#homeexchange — Public Fediverse posts

Our European Adventure to Paris and Berlin

https://www.flickr.com/photos/canadianveggie/55434202850/in/album-72177720335152348/

This summer we did our second big overseas trip as a family – 2 weeks in Paris and Berlin. One thing I love about travel, and international travel in particular, is discovering how different life can be.

Paris and Berlin are both world class cities and we loved getting to know them. We only had 3 days in Paris, and it was a whirlwind. We enjoyed the Eiffel Tower, cycling around town, and the amazing food! We had more time in Berlin, with a 10-day home exchange. Berlin is often rated one of the top vegan cities in the world, and it didn’t disappoint, with vegan restaurants galore and cheap vegan groceries. In both cities, we loved how easy it was to get around by train, the vibrancy of street life, and the rich cultural attractions.

Highlights

Christopher

• The urban form of Berlin with mid-rise housing and public transit everywhere.
• Amazing food and surprising amount of vegan restaurants.
• The overnight train from Paris to Berlin.

Emily

• Food, especially the pastries
• Biking along canals and allotment gardens in Berlin
• All the unique neighborhoods in Berlin

Astrid

• Food from Land + Monkey (Paris) and Mom’s – Vegan Cooking (Berlin)
• Spy Museum – Loved the laser maze
• Futurium – Lego city builder

Full photo album from our trip.

Daily Journal

Day 1 – 🛬 Arriving in Paris

https://www.flickr.com/photos/canadianveggie/55428151552/in/album-72177720335152348

When we landed in Paris, the clocks said 10:30 AM but we were exhausted, having barely gotten any sleep on the plane. But the plan was to push through, stay up as late as we could, and adjust to our new timezone. Plus, we only had 3 days in Paris, so there was no time to waste.

After dropping our bags at the hotel, we immediately loaded up on French bakery treats and had a picnic in Place des Vosges. The baked goods at Land & Monkeys were amazing! Baguettes, croissants, focaccia, croquet framboise. All vegan, all delicious.

We grabbed some famous Berthillon sorbet on Île Saint-Louis (delicious), and braved the crowds at Notre Dame. Astrid was already suffering from ABC syndrome – Another Big Church (said with as much sass as a 10-year-old could muster).

We ended the evening with a river cruise along the Seine. It was a good way to keep sightseeing but get off our feet. Paris is a stunning city with all the beautiful buildings.

Highlights: Staying awake until 8 PM. Land & Monkeys picnic lunch.
Lowlights: Lack of sleep on the plane. Notre Dame – long line and uninspiring.

Day 2 – 🎨 Eiffel Tower and Musée d’Orsay

https://www.flickr.com/photos/canadianveggie/55429288164/in/album-72177720335152348

We checked out the big Parisian highlights – the Eiffel Tower, Musée d’Orsay, and Montmartre.

I’ve been to Paris twice before, but I was still surprised by the size of the Eiffel Tower. We climbed the stairs to the second level. Astrid was an Energizer Bunny for the first half but started getting a bit nervous as we approached the second story. Informing her that it had been standing for over a hundred years didn’t reassure her, especially when the sketchy-looking elevators rumbled by.

I wasn’t too afraid of the heights, other than the section with the glass floor. Astrid enjoyed jumping on it and trying to scare me.

We grabbed lunch at one of the open market stands on Rue Cler – Mediterranean food including these delicious stuffed spinach pockets that were surprisingly vegan. The food in Paris continued to impress.

After lunch, we toured Musée d’Orsay. It was a lot of art, and Astrid didn’t have much patience for all the impressionist masterpieces. She was saved by an exclusive kids’ area in an extremely ornate ballroom. After that, she had the energy to check out all the sculptures.

In the evening, we ventured over to Montmartre. It was ok. A short funicular ride, a nice view of the city, and another big church (ABC) that we didn’t go in. But there were street performers, including a Charlie Chaplin impersonator who enthralled Astrid. I loved the Place du Tertre plaza, with its outdoor patios and artists sketching portraits. More sorbet gave us energy to make it home – it was becoming a daily tradition.

Highlights: The climb up the Eiffel Tower.
Lowlights: The funicular up to the top of Montmartre.

Day 3 – 🚲 Paris à vélo

https://www.flickr.com/photos/canadianveggie/55429236778/in/album-72177720335152348

I planned on starting Day 3 with an early morning run while the girls slept in, but Astrid had serious FOMO and begged to come along. So we explored the area around the Louvre together. She did great keeping a steady pace, and it was pretty cool exploring while the city was deserted.

