WALLIBIES AND RAILWAYS: Noel and Joan have completed an impressive 120 exchanges since joining the home exchange website (Image: Getty)
A globetrotting couple who have journeyed around the world through home-swapping, have declared they “don’t pay for holiday accommodation any more”. They’ve even enjoying a stay on a yacht where ‘Prince William had his stag do’.
Joan Patterson, 67, and her husband Noel, residents of Buxton, Derbyshire, have been using the home-swapping platform HomeExchange for nearly 10 years. They have completed an impressive 120 exchanges.
The innovative platform allows members to swap their homes during mutually agreed-upon dates. If a member lends their home without a return offer, their guest can provide GuestPoints as a token of gratitude for their hospitality.
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Joan admits it’s challenging to assign a monetary value to their swapping adventures. However, HomeExchange estimates that the couple have saved a staggering £45,000 with exchanges in France, Australia, New Zealand, the US and other locations.
From residing in a ‘luxurious’ Bangkok flat complete with an infinity pool and living aboard a yacht to witnessing whales passing by from their bed in Australia, Joan describes these experiences as those that money cannot buy. She praises the opportunity to ‘experience places as a local’ and meet new people as the best aspects of home-swapping, encouraging everyone to give it a try.
“It’s not possible to put a price on our trips,” Joan shared with PA Real Life. “I would never stay in a home where you’re watching the whales going by. This was a very luxurious, five-bedroom, three-storey property, with whacking great big grounds in the best location.”
Joan revealed she and Noel, who ran an education firm before retiring, have always relished travelling and adore walking, hiking and discovering historical sites. Since they favour extended holidays lasting multiple weeks, the pair were seeking methods to make their adventures affordable and comfortable and had learnt about home-swapping through Joan’s sister.
If you want to travel like Joan and Noel you’ll need luggage
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The Samsonite S’Cure Spinner is currently priced at £153.42 for a small-sized case. It comes in red, yellow, black, silver, and three shades of blue with a five-year guarantee.
IT Luggage Underseat Cabin Suitcase costs £31.50 at Argos and measures 44x34x20.5cm. Note: Despite the name, this may be classed as a ‘large’ cabin bag by some airlines.
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This inspired them to register with LoveHomeSwap in 2017, which subsequently became part of the HomeExchange group, and the service, featuring a £180 yearly membership cost, offers more than 200,000 participants across 155 nations.
While residing in Buxton, Joan and Noel own a one-bedroom retreat in Criccieth, North Wales. The retreat offers vistas of Snowdonia National Park from a neighbouring shoreline, and they use this dwelling for home-swapping.
“The house that we live in, in Buxton, is old and quirky, so it’s not so easy for somebody to walk into it,” Joan explained. “But when we bought the holiday home that we have in Criccieth, in my mind, we would exchange it.”
Joan and Noel accomplished their inaugural home-swap in Paris, residing in an eccentric ‘student pad’. She described the accommodation as compact, essentially a ‘garret’, and guests needed to clamber over a roof beam to reach the kitchen, though it was brilliantly positioned and they enjoyed ‘the cheapest beer’ at an adjacent pub. “We would come home in the evening and go into this student bar with cheap beer – a pint was probably around three euros,” Joan explained.
On another occasion, the pair experienced a more ‘unusual’ house-swap, spending a week aboard a yacht. She revealed the gentleman who owned the vessel ended up becoming their captain, taking them around the Isle of Wight and south coast – and he even allowed them to have a go at sailing themselves.
TRAVEL ADVENTURES: Joan Patterson, 67, who lives with her husband, has been using home swapping for nearly a decade (Image: PA Life)
“The man used this yacht for racing as well and, interestingly, this yacht has, if you like, a royal link,” Joan said. “The yacht was used for Prince William’s stag do – someone had organised it for him, they had a whole load of activities, and one of them was sailing this yacht when it was new.
“The deal for us was, we paid for the fuel and for our host’s lunches, and we used our points for the boat, and it was lovely.”
Joan described some of their most luxurious swaps. They stayed in a ‘swanky apartment block’ in Bangkok, Thailand, which had an infinity pool and ‘wonderful views over the river’. They have resided in other ‘posh properties’ with extensive gardens and swimming pools, but they have also lived in family homes with chickens, cats, and gardens to tend.
Joan explained that she always remains respectful of people’s properties and belongings and has never encountered a negative experience while hosting or staying in someone else’s home. She has witnessed some extraordinary wildlife, including observing a whale migration from the bed of one of the properties in Australia.
Alongside travelling the globe, Joan revealed one of the finest aspects of home-swapping is encountering people and forming new friendships. She said: “That’s one of the joys of home exchanging because, even if you’re only doing it online, you get to know other people, you make friends with people.”
This autumn, Joan revealed she and Noel are spending three weeks in the Dolomites in Italy and they have other home swaps coming up, including a trip to Malta in March next year. She doesn’t believe in bucket lists saying: “Life only goes in one direction, so you should hurry up and do it.”
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