Home Exchange Travels

IS HOME EXCHANGE TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE?

2009-12-07T14:09:00.002-05:00

Now that our California home exchange is getting closer we are in more frequent contact with the home exchangers. They sent us some great-looking restaurant recommendations and they had a request:

"One favor: Would you mind starting up the VW once while you’re there. We keep rocks behind the wheels to keep it from rolling down the hill so don’t move the car, but we would appreciate your starting it up to keep the battery charged for us. Thank you."

These folks are going away for a month. Like any vacationers, they could come home to wilted plants, burst pipes, hungry pets and a dead car battery. Or they could just swap homes. We are happy to bring in their mail and start their car while we are there.

It seems that every reporter who interviews me about home exchange wants to know what went wrong. Home exchange must be too good to be true, right? Someone must have broken our Ming vase or urinated on our sofa. Well, actually no. In fact, just having home exchangers in residence while you are away will makes it much less likely that your home will become a target of thieves. Unoccupied homes are vulnerable to all sorts of theft or damage.

Is home exchange too good to be true? No, it's even better.

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HOME EXCHANGE: CAN YOU HANDLE IT?

2009-12-04T10:13:00.000-05:00

Our kids have two weeks off from school at the end of December. I can either chase them around our apartment, or do a home exchange and let them run around in someone else's yard, in an area of the country with better weather than the Northeast.

The home exchangers just sent the keys to their home, and to the car they are leaving for us at the airport when they fly out and we fly in. They provided very clear home exchange instructions, but home exchange instructions assume a lot about the people using the swap home.

The presumption of the swap info is that the exchangers are responsible, considerate adults who know how to take care of a home and its systems with basic instructions. Here is an example, in the info regarding the exchangers' hot tub:

"We have a spa guy, Cliff, who comes by every 2 weeks. He just goes out and cleans and adjusts the spa chemicals. Don’t know whether that will coincide with your stay or not but if you see him out there, that’s who it is. Very nice man. If you have any additional questions about the spa while you are here, you can call him at 927-3357. He lives in the area and volunteered to come over and explain. It’s all pretty simple though.

The spa will come on for an hour a day. I’ll set it so it goes on it mid-afternoon. This is to keep the water clean and circulating. The heater does not come on with the automatic-hour-a-day.

For the heater when you used the spa: The on/off switch for the heater is the silver button on the deck next to the spa, step on it to start and do the same to stop. Usually heats up in 20-30 minutes or less. Of course, if you haven’t used the spa for a few days, it may take a little longer to warm up the colder water.

Just fold the top back 1/2 way (or take it all the way off if you wish )while you're in the spa. If you are in the spa and it is warm enough, you can push that silver button on the deck again and it will turn off the heater. Be sure the heater is off (i.e. jets in spa not bubbling) when you leave the spa. The gas bills are high here.

Neighbors' bedroom is right near our hot tub so if you go in the tub after 9 pm, try not to talk loudly as it might awaken them."

A hot tub in a private garden on the California coast sounds good to me, but Club Med it ain't. We might wake up to find the "spa guy" wandering around in the back yard. We need to take steps to secure the hot tub when we are not using it so the swappers don't get hit with a huge gas bill. When we are in the hot tub we cannot have a raucous party, in fact we need to whisper so we don't bother the neighbors.

If you are wondering whether home exchange is for you, re-read those hot tub instructions. Do you mind being considerate of the neighbors? Can you figure out how to turn the hot tub on and off based on these instructions? Will you be responsible about leaving the hot tub the way the swappers request? If this all sounds perfectly reasonable to you, home exchange could be the right way for you to travel.

If it all sounds like too much effort for you while you are on vacation, make that reservation at the resort and forget about home exchange entirely.

As for me, the free use of a luxury car and a house right on the Pacific Coast sound heavenly to me. You can bet I'll be leaving that hot tub cover closed and turning off the heater. Just remember, it's home exchange, emphasis on the word "home".

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WHEN TO TURN DOWN A LUXURY HOME EXCHANGE

2009-12-01T13:44:00.000-05:00

What is up in Argentina? I am still getting a large number of swap requests just from that country. There are some gorgeous homes offered for exchange in Buenos Aires. That is the kind of destination that "sells itself" from a home exchange standpoint, with its fascinating culture, gorgeous architecture and wonderful restaurants. I have also received offers from elsewhere in Argentina: Cordoba, which I know to be a large city far from Buenos Aires; and a gated beach resort.

While I have been tempted by many of these attractive swap offers, the gated resort did not interest me at all. Traveling by home exchange is about experiencing the local culture. We will not be able to do that from within the barred walls of an exclusive retreat.

Here is the problem: vacation properties in a foreign country isolate you from the very things a home exchanger wants to experience.

On my honeymoon we did a swap in Barcelona. The exchangers allowed us to use a guest home located next to their family home. One weekend we were invited to accompany them to their vacation home on the island of Menorca. I took a bike ride around the island and discovered a British vacation enclave. The entrance was marked by a large British flag. Inside the gated compound it was little Britain, complete with chip shops. This is the sort of artificially "Spanish" home exchange that does not tempt me in the least.

We have had many offers for swap properties in coastal regions of Europe. Some of these beach communities are made up of endless high-rise apartment buildings with nary a spec of local culture to be found. They allow people from Northern Europe to escape to the southern sun for a week of sunburn and booze. The same sort of places exist in the USA, Mexico and many other countries.

People who live in a big city generally want to escape to a more rural setting for vacation. If you are looking for a relaxing get-away in your own country you might want to spend time in the same sort of resort environment enjoyed by your fellow citizens. I live in the USA. If I am offered a luxury retreat in a nearby vacation destination I might want to go. But if I travel all the way to South America or Europe I do not want to spend my time locked away in an artificial environment like a vacation resort community.