We rented bikes for the day and used them to get around. We had tickets to the Atelier des Lumières – a fancy digital art exhibit. It was cool, but I wish we would have used the time to explore Paris more.

We had lunch at one of the city’s premiere fine dining establishments (Daimant Saint-Honoré) and bought more food from Land & Monkeys for the train. The food in Paris was amazing.

Highlights: Biking in a new city, especially earlier in the day in the eastern part of the city.
Lowlights: Biking through huge crowds amassing for the Tour de France near our hotel. It was very chaotic and we caused a small bike accident (no one was hurt). The whole afternoon, Emily was stressed and anxious to get to the train station.

Interlude – 🚆 Overnight Train from Paris to Berlin

https://www.flickr.com/photos/canadianveggie/55465755691/in/album-72177720335152348/

In the weeks leading up to our trip, we received repeated emails from European Sleeper notifying us of changes – our departure station (Gare du Nord to Gare de L’Est), departure time (18:21 to 16:33), arrival station (Berlin Hbf to Gesundbrunnen), and arrival time (09:59 to 10:10) were all changed. Most of these were fine, although it did suck to lose two hours in Paris. And then the day before our journey, we got one last notice – the toilets weren’t working! 😂

Luckily, I love trains and my enthusiasm wouldn’t be dimmed (even when it took 15 minutes to find a working toilet). And it was awesome watching Astrid discover her love of trains too. She was so excited exploring our compartment and all the train features. We spent an hour walking the length of the train and checking out the different cars.

We had a 3-person, private, 2nd-class compartment. Astrid quickly claimed the top bunk, which was good because we were missing a ladder. We were also missing a curtain, but a steward found us a replacement.

Everyone slept well on the train. There were loud announcements around 10 PM when we arrived in Brussels and again at 7 AM in Hanover that woke all of us up, but we fell back asleep easily. I got up at 8:30 and immediately went in search of a working toilet, but Emily and Astrid had to be woken at 9:30 so they could get ready before we arrived in Berlin.

I love trains. Such a refined way to travel.

Highlight: Sweet dreams while a train rocks you to sleep.
Lowlight: European Sleeper has some issues to work through.

Day 4 – 🛒 Getting Settled in Berlin

https://www.flickr.com/photos/canadianveggie/55429121326/in/album-72177720335152348/

Our first day in Berlin was spent getting settled in our home exchange and exploring the neighborhood.

Our home exchange was nice—a cute little flat with two bedrooms in the westernmost area of Berlin – Spandau. The neighbourhood is not normally a tourist destination but it is well served by public transportation, so it served as a good home base for us.

We toured the main tourist attractions – the old cobblestoned town center and the Citadel. Astrid was pretty grumpy on the walk, but once she got an audio tour to control, she was in a better mood. The Citadel was surprisingly packed with things to see, including an old Renaissance-era tower, a Nazi chemical lab, and discarded monuments from previous eras. There was also clearly a dance club that operated at night and the setup for a music festival.

For dinner, we hit the grocery store and were blown away by how cheap food was, especially the vegan products: €0.95 for a liter of oat milk and €1.29 for a pack of fake salami slices.

Highlights: A nearby grocery with cheap vegan items.
Lowlights: Grumpy Astrid.

Day 5 – 🚴 Biking Through Berlin

https://www.flickr.com/photos/canadianveggie/55428145267/in/album-72177720335152348/

Our home exchange hosts were kind enough to lend us two adult bikes and found a friend with a kids bike that would fit Astrid. We just had to pick it up on the other side of the city.

Berlin allows bikes on transit with an extra ticket, so we took the u-bahn to Tempelhof, picked up Astrid’s bike from a fellow car-free family who gave us tips on the best places to ride, and rode the 30 km back.

We started our journey at old Tempelhof airport with its abandoned runways that have now become a public park. I would have liked to explore more but it was windy and Astrid was getting hangry. We needed to find a way to get her more calories in the morning.

After a lunch stop in Potsdamerplatz, it was a much more enjoyable ride. We checked out the Holocaust Memorial and Brandenburg Gate on our ride. Both were impressive but didn’t hold our interest for too long.

The cycling infrastructure here is really good and most people cycle at relaxed speeds. I never felt any worries that Astrid couldn’t handle it. A long stretch of our bike ride was along a canal, which reminded me of biking along the seawall in Vancouver.

