Travel Barmy: Home Exchange

Stay tuned right here as Book Barmy becomes Travel Barmy.  We head off to Switzerland next week and I’ll be posting photos and travel stories if anyone out there is interested.  (You can sign up to get email notices of new postings below on the right.)

Home exchange is our preferred method of travel.  When it comes up in conversation, the reaction is always something along the lines of …”What, you let people stay in your house?”  or “You sleep a stranger’s bed?” “What about your stuff?” “Is it safe?”

I’ll take a moment here to explain how much we benefit from exchanging homes.  When we first started, I did a great deal of research, talked to other  exchangers and over the last seven years of exchanging — have found that the following factors makes home exchange successful (for us anyway).

No money is exchanged – this is not Air B&B.  The exchange is based on trust, honesty and mutual respect.  You are in their homes — they are in yours.  You care for their things just as you know they are caring for yours.  We have never had a serious problem – a broken wine glass once (like that’s never happened before).  We always come home to a spotlessly clean house, some great food or wine in the fridge and often a lovely gift.

Sometimes you meet in person, sometimes not.  We have done exchanges both ways.  When we do meet the people, it’s usually the day before, we spend the night in their guest room and then take them to airport in the morning. When you don’t meet – you arrange for house keys to be exchanged.

No Craig’s List.  We use a reputable membership-based home exchange website where for ~ $100 per year, you list your home with photos, your preferences (i.e. no pets, no kids, no smoking), and you send/receive exchange requests through the website.  You don’t exchange personal contact information (email address, phone numbers) until you have agreed to an exchange.  By the time we actually exchange, we’ve usually sent additional photos, heard about the grandchildren, traded local travel tips – and become new best friends.  There are many great sites.  These are our two favorites: Home Link and Home Exchange.

You can exchange anywhere.  We’ve been to the Netherlands, Croatia, Venice, Santa Fe, France, Sedona, Seattle, and Santa Barbara – all on home exchanges.  We’ve experienced the local neighborhoods, met the neighbors, bought groceries in their little shops and patronized their local cafes. We pack light because we have a clothes washing machine.  We prepare breakfast and pack a lunch for the day in their kitchen. With the vast amount money we save – we are able to stay longer (usually 3-4 weeks internationally), eat in good restaurants and take side trips staying in B&B’s or inns that strike our fancy.  No group tours, pricey hotels or whirlwind visits for us.  We take our time, get to know the culture, eat with the locals, visit the things we want — when we want  — all while having a comfortable and usually beautiful house to call home (not stuck in a dinky hotel room). We always feel safer knowing someone is living in our home — coming and going — and watering our house plants.  Many families with children find exchanging with other families a perfect solution (homes already set up for children and they can share the toys)  and there are exchangers who exchange pet care.  So almost anything is possible.

What about valuables?  We don’t own anything that valuable and we now realize no one is going to travel 5,000 miles to steal our flat screen TV.  (Remember, we know where they live).  We have a locking closet in our den where we put a set of wooden steak knives I don’t want put in the dishwasher, a fragile beloved native-American pot and the financial papers from our desk – not that anyone would go snooping (again that mutual respect thing is key) but just in case.  Otherwise we don’t worry about valuables.  Again, we worry more when our house is left empty.

Isn’t it alot of work getting your house ready?  Yes, getting the house ready for the first couple of exchanges was exhausting.  But I kept lists of things that need doing and it has now evolved to an almost brainless effort.  One must clean out a closet and a couple of dresser drawers for them.  Make sure the fridge is cleaned out except for some basic food for your exchange partners.  Clear up the clutter, clean, dust, and the morning you depart change beds with clean sheets and put out clean towels. A “house book” is a must – it tells your exchange partners all about your house – again my has evolved over time – how to work the heat, where the iron and ironing board are located, quirks of the house, etc..  I also leave a plastic folder with all the appliance manuals and a big basket of San Francisco guide books, maps, and transit information.  All in all – it’s a great motivator for getting those pesky little chores done around the house — that old light switch plate or the hard-to-reach window that needs washing.

Are you right for home exchange?  The answer is no if you are bothered by coming back to things not exactly in place in the kitchen or to find your CD’s out of order. To be a good home exchanger you have to be adaptable, relaxed and flexible (characteristics necessary for any type of travel).  It’s a unique, yet fascinating way to travel.  Inevitably, you’ll be perplexed by the foreign home appliances and the nuances of the local trash collection — but for us, that’s part of the fun.  It helps that we live in San Francisco, a top tourist destination – but any location will work as people often want to exchange to visit family.  (We did an exchange last year to a big house near my parents so the whole family could be together for their 60th wedding anniversary -a lovely time.)

In terms of sleeping in other peoples beds – what do you think you do when you stay in a hotel?  We have a full mattress cover/pillow covers (I put away my favorite pillow – my own little quirkiness).

Insider pro-tip. Never mention home exchange to an insurance agent, their heads will spin. If you have universal coverage you’re covered as your exchange partners are considered guests in your home.  And yes, we also exchange cars – exchange partners are “permissive drivers”.  (Check with your own insurance agent on coverage for house guests and automobile permissive drivers.)  Both websites offer an exchange agreement – but we’ve only used it once at the others request – it is not a legal document, just a letter of understanding. Again, the trust and honor thing is the only binding agreement we need.

So that’s how we travel folks, and although you may still find it weird, we find it works for us.  Our experiences have been extraordinary because of the personal connections with our exchangers and living in their homes.

Home exchange also serves to reassure us that most people, most of the time and in most of the world are overwhelmingly kind, honest and respectful.

Not a bad way to think about the world in these days.