Luckily, the internet allows us to check these things out ahead of time. You can get a very clear idea of the local flavor, or lack thereof, in any proposed home exchange destination. Remember, not all home exchanges come complete with local flavor.

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HOME EXCHANGE OFFERS BY REGION AND SEASON

2009-11-27T14:56:00.000-05:00

In the past 24-hours I have received three different offers to swap homes with families in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Is this just an odd co-incidence? Maybe. I do not list Buenos Aires as a preferred destination, so swappers there are not writing to me in response to my own request to visit their area.

WHO IS THINKING ABOUT A HOLIDAY HOME SWAP?

I often find that home exchange offers come in clumps from one region. Sometimes it makes me wonder if an article was recently published about home exchange in one of that country's major media outlets.

A more likely possibility is that swappers' in various countries begin thinking about their next travel destination during a current vacation. Perhaps they travel for a national holiday and find their accommodations lacking. Their thoughts may naturally turn to home exchange as a preferred alternative for their next trip.

Or maybe they travel via home exchange and enjoy it so much they decide to waste no time finding their next swap.

HOW TO USE OTHER COUNTRY'S HOLIDAYS TO FIND A SWAP

If either of these possibilities is indeed the case, now is the perfect time to contact home exchangers in the United States. We have just celebrated our Thanksgiving holiday.

Thanksgiving is among the busiest travel times of the year here in the USA. Families tend to gather from far-flung regions to have the Thanksgiving meal together. Many of those families will have endured a cramped hotel room or camped out on a relative's sofabed in order to go home for the holiday. Now is the time to send an attractive swap offer that will appeal to their desire for a better travel experience on their next trip.

HOW DO YOU KNOW IF THEY WANT TO SPEND THE HOLIDAY AT YOUR PLACE?

If American swappers have listed a "trip wish" to be in your home area in November, chances are their family lives in your town. They may not want to plan for next Thanksgiving this far in advance, but there is a good chance your location will appeal to them when they begin to make plans for next Thanksgiving.

FOREIGN HOLIDAYS

To strike while the holiday swap is on the minds of residents of your preferred destination, just search for the phrase "[Target Country] National Holidays, 2010". This will show you the weeks when citizens of, say, France or Canada will be most likely to want to do holiday home exchange travel.

PLAN AHEAD FOR HOLIDAY HOME SWAPS

Arranging a home exchange is much more likely to happen if you give your target swap partners time to plan. Contact people now for trips you want to take four to 10 months in the future. Here's hoping your home exchange holidays are bright.

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HOLLYWOOD HOME EXCHANGE

2009-11-23T21:56:00.000-05:00

Nothing raised the profile of home exchange like the chick flick "The Holiday". It was even a pretty accurate portrait of home exchange. OK, that house in Los Angeles was gigantic and super-swanky but I have stayed in several swap homes that were just that nice.

One exchange home our family used was recently featured in the movie "New Moon". Before that it was in the film "The Martian Child". Now it's for sale, for a cool 3.3 million, though I think that's in Canadian dollars. All over the internet people are gushing about the house where the actor who played vampire X used the faucet! Walked down the hallway! Swam in the pool! But we were there first.

I admit I had a pang of sadness when I saw the house was for sale. The best thing about home exchange is developing a relationship with another family and swapping with them again and again. The chances that the new owners will be home exchangers is probably close to zero.

Home exchange is a parade of amazing opportunities and experiences. We can remember our most wonderful home exchange any time we like by just turning on the TV and watching one of the films starring "our" swap home. Try that with a hotel room. Nothing comes close to home exchange.

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CONFIDENTIAL: TO JEAN R

2009-11-12T13:49:00.001-05:00

A big "thank you!" to everyone who wrote in with questions for my new RoofSwap.com advice column. If you have any questions related to home exchange or travel, please drop me an email: NicoleF(@)RoofSwap.com (parentheses added to foil spammers).

To Jean R: I would love to hear more from you but I have no way to reply to comments left in response to one of my posts. I do not see the email addresses of people who post comments. Anyone who wants to get in touch with me needs to do so by sending me an email.

Write with questions or comments to: Nicolef @ Roofswap.com (no spaces before or after the @ symbol). Thanks!

VOTE WITH YOUR HOME EXCHANGE DOLLARS

2009-11-01T10:11:00.002-05:00

Exciting news is brewing in the world of Home Exchange. A visionary team of enthusiastic home exchangers have come together with an approach that is going to revolutionize our community.

For over three years I have been writing the most popular home exchange blog that isn't affiliated with any swap club. Most websites and blogs take ads, or at least advertising dollars. This blog has never done that because I wanted to report on trends in home exchange -- and start some -- free of some company's business agenda.

Dozens of entrepreneurs have approached me over the years. Some wanted my input on their bright new idea for a home exchange club. Others asked me to join their companies. I have always had good reason to say "no thanks."

Passionate home exchangers have turned their love of this rich travel method into successful small businesses that make home exchange possible. Thanks to their swap clubs I have stayed in the beautiful homes of over 40 families and met interesting, well-traveled people from all over the world.

Since the first club was founded in the 1950's, home exchange businesses have offered pretty much the same formula. Let people describe their homes and charge them for displaying their listing to other swappers.

The "new ideas" in home exchange pitched to me have often been, at best, unnecessary. At their worst, folks have thought up some really terrible ways to make a cut each time two families decided to vacation at each others' homes.

For me, home exchange is a community. I am not interested in any project that doesn't help more good people become home exchangers. Needless to say I have never been tempted to become part of any new home exchange business.

Until now. I am proud to announce that, in addition to writing this blog, I am contributing a weekly advice column to a new home exchange club called RoofSwap.com.

