This past weekend I went and saw, The Holiday. The basis of the movie is two women with relationship problems who exchange homes to get away for the holidays. Overall the movie was good, but can lead to misconceptions about home exchanging.
The first error was that the listing appears to have been an open listing with contact info available to anyone. This is not the case with most home exchange services. Even if it is a free listing, you still need to sign up as a member, listing your home and contact info, before a service will give you access to another member's information.
I think I would have to say that 99.99% of the exchanges that come about are not arranged in five minutes via an online chat service. Generally, you are in contact with your exchangers 3 to 6 months out and many people like to have their exchange arranged a year in advance. Most exchanges seem to require 20 to 40 requests, before you find someone in the area and during the times that you want to exchange.
Once an exchange is arranged, you generally exchange many details on how to get to the home or find the car at the airport, if you are exchanging automobiles. It is also strongly suggested that you develop a book that includes information on all your houses systems (water cutoff, circuit breakers, gas shutoffs) and contact info for any of the repair services you may use. Also, include the location of shopping stores for groceries, etc, and include any of your favorite places.
Our last exchange we overlapped on both ends of the trip. We flew to Ireland and rented a car driving down to Dungarvan to meet the lady who would be staying in our home. She went through her home and explained some of the differences, i.e. what switch to hit if you want hot water in the shower and the master electrical switch for all the kitchen appliances. We then shared information on our house and reviewed maps we brought along, gave her the airport parking ticket and explained where the car was. The next day she headed off to Dublin to stay with family for a day and flew to Denver. We enjoyed our stay for the next two weeks and then headed home. Our exchange partner picked us up at the airport and then we got to show her some of our favorite spots in the Rocky Mountains for the next two days before I took her to the airport.
One of the things in the movie that some people may think is far fetched, is the discrepancy in the home sizes. One a small English cottage the other a sprawling Los Angeles home on Sunset Blvd. The size of homes is generally not considered in an exchange, other than if it meets your needs for number of bedrooms. You may very well find someone with a 5000+ sq ft home who is willing to exchange for a 800 sq ft apartment in a city. It all depends on location.
Of the two ladies, I think that Iris is the more normal home exchanger. When you exchange you usually get to know the neighbors more than your exchange partner. That is one of the reasons it was nice to overlap, it gave us a chance to know who we were exchanging with.
If you want to see the movie because it involves home exchanging and you want to see what that is like, don't bother. The bulk of the movie is relationship based. Two girls in bad relationships who get away, via a home exchange, and find true love.
Monday, December 18, 2006
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Private Pilot, finally
It's been a long time since I last posted. I spent two weeks in October away on vacation and then when I returned I was determined to complete my requirements. One because the airport was closing and two because my medical expired at the end of the month.
Prior to leaving on vacation I flew up to Cheyenne WY with my instructor and got in my three solo take offs and landings. The first two were fairly routine but then on the third I had to do a 360 for spacing due to a commercial, Lake Aviation, flight. And then extend the downwind for another aircraft that was considerably faster than my 172.
Once I returned I reviewed all my hours and found I was .2 hrs short for night time and 1.4 hours short on solo time. So scheduled my instructor for more night flying, basically went up, around the pattern and landed. The next day I had a pre-check ride, check ride with another instructor. That went well, so I rested up at the FBO for 30 minutes and then went out solo for 1.5 hrs. Did some more steep turns, slow flight, S-Turns, and turns about a point.
Thursday, Oct 26, was the scheduled date for my exam with the designated flight examiner. However, Colorado got hit with a wet heavy snow all day. Fortunately, I had also booked Friday and that worked out just fine. We were back in the 60s with clear skies.
For anyone who is about to go through this I would strongly encourage you to review all that book learning. The hardest part of my examination was the ground work, 3.5 hours. Reviewing my pre-assigned flight plan, explaining how I would load and fuel the aircraft. Then reviewing all the symbols on the map and in the airport directory. Then we got into the aircraft systems, what works if this fails, what doesn't work, what are the minimum instruments, etc. A bit on density altitude and it's impact, after all this is Colorado and a 5,000 ft altitude airport can be at 11,000 density altitude on some of our summer days.
After the ground work it was time to fly. For me, that was the easiest part. We went through all the standard maneuvers and short field and soft field takeoffs and landings. As well as engine out procedures and discussing why I picked the location I did for an off field landing. The only odd thing was on returning to 3V5 (Ft Collins Downtown) from the practice area. I was just approaching the Budweiser plant (a standard initial call in point) when the DFE points out something in the air at my altitude. Turns out it was someone in a powered parachute circling around the Budweiser plant. He was right at pattern altitude for 3V5, 6000 feet. Needless to say I made a wide turn around him and made an uneventful landing. Spent 1.2 hours in the air, and it seemed like a lot less.
Quite frankly, the whole process was a great learning experience. So, on Oct 27th I finally got my private pilot certificate/license. And on the 30th the airport closed. I may have been the last person to get their private ticket from 3V5.