Highlights: A long bike ride across half of Berlin. Cute allotment garden plots with their small cottages. Eating vegan donuts we bought earlier as a reward for making it half way.
Lowlights: Not having more time to explore Tempelhof.

Day 6 – 🚀 The Future

https://www.flickr.com/photos/canadianveggie/55465874418/in/album-72177720335152348/

We discovered a convenience store in the Spandau train station that sells onigiri. Our hangry kid problem was solved!

Berlin was in the midst of another heat wave (they got hammered this summer). Our plans to beat the heat included a lot of air-conditioned museums and sorbet.

We checked out the Futurium in the morning and the Video Game Museum after lunch. We also walked along the East Side Gallery, with its famous graffiti art, which was not beating the heat but at least it was mostly shaded when we walked by.

Astrid said “today was the funnest day (so far)”. Futurium had all kinds of interactive exhibits. We appreciated the theme – it managed to blend climate change (fitting given the heat), consumerism, democracy, and technology in a forward looking lense that wasn’t dire. It didn’t shy away from the challenges but did so with optimism.

The Video Game Museum had a huge collection of retro consoles and games. It was less educational and more entertaining as a lot of the games were playable. Highlights included DDR, Qix, Mario Bros, and Monkey Island.

We had dinner in the hip Boxhagener Platz neighborhood in Friedrichshain. There were so many vegan restaurants to choose from, but we ended up at an amazing thai restaurant called li.ke. I loved the neighbourhood it was in – there was a big park in the middle and the streets around it were all big apartments with restaurants on the ground floor. And it was packed with people.

Highlights: Best day so far. Good museums, delicious dinner, funky neighbourhoods.
Lowlights: Cat cafe at lunch was all vegan, but the food was mediocre and cats were all sleeping.

Day 7 – 🕵️‍♀️ Cold War Spy Gets Extremely Hot 🥵

https://www.flickr.com/photos/canadianveggie/55431666249/in/album-72177720335152348/

This was the hottest day of the trip. It hit 37°C. It was painful to walk outside. We did as much as possible in air conditioned museums but we still had to walk between them outside.

We started the day off with the Spy Museum. It was great. We were able to do the laser maze games and lie detector simulation before it got too crowded.

We visited the Reichstag in the afternoon, which was a bust. After long lines and passport control, we got to the top of the building to find out the dome was effectively closed due to the extreme heat. 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/canadianveggie/55431496371/in/album-72177720335152348/

Afterwards we found a cool spot along the river to dunk our feet before spending another hour back at the Futurium.

Then we tried to go home but there were all kinds of delays with trains because of the heat. We hit up a grocery store in the train station with surprisingly reasonable prices. I bought two pop bottles that needed an opener, which we didn’t have. I managed to force one open, but it just fizzed all down my shirt. 🤦

Luckily our home exchange kept cool even without AC – it had these mechanical shutters that blocked all the sun and most of the heat.

Highlights: Cooling our feet in the river Spree. Laser mazes in the spy museum.
Lowlights: The unbearable 37°C heat and it closing down the Reichstag dome.

Day 8 – 🧺 Picnic in Alexanderplatz

https://www.flickr.com/photos/canadianveggie/55468957866/in/album-72177720335152348

The day started with another museum – the Deutschland museum back in Potsdamerplatz. The museum was really well organized. Informative and interactive without going too deep into any one area of German history. I’m still confused about all the empires that formed and collapsed in Germany over the past 2000 years, but I left slightly more educated.

We then headed up to the Alexanderplatz area to eat a picnic lunch with Vietnamese takeout, vegan shawarma, and fancy cookies which we ate in the square next to a fountain. Astrid was hopping around on the rocks when the fountain changed from gentle bubbling to spraying in every direction soaking her. She loved it and it was hot enough that she was dry by the time we left the park.

Our afternoon was less structured. We wandered around and found old buildings and places that were interesting. Rotes Rathaus, Humboldt Forum, and the Berlin Cathedral. I thought the cathedral would just be a quick visit to see the crypt and dome but they had a comprehensive audio tour (including a kids version) that Astrid refused to speed through. The catwalk along the top of the cathedral dome was surprisingly cool and scary to me.

Dinner was at Al Catzone in a neighbourhood with graffitied social housing complexes and a traffic circle that has been car-free since the 1960s. Funky and a little gritty – very Berlin.

Highlights: Pizza in the park and the Cathedral dome walk.
Lowlights: Arguing with Emily the night before about our plans for the day. I just wanted to wander and not do more museums and she didn’t like my suggestion and told me to figure it out.