RoofSwap.com has a professional team that loves home exchange and wants to make our community stronger. They looked at every home exchange club out there. Instead of trying to figure out how to turn the existing swap club model on its ear in order to make a profit from each vacation trade, the RoofSwap.com staff asked how they could make home exchange easier and more appealing.

What really excites me about RoofSwap.com is its commitment to outreach about home exchange. RoofSwap.com is actively educating travelers about the home exchange concept.

RoofSwap's team realized that just hearing about the home exchange concept will bring thousands of eager vacationers into our community. And RoofSwap.com is providing the educational resources to get those new exchangers off on the right foot.

Many new clubs put effort into trying to poach members from existing clubs. RoofSwap already has 14,000 listings because it combines the listings of some of the best swap clubs out there. I'm excited about the unique approach RoofSwap has taken to consolidating the listings and best ideas of some really great home exchange clubs. It means RoofSwap.com members have access to broader listings than members of single-source clubs, which often draw most of their membership from a narrow geographical area.

RoofSwap.com hired excellent web designers to create a sophisticated yet simple-to-use site. Creating a listing is quick and easy. Extensive resources at RoofSwap.com outline the steps to follow to set up and enjoy a home exchange. The RoofSwap forum lets new and seasoned exchangers trade tips and get their questions answered.

RoofSwap's site protects members privacy by letting us control when to share our personal information with possible swap partners.

The RoofSwap.com team is committed to excellent customer service and support. But what is more important to us as exchangers is that RoofSwap.com actively supports the best ideals of our community. RoofSwap.com donates 10% of profits to Habitat for Humanity. Nothing better reflects home exchange ethics than helping create homes for those who really need them.

Instead of gimmicks, RoofSwap.com is giving our community the tools we need to be bigger, stronger and healthier. For three years I have tried to educate home exchangers. RoofSwap.com is using the best minds in the field to bring home exchange from a hobbyist niche into mainstream consciousness.

Easy, clear and educational with an education to expand home exchange into the mainstream. RoofSwap.com is my home exchange dream come true. It's exciting to me that more people are going to learn about home exchange and find just what they need to get started vacationing for free.

I am excited to be part of RoofSwap.com's innovative work. I hope you will vote with your home exchange club membership dollars. Join RoofSwap.com to help our commuity grow. Or at least send in a question for my new RoofSwap.com advice column. You can reach me at NicoleF@RoofSwap.com.

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IT PAYS TO READ THE SWAP LISTING

2009-10-25T19:24:00.000-04:00

Taking the time to read a swap listing pays off. We get dozens of offers each month from people who have just cut and pasted the same general offer to everyone in our town. In my experience the follow up to this approach is often to ignore my response and not even bother thank me for my interest if someone else answers the email more quickly or with a better offer.

The kind of offer that gets me excited to swap with someone arrived this morning and is included below, with the permission of the swappers. From the first sentence it is clear that the exchangers are considering our interests as well as their own. When I clicked through to their listing I found a very tempting and well-writen description of their home and town.

The only suggestion I would have is offering more lead time for this trans-continental exchange. My winter home exchange plans are already set. If they were not, these exchangers would definitely be strong contenders, just because their approach showed they think about our needs as well as their own.

"Hey there ,

You write that you have to be within a drive from NYC, but you ALSO write that you enjoy the PNW. So here goes...

My wife and I live in Bellingham, Washington State, at the foot of the Cascade Mountains. We are about one hour\'s drive to Mt. Baker, world-record snow accumulation and supposed first home of snowboarding (http://www.mtbaker.us/ AND the same distance to Vancouver, B.C. There is skiing right around Van, or Whistler is another 1.5 hours north.

We\'ll be in NYC from Feb. 11-15 to visit my grandmother who lives on the Lower East Side. This, by the way, is opening weekend for the Olypics in Vancouver. Our house will be open during this time and will probably be open from Dec. 21-30 when we should be on vacation in a sunny place.

Food for thought...let us know if you\'ve any interest.

Cheers,"

This exchanger could easily send exactly the same email to everyone he contacts, changing only the first sentence of the offer. That lets him highlight the best of his area while taking into account the unique preferences and concerns of this possible swap partners. This person is new to exchanging but he has made a good start. We can all learn from his approach.

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SHOULD YOU PAY TO REMODEL THE SWAP HOME?

2009-10-06T19:32:00.001-04:00

Your hotel room had better be perfect. If it is dirty, or you want another pillow, just call the front desk. Unless you stay at the No-Tell Motel management is going to do what they can to satisfy you, the customer.

Based on your experience with paid lodging you may not expect to invest any money in the swappers' home.

Hey, it's your vacation. Why not enjoy the exchange more by assuming things at the swap will NOT be perfect.

DIFFERENT STROKES FOR DIFFERENT FOLKS

You get to the swap home and it's just not comfortable. That is not a slight against your exchange partners. They like their home just as it is. That does not mean you will have the same taste or preferences as the family who lives in that home. Chances are something will be lacking that you really need to be comfortable.

LITTLE THINGS MEAN A LOT

You only sleep on down-filled pillows. Your swap partners are allergic to them. Wire hangers damage your fine outfits. The swappers use the hangers they get from the cleaners'. Nothing is more pleasant for you than a breeze from an electric fan. The exchangers don't have any fans in their home.

CUSTOMIZE THE SWAP HOME

When we get to a swap home we plan to invest a reasonable sum to ensure our comfort. When our kids were young we bought a stair gate at one home and a port-a-crib at another.

It is reasonable to expect to spend some money just to make sure the swap home has the amenities you prefer.

WHAT DO I HAVE TO BUY?

