Very common way of spending summer is exchange homes. People from entirely contrasting countries and culture, are meeting at Internet and decide to live for couple of weeks in each other flats. Most of the time, they don’t know destinate town at all, they don’t speak the language, but often colleagues of host are helping with adjustment. This way of vacations is mostly famous in Esperanto circles, then language barrier is not a problem. Two teachers of this language, Paweł of Szczecin and Salman of Istanbul exchange their apartments. Let’s read what each one has to say about living for two weeks in exactly different country.

Salman’s story

My name is Salman, I’m thirty-four years old, and I came from Istanbul, Turkey. I was living at Pawel’s house for 2 weeks, and it was my first trip to Poland. First, when I came, I was surprised about the weather, it was really hot evening in July, and I was ready to wear sweater. I arrived at Gdansk’s airport and then I take a railway to Szczecin. I was a little afraid about response on my skin color, I was listening few distressing stories about racism of Polish inhabitants, but it was fine. Two colleagues of Pawel pick me up from main railway stop , and they assured me to take care of me in time of my stay. They also spoke Esperanto, and very good English, so talks were easy. Next day, at the morning, I ate some polish breakfast, cooked for my by Pawel’s roommate. It was delicious but very oily – large portionof scrambled eggs with ham and a lot of onion, served with white bread with butter. Later, I went to old district to see couple of heritages (click). I like European architecture, it so different then Muslim one. Szczecin has many of building constructed in nineteenth century, some Middle-Aged and Gothic churches and nice parks and squares. The most I liked post office building, it looks similar like one from Harry Potter film. Rest of my holiday I spend driving along seaside, tasting local cuisine, meeting new, mostly friendly people. I really like my stay in Poland.

Pawel’s story

Hi, my name is Pawel, I am from Szczecin, I am thirty years old. I was living for two weeks in Istanbul, in house of my colleague, which I met at Esperanto congress. I was really exited about my tour, I heard that Turkey is very fascinating country. I was staying in big, cozyflat in the middle of old town. I was observing morning crowd, while having brunch at balcony. I was charmed by Istanbul. It is really beautiful place, with fascinating history, and very chummy people (enter this page). First week I was exploring the city, not just ancient town with heritages, and monumental Muslim architecture, but also new town with tallest skyscrapers I have ever seen.

I stayed two days at some of city beaches, and it was to much crowd, but the temperature was gorgeous. Second week I was driving with my rucksack trough some small villages, knowing about culture, customs and language of villagers. It was really important experience for me.

Switching houses during vacations is a very good experience, but only for courages people. Some travelers may be worried about unknown person staying in their house, but if you meet your host on dedicated website, you are saved. So select your host wisely, and have fun during your holidays.