Day 9 – 🌧️ Beelitz Sanitorium

https://www.flickr.com/photos/canadianveggie/55469086188/in/album-72177720335152348

We planned on having a relaxing day with day trip out of Berlin. I was going to get up early and run while the ladies slept in, but the rain kind of messed everything up.

The forecast said it would stop raining by 7 am, but it was wildly wrong. It rained until 2 pm. The only running I did was trying to catch trains – sometimes unnecessarily (when our train was cancelled anyway due to “objects on the track”); sometimes critically (when we dashed from the station, to a McDonald’s for a toilet, and then back and boarded our train with 30 seconds to spare, and then found out our train had a working toilet).

Our day trip destination was the town of Beelitz, an hour south of Berlin. We hoped it would clear up by the time we arrived, but even after numerous train delays, it was still raining. We were so concerned about scheduling around the heat we completely overlooked the possibility of a washout day.

We tried to make the most of it as we toured an old tuberculosis sanatorium – a weird tourist attraction I know. It was a surprisingly cool place but would have been better on a sunny day. We regretted not swapping it with any of the museum days, but c’est la vie.

Highlights: The tree top walk and the adventurous elements like Sky Boa and Giant Hammock.
Lowlights: The rain and regrets about how we scheduled our week.

Day 10 – 🛍️ Mauerpark Flea Market

https://www.flickr.com/photos/canadianveggie/55438191583/in/album-72177720335152348

We spent the day around Mauerpark. There was a big outdoor flea market on Sundays (although that might be an outdated name as a lot of the stalls were selling new clothing and handicrafts). We all bought something, including printed t-shirts for Astrid and me, earrings for Emily, and a cute used jean jacket that Emily bought but Astrid tried to lay claim to.

In the afternoon we learned about life in East Germany at Museum in der Kulturbrauerei. I knew it was communist, but I never really thought of how life structured around large state run enterprises and company brigades might be like.

We had some random wildlife encounters. We watched a firefighter crew remove a trapped pigeon from a balcony to the cheers of the onlooking crowd. And we watched a pack of wild pigs running through the park near our home.

Highlights: Buying souvenirs in the Mauerpark flea market.
Lowlights: After 10 days of travel, my body was wearing down and avoiding soy was difficult.

Day 11 – 🏖️ Beach Day

https://www.flickr.com/photos/canadianveggie/55466239755/in/album-72177720335152348/

This was our beach day. We biked from Spandau along some relaxed paths to a beach at the nearby Lake Tegel.

It was a beautiful ride and easy for Astrid to do the whole way. The route involved a cute little ferry that went across a small arm of the lake and cost a few euros to take our bikes across on.

It was interesting looking at the urban form while biking. Even here at the edge of Berlin, the homes were all in 4-8 story apartments, with commercial on the ground floor, and a ton of kid playgrounds beside them. There were allotment gardens around but we didn’t see a single family home until we took the ferry. Because of the density, everything was well served by transit and bike routes.

The lake has a few public beaches, but we paid to access a spot that had some amenities. There was a giant slide in the water, washrooms, life guards, and a snack shop with all vegetarian food. Astrid had fun doing the big slide and building a sand castle. We also played bocce ball.

On the bike ride home we stopped for pizza at a place that served it uncut with a pair of giant scissors.

Highlights: Another bike ride where we could see regular city life beyond the tourist hotspots.
Lowlights: I got a slight sunburn on my shoulders, but Emily and Astrid were fine.

Day 12 – Last Full Day in Berlin

https://www.flickr.com/photos/canadianveggie/55441701942/in/album-72177720335152348/

On our last last full day in Berlin, we returned Astrid’s borrowed bike and checked a few of the last sights off our checklist – Checkpoint Charlie (underwhelming), the Jewish museum (ok). and Hackescher Markt (also ok). It rained a bit but mostly it just felt muggy.

We picked up a few more souvenirs, enjoyed treats from a few vegan bakeries, cooked our last dinner at the home exchange, cleaned up, and packed.

Highlights: We split up in the morning with Emily searching for vegan baked goods while Astrid and I returned her bike. We met up at checkpoint Charlie and the timing worked out perfectly.
Lowlights: More running for trains only to find out they’ve been delayed.

Day 13 – 🛫 Goodbye Berlin

https://www.flickr.com/photos/canadianveggie/55444066577/in/album-72177720335152348

We had one last train adventure on the way to the Berlin airport. The s-bahn trains into Spandau were all cancelled due to track maintenance, so we had to scramble a bit to figure out an alternative. Luckily we gave ourselves plenty of time and there are multiple overlapping train systems in Berlin. It was one last reminder that the transit system in Berlin might be struggling with reliability, but it still got us where we needed to be most of the time.