Some items you may need, but not find at the swap home, based on my experience over 40+ swaps, include

* reading lamp
* fan
* cooking gear like a decent chef's knife
* extra blanket
* radio
* 100% cotton bedding
* down pillow
* bath mat
* mattress pad
* vase

The possibilities are endless. Mind you, no exchange home needed all of these items. It is likely that you might have to spend the equivalent of one night's hotel cost to buy things you need to be truly comfortable.

STRANGE BED, FELLOW

One common theme to the list of equipment I have bought for the swap home is "bedding".

There is nothing more individual than sleeping preferences. If the exchangers like a hard mattress you may need to buy a foam mattress topper. If the bed is too soft a bed board could be needed.

Don't sacrifice your comfort because the swap home doesn't have every item you prefer. It will not be your home, and that is the point. Assuming you will need to buy those things will ensure you are happier with your home exchange experience.

LEAVE IT OR CHUCK IT?

Now that you know you will have to buy a few things to really enjoy your swap, be careful about leaving them for the exchangers. They may see the presence of these items as a rebuke.

Swappers once left us a home exchange gift of generic dishtowels. I couldn't help but inspect our stack of 20 or so dishtowels. Did our home exchange partners fail to find them? Were they stained?

Most likely the message being sent was "perhaps you would enjoy these dish towels".

Leaving items you considered "missing" from the swap home could imply that you were uncomfortable there. While it might be wasteful to throw out that foam mattress pad you only used for one week, don't leave it for the swappers.

SO WHAT SHOULD I DO WITH IT?

Every community has some sort of charity organization that would love your donation of lightly-used home goods. Donate it to a thrift shop, shelter, etc. Just don't risk offending or inconveniencing the exchangers by leaving them a pile of things you needed to be comfortable in their home.

THE SWAP HOME MIGHT BE COMFIER THAN YOURS

There is a flip side to spending a little of the vacation budget to outfit the swap home. You may find a wonderful item there that you can't live without.

Actually, that's another benefit to home exchange. People elsewhere live differently than you do. Whether you find your way or their way superior you are sure to learn something from your home exchange. Even if you need to buy some nicer bedding to do so.

COMING HOME TO PROBLEMS

2009-09-17T15:54:00.000-04:00

Every home exchanger's first nightmare is to arrive at the swappers' address to find a vacant lot or a lock that doesn't fit their key. That just doesn't happen. But there is another fear that is more realistic: coming home to damage.

Will the home exchangers take good care of your house? Probably they will. You will not, however, come home to find your home in exactly the same condition as when you left. It just isn't possible for a couple or family to live in your home for a week, a weekend or even a day without moving something, using something else or simply not making the bed the way you like it.

Before you open your door, be aware that part of home exchange is that your home will be used. Even if you find something broken or lost, keep your perspective.

We came home from a recent vacation expecting something to be messed up. The swappers were not, to phrase it diplomatically, tech-savvy. They had called us in a panic several times, unable to make the television or wireless internet work. The typical problem was a surge strip they had accidentally turned off.

We were not surprised, or too annoyed, to find that they had let certain battery-powered devices drain, or that they had accidentally erased our outgoing answering machine message and left the message machine turned off. It was a little more inconvenient that they lost the television set remote control, despite the fact that it is not needed for watching tv (only the cable remote is used).

It is important to keep perspective. While the television remote will cost $50 to replace, we are not even contacting the exchangers about it. After all, $50 is a small sum compared to renting a vacation home and car for two weeks.

You may come home to a house that is cleaner than you left it, or find some home repair projects completed. Conversely you may find new repairs are needed if your swap partners are not too careful. Just remember to keep things in perspective. Home exchange means someone is in your home. Value the richness that brings to your travel experience, not the cost of minor repairs or replacements.

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COULD THIS BE THE NEXT WAVE IN HOME EXCHANGE?

2009-09-08T11:28:00.001-04:00

Judging from the increase in questions I am receiving from new would-be home exchangers, nothing makes the idea of free travel more appealing than a global recession. People who have considered doing a vacation swap are now actively researching our way of traveling.

It is always great to welcome hospitable new swappers to our community. But there is another wave of potential home exchangers on the horizon: retiring baby boomers.

Yes, the commune-dwelling hippies of the 1960's are themselves reaching their 60's. As they do so, who better to turn to home exchange than this independent generation who embraced lifestyle alternatives and brought them into the mainstream. Will they do the same for home exchange?

America's post-war "baby boom" generation is poised to retire. We already see huge numbers of seniors in our home exchange community. Retirees have flexibility to travel that is denied those of us who are tied to traditional jobs. Boomers are reaching retirement age after a lifetime of openness to new ways of living. Home exchange may be just the latest in a string of new ideas the Boomers popularize.

After all, Boomers were born at the same time as organized home exchange. It is reasonable to expect that they will embrace home exchange travel in even greater numbers than the generations which came before them.

People comtemplating retirement naturally want to do some of the exploring they did not have time for when they were working and raising a family. Retirees must also decide where to spend their golden years. Home exchange is the perfect way to meet both of these goals without straining a fixed income.

Welcome Boomers. The doors of home exchange a thrown open to you.

HOME EXCHANGE OR 5-STAR HOTEL?

2009-09-02T13:06:00.000-04:00

Our cruise ended in Vancouver which is now officially my favorite city. It is so civilzed, yet surrounded by the most beautiful ocean and mountain landscape in all creation.

The first time we stayed in Vancouver we had a swap home. This time we stayed in a magnificent hotel with a 5-diamond rating from the Automobile Association of America.

The hotel had a magnificent lobby, a health club with a heated indoor olympic pool and mineral water hot tub, and loads of attentive staff members. Our room was huge with sweeping harbor (I mean "harbour") views, fine bedding and all-granite bath.

Big whoop. It was still a hotel room. We had 2 adults and 2 kids in 400 square feet. That's big for a hotel room but you would have to work hard to find a swap home that small. Our kids are too young to have their own hotel room so this was the best we could do in terms of space.

