Exchange to NC

I realize that most of the previous posts are on flying and learning to fly. Prior to starting that process my wife and I joined a home exchange service. We pay an annual fee to list our home and use the service to connect with folks in places we might like to visit.
The first exchange we did was a result of someone contacting us. We had never considered North Carolina. But after looking at the area via the internet we decided to go ahead and exchange. The couple who contacted us wanted to come to Colorado to do some skiing and snow shoeing. We explained that the nearest ski area was about an hour away and the more famous Colorado resorts were three to four hours away, but they still wanted to come.
We ended up doing a non-concurrent exchange. We went on our anniversary trip and they came and stayed in our home. This helped us understand that we needed to increase our documentation on the house and our area. Jenny and Darren had to ask to find the nearest grocery store and when visiting they learned that Rocky Mountain National Park was in our back yard. We assumed that anyone coming to our neck of the woods was coming, in part, for Rocky Mountain National Park.
The stay in our home went fine and we were pleased and a bit surprised on our return. Not only was everything clean and in the same shape, but they had also done the laundry cleaning all the sheets and towels they had used. Talking with other exchangers since this time, it isn't a surprise. I'm told that it is fairly common to do the laundry, however; if you have an early flight out it is also understood that you don't have the time to do the laundry.
In October we flew to Charlotte, NC, (commercial since I don't have the license yet) and picked up a rental car. Jenny and Darren had provided excellent directions to their second home in the Northeast corner of North Carolina. Which is a good thing since we didn't get there until well after dark.
However, if I had my private AND my instrument rating it probably would have been quicker and definitely more fun to fly my self.
Time spent getting there:
2.5 hours Home to Airport hotel
10 hours DIA to Charlotte including layover in Dallas
4 hours Charlotte to exchange home

Now there is no way I would want to fly for 16 hours straight but with more direct routing and estimating only an average ground speed of 100 kts and three stops between for fuel (each fuel stop being 40 mins) it would have taken 13 hours and that would have included a stop with relatives for a night. Granted the costs would have been considerably higher, 22 hours of flight time round trip, almost $2000 if renting. However, we would have been able to take off from the airport 30 minutes away and land at an airport 20 to 30 minutes from our vacation home.

More on that exchange in future posts.