Home Swapping

[PierreBear]

Has anyone done a home swap before for a vacation? Seems like a neat idea but a bit scary as you don't know who you are really exchanging with but came across a website that I suppose might eliminate some of the safety questions that come to mind. https://www.lovehomeswap.com/

Please share your experiences if you've been so daring to have tried before! Thanks in advance!

 

[VRBeauty]

I’ve been on two vacations that involved a home swap - my brother and SIL’s home in Los Angeles, for apartments in Rome and Paris. Both worked very well. The Paris kitchen wasn’t quite up to our standards - we left it much cleaner than we found it. That family left us the keys to their car. We used it for two excursions but mostly walked or used mass transit (the apartment was in the heart of the Montmartre area). The apartment in Rome was a bit farther from the city center than we would have liked, but we got to know the local transit system pretty well. We all like to cook, and prepared our own meals probably about half the time. I always enjoy getting groceries in a foreign country, so that’s a big bonus for me.

My brother and SIL put away their more breakable decorative items. I think the only breakage the had was a contemporary mug.

 

[PierreBear]

I’ve been on two vacations that involved a home swap - my brother and SIL’s home in Los Angeles, for apartments in Rome and Paris. Both worked very well. The Paris kitchen wasn’t quite up to our standards - we left it much cleaner than we found it. That family left us the keys to their car. We used it for two excursions but mostly walked or used mass transit (the apartment was in the heart of the Montmartre area). The apartment in Rome was a bit farther from the city center than we would have liked, but we got to know the local transit system pretty well. We all like to cook, and prepared our own meals probably about half the time. I always enjoy getting groceries in a foreign country, so that’s a big bonus for me.

My brother and SIL put away their more breakable decorative items. I think the only breakage the had was a contemporary mug.

Thank you for sharing and how wonderful to experience Rome and Paris. Great picks on swapping places. I've never stayed long enough overseas to be able to prepare meals in the kitchen but that would be great to do! May I ask how you found the homes to swap with? Did you use Craigslist or a website etc? Is my understanding correct that there is no "payment" involved and just trust with the two parties that the homes are of equal quality and you try to swap at the same time? Appreciate your help!

 

[VRBeauty]

My brother used HomeLink. I’m not sure if there was some sort of listing fee. There was no exchange of money between the swapping partners, however. One of the swappeees stayed in his house while taking classes in the Los Angeles area. The Paris swap involved a family of three. They used the house as a base for exploring California and the southwest, using a rental car.

I think living in a home in another country, shopping for groceries, etc. really gives you a better feel for the country and people. And I’ve found that “the locals” are more likely to chat with you when you encounter them going about their day-to-day business than they are when you’re in places associated with tourists.

My sweetie and I had a wonderful month-long vacation in Scotland this summer, mostly tent camping. We really enjoyed the grocery shopping aspect of it - in part because the quality was so much higher, the selection better, and the costs lower, than at home. We did have some wonderful meals out as well, of course. But I’m glad Grocery shopping and cooking was part of our Scottish experience. (One suggestion - if you run into a cut of meat you don’t recognize, and none of the women running that little village grocery store know what it is either... pass it by! )