And have you noticed that the more expensive the hotel room the fewer amenities you get? Breakfast at this hotel was $28 per person. The use of wireless internet with our own laptop was $15 per day. Had we parked a car it would have set us back $35. There was a minibar in our room with a $6 bag of nuts, $5 bags of chips and $5 sodas.

The Vancouver exchange home we used last year came with the use of a BMW, a full kitchen, a private heated pool, a crafts/game room and outdoor basketball hoop for our kids, a laundry, wireless internet, four bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.

While the Vancouver home was a masterpiece of mid-century architecture I would prefer any just about any well-situated, clean, comfortable swap home over even a 5-star hotel. There is simply no comparison with a hotel in terms of convenience and comfort.

As long as you do not live in a hotel room, I would love to swap in Vancouver again. If you live there and want to visit Manhattan, get in touch!

HOME EXCHANGER, PHONE HOME

2009-08-31T12:06:00.004-04:00

Before it became common to communicate using mobile phones or the internet, a common source of friction between home exchangers was the telephone. A swapper would make calls at the exchange home and not know how much money to leave to reimburse the home owners. If s/he guessed wrong, or didn't realize that a particular call cost money to make, the swap partners could be stuck with a huge phone bill. Needless to say, many angry misunderstandings resulted.

COMMUNICATE ON THE WEB

These days, a lot of communication occurs over the internet. If your swap partners have high-speed web access you can communicate via email. There are also lots of options for using your computer to make phone calls via high-speed web access (more on this later).

NEW PHONE OPTIONS

These days, home exchangers can bring their own mobile phones on a swap and make their calls from their own accounts. Usually. When traveling internationally you may have a flashback to the bad old days. Your existing mobile phone may not work overseas unless it has the capability to receive multiple types of signals. Even if the cell phone provider claims you will be able to get calls overseas, you could arrive in a new country to find that your phone doesn't work after all. Since it is unlikely that your domestic provider has customer service overseas, you may not be able to fix this.

PHONE SOLUTIONS

There is a way to ensure you can make calls from overseas without inconveniencing your exchange partners, or worrying that you will come home to a stratospheric phone bill. As long as there is high-speed internet access at the swap home or in a nearby internet cafe' you can make calls via your laptop computer or your swap partners' computer. You can use a "Voice over Internet Provider" (VoIP) to make calls over the internet. You can do this by plugging a headset into your computer or by using a regular phone hooked up to an internet signal router.

We have a regular land line phone but we blocked international calls from being made on it. But our home exchange partners are welcome to make unlimited domestic or international calls from our VoIP phone. The VoIP phone is a regular cordless phone. It is connected to the Vonage router. It works exactly like the landline except it costs only $25 per month for unlimited calls to the US and the countries below. Included with the monthly fee are all of the features that a land-line company charges for: call waiting, email phone messages, caller ID, call forwarding and so on. I can also use it to make calls from my computer via a headset when I travel.

It is much more hospitable to provide free calls to your swap partners than to forbid them to use your home phone. If you want to give VoIP a call, send me an email using the link in my profile. I will send you a link entitling you to two free months of service. Try it, you'll like it!

Here are the countries to which your swap partners will be able to call for free. Other countries are also available for pennies per minute. An asterisk after the country's name means you can call both landlines and mobile phones for free:

Argentina
Australia
Austria
Bahamas*
Bahrain
Belgium
Brazil
Brunei*
Bulgaria
Canada*
Chile
China*
Colombia
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Dominican Republic
Estonia
Finland
France
Georgia
Germany
Greece
Guadeloupe
Guam*
Hong Kong*
Hungary
Iceland
India*
Iraq
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Jordan
Kenya
Latvia
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Macau*
Malaysia*
Malta
Mexico
Monaco
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Peru
Poland
Portugal
Puerto Rico*
Romania
Russia
Saipan*
San Marino*
Singapore*
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand*
Turkey
United Kingdom
United States*
U.S. Virgin Islands*
Venezuela
Zambia

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THE NEXT HOME EXCHANGE TREND?

2009-08-28T12:53:00.001-04:00

There is a trend coming in home exchange but it isn't the one you may expect.

No, it isn't the surge in new home exchangers, though I see this trend emerging. A weak economy is actually good news for swappers.

With the desire to spend frugally, home exchange seems to be moving into mainstream consciousness. Recent articles on home swapping appeared in major weeklies like Time, Newsweek and New York magazines.

The economic downturn seems to be driving more adventurous travelers to try a home exchange vacation. Swap clubs are reporting increased membership and more new exchangers write to me for advice every day.

It's good news that home exchange is catching on but my crystal ball shows a different trend, one I expect to see more about in the coming years....

WHY MOST VACATIONERS OVER-PAY FOR TRAVEL

2009-08-21T19:35:00.000-04:00

My summer vacation has been fascinating, and not just because I am seeing beautiful and remote areas for the first time. Instead of my usual home exchange travels I am on a last-minute cruise. I am learning a lot about the way most people vacation.

Cruisers are in some ways the opposite of home exchangers. On-board ship one's activities and meals planned by others. There are lots of obsequious workers about in faux-military costumes. Movement on or off the ship is strictly controlled. Far from having a bedroom for each family member, laundry machines and free internet access, four of us are sharing a 250 square foot room, washing our duds out in the sink and paying a dollar for two minutes of internet access.

On the plus side, someone makes our beds for us twice a day and leaves a piece of candy on the pillow.

The most interesting aspect of my anthropology observations has been the approach to off-ship travel taken by most of our fellow vacationers.

"Shore excursions" are big business. Each day brings a new lecture on which excursions to book, and exhortations to sign up quickly before the roster fills up.

