The best guidebook is the one you write yourself
“For every traveller who has any taste of his own, the only useful guidebook will be the one which he himself has written.”
-Aldous Huxley
No kidding. During our home exchange to Paris last summer, our best tips didn’t come from Fodor’s or Rough Guide or Lonely Planet but from the pile of hand-picked and well-worn books, magazines, newspaper clippings and hand-written notes left for us by our exchange family.
I vowed we’d do a similar favour for our Berlin exchange visitors this coming summer, and was delighted to run across a new offering from the good folks at Moleskine, creators of the sleek little Italian notebooks favoured for centuries by artists and other creative types.
Moleskine City Notebooks –the “guidebooks you write yourself”–are currently available for dozens of international destinations, including Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver in Canada. Each blank 3.5 x 5.5″ 228-page leather-bound notebook features the Moleskine hallmarks: an elastic wrap-around closure, an accordion pocket for receipts and such, and ribbon placemarkers. But you also get detailed city and transit maps, a street index, blank pages for notes and diary entries, indexed pages with space for shopping, dining and entertainment recommendations, and tear-out loose notes.
Includes a detailed city map
At just over $17 CDN (from Amazon.ca), this is the best guidebook investment a committed home exchanger will ever make.
Buy one for your home city and fill it in during the year, then leave it behind for your guests with a request that they add their favourite finds to it. And then buy another one for your destination city, fill it in during your exchange holiday, and leave it behind as a gift–to be added to by other guests over the years.
Related post: 10 tips for a successful home exchange.
These boots 
February 28, 2009 at 4:03 am
Hi Julie
Thanks for the good tip on using a Moleskine City Notebook and adding information for home exchange guests’ use during their stay. I hadn’t heard of these guides and will check if cities are covered outside USA/Canada. As our own home exchange agency, Home Base Holidays, is based in London, we have a particularly large choice of exchange offers in the city.
As well as compiling a detailed information folder for exchange guests, many exchangers also send them links to useful websites during the course of arranging an exchange and research any particular interests too (e.g. the closest gyms, cut-price theatre tickets, etc).
I will shortly publish a post on our home exchange information blog, with a link to your post.
Cheers from another Canuck!
February 28, 2009 at 7:18 pm
Hi Lois,
thanks for linking, and as you’ve likely already discovered, the City Guides are available for all kinds of European cities too…enjoy!
March 1, 2009 at 4:36 am
Just passing by.Btw, your website have great content!
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March 3, 2009 at 5:56 am
What a great idea, Julie! I’m going to mention it on my blog, with a link back here.
March 6, 2009 at 1:56 pm
[…] a book: This one is important. It’s time-consuming, but you only have to do it once: write the book about your home and community. Don’t take it for granted that your guests will know how to clean […]
May 16, 2009 at 12:36 pm
Hi Julie
Excellent article, what a great tip! Another “book” your readers may be interested in is my eBook: Home Exchange Academy. I wrote it after 25 years of constant home exchanging (40+ when I wrote the book, but that’s now increased to 45!).
I’ve been very careful not to promote any home exchange club over another, I simply advise readers how to select a club that’s right for THEM.
I’ve packed it full of genuine advice and guidance, and feedback from even experienced exchangers has been very positive.
My website contains a full Table of Contents and a no questions asked 90 day, money back guarantee.
Cheers – Athena
November 21, 2010 at 2:20 pm
[…] If you’re doing a home exchange, why not follow Julie Ovenell-Carter’s advice and write your own guidebook, using the snazzy city guides produced by Moleskine as your […]