Travel plan idea blog

Exchanging homes for a vacation

Here's an interesting article on vacation home exchanges from the International Herald Tribune. Apparently, home exchanges depend largely on location as the author writes:

I recently completed a successful exchange of my tiny Paris apartment with a beautiful 70-square-meter, or 750- square-foot apartment in a medieval Tuscan castle - and at the end of the swap, both sides seemed to think they had got the better of the exchange.

In addition, a vacation home exchange can make you feel less like a tourist:

A benefit of the home exchange is that it gives you the possibility to live like a local for a week, in an area most likely not geared up for tourists. Another is that your fellow swappers will probably know the best restaurants, walks and shops in the area and be happy to share their knowledge with you - helping you to avoid ending up in overpriced tourist haunts.

Now I've never done a home exchange so I can't recommend it, but it does seem like a neat way to travel. If you did do it, I'm sure you would want to take some precautions and I don't know exactly what those would be. The article does talk about that a little bit by saying that you might make 5-15 inquiries before finding a good exchange. Thaey also recommend having a friend meet the people you're exchanging with when they arrive.

Posted by James Trotta at June 21, 2006 1:41 AM