The strange thing is that we are cruising Alaska, which is technically part of the United States. English is spoken here, companies have telephones and my credit card or cash work as well here as back home. Yet most of the other passengers leave the ship only in a paying group to do a ship-sponsored activity.

Here is how a home exchanger thinks: I took the shore excursion book and spent 15 minutes with a guide book on sale in one of the ship's many shops. I found all of the tours that interested me listed in the guide book. Every activity was accessible by walking, shuttle, bike rental or taxi.

Most of the best sights were part of National Parks, which are free to enter with an inexpensive Parks Pass, available at any of them. Others were completely free. The more exotic offerings, like the rain forest zip line ride, were offered by independent tour operators. The ship bought those experiences and resold them to passengers for a huge mark up. They were available for far less to individuals with no more bother than dialing the phone.

In every port we have done the same side trips as our fellow passengers. We know because we see them being herded through the same attractions we are seeing at our own pace. Yet we have paid an average of $10 per person, per trip, including transportation. The ship sells the same trips for $50 to $200 per person.

The reason so many tourists overpay for travel boils down to two things: lack of information and fear of the unknown.

We have never visited any of these areas before. But we are able to call a tour company and book a trip by ourselves. We are not shy about asking a local how far it is to a destination. We have internet access on our mobile phones and can do a simple search for "name of town" plus "local attractions".

Home exchangers are willing to do research and book things for themselves. They would rather go at their own pace than travel in a tourist scrum. Home exchangers have friends and local intelligence everywhere we go -- from those with whom they exchange.

Are you willing to call a taxi by yourself or do you need the concierge to do it for you at a 300% surcharge? Most tourists over pay for their vacations because they are timid. Are you? Or are you a home exchanger?

ARE YOU OVER-PAYING FOR TRAVEL?

2009-08-19T11:15:00.001-04:00

Most vacationers seriously over-pay for travel. This summer's vacation is pointing out that fact to me in stark relief.

Thanks to the ultra-efficient New York City public schools not assigning our kids to a school, we were forced to pick a last-minute travel option. For us that ruled out home exchange.

We often get requests for swaps with just a few weeks', or even days', notice. I find this a very flaky habit of some exchangers. It sends up a red flag for me. I won't do it.

So it was a last-minute cruise for us. On each cruise, passangers get the dubious privilege of booking future cruises far in advance, at the highest possible price.

Even when booking traditional travel I am a home exchanger. So I chose my journey from a long list of last-minute cruise deals and paid about half the retail price to a top cruise line that wanted its ship to sail at full capacity. Home exchangers are flexible and maximize our resources.

Of course we have home exchangers staying at our place. We owe non-simultaneous swaps to several families. Whenever our home is vacant we offer it to those to whom we owe a debt or hospitality.

Nothing exposes the divide between home exchange and traditional travel like taking a cruise.

* On board the ship you lodge in a cabin the size of most swap homes' closets.

* Separate bedrooms for each child? Try a bunkbed two feet above your nose and a sofabed you can't get past to use the bathroom.

* A full kitchen to store beverages and prepare healthy food? No, it's four heavy meals a day and a midnight chocolate buffet.

* Most swap homes we stay at have wireless internet access or a computer we are allowed to use. Cruise ships charge about a dollar for two minutes of web access.

So why, you may ask, are we on a cruise instead of a home swap? Two words: Kids' Club. Except for imposing on relatives, a cruise is one of the only ways to travel while enjoying built-in quality child-care.

And the way most cruisers travel make it clear to me that they are not prime candidates to become the next wave of home exchangers.

The "shore excursion" is the clearest example of how most travelers are suckered. Learn how I saved thousands of dollars on package tours next time.

HOME EXCHANGE PODCASTS

2009-08-09T17:05:00.001-04:00

The folks at KnowYourTrade.com interviewed me for their informative Podcast series. Their goal is to help you have the perfect home exchange. Here are my 2-cents: http://knowyourtrade.com/podcasts/podcast9.mp3

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HOME EXCHANGE NEW YORK CITY

2009-08-01T11:57:00.002-04:00

There has never been a better summer to visit Manhattan. This is one of the coolest summers on record. Temperatures have rarely been above the low 80's. We often have at least a few days when the highs hit the 90's. Not this year. We have had more rain than usual but aside from that it has been balmy and comfortable.

Due to the economic climate, prices are dropping everywhere. Restaurants all over town have special deals. There are also some amazing events scheduled for August. One of my favorites is the free Lincoln Center Out of Doors series. This year they are featuring some amazing musicians like Bang on a Can Orchestra, as well as theater, dance, and roots music: http://www.lincolncenter.org/press_release/PR_OOD09_Announcement_5-5-09.pdf

I am taking my little cousin to an exciting-sounding new event called "The Rockette Experience". Girls 10 and older get a behind-the-scenes tour and are taught two Rockette dance routines by an actual Rockette dancer: http://www.radiocity.com/rockettes/ If you know a girl who loves jazz or tap dance class, this is the kind of once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to plan a NYC vacation around.

Here's a great subscription for New York City meal deals: http://eater.com/tags/dealfeed

Hope to see you here soon!

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WHAT IS IN THE HOME EXCHANGERS' LIVING ROOM?

2009-07-27T19:59:00.004-04:00

As I write this there is a sleeping cat on my lap. After growing up with cats in our home I spent college and graduate school feline-free. When I married and set up a home in Manhattan cats (and kids) soon followed. Living in New York City can be stressful. It is soothing for me to watch my cat working hard at nothing but relaxing. Now I feel that a house without a cat is not a home.

My pro-feline sentiments are not shared by most home exchangers. Nothing -- not even smoking, which can be done outside -- limits one's home exchange prospects like pet ownership. I can't even count how many promising vacation offers have evaporated when the swappers' attention was drawn to the first paragraph of our home's description, where it clearly states that we have two cats.

