Egeria FAQs -- penultimate draft!

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

What is home exchange?
Home exchange is the brightest travel idea around. Instead of paying huge hotel bills, two parties arrange to trade homes for an agreed-upon period of time. It is a terrific way to save money, as it can totally eliminate the cost of accommodation from your travel budget. Imagine a beautiful pilgrimage or a fun holiday for the cost of airfare and pocket money alone!

What is hospitality exchange?
Hospitality exchange is a twist on home exchange. Rather than trade places at the same time, hospitality exchangers host one another at different times. This style can offer more flexible timing -- and a built-in travel guide and language tutor! It is a great option for young people, academics travelling for research, or pilgrims in faraway places. It's a friendly light in the window.

What is a B&B (Bed and Breakfast) listing?
This means the member is asking for a donation or charging a reasonable fee in exchange for hosting you. Search the B&B listings for affordable places to stay, or post your own Egeria B&B to raise extra cash and make new friends! Just make sure your B&B fee is not too high, so the B&B listings still offer good value for other members.

How do I use my membership?
Once you become a member , you are free not only to search the listings but to contact your fellow members and start making plans! Egeria offers three main ways to use your membership:

1) Home exchange
2) Hospitality exchange
3) B&B

Of course, the precise terms of your exchange are completely up to the exchanging parties. Egeria starts the conversation; the rest is up to you!

How much does it cost?
The fee is $59.00 US (or __ euros outside N America) for one year
$90.00 US (or __euros outside N America) for two years

(The first 300 members to subscribe to Egeria will receive two additional years FREE of charge.)

Can I search the listings before I become a member?
Yes, but you will only be able to contact the members once you have signed up and paid the membership fee.

Do I have to be Orthodox to be a member?
No. Although Egeria is designed with Orthodox Christians in mind, it is not meant to exclude anyone. If you're Orthodox, great. If you have a friend or family member who is Orthodox, that's great too. Perhaps you just have a cultural or theological interest in Orthodoxy and you like the idea of encountering Orthodox people around the world. Whatever your reasons for being here, you are welcome.

Does Egeria arrange my accommodation?
Not directly. We provide a central, one-stop place on the web for Orthodox home and hospitality exchange listings, as well as information about some paid accommodation of particular interest or value to Orthodox Christians. You communicate with other members directly and make your own arrangements with them by email and phone. But we are available for contact and support should you need us.

Is home exchange safe?
This is usually the first question people ask when they hear about home exchange. In fact, home exchange is very safe, because you don't actually let strangers stay in your home. By the time you get to the actual exchange, you have sent emails back and forth, spoken on the phone a few times, and gotten to know each other. You have a comfortable rapport. Also:

*The other member will have the same concerns about you in their home.

*You are under no obligation to exchange with, or host, anyone who makes you uneasy.

*Cases of negative experiences with home exchange are extremely rare. Realistically, no one is going to fly halfway around the world just to steal your spoons!

*There is an added element of trust and accountability with Egeria, since most of its members are Orthodox Christians.

What about my valuables?
Do whatever is comfortable for you. Many seasoned home exchangers never lock up their belongings. If you can trust someone to stay in your home, you can trust them to respect the rest of your property. But you can certainly take the precaution of removing or locking up items if you wish. You can also arrange for a friend to stop by and greet/ check up on your guest while you are away.

What if I can't make a match?
Egeria guarantees the usefulness of your membership. If you can't make a successful match during the term of your membership, we will extend it another year free of charge.

Can I list more than one property?
Yes. You can list up to three properties on our site using your membership.

What about house cleaning?
You can either hire a cleaner, or roll up the old shirtsleeves yourself. Having someone come to stay is also great motivator to do some deeper cleaning and those little repair jobs you keep putting off. The house doesn't have to look like a museum, but it should be presentable and comfortable.

What if I rent my home?
This is not usually a problem. You are not letting your house out to strangers, but to someone you have formed a good and real rapport with. It is no different from having friends or a house sitter to stay. If you are nervous about it, you can always talk it over with the homeowner first.

What if my town is boring?
What's boring to you could be thrilling to someone else -- you never know. Also, there could be many unseen reasons for someone to come to your area: to visit relatives living nearby, to go to a conference, or just to laugh at your accent, eh?

What if my house or apartment is very small or modest?
That's fine. Just be honest on your profile that the place is small or homely -- it will still be sought after! People are not always looking for a palace -- most just want a home base while they explore the sights. If you were staying in Rome, would you care what the curtains looked like?

I haven't travelled much before. Is language going to be a problem?
Probably not. If you are an English speaker, you're in luck. English is by far the most-spoken second language on earth. Besides that, you would be surprised how far you can get with a smile, a phrase book and sign language. People are usually very touched by even your smallest and most pathetic attempts to use their language. (I was once tearfully given a whole bottle of retsina by a Greek deli owner in Paris because I spoke with him haltingly in Greek instead of French! He was kind of homesick.)

