My vote for Home Exchangers of the year goes to Sarah and Mark. When I first came across their listing and sent them an opening message asking for a week at their spectacular home in Costa Rica, I never expected them to say yes; let alone for us to become such good friends so quickly! Their HE home being a secondary home for them, they were already well versed at being exceptional hosts. Well before our trip Sarah recommended tours, activities, destinations and restaurants not to miss while we would be in her area.
When we actually arrived, we felt instantly at home and incredibly warmly welcomed. We had booked a deep sea fishing outing through her recommendation and had the most adrenaline packed exciting day out fishing of our lives. We caught 10 yellowfin tuna! Sarah was quick to offer her vacuum sealer, a cooler, dry ice packs and all of the supplies needed to pack our haul and to be able to bring it back with us when we flew home. We were more than happy to share some of our catch with her and Mark as well. After that wild day of fishing, Sarah and Mark then invited us out on their side-by-side for a day of awesome adventure ATV-ing in the jungle rainforest, rivers and waterfalls of their area, all of us laughing with delight the whole time. They even took us to their Costa Rican friend’s coffee farm where we got royalty VIP treatment and then to a seriously off-the-beaten track pig farm/restaurant where we had one of the best meals of our lives. What a memorable day spent with awesome people. We cannot wait to go back and look forward to going fishing all together next year. It’s hard to believe we were their first home exchange guests ever and that we started the conversation with a friendly video call where I convinced them this is truly “the real deal” in terms of community, friendships to be forged, not to mention the best way to travel the world and always feel at home doing it! They were able to use the guest points we gave them on an unforgettable trip to Italy, but we hope to host them at our place someday soon too!
I also hope you guys get to meet each other again soon!