Vacation for Free With Home Exchange

Vacation Free With Home Exchange

If you want to live in style without the price of a hotel, then consider exchanging your home for as little as a week. There are no costs for the exchange, just the membership to the site where you set up advertise your home.

Definitions:

Home Exchange-This is swapping homes with a person or family for a specific time period. Most are done at the same time, but there are second homes that are swapped out, which gives a flexibility on the dates for both parties.

Hospitality Exchange-This is where a person actually visits as a guest, so they have a built in tourist guide. The other person then goes to visit at the other home at an agreed upon time.

What You Need:

1. Take Pictures. You will need plenty of pictures. In this case, more may be better. Make sure there is plenty of light, so the room can actually be seen.

2. Write a description of the home, town, and attractions. Also decide if they will need to care for pets, if pets and children are allowed, and car use terms.

3. Go to the Website of your choice and purchase a membership. At the most, this should be around $100. That fee is good for one year. If you do not exchange during that year, some sites will give you a second year free.

4. Decide where you want to go to. You can go anywhere around the world. Maybe even make it a long vacation by doing multiple exchanges.

Websites:

Home Exchange (http://www.homeexchange.com: This site was featured in the movie, The Holiday, which came out this past Christmas. It is considered the largest of the Websites.

Membership is $99 for one year, with the second year free if you do not exchange during your first year. You may view the listings for free, but membership is required to contact the owner.

A sample listing:

Home ID#: 35241

Our home can accommodate: 5

People in our exchange party: 5

Number of previous exchanges: 2

Children in our exchange party: yes

Bedrooms: 4

Bathrooms: 3

Nearest Large City: Verona

Nearest Major Airport: Verona

The Home

We have a flat on two floors on the top floor of a block of flats (sixth floor) in Vicenza (Italy) with a beautiful view on the Italian Alps on one side and on the historic city centre on the other side. The apartment has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. It is fully equipped and furnished, with 4 computers, Internet, air-conditioning, washer, dishwasher, microwave oven, TV set, VHS and Dvd. Toys and games for children are available in the house. . Bikes and one car are available on similar terms of exchange. The house is available during Christmas holidays and in summer (July – August) . Friendly neighbours and relatives will help you settle in the house. Our house is very well-kept and we will treat yours with the same respect and care.

HOME TYPE:

Apartment High Rise

The Neighborhood

The flat is situated just outside the ancient historic town walls of Vicenza, in the NE of Italy. Vicenza has a beautiful historic centre with buildings, a theatre and a Basilica designed by the famous architect Andrea Palladio. For this reason is a protected site by UNESCO. Beautiful Venetian villas are within close reach. Vicenza is only less than an hour’s drive or by train from Venice, half an hour from Verona , the Lake Garda and Padua, and two hours’ drive from Milan and Bononia. Shops and facilities are within walking distance from our house. A park and a private sports centre are by the ground floor of our block of flats. An outdoor public swimming pool is a two-minute's drive. A golf course is a ten-minute's drive from our home.

ATTRACTIONS:

Country Club Restaurants Shopping Galleries/Museums Theaters

Health Club Forests Mountains Lakes Golf

Tennis Biking Hiking Boating

Other Information

We can arrange transport from both Verona and Venice airports.

AMENITIES:

Exceptional View Computer Internet Access FAX Stereo/HiFi

Balcony/Deck

CONDITIONS:

No Smoking Auto OK Child OK Plant Care

The Dates

July - August 2007

The Destination

Any destination

USA (California or East coast)

Montreal (Canada)

The People

My name is Monica and my husband's name is Nicolò. I am a teacher of English at secondary school and my husband is a doctor. We have 3 children:Francesco, Fabio and Ludovica. They are 15, 13 and 10 years old. We all enjoy skiing, walking, swimming going to concerts and to the theatre. Francesco and Fabio play soccer in the local soccer team and Ludovica plays tennis and volleyball. We enjoy travelling and all the outdoor activities. We are ready to exchange our home but also to give hospitality to people from different countries. My children are well-behaved and we are experienced exchangers. In fact we spent July and August 2004 in Florida on an exchange with a delightful middle aged woman, who enyojed the art and history of Italy, while living in our flat in Vicenza. We also enjoyed our summer 2005 exchange with California.

Languages Spoken

English, Français, Deutsch, Italiano, Español

One World One Family (Oneworldonefamily.com): This site is geared toward gays and lesbians. It has eliminated its membership fee. You may post your listing with a photo. This site actually offers both home and hospitality exchange.

