We were locked out of the swap home, but as promised, the home exchangers called us back from France. They had called the locksmith themselves and he was on his way. The swappers told us where to find $300 in an envelope hidden in their office.
The locksmith took a look at the complicated mechanism on the home's front door. Over the course of the two hours it took him to fix it he taught us a few choice French words that were missing from my high school French textbook.
We paid him with the swappers' cash and put the receipt in the envelope with their change. If my exchange partners needed to fix something in our home I would have had to reimburse them or provide my own credit card number. I don't leave envelopes of cash around my home but I have exchanged with these swappers four times, so they knew they could trust our family.
It's important to think about how you would handle this from both ends before you swap homes. What if you had to pay $150 to repair something and couldn't reach the exchangers? And if swappers called you and reported problems in your home, how would you handle it? Before you answer, keep in mind that the cost of the locksmith was about what we would have paid for a day's lodging in Montreal. In New York City, where I live, it's half to a third the cost of one night's lodging.
The point is, it's a home. Things break. Be ready.
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