It’s no surprise that January is the busiest month for booking holidays. One look out the window at that wet, grey day has me dreaming of sunny blue skies, coffee on warm terraces, and glasses of wine after a swim in water, which doesn’t temporarily stop my heart.
After recommendations from friends and family, I’ve decided to renew my account with Home Exchange. It’s been many years since we last did a house swap, so I’m ready to give it another go. Our previous swaps were very successful, involving the whole family, then teenagers. The main motivation was the cost saving in bringing a family of five on holidays. It makes so much sense. Your house is empty, as are the houses of all the other people in the world who are on holidays. Cars are parked at airports, pets are left with minders, all of which need to be paid for.
Yes, you have to clean up before you leave, make up rooms for guests, and generally have your house visitor-ready. Not everyone in my family was thrilled about this, but I persevered, and really, once you decide to do it, it’s not that much work. Plus, you come home to a clean and tidy house, not the usual mess left after a frantic dash out the door.
Getting your house ready to swap is not the same as getting it ready to rent as a holiday home. You are going to someone else’s home, and they are coming to yours. Think of guests coming to stay; you’ll want everything clean and orderly, but remember it is still your home.
For some, the idea of strangers in their house is too uncomfortable, so that is a stumbling block. When we exchanged, the people whose house we were in, were in our house, so I felt that was very safe – they would look after our house as they expected we would look after theirs.
Our first swap was to a working farm in Tuscany, where we stayed in the owners’ guesthouse. This house swap was non-reciprocal, they would come to our house at another time. Cesare and Elisabetta were schoolteachers who also grew olives, vines, fruit and vegetables. Elisabetta was a great cook, and ran a cookery school in the summer. While the arrangement was supposed to be self-catering, they invited us to dinner regularly, and we ate wonderful, homegrown produce, Cesare’s amazing wood-fired pizza, and Elisabetta’s homemade icecream. Now, you might not get that everywhere, but the community aspect of house-swapping makes it different from a commercial booking transaction.
Our next swap was with a family from Gruissan in the south of France, who came to our house at the same time. The house was in the town, which has a beautiful old centre and a modern marina, about 15 minutes walk from a beautiful sandy beach. We had the use of bikes and the area was great for cycling, with the Canal de la Robine, a branch of the Canal du Midi, close by. Our priorities then were proximity to a beach and town, with a garden, plenty of space, and enough going on to keep teenagers and parents happy.
However, a couple I know recently did a house swap in an apartment in the centre of Bilbao, a totally different experience. Browsing the site is entertainment in itself, as I linger on house boats in Amsterdam, cabins with saunas on Norwegian fjords, and balconied apartments in Paris. It’s a bit like becoming a local for a few weeks.
Of course, there are restrictions. Finding exactly what you want, where you want to go, at the time you want to travel, and for your number of travellers isn’t always a success. Many people on the site are swapping second homes, giving them more scope. If you are swapping your primary home, it is easier if you are flexible with dates, and are open to many destinations, which isn’t always possible.
I’m just starting again as a house-swapper, and my plan is to be very open to places I might not have considered before. Rather than deciding on a region or city, I’m going to decide what type of holiday I want, say, close to the sea, or in the middle of a city, and browse until I find something beautiful and interesting, and maybe somewhere I’ve never been before. First, though, I need to do a bit of scrubbing!
Details: There are many house swapping sites, but the only one I’m familiar with is homeexchange.com.