A Sample Listing:

Hello;

We are Peter and Paul. This is our home. We live in a beautiful up-scale community in West Palm Beach Florida. We have great weather year-round and visit the beach often. Our circle of friends is small and we would like to make some new ones in other parts of the US and Europe. We have traveled a bit, but would like to travel more. If you have never been to Florida, you should give us a try. We are 10 minutes from the beach. Great shopping and bars. We have some great clubs if you are into that. We work hard and spent most of our free time with friends. I, Peter am an account executive for a large public relations firm. Paul has his own landscaping business. We both love good food and will treat you to a great meal when you visit. We are open to a Hospitality Exchange, most any time of the year. Send us a note if you are interested and we hope to see you soon. Peter & Paul

Adults in Exchange 2 Children in Exchange 0

Type of Exchange Hospitality Number of Persons home can accommodate 6

Duration 1 Week Dates Available Open

Destination Open Type of Home House

Number of Bedrooms 3 Number of Baths 3

Four countries, cities, states of preference France

Rome

Amsterdam

Finland

Property Characteristics

Air Conditioning Bikes

Garden Dishwasher

Pool PC

Hot Tub Washer/Dryer

Local Attractions

Friendly Neighbors Beach

Public Trans Car Required

Bars/Disco Sight-seeing

Restaurants Theatre

Conditions

No Children No Pets

Home Link International (http://www.swapnow.com): This is the second largest home exchange site on the Web. It runs about $90, but also has a printed version that can be purchased for an additional $50. The printed version is only available to USA customers only. You may post up to 10 pictures with your listing. Additional homes are $15 each.

In keeping with our Italy Theme for the exchange, a sample listing at this site looks like:

Location

Asiago, Vicenza, 40k, N

H

o

m

e Apartment

Sleeps: 5

Bedrooms: 2

Bathrooms: 1

Family/Group

Adults: 4

Teenagers: 0

Children: 1

Seeking

Home exchange

Preferred period, Dates

11 Jul - 11 Jul 2007, Anytime

Preferred Destinations

Open

Car necessary

Experienced exchanger ( 1 )

Languages: Deutsch, English, Italiano

Nice penthouse fully restored, 800 metrs to Asiago center, holiday resort. 90k to Venezia and Verona

Extensive grounds aged 8,18 All domestic appliances Barbecue Tourist area / resort Central heating Clothes dryer Fishing Friendly neighbours Forest / woods Fireplace Garage Garden Convenient for golf Hi-fi / stereo Lake Microwave oven Parking Park / playground Horseback riding Peaceful surroundings Restaurants Skiing TV View Walking / hiking

IntervacUSA (http://www.intervacusa.com): This site runs around $95 for listings around the world. If you want to just travel within the USA, then the fee is just $65. It does not allow you to really show off your property, with the one picture only. For $155 you get a couple of calls from a representative to do what you should do. It seems like an unnecessary expense. They also charge you’re an extra $45 for the catalog. They offer a discount on multiple year membership purchases.

The listings are sparse compared to Home Exchange, but they do give the basics of what, when, and a picture. The only bad thing is that the pictures do not tend to show the inside of the house, but the outside or some attraction.

Seniors Home Exchange: Travelers over 50. Membership is $59 for 3 years or $100 for a lifetime membership. This site just gives quick details, but no pictures.

Sample Listing:

My house is in what were once the stables of a large monastery, just outside Ferrara's fortified wall. 2 bedrooms, bath, study. It can accommodate two couples. I'm in the USA from Nov. to April, so longer stays are possible during those months. Ferrara was an important center in the Renaissance and has many museums, as well as a university founded 600 years ago. Famous Ferraresi are: Savonarola, Frescobaldi, Dosso Dossi, Lucretia Borgia (not born here), Bassani (author of Il Gardino dei Finzi Contini), Antonioni, Rambaldi (creator of ET and various film monsters). Ferrara is perfectly located for day trips by train to: Bologna, Florence, Venice, Ravenna, Modena, Parma, Mantua, Padua. Rome is 4 hours by fast train. If I can't exchange with you, I'd be happy to rent you my house at a very reasonable rate since I know you'd be responsible!

The differences:

Really the only difference is in the amount of information that is exchanged. The number of members is roughly the same, but the amount of countries varies. The cost of the memberships is within the same ballpark.

The Benefits:

Traveling to most countries is expensive. With a home exchange no money is exchanged. You are basically taking care of a house while someone takes care of yours.

Some are targeted to specific audiences such as seniors or gays and lesbians. Most are family friendly, so you can take the kids, and possibly the pets.

This is a win-win for the world traveler. Many of the people in the Exchanges are experienced travelers and enjoy the freedom of “home” living over hotels. It is also a huge money saver. Since no money is exchange, a person saves hundreds and possibly thousands on hotels, eating out, car rentals, etc.

Lastly, the home exchange is a great way to see the world from the resident point of view instead of as a tourist.