At LAST! We are LIVE!

Well, friends, the big day has finally come for Egeria Orthodox Home Exchange. We are live on the net and ready to receive membership registrations!

For a limited time, get your one-year membership to Egeria for only a penny!

Head over to EGERIAexchange.com and peruse the site. It takes only a minute to sign up for a membership. Soon this blog will be taken down, and news and user stories/ testimonials will appear on the site itself. Thanks to all who have been following, and God bless!

Egeria Exchange. Matching Orthodox Christians and their friends for home and hospitality exchange -- worldwide!

You have friends there.

Where are we now?

Thanks so much for your comments and questions. As of today, Sept 24, we are in the test phase of the site, making sure everything works so there are no problems for our users.
Free memberships will be offered first to -- well, those who ask! Everyone on our Facebook page will be invited to list for free, as well as those who have posted comments on this blog. This way we can get a healthy list of possiblities right at the outset, so that there is value in purchasing a membership once we begin to register members in the normal way, ie through Paypal/ Visa. Watch this space, and if you are able, find us on Facebook too! Thanks again.

September 24, 2009 6:00 PM

A New Testimonial -- this one from Bath, England!

Having been Orthodox from the cradle, I've been exposed to the wonderful feeling of being able to offer and to receive hospitality from friends far away, planned ahead of time or on the spur of the moment, and it is this feeling of true homes from home that Egeria offers.

Among the many places I've had the joy of being entertained and taken into the houses of Orthodox people who I didn't know before I left home are Romania, Greece, South Korea, the USA, Canada, Germany and Montenegro, all of which are memorable experiences with images flooding back to me as I write.

And, as to how well Egeria would work, I can offer one example: Earlier this year, after Jenny had already started thinking about proposals for Egeria, she had a call from a friend of a friend who was coming to the UK. She put me and several other people in touch with them, and they threaded an itinerary between these contacts (luckily we all live in picturesque places).

So when it turned out that I was away for over half the time that Maximus was in Bath, it was no problem. We arranged to meet up when I was there, but before that, because I'd spoken to him plenty beforehand, I was able to call people in my church and make sure he was encouraged to stay for a meal afterwards, as well as encouraging him to myself, and I think that introduction really made a great difference to him and his party's stay.

There are so many other anecdotes I could add, but I think that for the sake of brevity I'd better end there. The possibilities of the Egeria network are pretty much endless, and with Jenny's wit, humanity and graphic design underlying it, I can only be sure that it will reach its potentials.

---

Thank you, Ambrose!

Nearly There!

Well, it's June. How did that happen.

I just got back from an amazing week studying Byzantine Chant at St Nicholas Ranch in Dunlap, California. The course is put on by John Michael Boyer (Protopsaltis of the San Francisco Metropolia) and his crack team of teachers and guest lecturers. We're talking about Fr Ephraim Lash, Dr Constantine Kokenes, the sublime Stelios Kontakiotis (who came all the way from the island of Tinos to demonstrate what happens when, as my fellow student and friend Fr Kosta put it, you "cram an angel down your throat") and newly-minted PhD Dr Alex Khalil. It was a jam-packed week, with two services and three classes every day. As JMB says, you don't go there to catch up on your sleep. No indeed. But my brain was buzzing very happily despite the sleep deprivation, and despite learning of the existence of INVISIBLE NEUMES, which, as we all know, are just not fair.

Alright, in Egeria news. Things are really cooking now. Our awesome web developer Robert is going full tilt to have the site basically completed in early July, and then we will do a round of beta testing. Basically this means that we will ask a bunch of folks to log on to the Egeria site as though they were customers and proceed to navigate through the site so that we can ensure that everything works properly. This will take up part of July, then it's over to Robert again for fine tuning. Then we launch the site and open our virtual doors for business in late August -- or allowing for Ortho-flex time, September.

Now a big question when you're setting up a home exchange is, of course, how do you get started? How or why does anyone become a member if there are no other members to exchange with yet?

What we're doing is offering free memberships to friends, family -- and pretty much anyone else who asks -- for a limited period of time, or up to a certain number of listings, say about the first 300. That way by the time people are paying the (small) fee for the membership, there is actually something there worth paying for. Then as more and more people join, the usefulness of the site and the value to each member goes up. There will probably be a period of time after that when new memberships are good for three years for the price of one year. In any case the memberships are guaranteed -- if you cannot find a match within the term of your membership, it will be extended one year for free.

Well, I'm getting bleary-eyed as it is rather late, so I'll stop typing now. I created a Facebook group for Egeria tonight, so feel free to hop over and chack that out too -- I'll post news as it comes up. Look for Egeria to be open for business this September!

Second Testimonial!

The word is spreading, folks! Here is another positive blurb, this time from the God-protected shores of Scotland:

I live in Scotland and, like many Scots, have connections with Canada. I'd love to visit Jasper, the Okanagan, and especially Victoria ! So when I heard about Egeria I was really excited; I was being offered a different type of travel experience. I could exchange my traditional, much loved Scottish house for a home abroad, and be able to visit places I've always wanted to see. I'm really looking forward to making my first booking ! I probably won't get the chance to meet my exchange family, but I'll be sure to do everything I can to make them comfortable here.

Liz C, near St Andrews, Fife, Scotland

Thanks for sending that in, Liz!

We're at a crossroads with this project once again. On May 12 we received a full and final estimate of the cost for building the site. It is higher than we anticipated due to the technical sophistication required, but we're not deterred. It will just mean some extra steps to secure funding to have the job done. We meet with the developer next week, and we'll see whether how he feels about beginning the work knowing that we're scrambling a bit to make sure he is paid at the end of the project!

If any one reading/ following has ideas for partners, investors, or angels -- of the business variety! -- who might be interested in this project, please do contact us. We have no doubt that Egeria will be very successful, and indeed overall the setup costs are very low compared to the return we expect in the long run. It will also generate significant funds for our partner charities. We just need to get this horse out of the starting gate!

And as always, your prayers, good wishes, blurbs from around the world and comments are most appreciated. Keep in touch! Kalo Pascha!

Bright Week

I hope everyone had a marvellous, restful Bright Week! Things around here were busy as always, but the joy of Pascha always seems to transcend whatever details are happening in life at the time.

We are still very busy building up Egeria -- nagging friends around the globe for comments about the idea (you know who you are, unless I haven't nagged you yet, and then you will know who you are. . .), planning every detail of the site with our awesome web consultant Michael Linehan, writing content, and converting this blog into Wordpress -- so we can be fancy schmancy and get our info organised into something other than one looong page. Or whatever is happening here.

As of yet we still don't have a launch date -- the site is still under construction, but moving ever forward. I think I can safely say you will be able to use Egeria to plan your 2010 vacation or other travel; possibly not your 2009 ;-)

I am looking for a few good quotations to include in the official site, so if you have anything you would like to say about Egeria and your plans to use it when it goes live, please do drop me a line! Put something in the comments and I'll let you know where to send a longer piece, or just write a few lines AS a comment, and let me know that I can use it. Please remember to include your first name, city and country! Remember, it doesn't matter where you are -- somebody wants to go there.

Thanks, and as always I'll keep you posted as to our expected launch dates. Christos Aneste!

Jenny

PS The photo is me a couple of weeks ago in fun, funky Fan Tan Alley here in Victoria. Our Chinatown is older than yours, Vancouver! Nyah nyah!

Christ is Risen!

Indeed, He is Risen!

A joyous Paschaltide to all our Orthodox brothers and sisters. Kali Anastasi!