Home Exchange: Home Away From Home
By Ruti Singer
"Great idea, but how can you let strangers sleep in
your bed/use your toilets?"
"Sounds good, but how can you be sure your house will
not be ruined when you get back?"
Just some of the responses we get when we tell people about our recent fantastic holiday abroad. Over the past years we have had amazing 3-4 week long family holidays every year and have been to NYC, Italy (Umbria and Rome), Prague, Paris, London, Finland, Ireland and Barcelona.
So what are those responses all about? Exchanging homes.
All of these holidays have been arranged over the internet, exchanging homes with people we don't know.
They have been great holidays. Home exchange has enabled us to have a summer holiday at a home away from home every year, at an affordable price. But it is really more than the money. When you exchange houses, your holiday experience includes many comforts and experiences that no hotel can offer:
- separate bedrooms, complete with toys
- your own private lounge (TV/VCR/DVD included)
- a free internet connection
- sometimes even a car
- a fully equipped kitchen where you can cook your own food (and plain old spaghetti and sausages for the kids) and save on restaurants
- shopping locally and discovering new foodstuffs to experiment with
- free in-house washing services
It puts you in a completely different mind set. Before we learned about exchanging homes, I remember going to London for 10 days and staying at a hotel. Even though it was the cheapest we could get, the price was pretty steep. We spent 10 days in a crowded room with our 2-year old son, and not even so much as a refrigerator to keep his milk in. We ran around like mad trying to get as much out of our money as possible, seeing everything, doing everything. By the end of the holiday we were zonked.
The next time we were in London, we had a house to stay in. In the first few days, we just laid back and relaxed (which you really need to do after the frenzy of packing and preparing for the trip, not to mention the flight with 3 kids!). The kids had their own rooms, with plenty to do. We had a great time discovering the local neighborhood and shopping for food we liked. On days when we went into town, we were in no hurry to wake up early in the morning (there was no hotel breakfast that you would miss if you didn't get to the dining room in time). On rainy days, or when we were just tired from the previous day out, we just spend a relaxing day at home. After all, it wasn't costing us a fortune every day! When we got back after 3 weeks, we had seen lots of interesting things, had a great holiday with the kids, and were rested and relaxed.
So you can guess that I highly recommend exchanging homes.
Actually, there are also deeper layers of thought to the home exchange idea. When you think about global waste and conservation, the idea of combining resources with other people on the globe has more merits than those you experience on a personal level. Think of all the hotel sheets and towels that are washed every day; of the low-paid hotel workers (often foreigners); of the huge and wasteful industry that has grown around the needs of people who want to experience a holiday in a different country.
So my answer to the skeptics is:
So what if someone you don't know is sleeping in your bed --
the sheets will get washed (and think of how many people you
don't know have used that hotel room toilet before you).
Don't be so tied up with the objects you have collected over
the years. Trust your guests to look after your home as you will
look after theirs -- it's a mutual responsibility arrangement.
And if they break a vase, they are sure to buy a replacement
or repay you.
We have always held long discussions over the internet before exchanging, have sent and received photos, and have made phone conversations -- all in order to get to know our exchange partners before committing ourselves. We have always discovered that the people on the other end are forthcoming, genial and helpful.
By the way, there is a hidden bonus to exchanging homes -- every year in the few weeks prior to the exchange, we somehow magically find the time to fix all sorts of minor things that we did not find the time for before, tidy up, clean our cupboards. And after the exchange, we enjoy the results!
Copyright © 2006, Ruti Singer
Note: We are interested in a home exchange in Europe for the summers of
2011 or 2012.
