• Home

Kangaroos & Kimonos

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Stay free like me!
  • Home Exchange
  • Hospitality
  • Travel Tips
  • Destinations
    • United States
    • Europe
    • South America
  • Blog

Peaceful Lake Retreat

April 16, 2015 by Laurie Deppa Leave a Comment


2013 201

Location, location, location.  I believe if you live in an interesting area people will always want to exchange with you.  I get requests to exchange so often, that many of them I have to reluctantly refuse the offer.

In 2013 we did a fantastic home exchange right here in the good old USA. People might think you have to swap with some exotic location in another part of the world, but there are great places within a car ride.

We had an unbelievable offer from a beautiful custom built woodland retreat house on a private lake in the Adirondacks of NY. I am not normally the mountain type of person, more so a beach any day.  We filled up the gas tank, loaded up the SUV and took a lovely drive up through PA and NY into an area which I am totally unfamiliar.

It was a rather large house and IT WAS FANTASTIC!  We were only 3 in our party so I had asked a girlfriend and her daughter to join us. It was so my daughter would have a playmate and It worked out really well.

That’s another great advantage of swapping a home – you can invite others along if you wish.  You could even arrange to swap two houses along with a family member or friend – and all go on vacation together without being too cramped.

The house was like something out of Architectural Digest.  My house is a very modest duplex – why would they want to trade with me – LOCATION!

We took long walks on the beautiful, bucolic grounds and private driveway (2 miles long I think).  We roasted marshmallows in the outdoor fire pit and relaxed immensely in the great outdoors.  We enjoyed breathtaking views of our private lake – while dining and doing yoga every day.   Oh yes, and that amazing house had a gourmet kitchen and large playroom for the kids.  Don’t forget the master bedroom with a large sliding glass door and a view of the lake.

2013 Aug 174

The owner’s brother lived in another house up the road.  We drove by one day and invited them to join us with drinks by the fire.  We ended up making new friends and our kids found new playmates!

There was so much to do in the area with all of the area lakes, small towns, outdoor concerts, and bike rides with the ones we brought from home.  We even indulged in a day at Six Flags Great Escape, where we were able to use our Six Flags season passes from home and enter free of charge (one day of commercialism allowed 🙂 ).

Lake George NY

Laurie, Ellie & Brian exploring Lake George, NY

 

It was a fantastic, frugal, family vacation.  We ate most every meal at home, paid nothing for accommodations and yet had one of our best family vacations!

 


Tweet
PinIt

Filed Under: Home Exchange, Uncategorized, United States

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Recent Blog Entries

  • Fly Cheap to Argentina
  • Free Travel to NYC on Amtrak
  • Planning a Trip is Easy with Tripit
  • Stay Free Around the World with Trusted Housesitters
  • “Travel FREE Like Me” Seminar on March 14th

Join our Mailing List

Submitting this form will add you to our mailing list and entitle you to members-only information from Kangaroos and Kimonos.

There is no charge for this, and we promise to never share your information with other companies.

Copyright © 2023 · Kangaroos and Kimonos · Site layout and theme customizations by Fischer IT Solutions

Copyright © 2023 · Metro Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in