

So why are we so bad about taking time to refresh and renew our minds and bodies with time away. I don’t mean taking a week off to go to doctor appointments or cleaning out the shed. I mean flying, driving or taking the train to another city, state or country. It doesn’t have to be half way around the world. Sometimes a less stressful trip – think driving beautiful country roads – can be so enjoyable.

As an American, I do not include myself in the above group. I never had the opportunity to travel outside the US until I was in college. I won an 8-day trip (on 98 Rock) to see the Monsters of Rock in England. Since then I have been taking every opportunity to travel and I have now been to about 50 countries/territories.

I see a big, beautiful world out there with amazing people to meet and cultures to experience. Now I have made it my mission to show my daughter the world. Won’t you join me on my mission…

12 Places to Swim Before You Die

July 7, 2015 by Laurie Deppa Leave a Comment

Found a great article in the Huffington Post, “12 Places to Swim Before You Die“. Some very cool places. I had planned on going to Turkey in September but changed my plans. Definitely putting Pamukkale Hot Springs in Turkey on my list. The mineral deposits from the hot springs create beautiful crystal like formations on the rocks where the water runs.

Anyone ever been??

Is it a Vacation with Kids or Just a Trip?

June 29, 2015 by Laurie Deppa Leave a Comment

Laurie and Ellie, 10 mo, 28-day, 6-country tour

I read an interesting article in yesterday’s Baltimore Sun (Sunday, June 28)entitled “No Such Thing as Vacation with Small Kids”. The author, with 3 children 5 and under, states that a vacation is really not a vacation, when travelling with children.

Ellie on her first flight (to Europe)

Some of her “complaints” – hotels are horrible, not having a washing machine and children dining out. Many of these problems can be solved by staying in homes. She makes the point that hotels are one room basically and when the kids are asleep, the parents have to be still and quiet so as not to wake them. If you have a house, kids can sleep in separate rooms! Home and hospitality exchanges almost always include a washer and dryer and you don’t have to dine out if you have a house in which to prepare meals. I believe that doing home or hospitality exchange may be the key to turning your next trip into a vacation (with the kids)!

Ellie on the overnight train Bucharest to Budapest

I also am a firm believer that in much of life, children are easily adaptable but you must give them opportunities. Like other parents who say “I would never take my 4-year old to a business mixer” – I do. I’ve been taking her since she was born. She’s been to Rotary, business networking events (least couple a month), many restaurants and she’s traveled a lot. I believe that taking her out so much I teach her what proper behavior is in such venues.

Laurie & Ellie dining in Budapest

I have also stretched that thought into my traveling life. I hear so many people say I don’t travel, I have kids. I think that’s the mistake they make. My daughter has been to 13 countries and we have a big trip planned for Sep – just me and 4-year old to Spain and Morocco for six weeks. She loves staying in other places, must be in her genes. 🙂

Sister Cities, Counties and States

June 25, 2015 by Laurie Deppa 1 Comment

Have you ever heard of sister cities, counties or states? Sister Cities is an international organization started by President Eisenhower in 1956. Eisenhower wanted to create a network that would foster international peace and cultural understanding. This network has continued to grow and now includes 545 cities counties and states, with 2121 partnerships in 145 countries.

My city Annapolis has official relationships with Wexford, Ireland; Rochefort City, France; Nithsdale, Scotland; Changsha, China; Newport, Wales; Banjul, Gambia; Tallinn, Estonia; and Marsala, Italy.

I was once the Sister Cities Program Manager for both Columbia, Maryland and Annapolis, Maryland. I took a large group from Annapolis to visit 2 of our cities in 2001. I placed an article asking who from the community would like to go with our group. I organized everything myself and the 2 week trip was $1500 all inclusive. It was amazing if I say so myself. We had one night hotel at the beginning and the end, but otherwise we were all placed with locals for accommodation. Some were “given” rooms in bed and breakfasts, some in homes and I myself was in an apartment at the back of a pub (cool). Too bad I don’t drink!!!

Needless to say we were given the royal treatment, tours, parties, performances, etc. – all free thanks to our relationship with the city. I became good friends with two of the travelers on my trip and to this day, we still talk about that trip.

I tell you about this because it’s ONE MORE WAY to stay like a local and stay FREE. Navy Football played Notre Dame in Ireland a couple of years ago. Well they were charging a fortune for the “charter trip” so I worked my magic. I organized a 2-week trip to Dublin, Belfast and Scotland and for my three-person family it was maybe $2500 at the very most. We could have done it even cheaper but splurged a little on dinners and a last minute trip to Edinburgh.

Exactly how did I do it?

I contacted several people on my usual networks of home and hospitality exchange. I found an amazing couple in Dublin (through couchsurfing) and we hit if off immediately – communicating regularly before the trip. I set up a one-week stay in our sister city of Dumfries, Scotland. When I was Director, I hosted the entire Dumfries Male Voice Choir here in Annapolis, organized homestays and hosted a party for all at my home. I contacted the family who stayed with us and asked if we could come stay with them. Of course.

With the Dumfries Male Voice Choir in Scotland

We ended up scrambling a couple of weeks prior because our “friends” in Dublin lost jobs and had to move to Belfast. I got back online, and found a woman through www.homeforexchange.com who was willing to just “give us” her appt. She couldn’t come to US and I said to let me know if she ever made it this way. It was a great apartment on the River Liffey, walking distance to all sites and to the football stadium! We bought groceries, ate breakfast at home and carried snacks. Because we were saving so much we splurged on eating out while we were sightseeing. We could have packed lunches and eaten dinner upon return for the evening if wanted to save more on the trip.

Laurie, Brian and Ellie at Navy football game in Dublin

After Dublin, we took the train (very reasonable and close to the apt) to Belfast. We were greeted by our host Carolyn who immediately took us on a tour and her husband had dinner ready when we arrived! We had a beautiful room with a view of the Irish Sea. We had great conversations over breakfasts and dinner and ate lunch in town while seeing Belfast (walking distance). It was perfect!

Ellie with our fabulous hosts in Belfast

From there we took the P&O ferry to CairnRyan, Scotland. Our sister city friends John and Nina drove about 75 minutes to pick us up and drove us to Dumfries. It was a great time to catch up on our lives over the past ten years. We spent several nights in the rural town seeing the beautiful countryside, walking the cute little town and enjoying great hospitality and company. One night our host took my husband to the pub for boys night out :-). It really was a spectacular stay. Cost nothing.

I am trying to show you that you can have remarkable travel memories for much less than you ever imagined. Isn’t that what traveling should be about?

Travel Tips – It’s the Little Details

June 24, 2015 by Laurie Deppa Leave a Comment

Use sites like “ToAndFromtheAirport.com” to ensure a smooth transition to and from your trip. It’s a very valuable tool that tells you how to get to and from hundreds of airports around the world. It offers info about using your own car as well as, public transportation including trains, buses, shuttles and limos. There are travel times and approximate costs.

I should have used this site when I took my last trip to Venice. Sometimes it’s worth it to pay a little more for complete inconvenience. At least with this site you have the tools to help you make informed decisions. It’s run by a pilot, who better than someone who commutes to airports for a living.

Using a site like this one really can help ensure a smooth vacation.