Kensington, USA

Greetings! We are a retired government worker and a retired teacher and are experienced house exchangers. We love house exchanges as a way to explore new places and meet the people who live there. We particularly enjoy meeting the families we exchange with, and we try to keep up with them afterwards.

We are open to new destinations but are also happy returning to countries we have enjoyed.

Our home is located just 12 kilometers north of the center of Washington, D.C. in Kensington, Maryland. Kensington is a pleasant, quiet, safe town with convenient access to downtown Washington by car, bus, or the Metro (our subway system).  Metro will take you to most of the museums, monuments and memorials that make the city distinctive, and almost all are free. The grocery store, several small shops, and a few casual restaurants are a mile away. There are many more stores and restaurants within a 15 minute drive. The National Zoo is 25 minutes away by bus, car, or Metro.

Our home is half a kilometer from the Beltway, the ring road around Washington, so other areas beyond Washington are easily accessible. These include historical sites, family amusement parks, and the cities of Baltimore, Richmond, Williamsburg, Charlottesville, the colonial seaport Annapolis, and Philadelphia. 

New York City is a three hour train or bus ride away, and both the mountains to the west and the Atlantic Ocean beach resorts to the east are about three hours away. We have 3 international airports, each within an hour’s drive--Dulles International Airport, Reagan National Airport, and Baltimore-Washington International Airport.
 
Our home, on a quiet street with little traffic, has two floors plus a basement. On the ground-level floor is the living room, dining room, sun room, an office, the family room, and an eat-in kitchen. There is also a WC on this level. The floor above has 3 bedrooms (two with queen beds, one with a double bed) and an office. The primary bedroom has its own bathroom; there is a second bathroom shared by the other two bedrooms; there is also a laundry room with washer and dryer on the same floor as the bedrooms. In the basement there is a second family room and another bathroom.  The shady backyard has a patio for a quiet breakfast or an evening glass of wine. There's plenty of space and privacy from neighbors. We have wonderful neighbors who are happy to answer questions you might have about the area and family members about 45 minutes away who are happy to answer questions.

The house has Wifi; it also has whole-house air conditioning.  We have a comfortable Subaru Crosstrek that will be available for your use.  We have two cats, very lovable and sweet, who do not go outside. They enjoy company and are friendly. Neighbors will feed them when house exchange guests are gone overnight. We are non-smokers and do not permit smoking in or near the house.

We enjoy sightseeing, exploring the countryside, visiting villages and towns, shopping in markets, and learning the history of the places we visit. We will leave lots of guidebooks and pamphlets and we will make recommendations about places to visit. We can be depended on to take very good care of your home and any pets you may have, and know that you will take care of ours!