Global Home Exchange
If you want to travel the world,
live in comfort and save money, home exchanges are the way to go
Global Home
Exchange and Vacation Homes is a
marketplace for home exchange,
vacation rentals, house swaps, holiday homes and vacation
rental homes worldwide. Travelers find home exchange or
vacation rental accommodations including houses, apartments, flats, town homes,
condos, chalets, cabins, beach houses, villas, bed and
breakfasts and other vacation accommodation.
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Home Exchange
Testimonials
UK
Home swap -
Ottawa
Home Exchange
If you want to travel the world,
live in comfort and save money, home exchanges are the way to go
By Kevin Brooker
Shelley Lynch had been dreaming
about a family vacation to Europe for a long time. But as each spring
rolled around, the Stittsville, Ontario Canada., teacher and her
husband, David, would tally up the steep costs, then reluctantly put
away the travel brochures for another year. Shelley began to wonder if
they could ever save up enough for such a vacation while their teenaged
daughters were still at home.
One day, though, Shelley stumbled across a small newspaper item about a
vacation concept that goes by what some veteran travelers call two magic
words: "Home exchange."
The idea is elegantly simple, says Shelley. "You stay at our
house while we stay at your house. We even use each other's cars. Total
cost: Zero dollars." Now that sounded like something the Lynches
could swing.
The key, of course, was finding the appropriately located European
family who just happens to want to vacation in Stittsville, near Ottawa.
And that turned out to be a surmountable problem, thanks to the recent
profusion of online home-exchange services.
The idea of swapping houses for vacation purposes is believed to have
begun in Europe in the early post-war years. Teachers and professors, in
particular, began compiling contacts with colleagues in other countries.
In those days a few letters were traded, references were supplied and
then train tickets were booked. In what has become something of a
home-exchange tradition, the two parties would often meet en route to
trade house keys and to wish a personal bon voyage. After that, you
lived like a local in your colleague's home, treating it as you would
your own.
By the 1960s, the idea had spread to budget-minded travel addicts of all
kinds. International clubs were formed, producing annual catalogues with
photos, house descriptions, and the parameters of where and when might
be suitable. By the 1990s, savvy operators that they are, home
exchangers were among the first to grasp Internet technology. Now there
are dozens of sites worldwide where the proverbial dream villa in
Provence is only a few clicks away.
The Lynches' first foray, last summer, proved delightful. On one of
several sites she had joined, Shelley found a match with a family from
Aylsham, a town in eastern England. After a flurry of e-mails and phone
calls extolling the virtues of their respective homes (and building a
friendship, as it almost inevitably does), both parties took the plunge
and went on to have outstanding vacations in the home of the other.
"It was absolutely beautiful over there," recalls Shelley.
"Not touristy in the least, and it was perfect for trips to places
like London and Cambridge. Our kids loved it, too."
Meanwhile, back in Stittsville, the English family was having a ball
touring the Ottawa region, as well as getting the royal treatment from
the Lynches' neighbours.
"For our first time, it couldn't have gone better," says
Shelley. "They were actually veterans of 20 home exchanges, so they
led us through all the steps, like making the basic contract and getting
insurance-company approval to use each other's car."
As for finding the right match in the first place, Shelley notes that it
requires some organization and tenacity. "I scanned a lot of
listings and sent out a ton of e-mails to entice people with undeclared
destination preferences, but I didn't always receive a ton of
replies." Getting the family computer hooked up to Sympatico High
Speed service also helped the process by enabling much faster searches,
she says.
These days, scanning home-exchange sites is a regular habit, and the
central feature of the Lynch family vacation plans. This summer, they're
headed for that mythical place in the south of France, just a few
kilometres from the Mediterranean. "It's the French family's first
exchange, so now we're leading the way," says Shelley, who just got
through reading A Year in Provence and can't wait for July.
Still, Shelley is not about to rest on her laurels. "I've already
posted our listing . We're thinking New York City."
Global Home Exchange
Although most sites are international in scope, this Nanaimo, B.C. based
matchmaker is a great place to start. Unlike most commercial operators,
you can view the listings for free complete with e-mail contact
information. You pay only to post your own advertisements. There's also
a level of personalized attention from the owners that Shelley Lynch
found appealing.
Home Exchange Experiences
1.
Oregon USA
home swap experience
2.
USA - France (3 way)
3.
Canada - Europe
4.
Canada - USA
5.
Australia -
America
6.
Nebraska
USA home exchange experience
7.
St.
Louis Missouri home exchange
8.
Manhattan home
exchange
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