The only other hiccup was at passport control, where our German border guard cursed out the lazy Frenchman who didn’t properly enter us when we arrived. A few quick retina scans fixed that. We spent our last few euros in the airport on German pretzels and then we boarded our flight.

Goodbye Europe, au revoir, auf wiedersehen! We had a lovely time.

Trip Costs

Notes:

• Our flights were really expensive, partly because we didn’t book return flights to the same cities as we squeezed in a family visit to Manitoba on the way home.
  • $1408 to fly from Vancouver to Paris
  • $2824 (twice as much!) to fly from Berlin to Winnipeg
• We saved a ton on our accommodation by doing a Home Exchange in Berlin and saving 50% on our Paris hotel (thank you life insurance).
• Our single biggest expense, after flights, was our overnight train from Paris to Berlin. It wasn’t cheap (€200 each), but it was a memorable adventure and took us over 1000 km while we slept.
• Food averaged out to around $48/person/day, slightly more expensive than in Japan – surprising given we did a fair bit of cooking.

Si #HomeExchange vous intéresse, je peux vous parrainer (ça permet d'avoir plus de point pour un premier échange).

Nous avons passé une super petite semaine à #Strasbourg en famille la semaine dernière. Quelle belle ville sous le soleil !
C'était notre première expérience de #HomeExchange et ce fut une réussite. Bel accueil, bel appartement à deux pas du centre. Les conditions étaient idéales pour nos retrouvailles familiales !

Merci aux conseils donnés par le fediverse.
Nous nous sommes beaucoup promenés à pied dans le centre, un tour en bateau mouche et des pique-niques dans les parcs (et des cigognes) !

Est ce que par le plus grand des hasards, quelqu'un pourrait me parrainer sur #homeExchange.

Boost apprécié 😉

@kafkiana desde años utilizamos https://www.homeexchange.com/dashboard! #homeexchange . Y muy bien hasta el verano 2024. Cuando había daños ligeros. Normalmente homeexchange supuestamente gestiona eso. Un proceso muy frustrante y hace más que 1 año que ya nos contestan...

For a few days now we have a 'hospitality stay' at our home from some lovely people from south-east Asia via the home exchange platform PLU (People Like Us, https://peoplelikeus.world/).

It's amazing what kind of people you meet. And it's refreshingly non-commercial in its nature, where not everything is tried to be peeled down to 'extractable value' (e.g. nights, size of the house, location, ...) and balance it out.

A good side benefit is now that we can visit Bali with a free stay at some point in time.

#HomeExchange #PLU

Onko #kodinvaihto #homeexchange tuttu konsepti?

Meillä oli just mökkiviikon aikana unkarilainen perhe vieraina.

Ite on lomailtu mm. kaksi viikkoa Normandiassa mihin ei ikinä olis muuten ollut varaa. Myös Pariisi tuli edulliseksi kun majoituksesta ei tarvinnut maksaa.
m

We have really liked the idea of home swapping, especially with people abroad. My wife has done some research on platforms facilitating that, and it looked like #PeopleLikeUs or #PLU is the one most striking to us by being less commercial and more community driven.

Any other home swapping users out here? What are your experiences?

Our listing in Aotearoa/New Zealand:

https://peoplelikeus.world/en/properties/35734

#HomeExchange #HomeSwap

Si par hasard des personnes sur Nice cherchent un logement longue durée sur Paris, j'échange mon T3 à Paris contre T1 et+ 😉 #HomeExchange #Nice #Paris #appartement

I'm looking for an apartment swap Düsseldorf <-> Berlin from 18th to 26th/27th July 2024.

I can offer my apartment in Düsseldorf's hipster hood Unterbilk. I'm looking to stay in eastern Berlin (Kreuzberg, Neukölln, Alt-Treptow, Friedrichshain).

If you are interested, or if you know someone who might, please let me know!
#berlin #düsseldorf #apartmentswap #homeexchange

L'idea di #viaggiare in modo sostenibile e alternativo arriva a essere #circolare superando i vecchi standard dell'impattante turismo di massa. #HomeExchange si presenta come una #community di scambio-case, valorizzando un #turismo locale e sostenibile #sostenibilità #Turismosostenibile #ambiente #greenplanner

https://www.greenplanner.it/2023/06/13/turismo-circolare-home-exchange/