What about insurance?
Your ordinary home insurance should cover the period of your home exchange, because it is really no different from having friends or a house sitter stay. Check with your insurance provider for any specific information you need.

Can I leave my pet?
If that is what you agree on with your exchange partner, yes. Being able to look after one another's pets, plants and gardens is one of the many benefits of home exchange.

Can we exchange vehicles?
Many home exchangers do swap vehicles as well -- it's a matter of personal preference. For our members' convenience we provide agreement forms detailing what property will be exchanged and the terms and conditions of the exchange. For those who are comfortable with it, car swapping is another great advantage to home exchange. Don't forget bikes and boats, too!

What is IOCC?
IOCC -- International Orthodox Christian Charities -- is an international, pan-Orthodox charity bringing aid and support to suffering and vulnerable people around the globe. They are highly respected and astoundingly efficient, with over 90% of all funds donated going directly to aid. They minister to Orthodox and non-Orthodox alike, shining the light of Christ wherever people are in need. With every Egeria membership or membership renewal, we will donate ten percent of the fee to IOCC!

The Look So Far

Hi friends! Here is the screen shot from our working design, and it is pretty much what the main page of the site will look like. Now, the listings you see are still 'dummy' listings -- just there to give the look and feel of the mature site -- but it's kind of exciting to look forward to when those will be real listings. Make sure you are one of them!

The photo of the 'featured exchange' in Hawaii is a bit tongue in cheek -- we were just there last month visiting friends, but I am in discussion with some new friends we met there about listing their B & B suite. We'll work on the free accommodation too and land something eventually, but in the meantime we can provide information for an Orthodox B & B in Kona, as one of our very first listings!

My next posts will be a concentrated overview of what Egeria is, and all the FAQs gathered into one place, because I know this blog is hard to navigate to get at all the answers. God willing, the site itself will be up before long, and it is there that everything will be laid out properly.

Thanks for reading, and please check back periodically as there will be new information.

Crepes

This is an example of the kind of photo I have been enjoying taking lately -- cafe interiors. It's all part of my ambition to spend as much time as possible in cafes, in as many different places as possible. This one was taken in the crepe place in Pike Place market in Seattle, on our way to Hawaii for our first family vacation in a looong time. It was amazing. More to come on that later (still waiting for many fun photos), but in any case, I just wanted to let you know that the Egeria site is coming along nicely. Being a realist I refuse to guess at exactly when it will be ready to launch, but suffice to say that it is going to be great. If you are new to this blog, please see the archives to get the general idea of how Egeria will work; later the information will all be laid out properly in the actual website. Keep checking back as we get closer to the day that we go live! Hurrah! In the meantime, have a crepe.

Egeria News

Have you ever sat at a table full of new acquaintances in a parish coffee hour as a visitor and been told "Oh-- if only we'd known you were going to visit -- you wouldn't have needed a hotel!". Well, I have -- several times. I've also had wonderful people from all over the world scrawl out their contact information on a scrap of paper and plead with me -- seriously! -- to stay with them if I ever come to their village/city/country, so that they could show me all the beautiful and holy sites near their home, and introduce me to their friends and family, and feed me until I explode.

This is not because I am so terrific -- people just really, truly love to meet and host their Orthodox brothers and sisters, even if they don't know them very well, because on a deeper level we are all one body. Egeria is a great way to facilitate people being able to meet and exchange fellowship this way. If you don't believe me, just for a lark I am going to list the actual places I have stayed and been hosted purely on Orthodox connections -- not including monasteries. Here goes!

Eugene, Oregon (1993)
Glastonbury, England (1994)
Aberdeen, Scotland (1998)
Birmingham, England (1998)
Athens, Greece (1999)
Thessaloniki, Greece (1999)
Chania, Crete (1999)
New York, NY (1999)
Montreal, Quebec (1999-2000 New Years!)
Stromness, Orkney, Scotland (2000)
Edinburgh , Scotland (2000)
Edmonton, Canada (2001)
Wappingers Falls, NY (2001)
Everson, WA (2004)
Friday Harbour , WA (2004)
Calgary, Alberta (2005)
Chicago, IL (2006)
Big Island, Hawaii (2008)

That last one is happening this October! :-) Anyway, I have probably missed some, and of course I have been many more places -- these are just the times and places that we didn't pay for accommodation! There are many more places too -- even other countries -- where we have standing invitations to visit. Most Orthodox people do seem to have such standing invitations, and one thing Egeria can help do is to -- in a sense -- pool all of these possibilities into one place! Imagine a one stop shop for Orthodox hospitality or home exchange around the world, so that no matter how far we go in our travels and adventures, there is a friendly light in a window when we get there.

Another Kind of Membership

In addition to regular home swap or hospitality exchange, Egeria will provide a third option for members who do not expect to need travel acommodation , but have extra room and a willingness to provide hospitality.

