Travel the Home Exchange Way blog

Vacation Ideas - 'Holiday Home Exchange. What exactly is it?'

It is always interesting to read articles on home exchange as, although all good writers generally cover the same key aspects of swapping homes, articles often have slightly different angles. A recent article (actually a post on the Vacation Ideas blog) begins:

'Anyone who has a home can participate in a holiday home exchange. You don’t have to compare values of the house, or find a swapping partner with a home just likes yours; you just need to find a home that you and your family would be most comfortable in and in the area you are looking to visit.'

It is useful to emphasise that home swaps don't necessarily need to be equal in terms of home size and features. Some Home Base Holidays enquirers, new to the idea of home exchange, comment that many of the homes listed seem much more luxurious than their own, and are concerned that no one would want to swap homes with them. This is not generally the case and, as is pointed out in the quote above, location is usually the most important consideration for home exchangers.

Read the full article on Vacation Ideas.

Meetafamily: Bringing Families Together

'Wouldn’t it be useful if it was simple for one family to meet another with similar leisure interests and hobbies? This would help families to find new friends in a new place, or could just provide even more fun for all.'

This is the introduction in a press release Home Base Holidays received from meetafamily.com, a recently launched service which aims to help like-minded people meet each other, whether to find local friends (especially useful when new to an area) or to link up to share information on similar interests.

The meetafamily.com website is extensive, with over two million villages, towns and cities throughout the world available for the service. I was pleasantly surprised to find my small home town of Wiarton, Ontario indexed - and even smaller villages nearby!

Although it will obviously take some time for a service such as this to build up an extensive database of users (it is free to list and your contact details are kept private), this could well be a useful way to connect with others (Meetafamily will contact another registered family on your behalf for a small fee). I am pleased to see that home exchange has been recognised on the site as of likely interest to many who register as, after all, part of the fun of arranging home swaps is contact with others who also enjoy this form of travel and getting to know home exchange partners during the course of arranging an exchange - very similar to the ethos of Meetafamily really.

Edinburgh, Scotland: a Popular Home Exchange Destination

Q: In your experience, how popular is Edinburgh, Scotland for home exchange? - Sandra, Edinburgh

A: Scotland, and particularly Edinburgh, is a popular destination (maybe especially with American, Canadian, Australian, French and Italian Home Base Holidays members) - and even more so if a home in Edinburgh is available in August/early September during the Edinburgh International Festival.

Browse current listings in countries/areas of interest. You will also see a Refine Search link; one of the options in this detailed search is by members who indicate an interest in your country or city. You could use this as a starting point to find members definitely interested in exchanging to Scotland or specifically to Edinburgh. However, the results won't include the many members who are 'open to offers' on destination, some of whom could very well be interested in an exchange to your home in Edinburgh.

Ensuring Privacy for Home Exchange Members

Q: Hi, I really want to join your home exchange site but I am a little bit reserved about giving out all my details to strangers. Can you assure me that the site is safe to do this? Thank you. - Jennifer

A: Only current Home Base Holidays members have access, via a private member area, to your name or contact details. The only contact information you need to include in your listing is an email address (and this is hidden). Many members do include mailing addresses and phone numbers (only available to members) in their listings but there is no obligation to do so if you prefer not to; instead, you can provide this information directly to individual members you are in contact with when you are ready.

All Home Base Holidays members pay a subscription fee to join and, as only current members can contact other members with exchange offers, you will be making your details available (when you choose to do so) to other people who have shown, by also joining and adding their own home details to the website, that they are genuinely interested in arranging home exchanges.

Remember too that you will be a 'stranger' to other members - until they get to know and trust you (as you do them) through on-going correspondence in the run-up to your exchange.

Including Cars as Part of Home Exchange Offers

Many Home Base Holidays members include a car as part of a home exchange offer but, of course, it is always best to make this provisional until an exchange is agreed. It is a good idea to include any provisos relating to a car swap within an exchange offer as have these members, a retired couple (experienced home exchangers) who live in Gloucester, England:

'We have a 4 four year old Ford Mondeo car that may be included in the swop (subject to insurance, ie full clean licence and within age range of 30-74 years).'

Another UK member, also an experienced home exchanger, whose home is in Lincoln, sent this useful information to his American exchange partners:

'Just to remind you that you will need your driving license and, if you are a member of AAA, bring your card as you will have reciprocal membership of the British AA which might be useful if you are driving.'

Families with Children: Finding the Best Home Exchange Matches

Although everyone who swaps homes decides which homes are likely to suit their needs best (for many the location is more important than the actual home), it really can add to the home exchange experience if you have young children and arrange a swap with a similar family (a child friendly home, lots of toys, books and even local playmates and babysitters).

Katty, a Home Base Holidays member from Tampa, Florida, wrote:

'I just wanted to let you know that two weeks ago we came back from our first Home Base Holidays house exchange and it couldn't have been a better experience.

We stayed for two weeks in the Cooper family home outside of Cardiff in Wales while they stayed in our home in Tampa, Florida. The house was wonderful, the family super accomodating and it was what we deem to be a very successful exchange.

Both our families have children and to be able to go to a family friendly home was beyond our wildest dreams.'

Katty hadn't expected to arrange another home swap until after her second child was born and a few months old but ...

'We just received an email about exchanging next summer in Scotland, so we shall see if it works out!'

The photo on the left is of the Coopers' home in Wales (see full exchange offer, HE17248) and that on the right, Katty's home in Tampa (full exchange listing, HE17273).