This reluctance to swap with cat-owners persists despite the steps we have taken to make caring for our kitties as effortless as possible. They have the self-cleaning litter box, the circulating drinking fountain with a one-gallon reservoir, and the automatic feeder that dispenses the right amount of kibble each morning. "Cat care" consists of five minutes per week. Our cats never venture outside (they are too short to push the elevator button) so they are declawed. They are both gentle creatures who do fine around new people. Barring allergies it is hard to see how swappers could be put out by co-existing with the cats.

Still, lots of people don't even want an animal in the swap home. This is something to really consider if you hope to do frequent exchanges. Some animals can be boarded successfully. Others may require specialized feeding, gross cage cleaning, shed all over the house or have emotional needs. It is not fair to expect the exchangers to devote their vacation to pet care.

I have been contemplating adding a non-feline pet to our household. As a home exchanger I am considering the impact this may have on our vacation lifestyle. If one wants to keep swapping, this is not a decision to undertake casually. The pros and cons of various pets will be discussed in a column to follow.

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WHO WANTS A FREE VACATION AT YOUR PLACE?

2009-07-22T08:41:00.001-04:00

Someone is eager to give you her house keys. Home exchangers all over the world agree to vacation in each others' houses every day. How do you target your swap offer emails to find the family who wants to exchange homes with you?

TRIP WISH

Most home exchange clubs let you specify which destinations interest you. Often you can make this a broad request, like "Italy" or narrow it down to a region such as "Tuscany" or even a specific town.

Exchangers can then search the listings to find those that list their own home town as a preferred destination.

For instance, I can get a list of home owners in California who want to visit Detroit. But what if few exchangers mention my town as a vacation spot that interests them?

First, remember that not everyone chooses to list their target destinations Others are open to all offers. The worst that can happen if you make an offer to someone who doesn't want to visit your town is that your offer won't receive a response.

FILLING YOUR DANCE CARD

The reader who wrote previously to ask if she should list her Tennessee home discovered that few people list Nashville as their vacation destination of choice. Should she be worried? In a word, no.

COMPLETE LISTING ARE RARE

On most swap club listings you can select just a few preferred locations. Many exchangers note their top 3 dream destinations. There is usually an option to list yourself as "open to offers" and most people select this.

SERENDIPITY

Home exchangers are an adventurous lot. Most experienced swappers have a story about an exchange offer they accepted just because the destination seemed interesting or the offer letter was appealing or the home looked nice.

Unless the listing specifies that the exchangers do not want to receive offers from your area, feel free to send a tempting offer email to anyone whose home interests you.

WHO TO CONTACT

Remember to approach just a few people per day and to answer every response you get back. People often send me a cut-and-pasted form letter then don't answer my response if they get a better one from the dozens of exchangers they contacted. Folks like that go right into my "bad" folder.

HOW TO "SELL" YOUR HOME

It is possible that no one has considered vacationing in your town. You can change that by sending out a brief, polite and enthusiastic exchange offer. Target it to just a few people at a time in your vacation destination of choice.

Let those new to the wonders of your home area know why they will have a great trip if they swap with you. Chances are that someone flexible and game to try new things will take you up on that offer.

BUT I'M SHY

You can also simply list your home and see what offers arrive in your mail box. Even if no one lists your town as a permanent "favorite", something may come up that requires them to visit the area. Someone's friend or cousin gets married in your town every day. Adults go home each year to visit their parents -- your neighbors.

GIVE IT A TRY

Home exchange club dues range from $0 to $99 per year. Whether or not your town is popular, why not try listing your home? The only thing you have to lose is a few bucks. You could gain the experience of a lifetime.

HOME EXCHANGE IS THE BEST BUDGET TRAVEL

2009-07-20T19:51:00.003-04:00

If "free travel" sounds too good to be true you have never tried home exchange.

This winter we are going on vacation for more than two weeks. We will have the use of a three-bedroom house right on the ocean in California wine country and a late-model sedan. Our only fixed cost is airfare, and right now that's pretty inexpensive. And, as in the case of our own home exchange vacation, optional.

When the kids have a school break I'm the one who takes time off from work to hang out with them. If I have to use vacation time, then by golly I am going somewhere interesting. The nice thing about home exchange is that I can choose to go on an amazing vacation without spending more money than I do at home.

There are lots of great areas to visit within a few hours' drive of our home. If we want to escape the winter weather we can do so if we're willing to do two consecutive five-hour driving days or hop a cheap shuttle flight. This winter, however, we are going all out. We will fly across the country to spend over two weeks on the ocean in a coastal vineyard region several hours' drive north of Los Angeles.

We had hoped to do a swap this August, when our kids' day camp session ended. The hilarious folks at the New York Department of Education torpedoed that plan by declining to confirm school placements until just 11 days before school starts. Yes, we will find out at the end of August where our youngest is to start school the first week in September.

Time for vacation plan B. To avoid a winter of discontent we have arranged a December swap to someplace warm(er). Even though it is a peak travel time, we got tickets to Los Angeles for $179 per person, each way.

We are spending $1600 to fly our family of four round trip and pay for the gas to get to and from the airport. The beauty of home exchange is that our budget for the entire 16-day trip can be as little as the $1600 we are paying for transportation.

THE HOME EXCHANGE BUDGET

Here is how much we are paying for 16 nights of lodging: $0

Our rental car cost: $0. We will use the exchange couple's 2005 V6 sedan in exchange for providing them with unlimited transit passes.

Food: we plan to cook most meals at the swap home since it is located in a small town. We will have dinner out if we can find places that interest us.

Entertainment: the nearby monarch butterfly preserve costs nothing. Elephant seal habitat is free to visit. Watching the migrating whales from the ocean-side deck of the exchange home: also free. There is a famous local attraction we have always wanted to visit. Including its exorbitant admission cost in our budget, plus incidentals and dinners out will still let us keep our total vacation costs well under $50 per person, per day.