The Philoxenia Membership (or so we're calling it at present) will be offered at a reduced rate, and will allow hospitable people throughout the Orthodox world to offer bed-and-breakfast accomodation in exchange for a donation to be made to their parish or to another charity.

This is a great twist to the Egeria concept, because it will add value for the regular members -- a lot more potential places to stay! For the Philoxenia members, it's a great way to meet Orthodox from far away places even if it's hard for the hosting member to travel, and it enables members to use their extra space as a fundraiser for a cause their home parish. Of course, the exact terms of the arrangement, as with all Egeria member swaps, will be up to the guest/host pair to decide.

I would like to write more tonight, but my family have had a rough week, with four out of five of us ill from some kind of stomach bug. Also, Egeria is a little behind schedule due to the design awesomeness we are attempting -- we really want the site to be something special, so it will not be ready to launch in September 2008 as originally predicted. Hang in there! It will come to fruition in the near future, and it will really be a great resource for all of us! Thanks for reading. . .

Work from home -- in another country! And: clergy exchanges

This is just a section of something I'm working on that doesn't have much to do with Egeria. It's just further evidence of my bird obsession. I'm not even really into birds much outside of an artistic context, but I gravitate to them when I'm designing something. Something about the way they carve up the space is very pleasing, in a similar way to flowers. This is obviously cut paper. The real thing is about five or six feet high (why don't I know!?)and will be crisscrossed with ribbons of calligraphy. Yes, I am an Arts and Crafts fiend too.

Anyway, I had another thought about Orthodox home exchange. Well, this applies to home exchange generally, really. Increasingly, people are able to work from home and send stuff in/conference call to work. So here's the thing. What about going to another country for, say, three months, working from your 'home from home', and absorbing another culture and language in your off hours? Ordinarily you couldn't consider such a thing because the hotel bill would pretty much kill you dead, but with home exchange there is no hotel bill. If you are able to be away, and your host is able to be away, for that long, then Bob's your uncle.

Another thing is that I was listening to a wonderful series of podcasts from Ancient Faith Radio by my new e-friend Susan and her husband Fr Gabriel called Musing on Mission. It chronicles, quite literally, their mission plant (in New Mexico) pretty much from day 1. There is a lot to relate to for me in this, since that is what my husband and I did exactly six years ago this month (this being Aug 2008), but since I am ramping up this Egeria business one thing really popped out for me in one of the podcasts. Fr Gabriel mentioned the pressure and anxiety for the mission priest (I am paraphrasing) knowing that if he has to be away there is no one to keep things going, that there is a gap while people have no teaching and no services.
Well, that is one thing that Egeria can address! Clergy who need to get away can exchange with other clergy who need the same, and experience the freshness of a different parish, maybe even a radically different type of parish! It would be an opportunity for the folks in a mission to hear another voice, yet one in solidarity with their regular mission priest. It is reassuring for new converts in an isolated area to have someone come from far away and say roughly the same things their priest says -- thus showing that he is not some kook/renegade/potential cult leader, and that he really is plugged in, and they through him, into the conciliar and universal, one holy catholic and apostolic Church. This can especially be valuable where people have little or no opportunity to travel themselves.

So thinking about that leads me to another idea for the site. We can set it up so that a priest will be able to put a 'clergy exchange' symbol to indicate that you would be interested in swapping with another clergy family or individual for the chance to experience and help out another parish and walk a mile in another priest's shoes. This can even work for priests' holidays -- it solves the problem of how to find a substitute, and since the travellers need to be somewhere for Liturgy anyway (riiiiiight? we don't take holidays from God, riiiiiight?) he might as well be filling in for a brother priest. Am I making sense? Right, since I'm not sure, I'm going to sign off and get some shut eye. . .soon.

The work continues. . .

Here's how it's looking so far; at least we're on to a cool idea. The site will look like a travel journal, and when you go to a new 'page' it will look like -- a new page! Yeah, I know!

That page on the right may be recognizable to residents (past and present) of Edinburgh as a fairly strange and vaguely incompetent drawing of George IV bridge. I think I did that on my lunch break working at the Royal Museum of Scotland. On the left in the picture-- not that you can see it -- is the Elephant Cafe, where somebody or other wrote Harry Potter. I probably saw her a few times; it was during the same couple of years, and I went there for coffee all the time. It's also where I learned the cool trick of deciding who goes first in Scrabble based not on a letter drawn but on who can make the longest word to kick off the game. Not from JK, of course; just some random person --or was it!

The lettering is not great -- I know -- I just dashed it off quickly to see how the hand drawn thing would look. It will be laid out better, I promise. The gauzy, abstract background is a piece of cheesecloth I scanned, over top of a piece of a twinkly cardigan of mine. Too much information? Yeah, I thought so.

Well, I have to go and keep working on the site. It's all systems go now! We're trying to get it all up and running this fall. Watch this space!