Prior to leaving on vacation I flew up to Cheyenne WY with my instructor and got in my three solo take offs and landings. The first two were fairly routine but then on the third I had to do a 360 for spacing due to a commercial, Lake Aviation, flight. And then extend the downwind for another aircraft that was considerably faster than my 172.
Once I returned I reviewed all my hours and found I was .2 hrs short for night time and 1.4 hours short on solo time. So scheduled my instructor for more night flying, basically went up, around the pattern and landed. The next day I had a pre-check ride, check ride with another instructor. That went well, so I rested up at the FBO for 30 minutes and then went out solo for 1.5 hrs. Did some more steep turns, slow flight, S-Turns, and turns about a point.
Thursday, Oct 26, was the scheduled date for my exam with the designated flight examiner. However, Colorado got hit with a wet heavy snow all day. Fortunately, I had also booked Friday and that worked out just fine. We were back in the 60s with clear skies.
For anyone who is about to go through this I would strongly encourage you to review all that book learning. The hardest part of my examination was the ground work, 3.5 hours. Reviewing my pre-assigned flight plan, explaining how I would load and fuel the aircraft. Then reviewing all the symbols on the map and in the airport directory. Then we got into the aircraft systems, what works if this fails, what doesn't work, what are the minimum instruments, etc. A bit on density altitude and it's impact, after all this is Colorado and a 5,000 ft altitude airport can be at 11,000 density altitude on some of our summer days.
After the ground work it was time to fly. For me, that was the easiest part. We went through all the standard maneuvers and short field and soft field takeoffs and landings. As well as engine out procedures and discussing why I picked the location I did for an off field landing. The only odd thing was on returning to 3V5 (Ft Collins Downtown) from the practice area. I was just approaching the Budweiser plant (a standard initial call in point) when the DFE points out something in the air at my altitude. Turns out it was someone in a powered parachute circling around the Budweiser plant. He was right at pattern altitude for 3V5, 6000 feet. Needless to say I made a wide turn around him and made an uneventful landing. Spent 1.2 hours in the air, and it seemed like a lot less.
Quite frankly, the whole process was a great learning experience. So, on Oct 27th I finally got my private pilot certificate/license. And on the 30th the airport closed. I may have been the last person to get their private ticket from 3V5.
Friday, September 15, 2006
Back at it
After four months away from flying, due to a knee injury, I finally got back to it this past week. After flying for an hour or two on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I completed my long cross country on Thursday.
Monday I spent just doing take offs and landings, normal, soft field, and short field. Tuesday I spent doing stalls, turns about a point, s-turns, and steep turns. Then on Wednesday it was under the hood and unusual attitude recovery. Of course on all three days the weather was perfect with no or very little wind and by flying in the morning I didn't have the afternoon turbulence.
Wednesday I got off later than I wanted and flew from 3V5 to GLL VOR for the first check point, slight course correction and on to AKO with a few checkpoints along the way. Wind was picking up so got to do a cross wind landing into AKO. Stopped at AKO for fuel, $3.75 a gallon as opposed to the $4.85 at 3V5, prices went sky high when it was announced the airport would be closing on Oct 31. Friendly folks and great service at AKO. After departing AKO I headed north to SNY with a tail wind and was making 138 knots ground speed in a 172N. Another cross wind landing in SNY. After taxing back and departing switched from VOR navigation to GPS direct.
GPS direct is a great way to navigate, don't know why anyone would use VORs if the GPS is working, but understand the need for the training. The direct route took me right over a series of bluffs on the Wyoming/Nebraska border. It was 2 p.m. and I was getting severe turbulence so turned south for a bit to get away from the bluffs and the air smoothed out. Stayed on a parallel track for about 15nm then turned slightly north to intersect the GPS direct track.
Now I only have my tower work to do and then it will be time to schedule the examiner.
Monday I spent just doing take offs and landings, normal, soft field, and short field. Tuesday I spent doing stalls, turns about a point, s-turns, and steep turns. Then on Wednesday it was under the hood and unusual attitude recovery. Of course on all three days the weather was perfect with no or very little wind and by flying in the morning I didn't have the afternoon turbulence.
Wednesday I got off later than I wanted and flew from 3V5 to GLL VOR for the first check point, slight course correction and on to AKO with a few checkpoints along the way. Wind was picking up so got to do a cross wind landing into AKO. Stopped at AKO for fuel, $3.75 a gallon as opposed to the $4.85 at 3V5, prices went sky high when it was announced the airport would be closing on Oct 31. Friendly folks and great service at AKO. After departing AKO I headed north to SNY with a tail wind and was making 138 knots ground speed in a 172N. Another cross wind landing in SNY. After taxing back and departing switched from VOR navigation to GPS direct.
GPS direct is a great way to navigate, don't know why anyone would use VORs if the GPS is working, but understand the need for the training. The direct route took me right over a series of bluffs on the Wyoming/Nebraska border. It was 2 p.m. and I was getting severe turbulence so turned south for a bit to get away from the bluffs and the air smoothed out. Stayed on a parallel track for about 15nm then turned slightly north to intersect the GPS direct track.
Now I only have my tower work to do and then it will be time to schedule the examiner.
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