STAYCATION: ANOTHER WAY TO SAY NO-VACATION

No matter where you live in the US or Europe there are other home exchangers within a day's journey by public transportation or private car. By far the biggest chunk of our California home exchange budget is the airfare. No matter how tight your travel budget, if you have a tidy home and a transit pass you can go on vacation. A real vacation. It's called home exchange.

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BUDGET TRAVEL BLAHS

2009-07-14T21:15:00.003-04:00

It's summertime and everyone is feeling poor. National Public Radio show just aired a budget travel special. The guests and callers had many suggestions for traveling on the cheap. Each was less appealing than the last. There was that annoying "staycation" nonsense, which consists of sitting around your house, wishing you were somewhere else.

One man said he would go backpacking to save money, but "one or two days of backpacking is enough for me." Sounds great. The npr show reported that sales of camping equipment are up. They noted that it isn't upgraded equipment for avid campers, but basic, starter equipment that's popular. Seems the unenthusiastic hiker is going to have equally uneager company at his rustic campsite.

I kept waiting for someone to mention home exchange. Everyone was making do with unappealing options but the simple solution to their budget travel dilemma eluded them all. Home exchange.

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HOME EXCHANGE PERKS

2009-07-10T14:08:00.001-04:00

Sure, a hotel concierge will help you purchase tickets to a play at a huge premium, but will she take you out on the town? That's what we're doing for home exchange friends we met by swaping houses with them in Toronto and upstate New York.

These home exchanges are over and may never be repeated but the couple from rural New York and the mom from Toronto are lovely people we are happy to count as friends.

Due to professional connections, we get tickets to every star-studded VIP opening night at Broadway's Roundabout Theater. We also get passes to the exclusive cast party afterwards.

When we found out that our Toronto swap buddy was in town and our New York state home exchange friends were moving away, we were eager to sieze the moment and share this fun event with them.

In the past we have sometimes arranged free tickets to a Broadway show for exchangers who were using our home.

Each exchanger's perk is different but always appreciated. Our own swap partners have offered us their own perks, such as free day camp for our children, access to a country club, an evening aboard a friend's yacht and so on

Don't fret if your country club membership lapsed or your yacht was towed for illegal parking. Another exchanger won our hearts (if not our waistlines) by leaving a note informing us that she had baked the exquisite home-made cheesecake in the fridge just for us.

Everyone has some sort of connection or talent. Use yours to make your home exchange partners' stay at your place a vacation they will never forget.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE (FROM HOTELS) DAY!

2009-07-04T21:24:00.002-04:00

It's Independence Day here in the United States. Or for our British home exchange friends, Uppity Colonials' Day. Or something like that. We went up the coast for a seaside vacation. Most New Yorkers who want a breath of salt air prefer to go "Down the Shore" to the beaches of New Jersey but we always have to be different.

We find ourselves in coastal Connecticut. There are lots of financially depressed former whaling towns here in Eastern Connecticut. Some of them have cute historical downtown areas and harbors with seafood shacks, but unfortunately few home exchangers.

We avoided throwing any tea into the harbor, but we did have a great seafood dinner at Captain Scott's Lobster Pot in New London, which is a classic New England fish stand. We don't eat lobster but if we did we would be amazed at how cheap and fresh lobster is these days. The Canadian lobster processing industry collapsed along with the Icelandic banks. It's complicated.

Anyway, the next day's dinner was some of the best Italian food we have ever had at Paul's Pasta Shop. We ate overlooking the Thames River. No, not that Thames, the one in Groton, Connecticut, but sunset over the River was pleasantly scenic.

The downer in our family get-away has been the lodging. No home exchangers here. Instead we are all stuffed into one bland hotel room. It's especially sad because after we arrived we had a kind last-minute offer from the folks with the amazing house just an hour's drive from our place in upstate New York. We used their home for our last swap and when they decided to go out of town they let us know but their vacation came together rather late.

There is nothing like staying at a hotel to remind me about how much I love home exchange., This July 4th I resolved that my future will include as much independence from hotels as possible. Now I'm off to dump some tea in the hotel bathtub.

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NUDE HOME EXCHANGERS?

2009-06-30T18:08:00.001-04:00

Do you vacation naked? The folks at KnowYourTrade.com sent along an inquiry about swapping homes in a "naturist resort". A French swapper with a home in what used to be called a "nudist colony" wants to exchange homes with other folks who like to let it all hang out.

KYT asked if I knew of a way to search home exchange club listings to find naturists.

If you want to find people who share your hobby you can try to search listings using a keyword that uniquely relates to it.

It is possible, but not likely, that the French exchanger could find other nudist or naturist swappers this way.

It is ineffective to try to find the few naturists among the already tiny group of home exchangers. Even if you found one or two, would you want to vacation in their home areas at a mutually convenient time? I doubt it.

A better approach to finding members of your subgroup would be to start with a large audience of them. You will need to educate the non-swappers about home exchange but you are more likely to find a nudist who is interested in home exchange than a house swapper who lives at a naturist resort.

Write a message explaining what home exchange is. Include a link to your swap club listing and a request for interested folks to contact you for more info. Post this info to a website or discussion board aimed at your peers, mail it as a flyer to a target organization at your destination, or put an ad in an affinity club newsletter.

There are not that many home exchangers. There are even fewer home exchanging nudists, or whatever other hobby you might enjoy. The Venn diagram showing the overlap between home exchangers and any other hobby group shows the odds are not in your favor.

Don't limit yourself to the tiny handful of swappers who share your other hobbies. Educating your peers about home exchange is a more effective way to find a swap, and broaden our home exchange community.