When I was traveling in my twenties, there was no internet. No social media. No travel search engines like hotels.com. No cell phones. My mother slept better because she had no idea where I was or what was happening. (BTW, Mom - I was there in Tiananmen Square. I’m ok.) I arrived in a new place, went to the visitor center and found a youth hostel. I met friends along the way and they told me where to go next, where to eat, what bus to take and where the cheap beers were. Sometimes I wonder how I’m still alive.
Then it was time to hang up the backpack and grow up.
I know. What was I thinking?! Well, we know now that growing up is a blessing. The alternative stinks. One of the benefits of becoming an adult though is establishing a home. It is our biggest asset and when we travel, it just sits there. You enjoy being there... why wouldn’t someone else?
I signed up as a member with HomeExchange.com in 2017 and have registered over twenty swaps in two years. If the concept is new to you, check out the movieThe Holiday with Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz. Although the characters do a reciprocal exchange in the movie, only two of my stays has been with the same family at the exact same time. At the end of 2018, the company made it easier to make arrangements for non-simultaneous exchanges by introducing a point system. When setting up your account, a calculation is made taking your location, home size and amenities into account. The point value per night is kind of a price.
Not Totally Free, But Close
The membership cost per year is approximately $150. It includes access to the full website, ability to contact other members and knowing that everyone has gone through a security process. The website layout is similar to AirBnB. Searches can be done by country, city and dates. Filters can be applied to narrow down specific needs. Other Baby Boomers with bad knees like me might appreciate the ability to make sure the choices they get have elevators in apartment buildings.
So, how do you get points so you can use them? It is easier for some people than others. Those who have second homes and/or listings on AirBnB have somewhere else to sleep when guests come in. Personally, I spend time a few weeks a year visiting family from my hometown and friends overseas. Usually the visits correspond with a holiday when more people are traveling and children are on vacation from school. You could earn points without having to spend any.
Alternatively, you can start posting your home during a time you would want to be away. As soon as you get guests committed to coming, HomeExchange puts the points in your account. Then you have the freedom to pursue homes around the world for the same time period. While I might be in Paris, a family from Finland might be in my house and a couple from Switzerland might be in theirs.
Just because simultaneous exchanges don’t work for me, they may work for you! Be flexible and maybe you can go to Italy this year and get a head start on arranging France for next year. Europeans know when they have all of that lovely vacation time and I have gotten requests two years in advance!
If at first you don’t succeed...
It is rare to make an exchange on the first try when planning a trip but it can happen! I needed to be in Washington DC for a weekend last April. The couple I contacted first looked up the airfare, saw that the prices were great and immediately agreed to a long weekend away. Popular locations like Paris can be tougher. The HomeExchange website encourages members by explaining that the average swap can take as many as fifteen requests. I personally have experienced this in arranging a trip to Amsterdam. Persistence paid off and my daughter joined me for a week near the canals and best museums. Keep in mind that new people are joining every day so keep checking.
Be Flexible
Finally, this is the kind of arrangement where you are forming relationships. I have made some amazing friends around the world and have exchanged with some people more than once. Sometimes, plans change. For example, my exchange family in Vienna found out that they couldn’t leave when they thought. I had already gotten my flight into Paris at a great price knowing I could easily get to Austria from there. Now, I was flying into Paris and my home in Vienna wouldn’t be ready for a week. It turned out that flying into a major European hub gave me more choices. Even though it was relatively short notice, I knew that a flight from CDG to most places was less than one hundred dollars so I sent out requests to London, Croatia, Berlin and Paris. After about twenty rejections, a lovely couple in Paris wrote back that they were leaving for a trip the day after I was scheduled to arrive. I found an inexpensive hotel near the airport for the night before and was set to spend a week in Paris before going onto Vienna. Poor me!
If you have a home to exchange, I strongly recommend you think about using it. Check out sites like HomeExchange and take a chance... you may find yourself on a beautiful balcony overlooking the Eiffel Tower noshing on a croissant while planning a day at the Louvre!
Photo by Rhiannon Stone
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