Home Exchange

We are a couple in our late 60's, a retired Naval officer and international consultant and a home maker, and are experienced home exchangers.  The wife would really like to visit the shrine of Fatima in Portugal and to return to Santiago de Compostela in Spain.  What we're thinking of at the moment is a home and auto exchange somewhere in the northern 2/3 of Portugal or Galicia or Asturias for a month or so and another similar exchange in a distinct part of Spain.  These would be between April and September of 2008.  We'd also like to go to Singapore for a couple of weeks between now and March of 2008.

Late Note:  12/11/08 - We're all set for 2008.  We weren't able to arrange an exchange in Portugal or NW Spain, but we do have one exchange just outside Barcelona and another in Sevilla.  Additionally we plan to spend a couple of weeks in Portugal.

Our home is located in Mililani Town, Hawaii, a quiet, residential community about 20 miles outside Honolulu on the island of Oahu.  Click here for a map of Oahu.  Mililani was chosen as an "All American City" in 1989 because of its broad, tree lined streets, superior cleanliness, and outstanding infrastructure and administration.  It has retained these characteristics.  Mililani is just about in the center of Oahu with the world famous North Shore about twelve miles to the north and Schofield Barracks which was the setting for many of the scenes in the film From Here to Eternity just four miles to the north.  The Waianae mountain range (somewhat anemic as mountain ranges go) is visible a few miles to the west.  Pearl Harbor with the incomparable Arizona Memorial is seven miles to the south, and the Honolulu International Airport is about fourteen miles to the southeast.  Waikiki Beach is in the city of Honolulu and is about twenty five miles distant.  The entire island of Oahu is bordered by beautiful and easily accessible beaches.  At its widest point Oahu is only 42 miles (76 kilometers) across.

                                   

Golf courses abound on Oahu and the nearest is about one mile from our home.  For information on several of the courses on Oahu, click HERE and HERE.  A shopping center with a large Safeway supermarket, large drugstore and ancillary shops is within very easy walking distance and two additional shopping centers  are within two miles.  One of these boasts a fourteen screen cineplex.  A much larger shopping center with perhaps 100 stores is about ten miles away.

Scuba diving, surfing and sailing are all minutes away.  Scuba certification classes may be had for around US$200 which includes equipment use.  You may go  VISIT THE SHARKS  in complete safety four miles off Haliewa.  There are endless opportunities for deep sea fishing.

Our home is listed with www.intervac.com under member number USHI267 and with www.holswap.com with member number 12380.  You may click HERE to see a map of Oahu with tags indicating the locations of some island features of interest to visitors to our home.  Zoom in to separate the tags and then click on them to read the identifying information.  If you have the latest version of Google Earth ask me to send you a Placemarks Folder that will open Google Earth and show you clickable tags for these Oahu features.

We are located at an elevation of 760 feet (230 Meters) above sea level.  Our home has 1,600 square feet (150 square meters) of living space with an enclosed double garage, is situated on a 6,000 square foot lot and has a 19' X 32' swimming pool with a covered bar area.

 

                                                                         

 

All of the living area with the exception of the entranceway, family room, kitchen and bathrooms has wall-to-wall carpeting and we ask that you follow the Hawaiian custom of not wearing shoes anywhere in the home.  The reason is that the soil in Hawaii is quite red and all carpets become orange quickly if shoes are worn on them.  The home is smoke-free.    

There is a bar-b-q grill and recent home exchange partners told us they went for a full month without eating a meal inside the house, instead eating all their meals by the pool.  There are two bicycles that could use some exercise and lots of snorkel equipment.                           

                                                   

The house was designed with three bedrooms but we have furnished one as a sitting room and one as an office.  If you need additional bedrooms, we can easily convert the sitting room back into a bedroom and put a bed in the office.  There are two full bathrooms.  There are two computers connected to the Internet by a cable connection and a wireless connection is available, a fairly new refrigerator and range/oven, a microwave oven,  a new dishwasher, laundry machines, two cable connected TV's, Fax machine, a piano and many other musical instruments, daily newspaper delivery, and lawn and pool service.

                   

                                       

                                                                                 

 

                                     

 

We can make either an automobile or a pick-up truck available to you during your stay in our home with the proviso that you accept responsibility for any damages to them while in your care.  Should you prefer not to drive, the nearest bus stop is about 50 yards from the home on a parallel street.

                                                       

These guys will be in a boarding kennel unless you're really a dog lover.

 

Of course, I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have.  My e-mail is spengelm001DELETETHIS@hawaii.rr.com

While you're here, please take a look at the rest of my web site.

Mike Spengel