Really common way of spending summer is exchange homes. People from absolutely contrasting countries and culture, are meeting at Internet and decide to stay for few weeks in each other flats. Most of the time, they don't know chosen city at all, they don't speak the language, but sometimes colleagues of host are helping with adjustment. This way of holiday is mostly famous in Esperanto circles, then language barrier is not an issue. Two teachers of this language, Paweł of Szczecin and Salman of Istanbul switch their houses. Let's read what each one has to say about staying for two weeks in exactly different country.

Salman's story

My name is Salman, I am 34 years old, and I came from Istanbul, Turkey. I was living at Pawel's apartment for 2 weeks, and it was my first visit to Poland. At the beginning, when I came, I was astonished about the temperature, it was really hot night in July, and I was ready to wear sweater. I land at Gdansk's airport and then I take a railway to Szczecin. I was a bit afraid about reaction on my skin color, I was hearing couple distressing stories about racism of Polish citizens, but it was fine. Two friends of Pawel pick me up from main railway station , and they assured me to take care of me during my stay. They also spoke Esperanto, and really good English, so conversations were nice. Second day, at the morning, I had some polish breakfast, cooked for my by Pawel's flatmate. It was delicious but very oily - huge pieceof scrambled eggs with bacon and a lot of onion, dressed with white bread and butter. After, I went to old town to see some of heritages (look there). I like European architecture, it so disparate then Arabic one. Szczecin has a lot of building raised in 19th century, few Middle-Aged and Gothic churches and nice parks and squares. The most I liked post office building, it looks the same like one of Harry Potter film. other part of my vacations I spend driving along seacoast, eating regional food, meeting new, generally friendly citizens. I very enjoy my visit in Poland.


Pawel's story

Hi, my name is Pawel, I'm from Szczecin, I am 30 years old. I was visiting for two weeks in Istanbul, in house of my colleague, which I met at Esperanto convention. I was really thrilled about my tour, I heard that Turkey is very fascinating place. I was staying in huge, cozyapartment in the middle of old town. I was watching morning crowd, while having breakfast at balcony. I was bewitched by Istanbul. It is really beautiful place, with fascinating history, and very friendly people (find out something more). First week I spend discovering the city, not just ancient town with heritages, and spectacular Muslim buildings, but also new town with tallest skyscrapers I have ever seen. I spend two days at one of local beaches, and it was to much crowd, but the temperature was delightful. Next week I was driving with my backpack trough few small towns, knowing about culture, habits and language of citizens. It was really significant experience for me.

Exchanging houses during holidays is a great deal, but only for courages ones. Some travelers may be worried about strange person staying in their house, but if you meet your host on dedicated website, you are protected. So select your host smart, and have fun during your vacations.